FIVE. YEARS.

If this comic was a child, I'd be sending it off to school and hoping that it was going to grow up to be a good person. Not famous or important, but happy with its life and decent to others.

Of course, being the third child, GO FISH is going to be a spoiled brat.

Five years, guys. That's insane. I never planned for GF to make it past issue 2. But I'm currently plugging away at issue 13 and painfully agonizing over issue 14 and already thinking of issue 15. CRAZY.

There have been a lot of ups and downs...mostly downs. GO FISH was started because I was pissed off by the reaction people had towards my failed comic PET. It failed because of my own idiocy and ego-stroking. I had too many characters with too much background that was never explained. I thought "fine, I'll make a comic with as few characters as possible and no background" and dropped a couple humanoids onto some lined paper. Roger was originally blond and his first name was WAY too embarrassing to reveal before I am famous and dead. Baxter has remained the same, but I was going to give that stupid feather on his hat some symbolism, but y'know, fuck it.

And it was a hit.

I showed it at Johnson State College, the Visual Arts Center, the tiny double-wide-sized gallery/studio/classroom and asked for feedback on this very day five years ago (Jesus, I am old). The response was great and I was shocked. I was a little afraid, too. Now I had to make a story. Immediately I worked out the end and set out to meet it.

But things happened. My friends and people and influences and education happened. Plot holes had to be filled with as much shit as I could find in my head. Roger mentioned a guy named Alex = BAM, his ONLY friend in the whole universe, Alex, is born. Originally meant to be straight and kind of a "dude, no way, dude" sort of guy, Alex was given the last name Sleeper (the Vermont state police commissioner at the time with an awesome last name) and was never gay in my mind until I accidentally started pouring feminism into him to pull it off Roger (you can actually pinpoint the moment he turns gay if you pay attention).

I made up my own gods for a while, but Art History proved too much for me and I was introduced, via Professor Mary Martin, to Tlaloc. A sad rain god who had had his wife stolen from him and sat around drinking rain and moping with lepers. A few character models later and Tlaloc was in GF, ready to steal the show. Now Alex was really gay = my Gary Stu. Fuck.

And so it went. I started with two characters, no background, little story and today I have (I have to count, hold on...) eight characters and COUNTING (there are a couple more additions...sorry). This is like a bad anime now (except worse). They all have their own problems and backgrounds; some I plan on visiting and others I do not.

I think GF will be coming to a close within a few issues. I am becoming afraid of my comic, my characters, this story, and I think the sooner I end it the sooner I can take what I've learned from this project and apply it to others. I'll be sad to see it go. It's been a ton of fun. Luckily, after graduation my updates have had a hell of a rocky schedule (from every day to three times a week to weekends to not at all to once a week, etc...) and it will probably extend GF's life into the next millennium. Hopefully by this time my art will look better and my storytelling abilities will have improved.

But there's one thing I find odd. After FIVE YEARS, only one person has ever asked:
"What is Roger's last name?"

Maybe we'll find out some day.

I love you, appreciate you and respect you, the reader, for being so patient and staying by my side. I draw because I love it, but I update and share my work because I love you. GAY!

SEE YOU IN FIVE YEARS!<3