Grymm Ramblings

State of the CreepKnight

As I sit here typing, realizing that it's well past midnight here on the East Coast, watching this week's episode of Bones instead of writing because I'm suffering a creative drought, I can't help but think of how far we've come with this comic since 2006 when we first got the inclination to do it. We've gone through four or five different hosting sights, a number of mediums for both art and lettering, until we finally made a product that we both felt was satisfactory exemplary. And to look at the site as it is now, with our reader base ever expanding and growing like so many colonies of tasty fungi, and to see the comic you just perused before taking a brief moment to read our news posts, I'd say we've accomplished something on a visual level; this comic looks fanatastic.

I'm not a big fan of most web comics; those I like I read with vigor and enthusiasm, but that number has- over the years- dropped down to perhaps five or six comics that still hold my interest and merit my time and effort. Still, on occasion, I will peruse a new comic, maybe even going so far as to read through their archives a little ways to determine whether or not I will become a loyal follower. Most of the time, I won't. But sometimes I find a gem. What this experience has taught me is two-fold: one, that pop art (for, to me, that's what comics of any kind are) is most often meaningless dribble that exists for the sake of being art and should both be praised and criticized for being so; and two, Voodoo Walrus has really come into its own as a unique voice in a medium that is most often the same three jokes told over and over again in an effort to illicit the same reaction from its readers.

I say this, because we have four jokes.

It's not often that I find the time to be critical of myself, but the truth is that it's merited; I am not a great writer. I possess the potential, the skill, the eloquence, and dare I say the talent to be much better than I am. However, I have become complacent in my craft, preferring to stick with material that I know works.

This is not why we do Voodoo Walrus.

It's not just that I look at other writers and with no small amount of bias and proclaim myself better than they are, and I do (whether I am justified in this opinion or not). It's that, for the most part, there is very little writing out there that interests me. And if I am so critical of other people's work, then how (as my own harshest critic) can I produce work that pushes the limits of what I am capable of eventually doing? More to the point, Grymm, by best friend of nearly two decades, produces more work than I do because, unlike me, he possesses the testicular fortitude to not look at his own work and scream at the top of his lungs "This fucking sucks!" followed immediately by repetitively pressing the delete button while consuming massive amounts of sugary food in order sate his fragile and yet eternally shattered ego. He has more justification in calling himself a writer than I do because at the very least he puts himself out there and screams "Here is my shit! Bask in it! Revel in it! Proclaim it the greatest shit ever shat onto a page!" The only thing I ever seem to finish is about a hundred words of dialogue strategically designed to illicit laughter in our existing audience (and I do love you all, no bullshit). Then maybe, if I don't feel too overwhelmed but my own ego, I'll drop in a couple of sound effects because I want to make something pretty. Hell, I would wager that most of you would be willing to believe that Grymm himself is a split personality and that "CreepKnight" is the Tyler Durden to his Narrator Jack. Maybe you don't, but that thought has entered my mind on more than one occasion because, for the most part, I have been content to stay quiet and not write anything.

This ends tonight! Maybe! With this half empty glass of wine by my side, I declare that the silence is over! You will know that my name is Lord Villemous Quetzalcoatl CreepKnight of the noble House Cripkintoch, who is by rite of birth possessed of a mind to made for disturbing the peace because that is what we do, goddammit! You will know that my secret ambition is to one day own a trained messenger fox and name it Twitter because it would amuse and, ultimately, that is my main goal in life (to be in an eternal state of amusement because boredom is antithetical to living)! You will know when I find an awesome site, article, or comic because I will show it to you in the manner of my people: I will rub your face with it and proclaim it to be the greatest thing since ME! You will revel when I revel because life is made for reveling and the mass consumption of hedonism as long as no one else feels violated! And so help me, I will make you love me for it, even if I have to resort to bribery and witchcraft!

Also! I now have to make cookies! Chocolate chip oatmeal, because I crave this and my ego demands that I be proactive! No more complacency! No more sloth! Just sweet, delicious cookies and me attempting to tell new jokes for everyone! Strike up the band, Grymm, and play me out the grand double doors, both of which I will open to exit from because that will make my exit all the grander!

It's time for this Liechtensteiner to rock!

Good day to you all!

P.S: I am totally going to go and make those cookies now. They are delicious.