SPX jam

On Sunday night, after John Martz and I got home from SPX (and after we had stuffed ourselves silly at a great Chinese buffet), we decided that, even though we were tuckered, we would do a jam. You’re probably thinking, “Does he mean like jelly or preserves?” Nope, I mean cartoon jam where one cartoonist draws something, another cartoonist adds to it and so on. (It is named after what jazz musicians do in a desperate effort to sound cool.)

We decided on a six-panel story and that we would each start a story in the other’s sketchbook. Since you don’t know what the other person is going to draw, it can be a challenge to figure out how to continue the story. On the other hand, it’s cruel fun to try to make it tough for the other guy. Here’s the one we did in my sketchbook. A classic John “They Don’t Call Me Robot Johnny For Nothing” Martz robot starts us off. (Don’t rush through. Take a moment with each panel and think about what might come next, just like we had to.)

As you can see Johnny’s second-to-last panel could’ve easily ended the story. But there was one more panel to go so I ripped a page out of the “Twilight Zone” playbook.

Tags: cartoonist, cartoons, comics, convention, entertainment, humor, Sketchbook