Comic Strip of the Day

CSotD: Point of personal privilege

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Mike Peterson Published: October 3, 2011 1 minute 1 comment

This is not a comic strip, but I am claiming personal privilege to feature it because (A) I want to and (B) you'll be glad I did. It's a quick read that will stick to your ribs.

Dylan Meconis and I go back to 2005, when I was working on a serialized collection of mythology for kids and an artist I had worked with before found herself at the last moment with a conflict that kept her from collaborating on the project.

In a bit of deadline panic, I turned to my frequent partner in these ventures, Christopher Baldwin, who, in turn, recommended a young artist who was just finishing her senior year at Wesleyan and who was not only wonderfully talented but had a particular interest in mythology.

And was starving. The key to my success is to catch artists whom I will one day be unable to afford at a stage when I can. The end of senior year in college is pretty good timing.

 The great thing about this particular venture was that Dylan already knew the milieu as well as the stories themselves, so that she created the image of Proserpina (left – and do click on it!) from my text with no coaching. Not only was she up to speed on the  myths, but she even suggested a couple for the series. (And was right, which is the notable factor when people suggest things you ought to write about.)

  She may remember this differently, but I don't think I sent back a single sketch for revision on this project, and we ended up working on a second project, in which she was constrained by having to place characters like Bootes (right) in postures that would echo the form of their constellations.

In the nearly-seven years since that first collaboration, Dylan has gone on to become a well-known figure in alternative cartooning circles, and, while I'm sure the occasional royalty checks from here come in handy, she's doing quite well and has a couple of successful books as well as a good on-line following for her work.

So when Christopher offered a link to "Outfoxed" on the blog of his own web comic, "Spacetrawler," I was as delighted to follow it as I think you will be.

This charming sample of her work will not only show you that she is a talented artist with an appealing style, but will also let you see the grasp of legend in her storytelling that has made our too-infrequent collaborations so much fun and so easy for me.