Thursday, September 04, 2008

The vapidity of choice

Earlier this year I took one of my most popular and successful shirt designs, "I Am Your Secret Scary Friend", out in the yard and shot it. It was (I think) the first or maybe the second ever Scary Go Round shirt and it stayed on sale for five (count them), five years. That's a lot longer than blue Pepsi lasted for.

I was so sick of the sight of it, but the hot, seamy desire was still out there for what that shirt said about a person. So a new version is hours away from being on sale. It features a demond playing an organ and took roughly 100x longer than the original to draw.

12 comments:

mordicai said...

ohhhhhhhh want.

felix said...

Your previously posted doodle for this design has something nice about it too :D

guladana said...

hooray! also nicely done on the organ.

Lord Manley said...

Nice, but HANGED!

I do not, I cannot, I will not believe that Shelly would make such an error.

Anonymous said...

very nice! i'd like to buy one and then glue a little mirror right in the middle there, so people could see who their secret scary friend REALLY is.

Sparkles F said...

I like the update vey much. For some reason I love love love the balloons around the text. I think because it gives the text weight so it isn't dwarfed by the rest of the drawing. I will be ordering one of these.

thurberseyedoc said...

Heyj-
I just read your summer reading picks in the newest issue of the Comics Journal. Good for you recommending Tove Jansson! I'm a fan of hers, and your comics. I want a "Maths is Easy" shirt, but as an American, have a bit of trouble wrapping my tiny brain around ordering clothing from overseas. I'll work on that though, and am glad Shelly's back in the strip. Snufkin rules!

Walker said...

John, I don't always like your shirt designs. Harsh, I know. Having said that, I've bought your books, read your strip habitually for years and will not stop.

I own the red shirt with skellingtons (love), death has a bunny (dire/cute) and gave the cheeky jellyfish and original scary friend shirts to friends. I buy your prints as often as I can afford them.

This new design is what slightly uncool Americans would term 'the bomb-diggity' and I will most certainly purchase it if such a thing is created.

Oh, and I think your 'hand-drawn' comics are great, to the point where I would enjoy the strip simply on a visual level, even if the creative wellspring of dialogue went dry.

Roman said...

This design ought to sell well among goths and other spooky kids who aren't all that dour deep down and have a sense of humor about it.

I was alarmed that the "feel your pain" shirt was going to go away soon, so I violated my "no more t-shirts, my dresser can't handle it" rule and bought one. Viva!

Stephanie said...

I have the original.

I shall have this too.

Zeke said...

I really like it.
.
.
.
...er, that didn't really need to be said, I suppose. I just want to be included. "Love me!"
pathetic.
Ricky Gervais. Spot on. This comment just ate itself. I'm so tired...
Brilliant t-shirt, though.

spasticfreakshow said...

awesome design. i await a bella or long sleeved version of the newer shirts (if nobody else wants them, i will wait and wait - but not quietly!) but you have totally succeeded and i bet it will sell.