Match to Flame 239

Another thing I find myself doing now is following emotional threads. I’ll often buy a book thinking it’s something that I’d like to read, or that could be useful, and it will stay stashed in the bookcase until suddenly the moment is right and I get a really strong urge to take it down and read it. I’ve learned to pay attention to and to follow those urges because, even if I don’t understand why at the time, a large percentage of the time it leads me down a path to something worthwhile that I’m interested in and want to write about. Plus, those urges usually produce some of the more meaningful and impactful story arcs. For me, writing is so much easier and pleasurable when I’m emotionally invested in what I’m writing. In this collection, there are several threads like that. In the previous volume of this series, I mentioned that I began an exploration into the roots of both comic strips and comic books. Looking over my shoulder not to be a nostalgist, but to look back for answers to questions that had never really been put into words. My Holy Grail thread continues in this volume as I contacted more comic book artists whose work I had long admired to create “missing” comic book covers for books featuring my childhood creation Starbuck Jones, which, in the strip, Holly Winkerbean is trying to collect to give to her son Cory when he returns from the service. It gave me some genuine insight into the disparate personalities of these artists who had inspired me, and, in turn, what it was like to actually work with them. It was wonderful to be able to showcase what were ostensibly my roots, and to spotlight those talented artists within the confines of Funky Winkerbean. I was signing books at a music educators convention at the time when a band director said to me: “You’re writing a lot about comic books lately, but they obviously mean a lot to you.” What can I say? He nailed it.

From The Complete Funky Winkerbean Volume 15