Hi Reader

Follow the link below to see this week's comic

​Unnumbered #396​
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Once you've done that, come back and read the rest of the email!

Bit of a blast from the past this week! That’s right, it’s Chickpea and Garbanzo, from the early days of NowICantLose.com. (These two actually debuted when this comic was featured in TCNJ’s weekly newspaper, The Signal.)

Now, some of you may already know this, but I don’t usually write comics with characters in mind. Generally, I write a joke, and if it fits an established character I give it to them. This is true for this comic as well. I actually drew single-panel version of this comic in a horror/medieval fantasy setting first. Then, while on a walk, thinking up some talking dog comics, I remembered Chickpea.

You see, Chickpea’s character is pretty simple. She’s a talking dog who only speaks in puns (and set ups for said puns.) And, since I rarely come up with puns I want to use here, my comics rarely feature Chickpea or her owner, Garbanzo.

In fact, the last time they appeared was almost 14 years ago!

Speaking of the early days of NowICantLose, I've always had a problem where things I think are funny are too specific or obscure (or, quite possibly, actually unfunny) for general audiences. As a result, way back in the Signal days, I decided to avoid drawing comics that require specific information to understand (I haven't always been successful in this.)
Part of this decision was realizing that I didn't draw all that quickly, and drawing things no one else would like was a big waste of time. That said, recently I have become much more adept at finishing comics in a reasonable amount of time, so I started illustrating some of my less accessible jokes "just for fun." I might share some of these comics in this newsletter, whether as completed comics or as simple illustrations. Here's one from the past week:

If anything, I feel like these comics are a good way to improve my skills as an artist. I don't have to be too meticulous with the artwork, since these are really just for me, which is actually great for cartooning.

Of course, there are some issues I've encountered drawing these kinds of comics. Mainly that producing more comics sort of skews my comprehension of what works for weekly updates and what doesn't. Sometimes I find myself looking at the weekly comic and thinking "is this really accessible to my target audience?" "Should I just update twice this week and let the readers decide for themselves?" "Do I really want to put my website URL on this thing?" and so on.
Maybe this is a good problem to have.

Finally, I wanted to announce that I applied for Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia for 2026. There's no guarantee that I will get in, but if I do it's going to be a pretty big deal! It's a 5-day convention, which will be a first for me. I'll keep you updated.

See you next week!
Jack Scully

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