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**WRITTEN WHILE BIKING ON A BEAUTIFUL EARLY SEPTEMBER DAY**
** DRAWN IN A WEEK IN THE STATES OF PENNSYLVANIA, RHODE ISLAND AND NEW HAMPSHIRE **
** SCANNED ON THE SCANNER AT WORK WHILE MY "MANAGER" JONATHAN TOOK A LUNCH BREAK **
** ASSEMBLED ON MY WEIRD ASS UBUNTU LAPTOP **
** ALL MY LOVE TO THE FREAKS **
** HACK THE PLANET **
** ANA WOULFE SEPTEMBER 2021 **
**WWWW.DEEPERCLARITY.NET **
** DRAWN IN A WEEK IN THE STATES OF PENNSYLVANIA, RHODE ISLAND AND NEW HAMPSHIRE **
** SCANNED ON THE SCANNER AT WORK WHILE MY "MANAGER" JONATHAN TOOK A LUNCH BREAK **
** ASSEMBLED ON MY WEIRD ASS UBUNTU LAPTOP **
** ALL MY LOVE TO THE FREAKS **
** HACK THE PLANET **
** ANA WOULFE SEPTEMBER 2021 **
**WWWW.DEEPERCLARITY.NET **
The above text ^ is what I quickly wrote in the days leading up to the first ever Philly Comic's Expo, which I made this zine for. My art pace these days is generally pretty slow but it was really fun to be like "ok! I have a month to make a new comic for this fest!!!"
I had a note on my desk that said "comic set entirely at night - v twinkly" for a second and I remember so vividly thinking on that as I was biking downtown in early September to go to Giovanni's room and pick up "Summer Fun" by Jeanne Thornton. When I crossed over the South Street bridge all of the comic started clicking into place, I was ecstatically pedaling and refining it in my head and getting so excited. When I got home I immediately scribbled it all down and called a friend and read it to make sure it even made sense ?? Thank GOD it did :)
The general idea was just to try and capture the feeling I had arrived at in my "medical" transition, namely : I've got this physical and biological stuff figured out, WHAT NEXT ? If this has been my main goal for as long as I can remember how do I locate what I want beyond this ? And even if I do, how do I communicate such abstract things ? I have no answers, but the basic optimism / positivity and weary cynicism of Winkie and Ember respectively capture the way I'm moving forward into life pretty accurately.
I feel like it's also important to say that finishing this comic felt like the end of an era for me. It's hard to describe, but this in tandem with My Worlds On Fire feels like the culmination of everything I've been working towards in my 20's. Now, as I write this in January 2022 and about to begin my 29th year, I truly feel like I'm gingerly stepping into that mysterious and unobtainable beyond.
This top 10 was also written very quickly, but I've decided to preserve it as is without any further notes :)
ABRIDGED TOP 10:
1. "SUMMER FUN" by Jeanne Thornton
2. PRIVATE TIMES PART 2 by Can't
3. Every movie I've seen by NOBUHIKO OBAYASHI has been incredible.
4. MY CAT DASHI Beautiful sweetness bad boy light of my life angel child
5 - 6 -7. BIKING NON-STOP ALL OVER THE CITY So I can do the best stuff like SEE THE SUNRISE AND FRESHLY SPRAYED TAGS ON THE GRAY'S FERRY BRIDGE & SECRETLY PICK PAW-PAWS AS THE SUN SETS
8 - 9. SIDDIQ'S WATER ICE My new fave water ice spot, and MASTERING BIKING WITH NO HANDS so I could ride and eat at the same time
10. SEEING SO MANY FRIENDS all the time, either on purpose or totally by accident !
^Outtakes from the "Author Photo" webcam selfie shots for this issue^
SECRETS LOUNGE
The idea of being a "rare flowering" came from the discovery that in the UK the common transfemme surgery "Orchiectomy" is known as an ORCHIDECTOMY which is just so so beautiful and evocative to me. Imagine if our world treated our precious trans population the same way that precious Orchids are treated ? Something unique and pretty and treasured and cultivated ? THAT is the ideal ! And it felt so wild to be coming across that as a purely medical term, but I gotta take what I can get !!!!
Of course as soon as I started thinking about all of that I immediately ran to one of my most favorite songs: THE ORCHIDS BY PSYCHIC TV !(I can't embed this song but if you click on this orchid / album cover you can listen)
And Maybe...MAYBE...finally understood what Genesis was singing about :)
When all the figures sound retreat / The soft skin starts to shrivel
When dreams made real become less sweet / The orchid and the metal
My sex turns and claws rush to spill them
But in the morning, after the night / I fall in love with the light
It is so pure, I can arrive / Without the fear of secret lies
The cover, of course, was based upon the VHS cover of Wild Things because that was the only reference image for ladies swimming that I had :) :)
For the record : I LOVED this movie !
Erica Dawn Lyle went on tour shortly after I gave her a copy of this zine and she totally used it to prepare her guitar and it got munched really nicely !!! Which is just a reminder that I am always excited to hear about people using my art for their own freaky purposes !
The big inspiration for Winkie's nipple were these weird silicon donut baking pans that I had to shelve at my day job :
And then, of course, what else could I reference for the touching of the nipple but the most famous "touching" painting :
Here's a look at that panel shortly after I finished drawing it :
My beautiful Dashi boy sleeping on my desk as I drew the comic :
And here's a look at the way I was drawing the panels when I wasn't petting him / gawking at him :
Also I don't know where else to put this....but the sheet that Angela and I used as a tablecloth at PCX when this zine debuted....
Is the same as Kevin's bedset in Home Alone 2 !!!!! :0
