Life Sucks..a short history.
Years ago, someone asked me if I had any cartoons I would contribute to this magazine they were starting. They would pay $20 a cartoon or something, it was one of those free magazines, about what to do in the city , so, mostly filled with ads, but, I guess they were desperate for any kind of content, which is why the asked me.
When I was maybe in my early 20s, I did think , very briefly, about doing a short cartoon strip , the type you used to find in newspapers. I guess I thought, maybe I could make some money, who knows, anyhow, I did 3 , and called it life sucks, then kinda gave up on the idea . So, when I was asked if I had any ideas, I pitched them 2, and drew up some samples . One was called “ those crazy gurus “, that my friend James had written, which was just a short and sometimes slightly humorous bit of text about various gurus , that I would illustrate. The other idea was to resurrect the life sucks idea, so, I did a few of them. In the end, they went will the guru pitch, so, for a while I did those , until the magazine folded after about a year . For some reason, I found I enjoyed doing the life sucks . I has always slightly struggled with that format , but one of my favorite comics of the 80s/ early 90s, was Doug Allen’s Steven . I loved that comic, and that was presented in this format.
I have never done work with an audience in mind . I most definitely have never thought that the world needs to see my artwork, I have always viewed it as an almost neurotic impulse, a private thing, some kind of compulsive behavior. However, I do artwork that is sometimes shown in small galleries, sometimes cartoons that have appeared in magazines and comics, and, I have self published comics of and on since I was a kid. But, with life sucks, i really didn’t think anyone would ever see them, and that made drawing them much more enjoyable, I felt I could take the story wherever it wanted to go, and, it was almost like it wrote itself half the time .
The “ story “ is centered around this cartoon bear, that is kind haplessly stumbling around while bad things happen all around him. He goes into different universes, some of them inside his own head, until you never really know where he is or what is going on. None of it really makes any sense, but I try to keep the internal logic consistent ,even in the mess of the absurd.
It blurs the line between the external world and the internal world, between the past and the future, and the kinda unconscious quality of the bear , who just haplessly accepts whatever reality is being imposed on him at any given moment. Somehow, the story ends up pretty much summing up how I feel about reality in ways I cant really fully articulate in any other way. The story can go on forever, I make it all up as I go along, but it has an endless quality it it. They are all signed by someone else because, I guess, I felt like no one needed to know who drew them, I mean, who cares right ?
Im planning on publishing a comic of the strips so far, when i can raise the money. maybe ill do a go fund me campaign, if i can figure out how that stuff works, but, ill do it somehow.
Original LIFE SUCKS idea drawn in the 90,s
doug allens steven comic
