ABOUT THE LAST OPTIMIST ALTERNATIVE COMIC

THE LAST OPTIMIST Surreal Alternative Comics from the City of Gears! This tale of terror features a day in the life of a young suburbanite’s visitation to the big city. Each promise of metropolitan happiness is countered by a hideously discouraging occurrence. The adventure satirically examines commuting, computers, clubbing and consumerism, while introducing the audience to the monstrous metropolis and to the anti-anti-hero, a nameless representation of myself as a young artist. Surrounded by people with empty bubble-heads, many of which have floated off into the sky, the character nearly cracks, questioning his purpose amidst the chaos. In the surrealist pinnacle of the adventure, the protagonist is overwhelmed by the all encompassing urban absurdities and undergoes a visibly horrifying transformation. Bricks and mortar layer itself from beneath the character’s skin replacing his face with an architectural hieroglyphic. Oddly enough the unusual sequence was drawn at the corner of Queen St. and Soho, the exact site where I would inhabit as a full time professional street artist nearly two years later. Both through conscious and unconscious efforts the LAST OPTIMIST features an indistinguishably enlightened and hallucinogenic journey between worlds of fact and of oddities alike.

OPTIMISTIC DRAWING TECHNIQUES

In order to challenge myself both creatively and technically, I resigned to maintain a professional level drawing schedule for the production of my first independent comic but simultaneously decided to break some of the biggest rules of publication. Unlike most mainstream comics, which feature up to nine panels per page, one or two splash pages, and extensive dialogue, the LAST OPTIMIST explores a series of two page spreads in a silent and surreal narrative string of vignettes. Each cross-page panel was drawn entirely with technical pens and black India ink on white illustration board. The 36 page graphic novel was completed between Dec 1st 2001 - Jan 5TH 2002. Unfortunately, although I finished the artwork in well under a month, due to scanning, printing, and financial difficulties, publication of the underground cartoon did not occur until March 2002.

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