The Early Days: Blue Grass Pond

My career in comics began by doing single-panel gag-strips, basically ripping off The Far Side. It would be kinder to call it an “homage”.

Toward the end of High School I decided I wanted to move away from single gags so I could tell stories. The result was my first venture into comic strips. At the time Bill Waterson was my idol and I was very taken with the idea of becoming a newspaper cartoonist (which is at times painfully clear while looking through some of this older material).

Blue Grass Pond

The name I settled on for the strip was Blue Grass Pond. I worked on it on and off for almost two years. I confess that I was not really that productive during this time period and, if I had been taking my art as seriously as I pretended to, I would have a lot more of this comic strip then I do now. Nevertheless, I came away from that period in my life with a better understanding of how easily you can get into trouble with a recurring storyline and about seventy comic strips which my Mom still tells me are awesome.

I have collected the entirety of  Blue Grass Pond here for your viewing pleasure. I hope you enjoy.

Leave a Reply