it's a living

When I was in Fifth Grade, and far more ambitious than I am now, I started drawing my own comic books to sell to my friends for a dollar a pop (a lucrative enterprise for me, as I could use my Dad's photocopier and stapler for free). I say "started", because I only made one, a seven-page story featuring a superhero I'd created. Shortly after I'd finished the comic, I upped the ante significantly, offering personalized comics (in which the buyer could suggest the story and/or characters, and I would provide the illustration) for seven dollars each. Unfortunately, I couldn't handle the stress of taking artistic direction from Matt Burrows on top of having to do a book report on The Incredible Journey, and that's more or less the point when the whole operation fell apart.

Thankfully, the original comic book, tucked away for years in a Garfield Trapper Keeper, survived (which is kind of miraculous, as it was drawn on the same recycled paper that I used to puzzle out my math homework).

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Lance Bark, the Unsung Mutant in...THE GAMES (click on the images for larger versions)!