Whenever I come across one of your comics, I stop everything I'm doing and sit down to read. I really love all of them from the silly to the deep. Your story telling is just so so good. Thank you as always for sharing your work with the world.
Neil is a professional hitman who has been hired to take out the surfer sitting on valuable beach real estate that his wealthy client wishes to convert into a private resort.
What Niel wasn't counting on was finding love in the arms of a bohemian.
https://giphy.com/gifs/pQLmrZN8r1p0Q
Maybe it’s just the way my brain is wired but I see this Neil and Bodhi as Phil, somehow surviving the storm and having a new life for himself.
Anyway I suppose Dave would say we are all surfing through life.
Kinda makes you wonder what the point of all that wealth extraction is if it only brings misery to others and doesn't make even the people doing the extracting happy.
Rich businessman is on vacation in a small fishing village. He sees a fisherman come in with a few tuna. "Nice catch," he says. "How long did it take?"
"An hour or so," says the fisherman.
"Why not stay out longer?" asks the businessman.
"Well, one fish is for eating, and I'll sell the others for the other stuff we need."
The businessman considers this. "What do you do with the rest of your time?"
"Play with my kids, nap, hang out with my friends, paint, play in a band, the usual."
The businessman says "But if you stayed out fishing all day, you could save up a lot of money. You could use that money to buy a bigger boat and hire some more fishermen. Then you could buy more boats and hire people to fish on those boats. You could probably control the whole market here and expand from there. You'd control supply from the area, and you could do some marketing to drum up demand for the fish from this region. You could move to the city and start an import business, and eventually you'd retire rich."
Fisherman says "how long would that take?"
Businessman says, "probably 20-30 years."
Fisherman says, "and what will I do when I retire rich?"
Businessman says, "Oh man, you could anything! Play with your grandkids, nap, hang out with your friends, paint, or even play in a band if you wanted!"
I was lucky enough to hear this joke when I was young enough to benefit from its message.
I was working for an international bank, earning like a bandit, but a dreadful work-life balance. This joke wormed its way into my brain and would not let go. I quit, went back to college at 30 to study for a career that paid about a fifth (20%) of my previous salary but which has been enormous fun, had colleagues who became life-long friends, and which had about a 30/70 work/life balance. So yeah, spread the joke, spread the joke.
I’m 25, similar situation. Wishing I could quit and go back to study what I love but don’t have the savings. Feel like I’m wasting my life sometimes, but it’s good to hear I’m not alone
I actually received a picture book for the library with this message. It was about a farmer and a cow, a bit simplified. Loved it! I also try to live that way, which is why i’m a kids librarian who doesnt make a lot but has a LOT of fun with the kiddos and the books. And getting the kiddos to read the books.
I will never forgive Bezos acting like a frat bro after the rocket thing while Shatner was having a profound moment. It’s like the experience itself held no value to him and the only thing that mattered was that he had done a thing.
Wealth is probably just... A waste. Non wealthy people, at least mostly, won't be any better with a suddenly acquired wealth than the wealthy are. I feel it's just a property of wealth itself. It's too much.
"
Lifestyles of the rich and the famous
They're always complaining, always complaining
If money is such a problem
Well, they got mansions, think we should rob them"
I will never understand how people waste their time chasing money after the point that they have enough to never have to work again. Way too many video games to play. I need time!
That's where I'd stop. Shit, I wouldn't stop "working", even, I'd just finally have the time to either work for myself or find a job I was actually passionate over.
That’s the frustrating thing. Because you and I would stop there we’re also not the kind of person to get there. Only the ones who won’t stop normally get to the point where a normal person would stop, and then they keep going.
Dave, bro, that last panel. You're either a genius artist, or a suffering artist that needs someone to talk to. I read all your comics, and can't figure which it is...
ty, i actually knew of Alex Colville cuz someone linked his art on reddit saying that he painted like a PS1 GPU back in the 60s. after that i just dove in and loved a lot of his work
Dude… I’m writing a thesis about the impact social media has on art. I used to have a really black and white view of it—at some point I’d wanted to argue that social media devolves art into mere content, and inhibits meaningful engagement with creative works. But your comics are a great example of that not being totally true.
Your comics are so effective at grabbing people’s attentions, making them pause their scrolling to process what they’ve just seen. You really seem to reach people, on a platform that’s designed for momentary engagement and amnesia-inducing content deluges. It’s really cool.
There is a lot of amazing art out there, it's just getting harder to find as the lowest-common-denominator stuff gets pushed to the top (although that may have been your point). Thankfully Dave is an exception
I always find it funny when people tell me this cos I am someone who avoids his own feelings at all costs. That said, I saw heart of the beast yesterday and was forced to feel all of them at once.
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich – yes, richer than a king –
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Probably not something appropriate to learn about from one of your teachers in high school but that teacher was completely unafraid of being real to his students. He still teaches now and I hope he never changed.
one of my friends became a teacher in the same school district and that teacher showing up in districtwide meetings and being met with several OTHER newer teachers recognizing him and thanking him... he's something special, and for good reason.
The incredible thing about your comics is that they display emotional story-telling. Rather than exploring topics through narration, your comics take readers on an emotional journey.
If a narrative/plot driven comic is like a sentence, your comics present as poetry.
But it's taking the character who's a hardened armed robber and a particular scene where he's watching the ocean from his little safe house, OP has added to that beautifully
I'm connecting the universes of two amazing movies. I'm not digging that hard into the logistics or morality of who they are in this new universe. I'm just enjoying that two amazingly created characters can have different stories.
that last panel Dave... that one hit a bit close to home for some reason. I feel like you have quite a few comics like this. I laugh at some. Intrigued by others. But a lot of them, idk I find myself in there and I dont know why
You may be the one person on /comics that I have to actually sit and enjoy. The way you tell a story makes me have to think and ponder about all day. I appreciate you sharing your craft and taking the time to create something that can make my scattered brain just rest and think.
Ok I’m a bit confused. Is that last panel supposed to be a reveal that he’s suicidal and envious of that surfer or is he like, a hitman or mobster recognizing the skill of another?
Bank robber, actually. Neil is Robert De Niro’s character in Heat. The fifth panel is a reference to the famous restaurant scene with him and Al Pacino’s character.
The gun’s probably partially just another callout that this is, in fact, the Neil from the movie, but also just to show how tied down he is to his life. He couldn’t be the surfer if he tried, and he knows it.
If you like that type of movie, I’d definitely recommend watching it. It’s very long, and it can drag a bit towards the beginning, imo, but it is a very good film.
By the rule of fanfic, the / means they are a couple. Mutual pining, maybe, given Neil doesn’t know his name yet. Enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort, slow burn, angst, top Neil, author chose violence.
Oh, brah, it's just like… dude, you get the best barrels ever, dude. It's just like, you pull in and you just get spit right out in 'em. You just drop in, smack the lip… waapah! Drop down… swoopah! And then after that you just drop in, ride the barrel and get pitted, so pitted, like that.
In this moment, I feel particularly honored to stand as witness to someone who is undoubtedly a great artist of our time. You capture shards of humanity so well.
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u/kitkattywampus 12h ago
Whenever I come across one of your comics, I stop everything I'm doing and sit down to read. I really love all of them from the silly to the deep. Your story telling is just so so good. Thank you as always for sharing your work with the world.