Stupid Fresh Mess...The Comic Strip

New ongoing comic strip in Image Comics Anthology!

I’ve always wanted to do a comic strip. As long as I’ve been reading the strips in the newspaper, I thought that’s what I would be doing one day! Eventually, I grew up and stumbled into comic books instead of strips and the rest is history.

I never let go of that dream though. So when Eric Stephenson at Image called me back in the fall asking me if I wanted to be a part of the IMAGE COMICS 30th ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY I said…

“Ugh, I really want to but I don’t know if I have the time.”

We talked about options that could make it possible and when he said it could be as long or short as I want and that’s when it hit me. I could use this as my chance to do that Sunday style comic strip I have always wanted to do.

You see, that’s how I usually get started on something I’ve been wanting to do but for whatever reason won’t just DO IT! I put myself in a position where I have NO CHOICE. I had no idea, plan, story, concept, art, or anything else that made it smart for me to say I could launch an ongoing strip. So, of course I say “I’m in for a monthly comic strip!”

I went through several ideas that were floating around and sitting in folders on my hard drives, but they all felt like comic book ideas broken up into single pages. Not one and done, gag style strips. I was banging my head against my table for weeks, right up until the deadline. Then I found something in my archives.

Years ago, I was going to make a run at a strip based on my family and the funny stuff that gets said between couples, kids and parents, pets and even the wildlife that you see in your backyard. I called it STUPID FRESH MESS. (Yes, long before I formed my company and gave it the same name.) I figured since I never really took that anywhere back then, this predicament that I got myself in would be a perfect opportunity to bring it to life.

And just like that, that little kid with the paper route, delivering the comic strips in the newspapers everyday…is a cartoonist making them!

These are coming out monthly in the IMAGE COMICS 30th ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY and hopefully you all are enjoying them and I’ll keep them going online after the 12 issues have been published. This anthology is filled with various comic stories from so many talented creators! Make sure you add this to your list for a taste of what a publisher like Image Comics has to offer.

Below are my first few strips and a little insight into the work, marriage, parenting, and life in general. Enjoy, and I’ll see you in the funny pages!