Let’s step back a minute to last Sunday’s Crankshaft so I can pull back the curtain for you just a bit. Some months back I was visiting our local comics emporium when I noticed what appeared to be a child’s drawing of Negative Man posted on the wall behind the counter. I inquired to its provenance and was told that a young boy had sketched it as he was waiting for his father to finish up his business in the store. I was charmed by the idea of the owner displaying the drawing in his comics shop, and asked for permission to take a picture of it.
I took it home and set about coming up with a story as to how it could end up on the wall in the Komix Korner. After giving it some thought, I realized that the real story was too true, too perfect, and too sweet all on its own, and that it didn’t really need anything added to it at all. So off it went to my co-conspirator Dan Davis for him to bring to life on the comics page which he did with aplomb. Sometimes you need to step back from an idea and just get out of its way.
Tomorrow, I plan to visit the shop to deliver the Sunday page with the strip in it to the owner to pass on to the young artist, and let him be the one to explain to the budding artist what a newspaper is.
