Dissect My Brain (Union Weekly Serial) Season 2, Episode 3: "In Loving Memory of Dr. Seuss."

So, this one's a bit hard to talk about. I did this one during the week of when I had to re-take a teacher's examination, a bunch of Oak Street Blues shows that I had to play bass at, the first day at my new job, and WonderCon. Needless to say, I had a busy week and so I can honestly say this one is far from perfect. It's a damn shame too because I thought the premise was brilliant even if it had already done by other people. If you haven't figured it out, this piece was a satire on the film adaptation of The Lorax. The original work's theme of environmentalism seemed to have been lost in the film adaptation, which had plenty of commercial tie-ins including IHOP, AMC theaters, and the strangest of them all: the Mazda CX-5 automobile.

The writing was there, but it definitely needed refinement. It just comes off as a bit awkward to read. I think if you don't get that the Grunion is supposed to be speaking in sing-song-y rhymes, the Dr. Seuss connection may be lost. The parodies made in this comic are the IHOW and the Mazduh, which I pretty much ripped off the design of the Canyonero from The Simpsons.

The last thing I want to point out is that this comic features Dissect My Brain contest winner, D.J. Watts. He won the contest on facebook in which a picture was given for contestants to provide their own dialogue. Hopefully I will use him more on strips, but as it stands, this is his debut on the Union Weekly run.

Original Publication: March 19, 2012.
Union Weekly Vol. 70 Issue #9.

Dissect My Brain (Union Weekly Serial) Season 2, Episode 2: "Weight Class."

I believe I mentioned this before, but the original, final plan for Dissect My Brain was to do a one-shot issue. The subject material was going to cover rock and roll memories, particularly performing at CSULB's The Nugget circa 2005. I may still get around to doing it, but as it stands, I'm currently focusing my energies on doing the weekly newspaper strip. Being as my friend and bandmate Patrick DeLaney was written to be a focal character in that one-shot issue, I felt that I had to transfer him somewhere and so this strip was born.

I take no credit for the joke presented here. Much like the Kasatka strips, this one is written purely by real life words and events. Nothing much to say here other than it is the comic debut of the most well-known incarnation of Bootlegs of the Untitled Band. It's interesting to me know being as when I first started messing around doing comics, I was going to a graphic novel on Pat's earlier band, CHINA SMOKE. The one page I did of that is still lying around somewhere, but I never quite finished it due to laziness and I wasn't sure if the band was going to like what I had in mind.

Original Publication: March 12, 2012
Union Weekly Vol. 70. Issue #8.

Dissect My Brain (Union Weekly Serial) Season 2, Episode 1: "In Bad Taste."

I'm not going to lie: there was absolutely no plans to continue to Dissect My Brain. There were plans such as the summer special and what I originally had in mind for season two of Dissect My Brain, but both never came to fruition. I had just taken on assignment as a student teacher, and simply did not have the time to commit to working on the strip. By the time winter came around and I had finally gotten free, I had felt that the series was long forgotten and had ran its course.

Then, just by some happenstance, I was visiting the Union Weekly office. I ran into an old friend by the name of Leo, and the strip came into conversation. Next thing I know, I found myself spending 12 hours working on this new edition. I can really credit the resurrection of the series to two people: the aforementioned Leo, and Hooker Fighter: Reloaded author, Calvin. The latter can be credited as I had seen how diligently he had been working on his strip, and he would lightly push me into working on new material.

What can be said about the Season Two premiere of Dissect My Brain? It's basically an introductory strip to those who were unfamiliar with the series as the last time anyone had seen one of these was last year in May. Prior to Dissect My Brain's return, the Union Weekly had been overrun by squirrel-themed comics, and while I have absolutely no beef what-so-ever with squirrels or the Union Weekly series, Nutty Comics, I wanted to establish right away that this strip is not like other Union Weekly strips. Tack on some new techniques for art, and you've got yourself a fresh, repackaged Dissect My Brain!

For the record, this is purely fiction. I've eaten some terrible, horrid stuff in my life, but I can safely say that squirrel is not one of them.

Original Publication: March 5, 2012
Union Weekly Vol. 70. Issue #7.

Dissect My Brain SPECIAL FEATURE: All of the Shirts from Season One! (Well, Almost All of Them)

Hey there, kids! Ever wanted to dress like your favorite character from Dissect My Brain? Probably not. However, if you have as much free time as I do, chances are you will find this interesting. (Maybe.) Either way, the mystery behind the question "what are these idiots wearing?" is finally answered!

Here it is: All of the Shirts from Season One! (Well Almost All of Them.)

Most of these you might be able to hunt down. (Except for this first one.)

Death from the Neil Gaiman comics. This is an out-of-print shirt featuring art by Chris Bachalo.

T-shirt of my favorite band: Modest Mouse.

Brodie's t-shirt from the cult classic Kevin Smith film, Mallrats.

This is a shirt of Totoro from the Hayao Miyazaki film, My Neighbor Totoro.

Broken Social Scene t-shirt. This was barely seen in the series, so if you figured what it was, super kudos to you!

Pro-wrestlers Paul London and Bryan Danielson (as of writing, he's WWE's World Heavyweight Champion) were set to form a tag-team at a California federation called Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. This is a shirt of their short-lived tag team, The Hybrid Dolphins. It's supposed to be a bee and dolphin hybrid. Looking back, I sure was lazy in drawing that dolphin.

"Fuzz Aldrin" by Ex-Boyfriend clothing.

"Alien vs. Predator" by Skate Mental. The art is by one of my favorites: Donny Miller. I highly recommend checking out his art book, Beautiful People with Beautiful Feelings. Yes, that is Michael Jackson holding hands with the alien from E.T.. (This picture is actually from what is slated to be the season two premiere of Dissect My Brain.)

Kasatka's shirt featuring the logo of the 80's movie, Top Gun.

Gerald's Prinny shirt from the Nippon Ichi Software videogame, Disgaea.

Terence's Star Wars t-shirt.

New strips are coming soon! I can't confirm yet, but a "season two" on the Union Weekly is somewhat in the works. Also coming soon is what I'm planning to be the finale of Dissect My Brain.