Gobo Gazette

I want to wish my son, Dante, a happy third birthday! I think it is very interesting that, of all the methods to do so, the first way I am doing so is virtually. When I was growing up, you either got a phone call or a birthday card if someone wasn’t going to make it to your party. Now you get a text, email or post on social media. Maybe it’s just me, but I think the personal touch is lost in this digital age. It feels pretty… automated. Like this post. I am creating it the day before and scheduling it for upload today! But now that I think about it, it is kind of like handing an analog birthday card to the mail clerk. People still do that. Right?

But I digress. I am very happy that my boy has such a wonderful imagination and seems quite oblivious to the world outside our windows. I am not saying we don’t get him outside. We do. It’s just not so easy with a shelter in place order. Perhaps he gets it from his family. Everyone at home is riding this thing out quite well. I can only hope the same goes for you. I think the key is to make sure that you set time aside to imagine. To play. Living in a small apartment, you realize that you don’t need a large space to have fun. Just remember that staying at home might be tough but it is helping everyone out right now. So, if you are family or friend – or a regular viewer of Gobo Gazette – and you want to wish someone a happy third birthday (or whatever number that might be), do so virtually. Stay safe out there!

With a title like “Catch the Rainbow”, you would think this was an advertisement for Skittles. But that fruit-flavored candy doesn’t have the monopoly on rainbows. Still, not many people would immediately think of St. Patrick’s Day if they saw a rainbow without a pot of gold. Well, the heraldic color of Pat‘s clothing is Or which mean gold. And a saucepan is kind of a pot, right? So, there you go! This is totally an appropriate image for St. Paddy’s Day! (Some might say that a rainbow without a pot of gold on this day could also refer to a technicolor yell or yawn, but lets not get gross).

I want to wish everyone a happy and safe St. Patrick’s Day… with an emphasis on “safe”. I know that I usually bring up how I feel that this is one of the annual “amateur nights” when it comes to all the drinking that happens. I still want everyone to drink responsibly and to have a designated driver. But also keep in mind that their is a highly contagious virus out there. Not only does drinking reduce our inhibitions but it also makes us sloppy. If you plan on going out on the town or even to a smaller social gathering, consider taking precautions to keep yourself and others free of illness. And now you know. Have a great St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy second anniversary to you, Gobo Gazette! Time sure flies when you’re putting out a comic each week for two years (minus one day a year for the holidays). It might not be a three-strip a week comic, but the story has developed quite a bit since the gobos had left their cave behind and entered the larger world. And explored it en masse or in groups of four. No idea what I am talking about? Well then, you need to catch up where last year started. Or start all the way from the beginning. Wow, the art has changed but nothing too extreme, it hasn’t been that long. As I mentioned, this is only the webcomic’s second anniversary.

And we have another year ahead of us. With the immediate threat behind them (or beneath them), what new misadventures await our dirty dozen? The next ten chapters could be anything! And, unlike Tik and Tok here, I’m not still chiseling it out of raw concrete thought. I have this next year all plotted out, and have plans for the next ten chapters after that. I just need to sketch, ink, color and post. So… I guess I’m still smoothing out the concrete. But I promise that I am further along than those two gobos.