# 13 What is it for?

# 12 So?

Welcome to Spatulaman

Hey!  Thanks for showing up on my site.  As always, I actually think this comic is easier to follow at Spatulaman.  This is part of Tapas which hosts a lot of very fine webcomics.  If you want to see this particular episode it can be found at Don’t Mention the Bow FIX!!!!!!!!!!!!

More about plot

One of the real joys about drawing and writing a webcomic is that the drawing goes so very slowly that I have a lot of time to think about the writing.  It takes around seven days to draw nine panels and during that time the dialogue changes a good deal.  Sadly, occasionally it changes enough that I have to throw out a a few drawings but I always think the story comes first and my feelings come second.  I try to give each of the characters a distinct speaking style but it’s easy to just have them all sound like me on the first draft.**  That is what drafts three, four and five are for.  In an odd way, webcomic writing is a tiny bit like poetry: every word has to count and you don’t really have space for the banal (or adverbs).  I also try to have the week’s work done two days in advance.  I publish on Tapas on Thursdays and here on Fridays and I want to be able to look at the finished product for a few days to catch words or drawings that don’t work.

* * People who know me think that I talk like Ernie but, really, I’m not that mean.  (Whatever they say!)

# 11 Don’t Mention the Bow

Hey!  Thanks for showing up on my site.  As always, I actually think this comic is easier to follow at Spatulaman.  This is part of Tapas which hosts a lot of very fine webcomics.  If you want to see this particular episode it can be found at Don’t Mention the Bow

However, you are here.  If this is your first visit you can either scroll allllllllll the way down to start reading or you can go to the archives and go through episodes one by one.  Let me know what you think.  I find input really useful.

Other Spatula Humor

Sometimes I cruise the image section when I google spatula comics or spatula webcomics because it is entertaining to see  other people who use spatulas in their work.  I almost always find them funny because that author and I clearly share a fondness for the absurdity of it.  So I will be posting periodic links to other spatula humor here.  Here’s the first one at A Spatula Foot is No Fun!  Also very funny is The Spatula of Terror

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#10 What is your name?

Find me

Hey!  Thanks for showing up on my site.  As always, I actually think this comic is easier to follow at Spatulaman.  This is part of Tapas which hosts a lot of very fine webcomics.  If you want to see this particular episode it can be found at What is Your Name?

However, you are here.  If this is your first visit you can either scroll allllllllll the way down to start reading or you can go to the archives and go through episodes one by one.  Let me know what you think.  I find input really useful.

#9 The First Visit

Welcome to the Spatulaman Graphic Novel

Hey!  Thanks for showing up on my site.  As always, I actually think this comic is easier to follow at Spatulaman.  This is part of Tapas which hosts a lot of very fine webcomics.  If you want to see this particular episode it can be found at The First Visit .

However, you are here.  If this is your first visit you can either scroll allllllllll the way down to start reading or you can go to the archives and go through episodes one by one.  Let me know what you think.  I find input really useful.

Plotting

So, it turns out that I have one large over-arching plot that doesn’t currently have many details but Spatulaman knows what he wants.  He just has to find the steps to get there.  And it also turns out that the thing that keeps me going on the plot is the necessity of having nine panels done once a week.

Sometimes I am amazed how hard it is to figure out what to write in nine panels.  It would probably be a good idea to write and rough sketch the week’s plot.  This would no doubt save me many many panels that get drawn only to be moved into a file of art I don’t want to trash but don’t want to use either.  However, the reality is different from that for a reason.  One, I sometimes think of a cooler way to draw something days after that panel is drawn.  Sometimes I think of a more concise way of saying something and then throw out two panels.  I think the reality is that the week’s story gets stored in my subconscious which works stuff out in a better way than I could by consciously thinking about it.  And I could settle for my original idea but I never do.

Anyway, enjoy.

#8 A Very Important Visitor

 

If you just want to see this webcomic you can go directly to Spatulaman.  Go here if you want to see this particular episode:  A Very Important Visitor on Tapas.  And Tapas has a lot of really nice webcomics if you go to Tapas

#7 Finally Alone

The Process of Writing a Webcomic

As always, you can always find this webcomic at Finally Alone which is found at Tapas.

And as always, there is a webcomic below.  If you want to find the beginning of the story and start from there, scroll to the bottom or go to Spatulaman and the Fly.

I am on episode seven of what I thought was going to be just a comic wherein I drew some pictures and tried to come up with funny things to say.  I really just started with Spatulaman and the fly came in because Spatulaman had to have someone to react to.  The problem is that the story (if you could have even called it one) started to get really cyclical, even to me and so I realized I’d have to come up with a plot.

A Plot.  Hmmm.  It’s not like I haven’t written stuff.  I have.  I have written three novels (not published — and not published for a reason) and a handful of short stories but I have also written probably a hundred beginnings and endings of novels, plays, short stories.  This is because beginnings are easy.  Ends are often easier because you know what you want for your characters.  It’s the middle that I have an issue with.  Many of my absolutely favorite authors are masters of plot.  If you haven’t, read a few of the Jeeves and Wooster stories written by PG Wodehouse

Wodehouse is a master of taking the strings of a plot, tying them in seemingly unbreakable knots and then almost imperceptibly untying them in the most satisfying way.  Also, he’s funny while he’s doing it.  Sigh.

So I’m working on a plot.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  At least I’ve figured out what Spatulaman wants and his first steps to try and get it.

#6 The Bath

The Spatulaman webcomic

If you just want to see this webcomic you can go directly to Spatulaman.  Go here if you want to see this particular episode:  The Bath on Tapas.  And Tapas has a lot of really nice webcomics if you go to Tapas

Methodology

The first step (maybe, I presume, it was for me) is to find a character who you like.  I found Spatulaman.  I don’t even remember when but it was at least seven years ago.  Then I did nothing with it.  A few drawings in a few notebooks, scattered about the house.  I would come upon them every few months and think,  “All right — that’s a character.”  And then nothing.  Mostly because I thought making a webcomic was for other people.  People who were driven to do it.  People who had something to say.

Then I quit producing theater shows and suddenly had all that time on my hands.  So I thought, “This is the moment.”  And it has been.  We’ll see.

#5 Blurp blurp

Just the comic, folks!

If you want to see this webcomic you can go directly to Spatulaman.  Go here if you want to see this particular episode:  Blurp Blurp on Tapas.  And Tapas has a lot of really nice webcomics if you go to Tapas

#4 Hahahahahahahahahahahahahhahah

Just the Spatulaman webcomic today

If you want to see this webcomic (or lots of other great webcomics) you can go directly to Spatulaman.  Go here if you want to see this particular episode:  Hahahahaahhahahahahahha on Tapas.  And Tapas has a lot of really nice webcomics if you go to Tapas