I’ve been a fan of Richard Thompson’s Cul de Sac since even before it was first syndicated. I found his blog and, with it, early versions of the characters we all came to know as the Otterloops. His sense of humor was loopy and filled with kid logic, and his art was at once messy and incredibly precise. There has been no cartoonist like him before or since. If there is a comic strip royalty lineage, it could easily be argued that it goes Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson, Richard Thompson.

With Richard’s death in 2016 Cul de Sac’s (way, way too premature) end was certain. Comics had lost a truly great artist and a really good guy, too.

Ernesto Lacuna is one of my favorite characters from the strip. I have been curious for a long time what it might be like to write a story about Richard’s Ernesto meeting my Ernesto. And so, this being Inktober, I decided to finally scratch that itch. I wrote a weeklong (6 strips) story about Ernesto L.’s journey to Falling Rock. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed making it. Below is part one.

One of the best results of watching the stunning Planet Earth documentary is getting to draw some of the animals I met for the first time. This is a vicuña, they live in Chile.

A few distant relatives of Ernesto. If you’ve been missing posts on this here blog, I post my new illustration work on Instagram and Twitter.

Although this was my seventh year at SDCC, it still felt new. Perhaps partly because it is now my only ComicCon of the year, so my body is not ready for the full marathon. But mostly because every year, although the event itself remains the same, the experiences change.

Fortunately my friends Rachael and Alyssa were there to help with my table once again (this time with the addition of Alyssa’s boyfriend and dad!). My neighbors, both old and new, made the long haul from Wednesday to Sunday feel more like a marathon run with friends rather than a long slog done alone.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and to the people who worked tirelessly to make SDCC such a successful place for indie cartoonists like myself. I hope to see you all again next year.