Diary of An Alien, Day Four

Who is this Fiscal Cliff, and if he’s such a menace, why don’t they just run over him with a tank?

“Fiscal Cliff” sounds like an accountant with a really big chin and wavy blonde hair.

I don’t understand these people.

Reporting From Earth,
Coosh Mezardwark

Originally published at gneech.com. You can comment here or there.

Random Thought re: Suburban Jungle

When I started Suburban Jungle in 1999, Tiffany's fixation on the '80s was not that unusual-- it had just been 10 years previous, after all. By the time the strip ended, on the other hand, Brody's fascination with the '80s was more of a quirk, considering it was a decade he'd probably never actually lived in, or if he had he certainly had no memory of it.

Tempus fugit, and all that. :)

But if I was starting the comic now, using the same "decade ago" time period would put Tiffany in the position of being nostalgic for 2002-2003, i.e., the post-9/11 dot-bomb era-- something I'd be hard-pressed to find much to be nostalgic about! ;)

But Tiffany's '80s nostalgia wasn't just "I liked that time 'cos I was in school," it was also pretty central to her whole character. The very idea of being a rising star/supermodel wannabe is a very "1980s" sort of idea. I can just see it being the subject of a light comedy flick starring Kim Cattrall and, I dunno, Steve Gutenberg or someone like that. Like Tiffany's family backstory (her mother's Cold War escape to the U.S., her father's spy thriller lifestyle), Tiffany herself and her hopes and dreams are a product of their time.

I think that as much as anything was one of the things that led me to the decision to bring SJ to a close. It was of an era, and when the era was done, so was the story. What's been tripping me up since then is finding a new story to tell. I'm getting there, tho. :)

-The Gneech