This came to me and then I was forced to draw it and learn CSP. 

Not sure if I will continue, but figured, it can at least add spice to the pot.

@allbeendonebefore bullied me to post this comic ;o

But this entire aspect of FIFO (fly in fly out) relationship between provinces I find intriguing especially because there is a dearth of literature on this exact topic - how do the people from the different provinces influence one another? What cultural changes took place? etc etc

Feel free to drop me a line if you also have interest/ information on this topic.

*Please note, Bert’s mace, is based off the toilet parts mace that is in the Alberta legislature*

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

The end!

Boy am I ever glad this is done.

Some house keeping notes.

1) Oliver blackmailed Ben with “If you don’t show up, I will influence politics so the next head of the FDO is someone who’s never even seen the ocean” (truly evil) 2) I decided to include a sketchy omake because why not? Something cute and fun that satisfies the audience of Me. I put Bert in tails because he is not wearing his cowboy hat, and I enjoy giving him extra ‘expression’ through his clothing, so tails was the obvious choice ~ I would be happy if other people drew him in a tailed suit to be super extra in haha

3) The best part about Ben is he has lived such a long and interesting life you can never tell what is truth or simply a tall tale. I decided to finish this comic on a lighter note, so you when you read it all together you’re not entirely depressed. The story of Operation Exodus is in The Fighting Newfoundlander and even though it is talked about in there I kind of doubt it happened? Have y’all even been to Edinburgh Castle? How even would the have escaped?? This question haunts me, I want a mini documentary that thoroughly investigates if it’s even feasible that the Royal Newfoundland Regiment escaped Edinburgh castle using chains and bedsheets.

Here’s a photo of the page that this was inspired by.

4) Joel not having heard the above story is my nod that Ben is opening up... I guess I don’t have to explain everything in detail but w.e

5) Multiple Choice Pop Quiz! Also known as: Read Berts Subtext

 Bert doesn’t want Ben drinking too much because....

a) They’re roommates and he’s gonna be the one hearing him vomit all night

b) Drunk Ben is intolerable and Sings all the goddamn time

c) Bert is actually saying he wants to hear more war stories!

d) the Truth is Bert discovering his boyfriend was a mega hot war hero makes him want to do xxx with him

e) all of the above? XD

 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Notes below

1) Oh boy that quote from Douglas Haig in theory is one he said when he visited in St Johns (this was from A Sisterhood of Suffering and Service ) but then the Fighting Newfoundlander source claims it was said by Lieutenant-General Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston. What is the truth when the sources conflict? I don’t know. I decided to keep it as Haig because there is a lot of complicated feelings around that man and the decisions he made (especially when reading Into the Blizzard and  A Boy from Botwood) 2) I was having conflicting feelings about posting this and having Ben be bitter about the war, with the intentions of memory being more from a working class perspective. I feel like a lot of war narratives glorify it as nation building and a wonderful thing to happen and when boys become men, when in reality its the poor people being sent out to die on the rich mans orders and being promised the world, when in reality all they get is shit. It was quite depressing reading post war narrative where, while some companies hired veterans, there was literally the need to hide the fact you were a war veteran because companies did not want to hire disabled men who had PTSD. 3) Bert is the type of man who typically would look away from someone expressing an emotion that is not anger. The fact he even attempted to comfort is  miraculous haha. He is also secretly Very Thirsty for all the Information because he was raised on war propaganda and thinks the war is cool 4) Yes for some god foresaken reason I did read numerous books just to draw some sad war comic, please do not question how my brain works. I suppose this is more fun than a research paper.

5) Ben survived Beaumont-Hamil and went on to fight some of the other battles such as at Gueudecourt, Sailly-Saillisel and ending at the Battle of Aras, where he lost his leg (is this a spoiler??) (Maybe the question is Why did I think this Through so Much) I should probably say I’ve put him in the first 500 mythos, so he did go to Gallipoli as well and got to enjoy all the flies and trench rats. : )

6) Looking forward to wrapping this comic up. 7) Let me know if you want to know anything else

Here’s part two of this War comic I feel compelled to draw.

Part 1 |  Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

I apologize for my terrible writing of the Newfoundland accent which I have profound love and respect for.

I attempted to draw Ben handsome, but I don’t know how to do that so please accept my feeble attempts.

Joel is wearing something that brings out his eyes, he is tired of Gender and Gendered clothing, so he’s just wearing whatever, and that includes tiny hat. He is also Ben’s eternal wing man lol. Also knowing at least a piece of the issues from that time and why Ben is in a Mood.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Part one of a comic I apparently seem possessed to write.

Sorry for the shit quality.

Forgotten Secrets

Part 1 | Part 2

So anyways I finally scanned and uploaded this comic.

This was an idea that has been bugging me for a while... please trust me that this originally was supposed to be a gag comic where I riffed off all those manhuas I’ve been reading, but it took a slightly serious turn.

It’s been a while since I have created any comics, so the timing is a bit stiff.

Please forgive the ever present existence of erasure shavings. I thought I got them all before scanning but of course the crisp scanning lets me know where I have failed.

So I finally am figuring out digital art. I really need to get CSP (waiting for the sale... ) this was made in autodesk.

Unfortunately when I tried to insert actual font, I hated how it looked, so you are stuck with my terrible writing still, until Hapo beats nice fonts into my art to spare the eyes of the masses of my terrible handwriting.

I do make feeble attempts at Ben’s accent, please forgive if it is like... terrible lol. Obviously the most romantic line ever is : I comes for the boom and I stays for the bust.

What is not shown is how Ben literally has an off the grid cabin with an outhouse ready to go. Ben has lived more years in poverty than Bert has even existed, so of course he’s unphased with Bert losing everything. Ben: has gone through multiple traumatic economic times where the local economy gets yeeted into the stratosphere, and has just learnt to cope with generational traumas Bert: A poor little meow meow going through his first major economic trauma

Forgotten Secrets

Part One | Part Two

The prosthetic leg was actually inspired by Marc from the 2020 Great British Bakeoff. I was looking at his leg, and then thinking about personifications, and I was like why are they all “perfect” and “able bodied”. What if there really are those traumas that have such lasting impact? Those life stories that get enfolded into the geography of the person. Just floating this idea out there, you can love it or hate it. Also I was thinking Ben probably has tattoos, so I gave him some, but I must say I am not very creative when it comes to tattoo designs.

Anyways when I was thinking through this comic it came to me in a “webtoons” scrolling format, so I figured I could give it a go. I must question why I keep making comics in this pain in the ass traditional media - seriously thinking trying out digital comic making. Looks “easier” in some ways. (I’m sure there are also aspects of it being a pain in the a$$ too.) Let me know what you think.

Based off me working retail and I Just so happend to have the radio station at Rock/Classic Rock/Metal. This pretentious customer came in and was all “you like Led Zepplin” and I was all -shrug- and then he was all “At least it’s not that popular crap bleurgh” and I just am SO TIRED of people crapping on various music genres claiming one is “real music” and the other “fake”. So I made a comic.