The things I do for you people… :)
Confidentially, I really liked drawing this strip. Graphite on paper is still my favorite medium so far; I love trying to wring expression from pencil drawings. Now if only I could have started about a week earlier…*zonk*
As for the Eastland, it really did tip over while still tied to the dock, on July 24, 1915. It’s one of those fascinating, yet dreadful tales, amplified by how easily it could have been avoided. The ship had a reputation for listing at unhealthy angles, even causing an earlier accident. After the disaster, bodies were lain out at the 2nd Regiment Armory (different building, but still in Harpo Studio’s current spot) by the hundreds, waiting for distant family members to claim them. Not a pretty sight.
For more info on the doomed steamer, the Eastland Memorial Society has a good recap of the whole tale, as well as some passenger data (ignore its pleas to install Java, it’s not worth it if you don’t have it already); the Library of Congress has some great – if potentially disturbing – images taken from the Chicago Daily News. For entire newspapers following the accident, the Chicago Public Library has scanned clippings of the Chicago Examiner available online from 7/25 to 7/31. Dynamite stuff!
Sorry for the delay, peeps. The ol’ creativity well done dried up for a spell, and I figured I’d give it a rest. Winter has not been to kind to my motivation. Enjoy the comic!
Jake initially referred to Daniel quitting the Rusty Trombone, way back in August. Needless to say, he didn’t take it very well. (Jake, that is. Daniel felt great.)
Must be fun, zipping along at 50+ mph over Lake Michigan with sub-zero temperatures. And then to contend with 2 feet of snow everywhere…gotta love Chicago. *goes to warm some hot cocoa*
Nothing like waking up refreshed after a long winter’s nap, eh?
This installment’s a shorty, as will be the next one. After that orgy of inking involved in the vacation strips – I only meant them to be a quickie thing, but they ate up a lot of time – I needed a bit of a break.
Hoo! That was quite a little transition experiment, eh? Gotta say, I’m pretty happy with the results.
Originally I was going to have Daniel spot a real live ghost in the Haunted Mansion (where one would naturally expect such things), but alas, no reports of ghosts haunt that particular location. There are quite a few ghosts in the Anaheim locale, but participating in the Midwest-to-Florida drive twice in my young life, I couldn’t envision it any other way.
As luck would have it, I stumbled upon the story of George, a worker on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World. During construction, George fell to his death from a high tower in the Burning City portion of the attraction…and he’s been a part of it ever since. When I read the story, I made up my mind. After all, where better to have a ghost than a place unexpected?
