King Kong vs Slenderman

I have a horrible feeling I’m gonna have to draw King Kong vs. Slenderman. I have to do it now, don’t I? Oh brother. Don’t worry, I won’t use AI to make it. Love, Joolz comics and cartoons are made with Genuine Stupidity. True human fault and folly went into this pile of loudness for your entertainment and enlightment. Anyway…

There have been industry threats to replace artists entirely with AI to make feature films, but I say try it. It’s not like their current choices have been great. Nobody asked for live action remakes of old movies we’ve already seen. Nobody asked for visual effects on every little frame. Nobody asked for corporate brand movies. Infomercial, but make it movie. No. Nobody up there seems to making smart choices, so I say try making a movie out of AI. Do it. Get an AI generated script Use AI generated characters. Use AI generated designs. Maybe?? Somehow?? Get the thing to do everything on model??? AI generated marketing campaign. AI everything. I say let them do it and see what kind of mid AF drivel comes out of it. Honestly I think it’ll be a little nightmareish. The kind of thing you pass around to your friends in high school when you’re drinking stolen beers after Disney Plus tosses it back into the Vault. Studio Heads seem to think “Computers!” is the answer to everything. Computers will make the money come back. When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail I guess.

TL:DR An AI Generated movie would suck ass.

My Read-Or-Dies, I really had to think hard about King Kong vs. Slenderman as the fake AI movie title for the joke. I wanted their failing title to be something a normal person would look at and go WTF that’s a dumb idea. I tried to think of the stupidest idea ever. But all I could go down to was King Kong vs. Slenderman. It’s really hard to be a person imitating a computer imitating a person.

I wonder if I failed because King Kong vs. Slenderman might be sort of awesome.

Going off Socials

News has come out that social media sites are draining the life of independent artists. Sites that require you to make posts specifically for them will punish you for posting about your patreons or Kickstarters. So you’re always giving to the Zuck or the Muskrat and getting nothing back. It’s kind of a good thing most social media platforms in the US went full fash because now I’m taking way more time to myself. I’m not caring about posting my life on socials. I’m no longer investing my energy into stuff that doesn’t matter. Slacktivism isn’t cute.

I didn’t make three comics this week, so I’m going to post this image I made to communicate to my Substack readers that I’m getting out of town. No more Metaverse for me. And that’s why I look so cute.

Stupid Comics

The most punk rock thing you can do is put out your truth and not give a damn about quality. I guess that’s what I had to remind myself of here.

I’ve been going to Zinefests lately. What I love about zines is that they’re usually someone’s unfiltered truth. A tiny booklet where you share a piece of your soul in a message baked down to a cool 8 pages. This is the kind of stuff that inspires Love, Joolz. Truth, no matter how hard it hurts.

And that matters more than humor. Sure I like to be funny and amusing. But it seems to happen when I don’t try. I tried to make a joke about being basic basic but I didn’t know what to do. What do basic people do these days? I do not know the daily behaviors of normal people. I’m so sorry.

Surfing While Autistic

This is based on a true story. I was out at the beach and this little girl was wailing and crying. I didn't think much of it, but the little girl's grandfather felt the need to explain himself to me. I said it was chill, I'm also neurodivergent. We all float down here. So I think that helped.

But yeah, the old guy seemed encouraged by the idea that maybe his granddaughter can come to the surf one day. Everyone thinks autism means you're damaged or you're impossible to take anywhere and that's just not true. Sometimes autism or neurodivergence can mean you can focus on really cool shit, like surfboards. Which surfboards are the best surfboards to ride. Which conditions match which surfboard for that day. Or whatever I'm in the mood in. Honestly, I could write 5,000 words on just surfboards. I'm a big fan of anything with a needlenose-- anyway you get it. What if my weird brain works great for surfboards?

When I was a kid, I had an absolute meltdown before Kindergarten graduation because I wanted to stop off for White Castle. I don't know why I did, but I did. That meltdown felt a bit similar to the little girl by the shore.

Also, it was totally justified. White Castle rules.

Not a Comic Artist

I've been joking with my inner circle folks that I'm gonna start gaslighting people into thinking I'm an animator and not a comic artist with all the animation work I've been doing for myself. Animation seems to get a little more respect than comics. Also, I've been transitioning through different art communities, including animation, product designs and zinesters. In a time when printing books is getting less viable, I really do have to do a pivot at some point. I'm just a humble scribble smith trying to keep the lights on.

And the whales are coming out pretty cool.

Love, Joolz Classic - Mermaid's Revenge

This came out last year, but I’m still proud of it. When I was a kid I absolutely adored The Little Mermaid movie, but there’s a lot of shit wrong with that movie specifically. Ariel, in the original book by Hans Christen Andersen, dies at the end of the story. It’s supposed to be a cautionary tale about having to change yourself too much to fit in with shitty princes who end up marrying some other chick anyway because they don’t value you. And Disney turned it into Teen Marriage Propaganda. In hindsight, that’s pretty messed up.

So I took the mermaid idea back. What if I’m an aquatic messenger of death? They put their trash trawlers in my ocean. They can’t be surprised when I show up with some consequences. Hey, your yacht sucks. I hope you’re cool with it sinking to the bottom of the ocean. And I have neat bongos!

Check out the ANIMATED version of this on Youtube.