Back in 2014, I was experimenting with ways to “spread” non-belief in a variety of ways. Instead of just podcasting about religious abuse, I tried my hand at writing a short form comic called “Skeptic Al”. It was a stry about a deeply skeptical man who is transported to a universe where this becomes a superpower. Each episode would be exactly one page long, and contain a “lesson”. These were a little like Aesop’s fables, with a comic book twist.

I would have loved to complete this series. I had actually written over a dozen pages by the time the project floundered. My primary artist, JL Giles, became too busy with work to continue, and given that it was a colaborative effort, I felt it wouldn’t be right to continue.

Still it was a neat idea. When I presented it to the Richard Dawkins Foundation, to see if they would promote it, they disliked the idea of the comic having supernatural elements, despite me explaining that it was inherant to the plot. This, my friends, is one of the many reasons atheists are terrible at spreadind the word. We are a little too literal about things, and we lack a sense of fun!

The important thing when making a mascot is knowing exactly what kind of personality he/she has. In the case of Sketchy the Pencil, he was a representation of all the frustration and censorship that is plaguing us these days. Just think: how many videos, articles or podcasts do you know that censor their words, in the vain hope to continue to attract advertisers? It’s gotten so bad that crime shows will even censor the words “rape”, “sexual assault”, and even censor the word “drugs”. It’s gotten so bad that in some shows, I don’t even know what the hell they are talking about.

I always knew that advertising and money would ruin the internet. A place that was built on free speech is now limited based on what is friendly to companies advertising their bullshit products.

If there was ever a mascot needed today, it would certainly be Sketchy!

This was one of my very first failed projects. When I was in my early 20’s, I dreamed of producing a comic that revolved around the Dominion War. Back then, I was attracted to the action and drama of war. This was the opening shit: a pace station near the edge of the alpha quadrant where 3 young cadets form a friendship through the hardships of the Federation’s conflict with the Dominion.

Keep in mind that I had zero permission to do this, so abandoning this project was a no brainer once I realized that I would never secure the rights.

Continuing with our failed series, as you can see from some of the character art, I hadn’t quite settled on a design for the main protagonist. She had a very familiar “Jean Grey” costume at first. I was always a fan of the green and yellow outfit myself, but given that her powers were “fire” based, that color scheme would have made no sense.

The male character was an obvious combination of myself and Prof. Xavier from the X-Men. If there was ever a hero I could identify with, it was him. There’s an allure to being able to read people’s minds, but in the story, I wanted to demystify it when the character is confronted by people’s actual thoughts. It must be a chaotic and disappointing mess for most humans, and I can’t imagine anyone not being cynical and reserved as a result.

I had never really settled on his name, though the working one was “Doctor Omega” (I’ve found some more of his concept artwork, which I’ll be publishing soon). He had the standard fare of mental abilities. The key was that as a result of how his powers worked, no one could recognize his contributions (since they were always behind the scenes).

The comic idea was actually a relationship story disguised as an action one (which is a surprisingly popular genre). The couple was to be a representation of this idea: how do you deal with your partner being more famous than you? Fire-Bug is a flashy hero with obvious powers. Dr. Omega’s powers were not. The tension was in the struggle that comes in people’s professional lives, which often interferes with a couple’s happiness.

Alas, I was never to know the in and out of such dynamics. We split up before it was ever fully flushed out. My ex-partner Carisa Hendrix continued on her path to fame, and I’m happy to say that she seems to be doing extremely well for herself. Had we stayed together, no doubt this comic might have had a chance of life!

What do you get when you combine a Spider-Man ripoff, and a dude in love? Why, you get “Fire-Bug”, a comic that never was. As I’ll be covering in my upcoming podcast: “Still Talking”, the concept was loosely based on my ex partner. In short, the reason it never went anywhere was because of my basic lack of creativity in superhero design, as well as the relationship floundering. Still, it did make a cool looking cover, even if I dislike the design of both hero and villain!

I’ve just finished integrating my patreon account with my personal website, jacobfortin.com. This means that every post I make on this site will auto-populate on the other. Isn’t technology grand?

Behind the scenes, there has been a lot of activity. It dawned on me recently that perhaps it would be best if I was actually communicating these changes rather than hope for some fantastic and dramatic reveal. Considering how often the “plan” seems to change, knowing my thought process behind this would be useful to my audience.

I want to stress that the reason why I have been hesitant to share anything is because of how I see society in general as having an “oversharing” problem. People’s desire for fame is spreading like a virus, and it always makes what I try to do all the more awkward. The more others want it, the less I do.

What has changed recently is the reminder that I am not compelled to act by the desire for personal recognition. I now understand that there is a force that compels me to write, and that I am at my happiest when I listen to these forces rather than fight them. Instead of worrying about growing an audience, I want my focus to be on my work, which I hope to share more in the coming months.

I’ve already spoken to one of my members to join me in a podcast that I will be making speaking exclusively about the art that I am producing (both written and illustrated). This show will focus on what inspired me to write my short stories, as well as my thoughts on writing after all these years trying to hone the craft.

At first you will notice a small trickle, but it will grow over time. Thanks you to all of those that continue to check up on me. Soon, you will be rewarded.