So if you follow me on the Twitters (@jakescomic) then you’ve probably seen a few tweets and conversations with Sean McLean, the creator of the webcomic Underwhelmed. So anyway, been meaning to do a guest strip for him with Doyle as a firefighter. So here it is… the lazy fireman.

Here’s a link to Underwhelmed: http://underwhelmedcomic.com/

I’m pretty sure that the coffee oath is valid in most any workplace, but especially so at the firehouse.

Hey! I’m trying to draw 90 sketches in 90 days and I’m posting everything over at http://fixmedia.tv http://notoriouslb3.tumblr.com/

Check it out. Comment. Offer to buy a print. Just go take a look and send encouragement cause it’s not easy drawing some of these. Peace out.

Took a short break to recharge the batteries and get organized with life. So I’ll try to get back into the routine of drawing comics. I’ve been doing a bunch of writing and sorting through storylines and ideas that way. In the end, I think you’ll just end up seeing more gags than storylines, but who knows. Thanks for visiting and stay safe.

Just some internal dialogue…

Pulled this one from the headlines but yeah, here’s how it played out:

1. Pet turtle knocks over it’s tank
2. Heat lamp catches the floor on fire
3. Apartment burns and is a complete loss
4. Turtle somehow escapes injury
5. Turtle takes over the world

Believe it and stay safe!

So here it is, the Zombie March for Brains piece I worked on most of Friday. I have the black & white original inked over red pencil that I sketched it with. It’s 22.5″W x 5″H on a light Arches watercolor paper.
For now, prints are through Zazzle so click here to get one.

If you want the original, shoot me an email at lenwood [at] fixmedia [dot] com
with a reasonable offer.

This strip is true and literally “You can’t make this stuff up”. So this is the first in a series of off-storyline strips devoted to this idea. So yeah, this is a true true story, a nearby local on-call department installed a coffee machine on-board one of their new pieces. Funny at first, but brilliant 2-3 hours into an incident when it’s cold out. We laugh but then get in line to get a coffee. Oh yeah and thanks to iJustine for having a complicated favorite coffee drink at Starbucks that I could use in the comic.

It’s $5 for one ticket and $20 for five tickets. Using Paypal, I’ve added a few extra cents to cover transaction fees. ($5 + $.50 and $20 + $.90)

Please include your email address so I can email a photo of your ticket with your raffle number. My deadline is May 31, 2011 and the drawing will be held on June 15, 2011. The iPad2 is a 16GB in black (Part# MC769LL/A). Here’s the flyer (click it for a larger version):

UPDATE: So after getting a nasty-gram from Paypal I had to remove the donation buttons that would give you a ticket to enter the raffle. Apparently it is against their Acceptable Use Policy per this from the email:

Under the Acceptable Use Policy, PayPal may not be used to send or receive payments for activities that involve an entry fee and a prize, such as raffles, drawings or lotteries. Due to applicable laws and industry regulations, we do not offer approval for these types of transactions.

The complete Acceptable Use Policy can be found at the following URL:
https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=ua/AcceptableUse_full&locale.x=en_US

Also, after a little research, it is illegal in the United States to hold online raffles. You learn something new everyday.

If you are still interested, just email me and we’ll figure something out. lenwood at fixmedia dot tv

It’s tricky though… I mean how much of what I am doing is “insider baseball”? I want the comic to appeal to everyone but part of me says that maybe it’s only funny cause I’ve been there and experienced these situations. On the flip side, lots of what’s funny isn’t always something I want to promote as part of a firefighter’s personality. Like how do you laugh at things when someone dies in a car accident.

A few years back I was a a once in a career car accident. It was horrific. The Medical Examiner came down to do his thing with the accident and my crew was helping and making jokes to sort of help deflect the severity of the situation. The Medical Examiner also had over 20 years as a firefighter under his belt and he laughed with us, but also talked warned us about the “Gallows Humor”.

So some of us deal with these situations with humor but a news camera, the public or whoever might see our behavior as insensitive, rude and inappropriate. But what people forget is that firefighters and EMT’s thrive on the misfortune of the public. The worse off they are, the more we get off on doing our job. It’s sick, but step in my shoes…

Your house is on fire and we show up, there is a tiny bit of smoke and we put the fire out with minimal water. We’re happy, but no big deal. There’s hardly any damage, you are thankful and we leave saying, “another 10 minutes and that woulda’ been a fun fire”. So take you fire and we pull up with flames shooting out the window and you say that someone is trapped inside. Our adrenaline goes crazy, we make the save and put the fire out which requires a 2nd or 3rd alarm. Your house is standing my between smoke, fire and water damage, you basically have to tear it down and rebuild.

Maybe one of the worst days of your life, but perhaps one of the best days of our life. We all go home, no one is hurt, fire is out and rescue was made. It’s what we live for and it’s sick. So in doing the comic, where is the line? Perhaps this is why there have so few attempts at making a gag comic devoted to firefighters.

So in some upcoming strips I’ll be exploring the inner feelings and dialogue of Jake. What is he thinking on the way to a call? There will certainly be time for some gags, but I think exploring the things aren’t always funny time worth spending. Thanks for coming along for the ride.