Zuzu & Brenna’s Art & Bizarre New World

I received a very sweet letter from Carol Burch telling me about how she began reading SiP to her little girls Brenna and Zuzu (then 6 and 4) as part of the nightly routine. The girls loved it and made her do all the voices of the characters. In fact, as Carol writes, “I now have Francine down to a fine art.:)” Carol also writes, “Some less open-minded people thought that the subject matter was innapropriate, ‘too mature for kids that age’, but on the absolute contrary, it gave us the perfect platform for discussing all kinds of thing… love, pain, same- and opposite-sex relationships, weird relatives, loss of loved ones… but most of all, you gave is laughter.” Carol continues, “You have also inspired my kids to new heights with their own artistic talents. Enclosed you’ll find a sketch from each of them. You are their hero, and I know they would have loved to see their pictures and letter in the book, but I fear we may have waited too long.”

So, yes, it is too late to have a letter printed in the comic book, but it’s never too late to put it on the website! I suspect there may be more people reading this blog than are reading the periodicals (meaning the comic book that comes out every six weeks) anyway, so Carol… an even larger audience for the girl’s debut. I think the art is fantastic, by the way. If you compare a sample of my art at age 12 and 14 to the girl’s work, they have me beat hands down so, look out world. You may be seeing more from these two in a few years! I love it. So cool.

Francine and Katchoo by Zuzu, age 12. Yes, 12! Can you believe it? When I was 12 I couldn’t even sharpen a pencil, much less… Great job, Zuzu!

Francine and Katchoo by Brenna, age 14. Beautiful drawing, symmetry and linework. Brenna, you’re the real deal. Keep drawing.

Also, there is a new comic coming out titled Bizarre New World.

I got a chance to read the first 2 or 3 issues and I was very intrigued. It’s the story of a regular guy who can suddenly fly. Instead of the story immediately going towards a superhero tale, it stays with the regular life aspect, like what it’s like to discover this, how the guy can’t believe it, plays with it a little every day, wonders about the dangers, discovers the limits of physics (like rapid altitude painfully popping ears and flying near thunderstorms). It’s all very clever – exploring the matter much as you might yourself if it happened to you. The book is published by Ape Entertainment, written by Skipper Martin with art by Christopher Provencher and Wes Dzioba. Check out their website here.