Starbucks

The brutality of reality – The Voices in my Head

This one is pretty funny. I’m probably about 10 years late on the joke, but whatever. It’s still true, people are insane the way they follow this strange coffee house culture. By the way, my wife has been happily working for Starbucks for years, and all the employees there seem to love it. I’m quite aware of the lifestyle, while observing it from the outside, as I’m not actually a coffee drinker and never go to those kinds of places unless it is for my wife.

Anyway, it’s just the setup for the real joke here, and I’ll admit now that the punchline is very much a rehash of one Alex wrote in the past. Not exactly the same, and I think I did it better here. See if you can figure out the one I’m referring to.

I like that the Lone Wolf mixes up TV with reality. We probably all really do that to some extent. I’m guilty of sometimes mixing up my dreams with reality. The more I work on I’m Famous! the more I think I am actually a bit crazy, because I find myself identifying more and more with the Lone Wolf. I’ve mentioned before that he is very much like my joking arrogant alter ego and this seems to be more true than ever these days.

Sometimes I feel like I’m the worst of both Black Snow and the Lone Wolf. Surly, self loathing, ignorant, arrogant and a bit insane. Only sometimes.

So why set a scene in a Starbucks? Because I can. And I think the whole coffee scene is pretty Hollywood superficial. Do I worry about using real places in the comics? Not really. We mention real companies, products, people and other company’s characters fairly often, and we haven’t been sued yet. What would they sue for, we don’t make any money! I’m no lawyer, and I’m not being published, so I don’t worry about it. Our comics often contain a mixture of “real world” and made up elements.

I think it makes the comics easier to connect to and more substantial when they contain real world elements. I don’t go overboard trying to make it a depiction of real life or anything. Obviously our premise is fantastical as it is based on super heroes being real, but that doesn’t mean the whole thing has to be fantastical. A big part of this comic is it’s setting.

I do like that we try to make our comic universes contain their own reality. When things happen in our comics they impact the story. We try to keep a true continuity, and actions have consequences. Something somewhat rare in the comic strip world, and even in the comic book world too. Think about every time your favorite comic book series has gotten a new strong willed writer or artist that just changes and revamps things, completely discounting the comics history. It’s stupid, and we refuse to take part in it.

Coming soon…I’m Famous! 100!