This strip seems frivolous at first until you realize the information included is adding depth to the android mystery. “Ana Everman” is an android alias. I’ll let you decide how it works, but I took the method from the alias used by the main character from “the Man From Earth.” Her first film taking place right about the time Jenny first met Ione puts her at around the same vintage as Ione. The name of the first film is a not-too-subtle clue that she’s an android. “Red Letter Day” is a reference to “It’s A Wonderful Life.” There’s lots of references to that film in my work, since it remains one of my favorite movies to this day. I don’t know that Ana Everman will ever show up in this story, but she may show up at the end, it just depends on how that writes itself.
Strong Women
One of the things that I’m trying to develop with this current Jet-Pack Jenny story is how Jenny is a strong, self-reliant woman. I talked previously about how her boyfriend works into that, and lately, I’m getting influenced by the music of some powerful, independent female artists, although I’ve always been attracted to that group of female singer/songwriters that write songs that are not about going to a club, or how their life isn’t complete without a man. When I became a skeptic, I was drawn to the fact that there is a really strong facet of the skeptical community that is made up of strong-willed women, most publicly identified with the website Skepchick.org. I resist the label of feminism, as it tends to emasculate men that embrace it, and I don’t feel emasculated in the slightest by my acknowledgement of the appeal of strong women.
Strong women can get along just fine on their own, without a man to “take care of things.” Strong Women think for themselves, and have opinions that are worth listening to. Strong women are confident. Strong women are independent, Storng women are also attractive as hell, no matter what their appearance is or how much they weigh.
With Jet-Pack Jenny, I attempted in Flight of the Virginia Dare to write her as a female heroine that was the equal of any male character in those situations, but I fell into some pitfalls of an inexperienced writer writing a female character. Her antagonist was another woman, and her conflict was in that she HAD to choose between a relationship and a career. That’s absolute bullshit, and if I re-write the story, I’ll change Jenny’s perspective and officer Duett’s proposal at the end. In this story, I have Jenny in the early stages of a relationship where she is there because she chooses to be, not because she has to be or was thrust into it. There’s another story in the works where Jenny’s relationship is a facet of the story. I hope I can get across that she is part of a couple, not someone’s girlfriend, and definitely not eye candy or an arm accessory.
I also have a story about half-written that deals more with the gender role of women, especially in regards to the society of Earth’s opposite number, Titan. I’m at a bit of a crossroads with it, as I have been for some years, but hopefully, once Factor of 01 is done, I can complete it. In the meantime, please consider that the women in Jet-Pack Jenny stories, especially Jenny herself is being written as the type of woman I’d like to meet. When I say that I’m attracted to strong women I mean so in the sense that I want to listen to them talk, hear their opinions and know what brought them to this point in their lives. That’s who I’m trying to write, because I want my protagonist to be the type of person I want to visit at least once a week.
What’s Going On?
I thought about not posting this, but I decided a few months ago to live my life online, so here we are. If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve already seen most of this, so just indulge me while I update everyone else.
I’m living in Orlando, working a part-time job at a little above minimum wage, which does not pay the bills. I am looking for full time employment, sending off at least one resume a day, and aiming to send off three a day. Friends are working to help me get a full-time gig as well, but the final decision isn’t up to them. I have a deadline of MegaCon to find a job that can pay the bills, and if I don’t, then it’s on the road again, back north to the old stomping grounds in North Carolina.
Please understand that I love Orlando. I don’t want to leave, as I’ve good friends here and it’s incredibly diverse. The creative comics community here is unorganized, but in a state where several people are trying to remedy that. For the first time in years, I’m not only making comics, but selling comics in a small comic shop. I’ve met skeptics, and I’ve met fans of comics as an art form. This is one the best towns I’ve ever lived in, and if I was making enough to pay my bills, I’d be very, very happy.
Those of you in North Carolina, don’t feel offended, but I never got that sense back where I came from. I love my family,and I appreciate the finer points of North Carolina culture, but diversity has never been an issue of importance there, and the creative community has never been able to make up its mind where it wants to go. Comic wise, the great shops get really focused once or twice a year, and don’t acknowledge local artists until their working on a big Marvel or DC book.
So, I’m trying my best to stay here. Everything else except the webcomic is on hold until then.
Mad World Dancing
All I know is that I want an edit of this video that’s just Roland Orzabal dancing.
Getting Ahead of Schedule…
This week, I’ve been able to do a lot of drawing. Tomorrow’s strip just needs to scanned and cleaned up then it’ll be posted. Next week’s strip is about 35% done, and the week after was started last night. There’s a strip about three weeks away that has also been done, and that strip will mark the last strip for collection into minicomic form, which shall be known as Bunkee #5, which I should have done in time for MegaCon.
The first print run of Bunkee #5 will be done in the old minicomic style of me printing these myslef and assembling them by hand. There just won’t be enough time to print them through ka-blam for a first print run, but the second printing will be done through ka-blam, and available through IndyPlanet. The annotations for each strip will be at the back of Bunkee #5, a running thing from here on out.
Pretty soon, a link for Threat of the Cybergirl will be on the links side of the web site, which will take you to the IndyPlanet listing, where you can order a copy print on demand, which will start happening for most everything done through ka-blam.
Also, check out my e-bay listings, as I’m selling a few things lying around. I could use the extra cash, and if I can figure out the anatomy, a special little drawing I’m working on will show up there before making its way onto Etsy.
