Short bio & Contact
Labels
comics
(90)
ZX
(62)
long format
(52)
Information
(33)
Heavy Metal
(25)
Helm
(24)
photoshop
(19)
single panel
(17)
can't draw women
(16)
the future
(16)
Helmspeak
(14)
downtown Athens
(12)
reader participation
(12)
Cat
(11)
c64
(10)
COLOR
(9)
KRIEG
(9)
id
(9)
self-guilt
(9)
24hour
(8)
Ptoing
(8)
determinism
(8)
nothing happens
(8)
privacy devastation
(8)
psychopathology
(8)
stopgap
(8)
an overbearing feeling of worthlessness
(7)
epikaira
(7)
free your line
(7)
process
(7)
tell me what to draw
(7)
Black Thing
(6)
YUS
(6)
bald dude
(6)
daydreaming
(6)
good spirits
(6)
many panels
(6)
memorybot
(6)
pain is funny
(6)
Ano Liosia
(5)
a catalogue of shames
(5)
embarassment is funny
(5)
failure
(5)
hitler
(5)
increasing complexity
(5)
making women sad
(5)
40 YEARS OF CRUEL STEEL
(4)
Das Ende
(4)
Graham Lackey
(4)
a dream of death
(4)
alienation
(4)
book
(4)
inept stormtroopers
(4)
internet dating
(4)
not poetry
(4)
old
(4)
pixel art
(4)
strips
(4)
surrounded by rockers
(4)
vacations
(4)
Helm gets older
(3)
Nick
(3)
Plus
(3)
Poland
(3)
babies are strange
(3)
beautiful city
(3)
comicdom
(3)
contra natura sexual intercourse
(3)
cover
(3)
fates warning
(3)
faux-continuity
(3)
impaired judgment
(3)
isometric
(3)
it will all make sense in the end
(3)
look at these fine leather jackets
(3)
lots of comic tone
(3)
recent work
(3)
start at the end
(3)
what happens next
(3)
words words words
(3)
workworkwork
(3)
Flashback
(2)
Giakoumis
(2)
Gnawites
(2)
Gunlock
(2)
Helm is tired
(2)
I didn't see his face
(2)
I will never understand
(2)
LIES
(2)
Sakkos
(2)
______
(2)
a veritable cornucopia
(2)
anal germans
(2)
animation is boring
(2)
architects v.s. poets
(2)
bad random
(2)
being fed to the fishes
(2)
birth pains
(2)
black and white cat
(2)
black thing tutors
(2)
boxy car
(2)
breaking and entering
(2)
cats levitate
(2)
chess
(2)
child helm
(2)
dissecting women
(2)
don't leave me alone
(2)
drama
(2)
dreams make no sense
(2)
enter more text here
(2)
escapism
(2)
exposition exposition exposition
(2)
festival
(2)
getting shot through the heart
(2)
holistic
(2)
holograms
(2)
iphigenia dematerializes
(2)
kind people
(2)
lagging behind slightly
(2)
let's wait for it to all grow back before we die
(2)
long solos
(2)
major bummer
(2)
moebius
(2)
noncommuncation
(2)
on the 'to ink' pile
(2)
overdone
(2)
photos
(2)
please leave
(2)
post-vitum
(2)
role-playing games
(2)
secrecy
(2)
shadow of the colossus
(2)
she is not amused
(2)
silent page
(2)
small lies
(2)
social fears
(2)
stopping the stopgap
(2)
the summer
(2)
the yellow sign
(2)
unpublished
(2)
urban folklore
(2)
video game purism
(2)
video games
(2)
wintermeet
(2)
8
(1)
Blazej Dzikowski
(1)
Bob Ross
(1)
Catch The Soap
(1)
Chrille
(1)
CyberZeus
(1)
Davy
(1)
Denmark
(1)
ESP Galuda is easy
(1)
Elric
(1)
Ghormak
(1)
Helm doesn't get it
(1)
Helm has a second blog
(1)
I hope whomever hires me lets me bring a guitar to work
(1)
I missed my cats
(1)
I said no shoes on the couch
(1)
I still have my mega drive
(1)
I'm not finished yet
(1)
Jesus Christ
(1)
Kafkaesque
(1)
King Diamond
(1)
Mary
(1)
Mike
(1)
Munoz
(1)
NERD CRED
(1)
Operating Thetan Level Seven
(1)
Pop Corn makes everything funnier
(1)
Rat-headed Wolf
(1)
Sander van den Borne
(1)
Satan's Rise
(1)
Scotch
(1)
Thanos
(1)
Tom Clancy
(1)
a small gift
(1)
a walk in the night
(1)
absurd deadlines
(1)
again
(1)
also heart honesty and passion
(1)
annihilator
(1)
ascii
(1)
awake
(1)
award
(1)
back from vacations
(1)
bad sprits
(1)
bananas
(1)
being and nothingness
(1)
being happy is great if you're happy
(1)
being of mist and nothingness
(1)
bio
(1)
black thing is curious about the new arrival
(1)
boardgames
(1)
booking
(1)
bow to the kings of yesterday
(1)
broken cross
(1)
charming ensemble
(1)
chiptunes
(1)
chit chat chit chat pitter patter
(1)
civil unrest
(1)
computer for music
(1)
computer troubles
(1)
condescension
(1)
convention
(1)
cybercore
(1)
cyberpunk
(1)
cyborgs
(1)
de-bored
(1)
debord
(1)
delays
(1)
delicious
(1)
demoscene
(1)
denial
(1)
desire and death
(1)
detour
(1)
disassembly
(1)
distributing
(1)
diversion tactics
(1)
downtown Sydney
(1)
ega
(1)
emotional blackmail
(1)
excitable camerawork
(1)
facebook devil
(1)
finally.
(1)
fireworks
(1)
flashforward
(1)
foamy clouds
(1)
foot fetish
(1)
found his way
(1)
frilly shirts
(1)
gamut warning
(1)
ghetto auction
(1)
glitches
(1)
gothic rock
(1)
gotta get away
(1)
greek statues are hot
(1)
happy new year
(1)
helm gets a job
(1)
hounds of tindalos
(1)
how we listen to music
(1)
ill-placed three-point perspective
(1)
injuries
(1)
inquisition
(1)
intention
(1)
interview
(1)
is there no answer to this perennial mystery?
(1)
it starts here
(1)
it will make sense in the end
(1)
it's difficult to be a grown-up
(1)
it's stupid to write so much for the internet without getting paid for it
(1)
judgmental beagle
(1)
judgmental ghost
(1)
kinda drew women alright just there
(1)
kiosks in greece
(1)
last time I draw this stupid vespa
(1)
like two notes yearning endlessly
(1)
limbless old stone
(1)
lineart
(1)
live long and prosper
(1)
lots of airbrush
(1)
lovely muffin top
(1)
magic number
(1)
maintainance
(1)
make yourself all honey
(1)
manga
(1)
mat
(1)
meta-conceptual
(1)
minor dialectics
(1)
misplaced post hilarity
(1)
mission: guilt Thanos
(1)
moving
(1)
music for computer
(1)
new year's resolutions
(1)
nihilism rocks
(1)
nobody will ever remember you
(1)
noncommunication
(1)
nonlinearity
(1)
not-metal
(1)
off on vacation
(1)
off to vacation
(1)
oh google
(1)
one fourth of the way done
(1)
or not
(1)
out of the closet
(1)
overbeing
(1)
overdone?
(1)
overfeeling
(1)
overlife
(1)
overthinking
(1)
painting versus comics the titanic clash
(1)
patience patience patience
(1)
pencil art
(1)
penis
(1)
plastic surgery
(1)
polygon occlusion
(1)
ponytail metal
(1)
posts about music
(1)
premonitions
(1)
premotions
(1)
pressed for time
(1)
promoting
(1)
psyche evaluation
(1)
psychoarchitecture
(1)
public service annoucement
(1)
punch a mountain
(1)
real-time
(1)
releasing
(1)
remember to ink this
(1)
riding on the highway
(1)
road rage
(1)
sad eyes
(1)
scribbler ends
(1)
shadowrun
(1)
shipping costs
(1)
slavery
(1)
spring cleaning
(1)
still sad about 1bit
(1)
strong parallel lives long to connect to each other
(1)
stuff is happening and I don't have time to post a lot
(1)
sweaty
(1)
symbolism
(1)
tacky
(1)
taxi
(1)
that's a nice poster
(1)
that's unfair
(1)
the abyss is not impressed
(1)
the end
(1)
the glass is half-broken
(1)
the puppy is dead
(1)
the remains of a day
(1)
there are as many lights as there are gods swimming in the darkness
(1)
time
(1)
time warp
(1)
timespace
(1)
too many people
(1)
too much noise
(1)
too perfect
(1)
transcend the plane
(1)
trying to talk you out of a sale
(1)
tutorial
(1)
twilight of the idols
(1)
uprising
(1)
vacant
(1)
vavel
(1)
vespas are dishonourable
(1)
video
(1)
voting
(1)
watching google slowly feed useless information into my brain
(1)
white metal
(1)
zx is lost in the woods
(1)
Posts
2 comments:
I've been meaning to ask this for some time now (I can't remember if I first saw the light in Page 34 or 35).
Is this the original meaning of ZX? I mean, before this comic? Like, when you used to draw ZX here and there for years? And when I'd asked you to draw ZX for me, a couple of years ago, did you already know who he is? Or did you think of it only later?
Because if it's the former, you broke my heart, mate. Come to think of it, you broke my heart either way.
P.S. Sorry if the question is too personal...
ZX is a name of an old computer (Spectrum ZX). His original full name was ZX-32, a wordplay mixture of Spectrum ZX and Commodore 64, both 8-bit machines. On Memorybot, I named him ZX-64 to denote it was the second 'official' ZX story, or maybe I had just forgotten that I had halved the value on his initial foray and didn't bother checking.
Originally ZX was used mostly as a stand-in for my own anxieties and issues. Besides ZX, I did this earlier with the 'red robot', as seen here:
http://asides-bsides.blogspot.com/2008/10/robotboy.html
But for a simple reason I stopped using this robot as a personal vehicle. The reason is, he is not my invention
http://www.explodingdog.com/redrobot/
and as such I was hesitant to 'hijack' him too much, even if he's sorta-kinda public domain. I know that sounds silly and in a black and white comic you can't even see he's red, but I knew.
I came up with ZX personable. He's existed as a scribble since 2005 I think? First put into a comic here:
http://asides-bsides.blogspot.com/2008/11/best-superpower.html
As I said he was then a stand-in for myself and my anxieties. However at some point I realized he doesn't really *feel* like me anymore (circa around 'Memorybot' comic) and it took a while before I realized why I kept returning to that robot. The main subconscious thing that made me use him as I do now is that he looks like a tall fellow, I suspect.
The story I am doing in 'ZX' has been one I have been struggling to write and draw as a comic for at least 6 years. It was originally going to be a very 'straight' retelling of autobiographical events without much narration or embellishments but twice I tried to draw 'the first page' of this and I was foiled either due to technical inabilities or because I felt I wasn't ready yet for other reasons.
This time it worked because I felt ready to go there and the structure was quickly improvised once the pieces were there. I made a lot of 'important' choices about how to write this very reflexively, page by page. The very very first strip that introduces Mary and Stephan was supposed to just be that: a humourous strip about a girl not knowing when to give up. It was a pitch for a newspaper strip that fell through. After that I decided to use these characters in the story I was struggling with as a 'trojan horse', to achieve some distance and hopefully some illumination. It has worked, it is in the process of working. Once I had decided to not use straight autobiographical presentation of events, ZX fell into a different role pretty naturally. It was a good thing that I decided against strict auto-bio, I feel no shame or regret in that the events described in the comic are not an 1:1 copy of my real life events because the events that lead up to the crux of this comic are not what matters, the end result is always the same.
I hope this answers your questions sufficiently. And I'm sorry if I made you sad. I promise that the comic will end on a slightly brighter note than what pages 34-35-36-37 denote. I mean, I do not make this comic to emotionally blackmail the reader. I am hoping to go a further than the shock of what happened. This is what I need also and why I'm making the comic.
Post a Comment