Episode 13 “Vicious Circle”

Episode 13 Vicious Circle

Episode 13! A Devilishly appropriate number of episodes to end/begin this circularly illogical comic about an equally illogical pair of characters known as The Devil & Mr. Gandhi.  So, if this comic is an intro to Episode 1, what comes next? Well, I am not sure, but I can safely say that The Devil & Mr. Gandhi will not look the same as you see it here.

The next time you see The Devil & Mr. Gandhi it will be in the form of a 16-page floppy comic that will debut at SPX (Small Press Expo) in September.  After that, this comic will go in one of three directions: 1) A one page a week edition of the continuing adventures of our lovable duo (in color) OR  2) a 3-panel daily cartoon strip format (again once a week and in glorious full-color) OR 3) it will disappear into the mists of forgotten comics. The primary goal of this project was to focus on doing a regularly published strip that would result in a paper printed comic, and I will be reaching that goal soon.  Now it’s time to think about moving on, perhaps trying my hand at action/adventure or some of kind of more dramatic (perhaps long-form) narrative.  Still in comic form, of course, but I have to tell you, coming up with jokes is hard!

If I don’t see you at SPX, I will post a link on how you can get a paper copy of the collected edition of The Devil & Mr. Gandhi. Thanks for all the posts, tweets, RTs, and any form of spreading the word!

Episode 12 “Foul Ball”

Episode 12 Foul Ball

You may or may not get the jokes (references) in this episode.  If you don’t, you might be too young to fully appreciate it.  As for the “current events” aspect, take it or leave it. I think it fits since The Devil and Gandhi are on their Summer vacation road trip, and going to a baseball game makes sense.  It just so happens that there are some shenanigans going on with our national pastime.  I am also trying to establish that no matter what subject pops up in this comic, no matter how mundane or controversial, philosophical or pedestrian, Devil and Gandhi are in a sense a comedy team.  Grand philosophical statements will always lose to a quick punchline, and that’s the way it should be…in comics anyway.

Interruption “Devil Art”

I know it was just last week that I skipped out on The Devil & Mr. Gandhi, but life is what it is, and I can’t always stay up late making comics for you people, so give me a break!  Anyway, since I can’t draw the Devil for you, I thought I would show you two awesome examples of devilishly good art.  The first is awesome art of the stars of our show, made by Adam Pilkington.  I told this story for episode 1, but here it is again: Adam was celebrating his X,000th follower and awarded me by offering to draw me something.  I told him that I was considering resurrecting The Devil & Mr. Gandhi and maybe his art would jump-start the rebirth.  And it worked!  If this webcomic goes anywhere, it will owe a debt of gratitude and inspiration to Adam.

Art by Adam PilkingtonYou can catch Adam’s stuff at http://www.crosstowncomic.com and follow him at @Giantplaidmonk.

As for the second depiction of The Devil.  In a bit of “paying it forward” I awarded Kyle Ferrin, a Twitter follower of @DevilandGandhi, an art commission.  I told him to draw the Devil, no holds barred, no strings attached.  I did request that he be in a suit, however.  Here is what he sent me.

Art by Kyle FerrinPretty awesome, right?  Reminds me of the art of Mike Mignola.  You can catch Kyle’s work at http://kyleferrin.tumblr.com/ and follow him on Twitter at @d20plusmodifier.  Thanks, Kyle!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

 

 

Episode 11 “Grand Canyon”

Episode 11 Grand Canyon

Last week I substituted a planned page of “The Devil & Mr. Gandhi” with an “Interlude” page, not connected with the overall series of the first 10 episodes.  This was kind of a cop-out.  I had started penciling a page, but I didn’t like exactly how it was going, and I felt it was rushed.  The page, which I will probably post at some point in time, showed Devil and Gandhi at various adventures on their road trip in the form of a grouping of postcards.  Now I am glad I did not post it, because now I get to do at least 2 posts on their road trip and show what happens in multiple panels.  You’re seeing one adventure–their trip to the Grand Canyon.  Where will they go next?  Tune in to see.

Interlude “The Message”

A Walk in the Park

It’s probably not a good sign that day I had a great Twitter conversation about the positives and negatives of doing either 1, 2, or 3 strips a week and whether they should be in full-color, limited palette, or B&W is the same day I have a bit of comic-creator’s-block and don’t feel confident enough in the page I am working on to finish and publish it.

But there is a reason why I have kept some comics in my sequential art stash, and now I get to spend some of my graphic capital, and not feel totally pressured or guilty about not posting a new, original piece.  So, for the next week or so as I take a mini-vacation and try to endure this unendurable heat, you may see 1 or more “interludes” whereby I give you the same devious devil and great-soul’d Gandhi, but from a while back.  Hope you enjoy and stick around for brand new episodes coming soon!

Episode 10 “The Big Apple”

Episode 10 The Big Apple

Episode 10, boy how the time flies.  I debated on whether or not to make the NYC focus about two ludicrous politicians who are tempting fate once more, but I just couldn’t resist.  And don’t get me wrong, I am not making any big moralistic judgement on “those two” or what they did.  I just always imagine that deals with the Devil never turn out quite the way you want them to.  And the idea of someone potentially becoming a repeat customer, and going back willingly for another inevitable ironic twist to what you bargained for seems very silly to me.  Take it or leave it, as you wish.

My tentative plans for the near future are to publish episodes 11 and 12, then post some fill-in posts while I am away with my lovely girlfriend on a mini-vacation, then I will post episode 13.  I am thinking of calling the collected issue “The Devil’s Dozen,” which will really feature a Devilish Baker’s Dozen (13) plus some extra pages of commentary and maybe some thumbnail art.  And I plan on giving copies away at The Small Press Expo in September.  I will continue with an episode 14 and maybe 15 by the time I get to SPX, and then I will see what happens.

Episode 8 “Reconciliation”

Episode 8 The Reconciliation

Not much dialog here.  The Devil is devilish, diabolical, evil you might say, but he is also playfully evil like a child.  He’s a big kid at heart, and like all kids, they want attention and affection more than anything.  So, even The Devil couldn’t go for very long with Gandhi being justifiably mad with him.  In the 8 episodes so far, you’ve seen The Devil come out on top or get away with all his rambunctious behavior, but that won’t always be the case.  You’ll have to stay tuned to see what all happens.

Episode 7 “The Revolution”

Episode 7 - The Revolution

Usually my attempts to be timely in terms of a comic’s relationship to current events or a specific day or event fall miserably short of expectations.  But I got a lot of good feedback from my heat wave episode of “The Cliche” (it happens to be hot as all getout through most of the country) so I thought I would go with my gut and garb The Devil in some 18th-century pantaloons and frilly cuffs and take it to 1776 to get a glimpse of the first Independence Day.  At first I was going to make The Devil talk about how he has “contracts” with people like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, but I went with slapstick comedy instead.  Hope you enjoy.  Is it interesting that it will be published on the 4th of July? Maybe, maybe not.  Is it interesting that this is being published while the unrest in Egypt takes place? Who knows?!  The point is, having a piss bucket dumped on someone is just plain old fun.

On a side note, this is episode or webisode #7, which means I have passed the halfway point of having either 12 or a devilish 13 episodes to print in a collected issue of The Devil & Mr. Gandhi to give out at The Small Press Expo!  What is The Small Press Expo, you might ask?  Well, check it out here.

The Small Press Expo (SPX)

The Small Press Expo (SPX)

I’ll be there.  Let me know if you’re going, too.

Episode 6 “The Cliche”

Episode 6 - The Cliche

It has been hot, hot, hot in the city of brotherly love of late.  And although there is truth in the statement that the humidity level greatly affects how hot a day may truly “feel,” I have to tell you, if I hear one more person mention how it’s the humidity and not the heat in the elevator at my work, I may just have to punch someone in the face.  And of course, this heat wave theme gave me an excuse to both feature our friend The Devil in both a snazzy Hawaiian shirt as well as his BVD tighty-whities.  Yes, The Devil wears BVDs.