This page partially comes from growing up in a very small town full of rednecks. I hated them when I was in high school (I was with the Kurt Cobain kids). I also worked as a dishwasher at King’s Table which served a lot of white trash and truckers who were all about the all you can eat buffet. I used to loathe the country music they would make us listen to as we worked, and I would peer through the sneeze guard glass, across the line at the people scooping up gravy with their shaky hands making a big mess and eating a ton of food and just hate them all.
I lived in a small town called Lakeside during high school. It had a hardware store, a small grocery store, a very small library and one hotel all on one street at one four way stop. There were two sides of the railroad tracks. The good side and the bad side. The bad side was supposedly where all the meth heads lived because the cops rarely came all the way out to Lakeside. The good side was mainly retired people who liked the beautiful Lake, which the town happened to be on the side of (hence the name). It was about 15 miles or so from North Bend/Coos Bay, which is where I really call home, and is a couple hours drive from any freeway.
I didn’t realize how small the area I lived in was until I really moved away. People in the city like to think they are real enlightened and more on top of things than those dumb people from the small town. The fact is, as I got to know city people I began to really appreciate the small town way of life a lot more. There are great people and awful people from both, but the city people tended to get into cliques and only spend time with their own kind, never venturing out to be friends with people of other ages, interests, ethnicities or ways of life. In a small town you deal with who you get as neighbors. You can’t be that picky and you learn to share space with a variety of people. The people who live in cities and claim small town people are ignorant and closed minded may be right some of the time, but it goes for many people in the city as well. You can live in a big city and have a hundred friends who all think just like you do. That is rarely possible in a small town. Oddly enough, it is easier to insulate yourself from other cultures by living in a metropolis, not the boonies.
These aren’t totally original thoughts. A lot of these ideas come from one of my favorite authors: G.K. Chesterton. I must give credit where credit is due. But I cite him not because he taught me these things so much as he put into words the things I had been thinking since I had stopped attempting to be fashionably angry at the world (admittedly much more eloquent words).
All that is to say I don’t hate rednecks so much any more, and I don’t hate people in general. I began to realize a lot of artists truly do hate people and it really comes out in their work even if they deny it vocally. It really turned me off, and I started to feel like I was hating people just because it was the punk rock or artistic thing to do. I started to lose a lot of taste for punk rock actually. You may not be happy to hear it, but a lot of this comic was drawn while listening to the same country music I used to despise. I love country music now because it is some of the least hateful music I know.
Anyway, this blog has little to do with the page above, except that I am trying to make Joel start out similar to how I did. He works, but he hates his job, and he hates most of the people in his town. And I use hate in the sense of hating a kind of food, or a kind of music. I guess “can’t stand” might be a better choice of words. Basically, he is the only person he truly gives a damn about in his own little universe.
That was way more than I thought I would blog. I guess you get to find out what the old lady is yelling about on Friday. See you then!
Ethan
Discussion (48) ¬
ach! no bear(omorphs)!!! SAD.
if what the person hit is a bear, then does what the old lady says count?
The patch of mud on the redneck’s truck kinda looks like a bear.
I’m the same way, coming from a small town in southwest Wisconsin. I don’t eat meat and I appreciate music that can’t be found on the radio. I didn’t feel like I belonged where I was. But, after moving into the city, I’ve realized that here there are alot of vegetarians and there are tons of people that listen to more obscure bands that I’ve never heard of. I don’t stand out here like I did in the small town. Everyone is a character in a small town and everyone gets along even if they disagree.
It’s a weird thing – I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and live in LA now. My upbringing wasn’t ethnically homogenous at all – my high school was full of whites, blacks, asians, indians, although surprisingly few latinos at the time – but I had a really hard time with it. Got molotov cocktails thrown at my house, swastikas spraypainted on my synagogue, and friends put in the hospital.
To some extent, I still have trouble with it to this day. I drove back to visit my folks, and had some car trouble. They live in a town of 300 people now, and when I took it to the local mechanic, he took one look at my CA license plate and quoted me $1000. When my stepdad, whom he knew, walked in the door, it became $50.
I’m not going to disagree that there’s certainly a fingers-in-the-ears, head-in-the-ground mentality prevalent in cities, and small towns, when they’re cool with you, are REALLY great places to be. But it’s not always easy.
The setup you have for your characters here is really similar to Doug TenNapel’s Creature Tech – in my opinion, his best work to date. Very interested to see how it evolves!
Thanks Jason, I remember you telling me about where you came from when we had lunch. I’m definitely not trying to romanticize small towns, or even small town people, only saying that in general I think that living in a small town can have a good effect on a person (though they may not realize it until they move away). There are plenty of exceptions to every rule, and I know there are parts of the deep south that sound terrifying (ask Doug TenNapel about his experiences in West Virginia).
This really is starting to remind me of shawn of the dead, especially how something’s happening and the main character doesn’t notice.
yeah I hope it doesn’t feel too blatant. SOTD kept hinting at zombies throughout the first act before they really took over and I wanted to do that here so that the it is not just setting up characters with no hint of bears to be seen or spoken of.
It’s working fine, really.
I’m really diggin this comic so far. Can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.
I try not to hate people either. But I absolutely cannot stand country music. I can think of about 3 songs that I tolerate.
Also, I like that the reflection of the man is the one doing the talking. 😀
I like the old stuff the best, but newer country is growing on me. I really like the attitude of it more than anything.
And thanks, I deliberately chose to have the mirror talking just because it had a funny effect.
I lived in a city in the southeast that was full of rednecks for a good long while, and it was stifling. Then I moved to LA. The difference in cultural diversity was astounding.
I haven’t had the small town experience, so there may be some factor that forces rednecks to be more accepting there. But for cities, my experience has been that redneck cities are exactly as you describe. Other cities though can have a really open, diverse atmosphere.
Cities have a diverse atmosphere, but people partition off into groups. Look up a map of race population maps in cities. They all congregate in neighborhoods. I am not trying to glorify rednecks, because they can be good and they can be bad. But I hated rednecks because they were rednecks, not because they were good or bad. I learned that a good redneck is one of the more decent people you will ever come across.
I can (obviously) relate to this way of thinking too. I left the small town and thought being a fine artist was a revelation, only to find some of the most inbred, small-minded bigots were in the cities. It was just hard to see because the city folk hated the “correct” things.
Wait a minute. Isn’t it a mistake to put the word balloon coming from a reflection instead of from the real man?!
Until I draw myself drawing the comic and insert myself into the plot you can’t judge me.
In your underwear. Don’t forget the underwear.
If there was a “Like” button, I would like Doug’s reply about hating the “correct” people. My favorite take on the subject is an episode of Andy Richter Controls the Universe, which my wife and I (probably mis)quote in those circumstances.
“I hate racists, with their Nascar and their music and their so-called religion.”
That said, I thought the word balloon coming from the reflection was kind of clever since that’s where the character’s mouth is visible.
I think Doug nailed it. Hating the “correct” things is a perfect description of the so called enlightenment I find in metroplises. Usually, it is just as judgemental and bigoted as the labels they throw at others.
I think it was not a mistake to use the word balloon coming from the mirror though =]
I think fashionable bigotry s a good word for it.
And thanks! I thought I was being clever with that word balloon.
oh heck, there’s little worse than trying to say something intelligent and misspelling metropolises…
I liked that the word balloon was coming from the reflection. I didn’t even notice, actually, until I read the comments.
Really? I don’t know. It felt kind of weird to me. Though I suppose the sound waves could have reflected off of the mirror like that.
G.K. Chesterton! You win! Quote C.S. Lewis next and I’m a fan for life.
I have one shelf on my book case that is all Lewis and Chesterton. My top two favorite authors for sure.
Dang it. Now I think you’re the man. This comic had better stay good so I don’t end up in some awkward paradoxical situation.
Indeed! Chesterton AND mutant tentacle bears? I think I’m going to like this strip.
chesterton octobear high five.
I <3 anything you do 🙂
I’m this close to posting a pic of my own excrement just to see how loyal you are to that position, but I’ll just take the compliment. Thanks dude.
I figured that out the opposite way. I’m a LA native and when I was 14 we left for a small Texas town. I figure it was filled with unsophisticated hicks and racists. But, like you said, it was a different experience. Us city folk tend to talk high and mighty ably being tolerant and inclusive, but are generally apt to cordon ourselves off into our like minded groups and expect to save the world by taxing everyone to do it.
I’ve learned a lot more about getting along while living in the small town.
yeah I think the powerlessness you feel in a city makes you feel much more dependent on government. In a small town you can make a change. You don’t have to go to the government for every little thing and create a matrix of naggy little laws so no one gets annoyed (except they all get annoyed by all the laws and regulations).
I live in a suburb–which is more like a very small city–while I actually do like people, I do prefer more rural areas over large busy cities. There’s just something more beautiful and peaceful about it. It totally explains why I love Bar Harbor Maine. When we got to the city part of Maine why vacationing there several years ago, I immediately missed Bar Harbor.
Anyhow–bet there’s a dead mutant bear causing all that traffic
Any other guesses? I am guessing it is a dead peg-legged raptor.
I think it’s a moose nun who was clipped by a bumper and dropped her box of superhero capes.
OK, now there NEEDS to be a G.K. Chesterton bear. (G.K. Bearsterton?)
Might have to draw that. I don’t know if it would fit into the story… octo bear, bat bear… Chesterbear.
G.K. Chesterbear doesn’t need a backstory. G.K. Chesterbear just IS!
I hate when people said give it too someone else. How can I give my story I started to someone else Who is a writer that I can give my story
it’s definitely a slug.
I grew up in a tiny town in Northern New York state, and just recently moved to Buffalo. For me it’s weird how similar things are. Also, I hate country music with a passion, sorry. I think I’ve been psychologically trained to hate it.
Grandma’s face is exceptionally well drawn. You make my comics look like kindergartener’s drawings
Sorry not about the story BUT…FINALLY someone who puts the antismalltown pro -bigcity into perspective. Sure gets old. Alot of what I run into is that folks think small towns are cut off from all civilization and full of racists. To me it shows their ignorance and is sad and just bugs the crap out of me ’cause it is sooooo wrong.
Ethan, Thank you very much for all your hard work and just for being a pretty awesome/possibly insane young man. I’ve been weighing up whether to comment for the last few pages and that blog entry has cinched it! You rule. Axe Cop rules. And now BEARMAGEDDON rules too. Cheers mate.
thanks so much!
Why is that woman driving on the passenger side?