Happening in Threes

It's been a long time since my last post, but that's usually what salmon season does to me--steals a minimum 2 months of my life every year. But it's been good: injuries to a few of the crew but all appendages still accounted for (if you discount the one's catheter). Destruction and carnage kept to a minimum with the exception of one 100,000 lb. forklift which might be headed for the scrap yard--we'll see. But a lot of fish. In fact, one of our grandiose 400-foot barges just left the river full of frozen fish, which means NO MORE REEFERS ON THE DOCK. My body will stop quivering from the generators, eventually. I realized today my headaches were possibly a symptom of carbon-monoxide poisoning from their smoke into then vent of my truck as I write down numbers and call out stow locations, wondering later on why I've transposed so many numbers. I'm astonished sometimes by my brazen stupidity. It's taken me ten years to figure this one out. So, there you have it. Item one. Peace, quiet, frozen fishes on their way to Seattle, China, Japan, and many places else.

Item two. This morning I woke up and it again looked like dusk. Gray sky, wet ground and everything between. I'm used to it now. Also found out Vitamin D can only do so much. So I carry on, plugging along as we all do because that's life, and no one likes complainers. Have to look forward to the good things you do have, like a full night's sleep coming up, and my new Green Lantern book. Strangely enough this afternoon (coinciding with the barge leaving the dock, even) I am at my desk filling out a last minute report to sail with the boat and I am shocked to see a patch of blue sky. And spreading. So now I sit writing in front of the river-view picture window at my folks place, beloved sun beaming down on me with one thought in my mind. I won't get into it here for fear of permanently damaging the tough-guy image I aspire to, but the word love would for sure be in any sentence I came up with to describe what I'm feeling right now. I'll leave it at that. Item two. Sunshine. Never take it for granted. CHECK.

And the grand finale of my week--item three. It's been a long time coming. The content of my first self-published comic UNDERTOW issue #1 is complete, along with a good portion of the cover work, thanks to a couple talented and hard-working friends of mine: Greg Harms and Gibson Quarter. Can't say enough good things about these gents, but they've helped me out a ton, ever since I first tried my hand at writing comic scripts some years ago. They were two of the first artists I ever hired to illustrate my stories (GQ was THE first, in fact), and after a hiatus in there I've been in contact with them again and they're helping me finish what was started back in 2003. Greg has turned into quite a versatile guy, penciling, inking, coloring, and doing some design work for the book, and GQ has gone back through our original 8-page short of a story call THE ORGAN-GRINDER and re-inked and drawn much of those 8 pages to showcase his developed skills, along with contributing the front cover and some more to boot.

He asked me to post something new here. Pretty sure he was hinting at the front cover, but I'll leave it to him to blow the surprise on that one (since he already has on his deviantart page). What I've thrown up here is my favorite panel to date of the Organ-Grinder's sidekick, Moses. As far as monkeys go, he goes all the way in dispelling the myth of their being cute. But when the OG rolls, Moses has got his back. You'll see why when you read UNDERTOW #1. Realizing now I've got a lot more to say on the matter, but I'll give it a few words more and call it that for tonight. But before I get into that--content of FIRST COMIC EVER--CHEEE-ECK!
The Organ-Grinder is a story about a one-armed man, Jeremiah McAlester, on the run, not from the law (well, maybe in a couple places), but from himself and the destiny that's been set upon him, in part by his own actions, and in part because of the cursed Organ he carries with him. Jeremiah isn't necessarily a gunfighter, but he's not unfamiliar with it either, and as many times as he's sworn off violence he's always been brought back to it one way or another at the prompting of the Organ and the force it contains (convenient excuse for a guy like him). His side-kick Moses has been with him for years, since around the same time he lost the appendage (the arm, sicko) in fact. More on all this later, though. The story opens in the late 1800's in the town of Rioda, Montana. Jeremiah is a newcomer, and trying to get along, but when you're the Organ-Grinder, highfalutin ideas like that are never meant to last.