Posts Tagged ‘family’
7 items.
If you read these blogs, you know that 2009 has not been a very good year for me. I’ve seen the lives of friends shatter and crumble around me – divorce, miscarriage and death. My own life has been beset by difficultly – my job being eliminated, emergency room visits. In general, 2009 has been tough to muddle through.
But I have something waiting for me in December that I think is going to make everything worth while…
Cami and I are expecting our second child.
As you can see from the date on the sonogram – July 23 – I’ve been sitting on this information for a while. Not for any particular reason. Except sometimes it’s hard to wrap my mind around the thought that we’re having another baby. I mean, Henry keeps us so occupied already, the fact that Cami’s pregnant sometimes slips my mind.
I would feel bad, but I’ve talked to friends who are also in the middle of their second pregnancies, and they admit to the same thing. You’re so busy trying to keep the first one from stabbing his eye out with a fork, you kind of forget the second one is on the way.
Well, there is no avoiding it now. Cami is showing beautifully and thoughts of the pregnancy consume my thoughts every day. Sometimes those thoughts are “Holy crap, I don’t have a job. How are we going to afford two kids in day care?” But most of the time, they are less panicked.
At any rate, for those of you wondering: Yes, we do know the sex of the baby and; Yes, we are sharing that information…
It’s a girl.
As for the name? We’re keeping that one close to the vest.
Having a girl let alone having a sibling for Henry to interact with is new territory for me. I’m not worried about the burping / feeding / rocking phase of development. I feel like I have those skills finely tuned. What freaks me out is what will happen when the kids are older and start bouncing off each other.
I never had a brother or a sister, so I understand very little about family dynamics. Cami has a younger sister, so she brings some experience to the table. But I’m coming at this with no idea if or how these two are going to get along.
This is my problem as a parent – I’m always thinking three years ahead of myself. Before Henry was born, I had all these big ideas about going to the zoo, playing catch and hanging out all the time. I gave no thought to the burping / feeding / rocking, etc.
I feel like I’m falling into the same trap with the new baby. “What’s it going to be like when she comes home crying because another girl said she didn’t like her shoes?” That kind of thing. What kind of advice can I give? Except for the highly acerbic kind?
Like anything else, I suppose I just have to play things by ear. All I know is that it will be a different experience for me.
Cami’s due date is sometime around the middle of December. But since Cami is planning on having another C-section (after delivering Henry by Cesarean last time) we won’t know the exact date until we meet with our surgeon.
All I know is that I’m very much looking forward to meeting Baby Brazelton and as I know more, I will be happy to share details with you.
In the meantime, I just wanted to put the good news out there and share a little bit of my life with you.
Thanks and take care.
[ 30 Comments ]
As you may have guessed from the image above, I have some wonderful news to share with everyone!
Yesterday, at 11:07 AM, Cami delivered our little baby girl into the world. She weighed 7lbs, 11oz and measured 19.5″ inches long.
We named her Pearl Eveyln Brazelton.
Pearl joined us a little sooner than we expected – her original due date was the 16th and her C-section was scheduled for the 10th – but we’re thrilled to have her with us.
Things went much more smoothly with Pearl than they did with Henry. Basically because we knew a natural childbirth was off the table from the get-go. Since having a c-section was always our plan, it was just a mater of being taken into surgery once Cami was admitted to the hospital.
I first had a sense that something was up about 5:30 yesterday morning. Stirring from my sleep and barely awake, Cami tells me “I think I’m having contractions, but I’m not sure. It’s no big deal.”
“That’s kind of heavy to lay on someone first thing in the morning, honey,” I replied, still hazy.
But we went about our morning, getting Henry out of bed, dressed and preparing to take him to day care.
Funnily enough, Cami and I were supposed to meet with our doctor yesterday morning to discuss the C-section that was scheduled for one week later. Cami and I had planned on carpooling to work and dropping Henry off at daycare. But Cami’s contractions didn’t ebb and she sent me and Henry out the door without her. Our plan had morphed slightly. I would take Henry to day care, work a couple of hours and then meet her at the doctors office at 9:00 AM.
After dropping Henry off, I got a call at my desk from Cami. “I’m not going to make it to 9:00 o’clock,” she said. I rushed home to get her.
Bags packed, we headed to the hospital. We arrived at 8:30 and they quickly confirmed that Cami was in labor.
Long story short, they took her into the operating room and Pearl was born at 11:07 AM!
Since we didn’t have our parents waiting around in the lobby like we did when Henry was born, Cami and I were able to relax a little bit and enjoy our time with Pearl before we started to welcome visitors.
I cradled my daughter in my arms. Bundled tightly in her blankets, she chirped and cooed. Snow flurries swirled outside our window overlooking the hospital’s garden. And I knew peace. It was a wonderful feeling.
There will be more information later. But for now I wanted to share the good news and thank everyone who has already sent message of support. We appreciate your kind words.
Look for a series of guest comics in this space starting Monday. Until then, have a great weekend!
[ 56 Comments ]
A quick bit of business… If you want to see a humorous take on the “family” Tom is referring in today’s comic, be sure to vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics for a funny little incentive image. We were in the middle of the pack last week. Now we’ve fallen down to #91 on the list. Let’s see if we can turn that around. And don’t forget to vote daily!
Now for a very important announcement…
Originally, I was going to make this announcement last week. I thought it made sense to start the New Year with this, but decided at the last minute that perhaps a more romantic reprieve would ease us into things. Now I realize I was kind of running from the inevitable. I’ve never been the kind of guy to pull a band-aid off in one sharp pull. But I can’t hide from it any longer.
On August 6, 2012, I will be ending Theater Hopper.
I didn’t come to the decision lightly. I’ve been debating about whether to end Theater Hopper for over a year now. Even though I thought I was mentally prepared, it doesn’t make the challenge of sharing this announcement any easier.
There are a couple of reasons why I’ve decided to end Theater Hopper and why I’ve set a deadline so far out into the future.
First, the deadline. I wanted to give everyone a head’s up in advance mostly because I thought you – the audience member – deserved it. Nothing disheartens me more than to become invested in a comic I really, really like and see it end out of nowhere for no reason. It always leaves me with the feeling of “What if?” and I think you guys deserve better than that.
Setting a deadline that far into the future gives me an opportunity to wrap up a few lingering story lines and also moves the characters into a place where you know they’re going to be “okay.”
Plus, like I said, I’m not a “tear the band-aid off” kind of guy, remember.
August 6, 2012 will be one day past the 10 year anniversary of the comic and I like the idea of going out that way. Call me crazy – I just like round numbers. It’ll be a tidy break.
10 years is a crazy amount of time to do anything. Writing and drawing Theater Hopper is the longest job I’ve ever had. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but it’s time to let it go.
Part of my motivation is that I can’t maintain a level of quality for the comic that I feel is fair to you or to me. It takes me a long time to put together a comic. Anywhere from 3 to 4 hours. That was one of the primary reasons I went from three strips a week to one. Looking back, I don’t know how I ever managed to produce three a week – especially while I was going to night classes, pursuing my Master’s for two years! I guess I just had momentum behind me.
But the point is that I don’t think I can evolve my art or my technique to a point that will improve the comic or lessen my time investment. If I can’t grow or improve, then it makes it hard to justify continuing. The frustration of those limitations strips all the fun right out of it.
A lot of what makes Theater Hopper complicated to produce is coloring and shading. I don’t enjoy doing it and I’ve never been very good at it. But I’ve picked up enough tricks along the way that it doesn’t stick out too bad.
I’ve talked to a few of my contemporaries about this and they’ve suggested going to black and white as a way to streamline things. The see no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. To jettison the investment I’ve made in building up the brand and viability of the domain. They’ve made strong cases for me to reformat the comic in order to salvage it.
I’ve considered it. Switching to black and white would improve my attitude toward the work significantly. Truthfully, it might even increase my output to more than one comic a week. When you get down to brass tacks, all people really want is more content. They probably aren’t overtly concerned about all the bells and whistles thrown into the coloring and shading of a comic. I mean, look at XKCD, for God’s sake!
But, to me, that’s a step backwards. Going to black and white kind of spits in the face of the effort I’ve made so far to build my art up to what it is toady.
Taking the comic from three times a week to once a week was a loss for me. Taking the comic from color to black and white would be another loss – one I don’t think I could bear.
It is not my wish that Theater Hopper’s legacy become reductive. Stripping away the elements of what made it successful will eventually leave me with nothing. That’s not fair to me and it’s not fair to the audience that has supported me for so long. This is the way it has to be.
My concerns about the art also does not solve the content problem I feel like I’ve been ignoring for probably the last… five years.
I feel like I still have stories to tell. But the conceit that Theater Hopper is “a comic about movies” has handcuffed me. Once Cami and I had kids, the amount of movies we went to see dropped off dramatically. I don’t think this would come as a surprise to anyone. But it kind of creates a situation when you write a comic that’s about movies.
As a result of this life change, Theater Hopper became less about movies and more about how movies are marketed. And while marketing is a personal interest of mine, I can’t deny that this evolution has made me feel somewhat fraudulent over the years.
Truthfully, I thought like Theater Hopper would end after Henry was born. I always told myself that once we had kids, there wouldn’t be room for comics.
That was largely fear and inexperience talking at the time. Having kids changed my life, of course. But I was able to compromise a little bit and continue pursuing the art that I loved to make. I’m glad I did. Some of Theater Hopper’s most successful years came after Henry was born. I self-published three books. I traveled the country exhibiting at comic book conventions. I met awesome people and made life-long friends. I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.
But there comes a time when one realizes that you can’t go on forever. I realize now that it’s time to move on. This post is just as much as head’s up for you as it is for me. Believe me – it’s going to take me a while to get used to the idea, too.
Over the next few weeks and months, I’m going to take Theater Hopper in a more character-driven and dramatic direction. There will still be jokes – don’t worry about that. Oh, and you can COUNT on there being one more appearance from Cardboard Iron Man when The Avengers comes out in May.
But August 6 is the date I have targeted to put a bow on everything and call it a day. I’m looking forward to the journey that takes us there.
As always, I appreciate the love and support I’ve received from my readers all the years. You guys are phenomenal. My words won’t do your devotion justice. But I hope my art and these last few stories will.
With thanks,
Tom Brazelton
[ 74 Comments ]
What was Tom thinking about? Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comic to view the incentive sketch that explains it all. Or none of it! You’ll have to click to find out!
By the way, great job with the voting, guys. We’re doing well on the charts. Almost 750 so far in January. I think that’s great for only updating once a week! Keep it up!
I apologize for the comic being late this week. I was laid low by a migraine Sunday night that made it kind of impossible to sit upright or, y’know… be exposed to light. I don’t often get migraines. Usually they’re brought on by stress. I would say last week was pretty stressful.
I’m doing better, though. I was having a hard time reconciling the decision to announce Theater Hopper’s conclusion in August. I even made a video about it. I posted it to the blog last week, but I know most of you probably missed it. I wanted to post it again just to kind of get it out of my system. Also because I think it has a message that is worth listening to, even if I did kind of stumble onto it at the end.
Keep in mind that the video was recorded the evening after I made the announcement, so everything is pretty much sitting right on the surface here.
But like I said, I’m doing much better now. Everyone has been amazingly supportive and understanding. I know that announcing the end this far out was absolutely the right decision to make.
I mean, if I was having this kind of difficulty a week ago, announcing the comic ending with no warning would have been much, much more upsetting. I’m positive it would have alienated fans and left a bad taste in my mouth personally – with the potential to ruin the last 10 years of my work. That’s not how I wanted to go out.
But, yeah. Moving forward. Now with another comic under my belt since making the announcement, it’s getting easier. I’m getting used to the idea and I’m excited about what’s coming next.
That said, I knew what this week’s comic was going to be about a week ago. I probably should have had it in the can earlier so I could have posted regardless of whether or not I had a migraine. But I’ve been working without a buffer for this long. It’s kind of hard to change my stripes now.
BY THE WAY… THE STORE
Now that we’re all on the same page with the comic ending in August, I have to undertake the unfortunate business of clearing out the Theater Hopper store. I need your help with this. Nothing is going to bum me out more than looking into a closet full of Theater Hopper merchandise 8 months from now and thinking “Dammit. Now what I am supposed to do with this stuff?”
That’s why I’ve gotten a little aggressive with the pricing. Right now you can buy two books and get one for free. That offer also extends to shirts – buy any two shirts and get one free.
It’s likely that most of you reading this have already bought a book or shirt for yourself in the past. But don’t let that stop you from taking advantage of these deals now. Buy a shirt for your little brother. Buy a book as a birthday gift for a movie-loving friend. Don’t be afraid that they won’t like it. I sell these things to people at comic book conventions who have never heard of webcomics, let alone Theater Hopper. Without fail, they come back the next day looking for more. You’re friends will love this it – and they’ll really appreciate that you bought them something unique.
In an effort to pick off the low-hanging fruit, I’m going to feature an individual item until I’m sold out of inventory. The first item in my sights is this t-shirt design, “Emerging.”
This was actually a design I created for Threadless a few years ago. It didn’t get picked up, but I liked it enough to produce it myself.
I literally have TWO of these shirts left – one XL and one 2XL. I’m selling them for a paltry $5.00. Two of you are going to pick them up. Bundle them with two more shirts and you’ll get this shirt for free! You can’t beat that.
C’mon. Who’s gonna help get the ball rolling?
I’m sorry to have to push the hard sell on you guys. But like I said, I don’t want August to come around and be confronted with a closet-full of unsold Theater Hopper merchandise. It’s too sad to contemplate. Help a buddy out. If you can’t make a purchase, at least use the little Facebook and Twitter buttons on the pages of the items you like and share them with your friends. Who knows – maybe they’ll take a look?
That’s all I have for now. More comics soon. And thanks again for all of your support!
[ 8 Comments ]
Jun19
GUEST STRIP – JESSE KIEFER
June 19th, 2012 |- Comics »
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- Guest Strip
(3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Working on this week’s comic and I’l almost done. It’s another extended strip. I seem to have forgotten how to write four panel comics. Then again, I’m not really writing jokes at this point – it’s all story. So I tend to go on a little bit. Oddly, though, I’m not using and dialogue. Chalk that up to it featuring Victor.
I promise there will be lots of action after this week’s comic. So stay tuned for that!
In the meantime, please enjoy this guest strip from Jesse Kiefer. Jesse writes a comic called Tank-Monkey that you should really check out. If you like monkeys and you like tanks, Jesse pretty much has you covered!
I thought his guest comic was appropriately sweet and actually very close to a strip I planned on doing later on feature Truman.
People keep asking me if we’ll see Truman before it’s all over and I calmly reassure them, “Yes, he will be back.”
It’s one of the great mysteries of my “career” how much people love Truman. I get requests for comics with him in them all the time. I can’t figure it out. He doesn’t do much. Mostly just sits there. We’ll, accept for that time he piloted a bi-plane, which Jesse cunningly references the fourth panel of his comic. You can see that what he’s referring to here. In fact, here are the other two Truman comics he references: “Sexybark” and “Legally Stoked.”
People used to love that gag with Truman in a purse. That drawing was actually one of our first t-shirts back in 2003! Wow, man. Time flies.
One parallel between Truman and Theater Hopper I can think of is how close both came into my life. We brought Truman home in April of 2002. I started Theater Hopper a few months later in August. So, in many ways, he grew up with the comic. I know I wrote my fair share of blog posts about him. Maybe that’s why he resonates with fans? You grew to love him the same time I did? It’s kind of cool when you think about it.
At any rate, that’s it for today. Thanks again to Jesse for the very sweet guest comic and everyone be sure to visit Tank-Monkey. It’s got tanks, it’s got monkeys… DOOOOO IT.
By the by, if you’d like to contribute to the fun, I’m still looking for guest strips to put up on the site. Feel free to chip in by sending your comics to theaterhopper@hotmail.com. They need to be 525 pixels wide, JPEG format and relatively free of obscenities. Nothing your Mom would be embarrassed about. If you’re down for that and would enjoy a moderate bump in traffic as Theater Hopper ends its run, we’d love to have you!
Until then, hang tight and stay tuned for a new comic tomorrow!
[ 2 Comments ]
This was a comic I felt had to happen. Mostly because it mirrored real life so closely.
I don’t know if any of you had pets before you decided to have kids. If you have only one or neither, maybe this isn’t for you. But I know that before we decided to have kids, I felt a little guilty about what it would do to Truman.
I mean, we FAWNED over that dog for 5 years. We got him gifts on his birthday. He was our child until Henry came along.
That’s not to say that we ignored him completely after Henry was born, but your priorities shift when you’re a first-time parent. You learn how to juggle your responsibilities, but the shift takes time.
I remember when we brought Henry home and put him down on the floor, resting in his car seat. Truman sniffed all over the place before giving us an inquisitive look. After that, he got… sad. He didn’t eat much for the next two weeks. He literally started to isolate himself in other rooms in the house. It bums me out to remember.
Eventually he came around. He learned new ways to steal attention where he could get it. By the time Pearl was born, it was all old hat to him. We worried that he’d resent being knocked down another peg. But, honestly, he took it all in stride.
Truman’s a great dog, by the way. He’s fantastic with the kids. Never snarls or bites, even when the kids messed with him while he was eating. He’d just sit back and wait for them to get out of the way.
Truman will be 11 years old in February. In many ways, he’s the spry dog he’s always been. Loves to play-fight. Loves to cuddle. But sometimes I worry that maybe his better years are behind him. He has a lot more white on his face now than he used to. Henry is 5. Pearl will be 3 in less than a month. They love Truman, but sometimes I feel sad that maybe they’re not getting the best of him or that they won’t remember him when they’re older and we’ve lost him.
I guess it emphasizes the point that you’ve got to cherish the time you have – not spend too much time thinking about what was or what will be. Now is all we’ve got.
Funny it takes me writing a blog post about a dog to crystallize that sentiment.
Cheers, all.
[ 4 Comments ]
I’m uploading this comic crazy late on Friday night, but I wanted to get it up there before the weekend.
Yeah, I know that this comic is totally schmaltzy. But I felt since I had been building up the pregnancy question throughout this entire year-long arc, it was important for there to be that confirmation and pause to celebrate.
Frankly, I’m finding it hard to put my sentimentality in my back pocket as we’re rocketing toward the end of the comic on Monday. I can’t believe it’s actually happening.
I had to kind of force myself to do it, you know – end the comic. 2012 is creeping to a close and it just sounded profoundly lame for me to stretch out this conclusion into 2013. But as lame as I found it, I could easily see ways I could have made excuses for myself and keep the comics going.
But facts are facts. I can’t do that to these characters, to you readers or to myself.
This entire year has been about the long, slow process of letting go – both for yours and my benefit. I guess with the crush of the holidays weighing on my shoulders, I haven’t been able to look back and take stock of the last year like I wanted to. I’m feeling a little rushed, to be quite honest. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. In some ways it feels like the tearing off of the bandage that I wanted to avoid all year. I wanted things to be peaceful. Instead I feel like I’m driving a car without brakes.
It will all be over soon – and I’ll be okay with that. It hurts now, but it’s the right thing to do. In the very least, I’m confident that I’ve gone about it the right way.
Thanks for putting up with all of the “flying by the seat of my pants” antics the last few weeks as I bring the comic to a close. I hope you’re not feeling as hurried as I do. I swear I’m not trying to push these characters out the door.
If anything, I feel like I’m clutching their pants cuffs and they’re dragging me out the door with them.
See you Monday.
[ 1 Comment ]
