R.I.P. Gilda And Meek

I have been meaning to do this post for a while now and I'm in a place where I can finally get this off my chest (the past couple of days HAVE been rough). I have decided that I will stop officially writing and drawing my Gilda and Meek comics. I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that they are absolutely terrible.

Don't get me wrong. The concept is original and I still really dig the characters but the execution is downright horrible. I never thought of myself as THAT smart but I realize now that I am a REALLY crummy writer, at least as far as fiction is concerned. No wonder I attract so many flames on message boards.

I think the main problem is I put off doing them for so long that they became completely irrelevent as far as modern pop-culture is concerned. Twenty years ago when the most cutting edge cartoons on TV were Darkwing Duck and Tiny Toons Gilda and Meek could have been something REALLY special and unique. But in the era of Joss Whedon, J.J. Abrams and Dwayne McDuffie I really suck. Yeah, my comics are better than Tiny Toons. I wouldn't advertise that fact considering how far animation and genre shows in particular have come since then.

I'm not the GREATEST artist either. I guess the best thing I can say about my drawings is that unlike Matt Groening you can almost always tell what things are. But to be honest, even the most popular cartoons nowadays can have terrible artwork. My work is no worse than Dilbert and my characters have more personality art-wise.

But the story is the main reason I'm giving up. I gave WAAAAAYYYYY too many important story points to random characters introduced only once or twice. What I mistook for a carefully planned and unexpected story arc and twist is really nothing but a gussied up deux ex machina. Somewhat clever but the "payoff" is never earned. At all.

I will confess I will still probably add to the canon when the mood strikes me. Despite being really bad they are awfully fun to write. I have just completely given up on the idea that I will someday make money off these buggers and make it big. It's not gonna happen.

Thoughts?

The Official Greg X Complaint Post

In which I ACTUALLY talk smack about him behind his back.*

http://90scartoonman.livejournal.com/154956.html#comments

This caused a meltdown for me because I am way too sensitive. I also felt bad for offending Greg in my offhanded comments but he absolutely refuses to show anyone else the same consideration so I'm over it.

For the record, this post, where I supposededly was gossiping behind his back? I knew full well that he frequents live-journal and that Chris' entry was unlocked and he might have seen what I wrote so I bent over backwards to keep my offhand comments only slightly critical, and not personal, out of respect for his feelings and because I'm polite. Trust me, in my head there are opinions I have about Greg X and the way he treats people that no-one will ever hear me say because I was raised properly. That's the last time I try not to offend him. Who gets so upset over someone calling their opinion on a trivial issue "wrong"? Is my opinion really that important or is his ego just more fragile than he lets on?

Trust me, Greg X has publicly said worse about me both on his journal and on Toon Zone. And he never took my feelings into consideration in doing so. I've had more than my share of terrible days due to Greg treating the internet as his personal toilet.

And Greg? You DO make rightwing rants.

Reread that thread. Do you see the single biggest mistake I made in it? It was a doozy and frankly I'm astounded Greg didn't pound me for it. Either it didn't occur to him or he didn't see it as a mistake, but it was. A HUGE one.

When I commented that it WAS a rightwing position to cheer bombing anyone Greg moved the goalposts from "I never make rightwing posts" to "Hamas totally deserves it". And I completely took the bait like an idiot. Instead of calmly pointing out that it was STILL a horrible thing to say, I tried to make a half-hearted defense of Hamas, which was totally stupid for two reasons: 1. My foreign policy knowledge is somewhat limited and I can only go by what I hear on the internet and 2. Whether or not it was Osama Bin Laden himself on the Gaza strip, cheering on mass bombings is wrong because of all of the innocent people who invariably get caught in the crossfire. War is not a video game and innocent people suffer and die and yes, it IS a rightwing rant to celebrate an inevitable bombing. War and death are the most terrible things on Earth and someone talking so casually about people getting killed is probably a terrible person. I can't say that for sure, because an AWFUL lot of people do it but it's something I strongly suspect. Remember, I was raised differently.

Honestly, I was tempted to Visit Ask Greg and Ask Greg Weisman why he lets people who supposedly speak on his behalf treat potential Gargoyles supporters so terribly and why he always feels the need to advertise Greg X in either DVD suppliments or comic book letters if he really DOESN'T speak for the fandom. Greg Weisman is Greg X's Very Close Personal Friend after all, and you'd think since Greg X is always speaking for him Weisman would have an opinion on the subject.

But no, that would be burning too many bridges and starting trouble that would only lead to more stress. Besides, I may be a drama queen but I'm not as bad as Greg X. Yet.

* For the record I already told Chris in a PM that I never say anything behind someone's back I wouldn't say to their faces. I'm making a rare exception today seeing as Greg X has never shown me the same courtesy.

Updated 9/9/21. What the hell? I'll unlock this too. I'm done giving a shit.

Phew!

I needed that!