First Published: October 19, 2007
'tis true: I do want to appeal to a young readership, certainly to people younger than myself. There's always the temptation to draw the strip in a more appealing, "edgier" style. Then I realize that the would run counter to the comic's actual content and I ruefully abandon my simpsonesque, southparked and mangafied redesigns.
A few weeks after starting this strip, I started to re-evaluate other semi-autobiographical strips, looking at what made them tick. In the end, I decided to stick with what I have.
That having been said... A reader pointed me towards the comics of Greg Erskine. At one time, he chronicled his everyday life as a host at a restaurant of "The Olive Garden" chain. The strip describes the increasing chasm that opens between his forced friendliness and his inner bitterness.
Erskine eventually quit the job and stopped doing the strip. His current series is a series of weird everyday vignettes called "Life of Luxury". It reminds me a bit of "Three Panel Soul", which is supposed to be a compliment.
I actually got my wife to pose for one of the panels -- the first one who sends me an e-mail (write to <me AT thisisme-comic DOT com>) with the correct guess gets a sketch.
Everybody is eligible, even personal friends, except for my wife, for whom this would be no contest. Don't feel bad for her, she gets little sketches all the time.
Updated Oct 26: After a week without a correct guess, I am cancelling the contest. So there.