Some of you may remember that the originating impulse for this comic came from an old, similar strip that I drew for my college newspaper, the Scarlet & Black. Recently, the S&B put all their archives online, making it possible for respectable adults like me to observe (with all due horror and fascination) the output of their younger selves.

Reader, it was shocking. I was shocked! First, by how significantly my drawing style has changed (i.e., I learned how to draw), and then by the fact that – although many of the comics are nigh-on incomprehensible – some of the final strips actually resemble work I would do today. (Even my propensity for bizarre titles was right there, waiting for me. The old strip was called “In Spite of the Tennis,” which I’m sure I thought sounded Proustian or something.)

So, I decided to do a little retrospective: I picked a few of the more interesting comics to re-draw and (starting today) post here. Admittedly, I also re-wrote this one a bit; you can see (at least a bit of) the original below (if I ever get WordPress to accurately display it.) (Nope.)

In other news, the Ploughshares blog posted my Literary Boroughs essay on writing life in Tucson today. If you’d like to learn about the literary atmosphere of the Sonoran desert, or just immerse yourself for a little longer in my melodious phrasing, please check it out!

In other other news, my novel is in copyedits! That means I finished the bigger revisions I was working on with my editor, and that you’re all one step closer to being able to read it. Hooray!

Finally, my wonderful agent Emma is going to be married next week, which means I won’t have anyone to email about The Sopranos until the end of the month (unless someone else wants to volunteer for this position): a joy and a tragedy all bundled together! Congratulations Emma & Chris!