Where does this stuff come from? I was going through some VERY old backups this morning, hoping for a scan of a drawing I still own but can't get to. Never found it, but I did find some 'seeds' that I forgot I planted which have become something a great deal bigger than they were. The first are a couple of skater mice sketched in a pad that is now stuffed in a closet somewhere. What's obvious now is that I wasn't content with the two quick sketches. These guys would show up almost ten years later in Tamino, though their appearance was singular and brief. Since then, Smatt and Terry have shown up twice more and will definitely be a part of City Silent. I guess they symbolize my angrier side?I had totally forgotten about them until I re-found them this morning although it's obvious they were still in my head somewhere and have been since I drew them. Either that or it's just a continuing fascination with skaters.

Next one is a reference I didn't forget, though I HAD forgotten this image. Silas Crawford was going to be a character in a role playing game that never happened. I think it was going to be a campaign of White Wolf's Changeling game. He was a lonely teen with very gawky, bird-like features. He wrote graffiti which was somehow tied in with his fae nature. I don't remember much else about him though I know I was thinking 'crow' both in his name and his looks. I really liked the character and didn't want to just let him slide into nothingness, so he became my graffiti writing bird in Tamino and, now the center of City Silent. I bet a lot of creative people do this; plant seeds they don't realize will grow nearly on their own, bearing fruit suddenly ready to pick. I think I've also been building a cast of 'actors' similar to the way Tezuka did it with his comics, though mine keep their identities instead of taking new parts. It's a very small world and, perhaps, it will be my job to take all the players to their finish and then be done with comics. There aren't that many left; Howard, Silas, Terry, Smatt, Lucco, Ricci. The bit players include about four or five more though they might not get singular stories. Or I might end comics with City Silent and Ghiroy.