Hello, World.
I just have to say, it’s GREAT to be drawing comics again.
- PMBQ
Unemployed Pandas
Times are tough…even when you’re the Best Ninja Panda in Town.
What would Ninja Panda do?
March 26th, 2009
It’s funny how things come together. Growing up in the 80’s, my biggest hobby throughout high school was collecting comic books. I could hardly wait every week or month until a new issue of X-Men came out whether it was Uncanny X-Men, Classic X-Men, New Mutants, etc… These were some of the greatest stories of family and friendship and I felt like I was standing right along side them as they went through each emotional peak and valley. The X-Men did not own a monopoly on intricate inter-personal relationships. Other series’ that left an impression at such an early age include early stories of the Elementals, Teen Titans, Matt Wagner’s Grendel, the classic Batman: The Killing Joke graphic novel and numerous others.
Most of these stories describe the extent to which people would go and sacrifice in order
to survive when faced with tremendous challenges. Granted some of these stories are on the darker side, but they are excellent example of how comics can tap into human emotion and entice the reader to see life through the eyes of these characters. Characters who have been put in extraordinary situations.
The challenges being faced today have put many of us in similar positions, requiring difficult choices. Unemployment is rising monthly, growing numbers of houses are going into foreclosure and even greater challenges face every person as they strive to put food the table for their families. It is times like this that we call upon our heores and role model to light the path forward, guide us in making those difficult choices. One question is universally asked when faced with such challenges.
“What would Ninja Panda do?”
Unemployed Pandas was born out of a series of coffee shop meetings/e-mail threads between Mai and myself. We both have jointly and individually been through interesting situations over the past year. At the end of the day you can only laugh and continue on your journey, which we often do over coffee. Eventually we started imagining “what would Ninja Panda do if he was in our shoes?” and that’s how this started.
True Events?
The core of the story revolves around our two pandas, Ninja Panda and Samurai Panda, the situations they have been put in, how they handle challenges and what they learn about themselves and eachother. Some of the stories in this series are loosley based on real life events, obviously the names of individuals will be replaced in order to protect their innocence UNLESS they really pissed either of us off. You can also expect a variety of cameos from characters that have left a very strong impression on our two pandas.
Follow our two pandas as they begin a journey faced with the new reality that pandas need stimulus too.
-Mervyn
New Beginnings
March 27th, 2009
Ninja High School, PMBQ's First Published Work!
There’s been a trend in my comics career. Typically, I draw a title intensely for a few years, and then disappear for 3 years. This occurred when I used to draw contributing stories to Antarctic Press‘ Ninja High School anthology series, and more recently with my creator-owned work Tea Club. It’s not a trend I’m proud of, but as I’ve done it twice I’m forced to acknowledge my own history.
However, these hiatuses are not without good reason. Primarily, they occur when I’m forced to prioritize an issue that comes up for most of us: living expenses! Yeah, you know how your parents always try to discourage you from growing up to become a comic artist? There is definitely truth to it. Whenever I’ve sacrificed time to draw comics, my finances have pretty much always suffered. To offset this, I usually freelance doing some sort of graphic or web design. (Side note: I am totally an advocate of an artist needing to suffer in order to further her/his craft. That’s a topic for a separate blog, though.)
Occasionally I have taken full-time jobs, which is how I met my current partner-in-crime, Mervyn. To those of you who have followed my past work, you’re probably surprised to see me actually collaborating with someone. I’m pretty much like every other control-freak artist, where I don’t like to compromise or give up any control. I certainly never looked for nor aspired to work with a partner.
My last day job changed all that. Although the company I joined was rather dry and technical (they manufactured and marketed network analysis devices), I was impressed by Mervyn’s unconventional thinking and ambitious strategies. I found myself going out of my way to support his projects and points of view with whatever graphics and illustrations he needed, and generally putting in far more hours than I had planned for in any day job. (After all, my passion is, and always will be, illustration.) The more I worked with Mervyn, the more I discovered how much we had in common—growing up in the Bay Area, collecting comic books, attending anime/comic conventions, even going to the same comic book store chain. It was pretty amazing that our nerdy paths had not crossed until last year.
Recently, our company closed its doors, but our friendship remained. Over the past several months, we both tried other gigs and employment, and went through many interesting experiences. We continued to meet for coffee, still brainstorming and trying to figure out what our next half-baked venture might be. Occasionally, our former colleagues would join us and share their own colorful tales of life post-employment.
During one of our coffee sessions, I mentioned to Mervyn how I’ve always wanted to tell the story of my characters, Ninja Panda and Samurai Panda. I had concrete ideas of how I thought it would play out, but Mervyn easily saw that I had been clearly overthinking the whole thing. Thinking of our own and friends’ recent experiences, as well as the current economic times, wouldn’t it be fun to make a comic about that? Combine that with my love of drawing comics and pandas, we just might be onto something…
And that’s why we’re here.
- PMBQ
