Happy First Birthday!
April 6, 2008
The month of April is a busy birthday month for the Boxcar Astronaut family. My brother celebrated his birthday on April 1 (and yes, I mercilessly teased him with the April Fools thing for years. Poor kid). My birthday is coming up this Thursday, and with the publication of #56 this Sunday, Marc and I are proud to say Boxcar Astronaut is now 1 year old!
It’s really mind-blowing to think about just how fast the time has passed since that Easter morning in ‘07 when the myspace site went live with our first four strips. Even though we didn’t have any web hosting secured or a domain name of our own at that point, I still felt this huge sense of accomplishment when I looked at those four little strips on my monitor. I was like a proud parent, staring with wide eyed wonder at the creation that I had a hand in bringing to life.
I remember thinking that if nothing else ever came of the whole thing other than these four strips and a myspace page, I would be okay with it. I just wanted to see Ben, Devin, Diogee, and Robot live and breathe, and I got my wish. I also got a lot more than I ever could have asked for in the following months, as Marc and I found a hosting company to build boxcarastronaut.com on, where we published 52 more Boxcar Astronaut webcomics. It’s been a great first birthday, and we’ve got lots of new stuff for you to check out over at the main page, including a new section called the sketchbook, where you can see some of Marc’s original concept designs with some commentary from him as well. And heck, since it’s both my birthday as well as Boxcar’s this week, feel free to send us some cards, well-wishes, and gifts if you’re so inclined. Thanks in advance!
Oh, and speaking of gifts, there are tons of great gift choices for the whole family at the Boxcar Astronaut Cafepress store! if you know someone with a birthday coming up, how about picking up a spiffy-keen Ben’s T-Shirt for them? They are avaiable in a wide variety of colors and sizes, and even if they aren’t a fan of the comic, they will still look stylin’ and profilin’ with that rocketship design. Just look at this happy customer!
Even though the mood of this week’s strip, (which is part 3 of our current “where’s Robot” saga) is a teeny bit somber, in many ways it’s content and tone is perfect for our one-year anniversary strip. The boys started out life in this comic without Robot, and things have come full circle as their metallic buddy is currently nowhere to be found. Since Marc came up with the big “happening” for which this story revolves around (you’ll see what I mean by that next week), this comic is probably my strongest contribution to the storyline.
It’s just a simple character study (which I like doing from time to time), that really showcases the boys’ moods and how they cope with sudden loss. While Devin will probably miss Robot in the long run, his immediate reaction is pretty rubber. He bounces back from it pretty quickly, and even tries to convince Ben what a pain in the butt Robot was. (Could this be some jealously for Robot coming in between his friendship with Ben? Hmm…) Ben on the other hand is pretty devastated. I think Ben definitely took Robot for granted after he was around for a while, and now he’s really feeling the impact of his loss. I think I’m learning more about Ben as I write him. He’s bold and brash on the outside, but inside I think he’s a pretty sensitive kid.
Of course, excellent artwork by Marc here as usual. Just a really nicely laid-out conversation between two kids coping with the sudden loss of a friend. Their faces and gestures tell the tale, and without them, the words I wrote for them wouldn’t mean much. And if you think marc’s been churning out some great artwork for this comic lately, let me tell you, he showed me some of the finished panels from upcoming parts of this storyline and it’s going to knock your socks off! Stay tuned!
