favorites:
|
<<
July 2008
>>
|
||||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
|
Matthew ReidsmaI am a cartoonist, illustrator, and web designer living in Boston with my wife and two snarling cats. I draw a daily cartoon diary, High Maintenance Machine, and am currently serializing my embarrassing childhood stories in the irregular series Happy Child. You can visit my store or send me an email right now through the magic of the internet if you want to chat or have me send you things. But I really love mail, and you can write to me using a pen and paper. Stick your letter in an envelope and write this on the outside: Matthew Reidsma, 31 Walnut Street #10, Somerville, MA, 02143, USA. Then put some stamps on the envelope. You probably only need one unless you put a bunch of junk in the envelope with your letter. I am always available for illustration and design work; my portfolio is forthcoming. |
On my thirtieth birthday, I kind of freaked out and started a daily cartoon diary that I call “High Maintenance Machine”. Every day I draw a little cartoon about something that happened to me and I post it on the internet, usually before 9am the following day. You can read it for free every morning on my website, subscribe to my RSS Feed, or sign up to have the cartoon sent to your email every morning by extra-smart computers. Or you can wait until the end of the month and order the mini comics and read them all in one shot.
High Maintenance Machine has no overarching plot, but is instead a series of interconnected vignettes, recording my interactions with my wife, my cats, my coworkers, and my own conscience and insecurities. Each strip stands on its own. Over time, a rhythmic whole grows out of these daily comics. Since I am not interested in drawing my agenda or to-do list, I emphasize events and moments that transcend the context of my own life and ring true for my readers. While I don't shy away from the "gag strip" formula, this is never an end in itself. The comic strip is a powerful medium, and I want to harness that power to examine my own life and explore what it means to be human.
When I began this diary, I imposed arbitrary limitations on the shape and size of the strip because of the size of the sketchbook I purchased. For the past year, I have pushed myself creatively and formally within these boundaries, and hope to continue to grow as a cartoonist and diarist. As the second year of High Maintenance Machine begins, I have great hopes for both my life and the strip itself. Please, let me know what you think about it, and as always, thank you for reading!
And you can always order issues and subscriptions from the online store!
I'm glad you asked! Here's a list of all my published comics.
Matthew Reidsma’s High Maintenance Machine is a diary comic that captures a moment from each day of his life. The webcomic has an intimate feel—Reidsma seldom uses more than six panels, and the focus is firmly on a few characters: Reidsma, his wife Wendy, and a handful of their friends. Sometimes the point of the comic is immediate and piercing, and other times it is obscure. Reidsma also collects his work into a monthly mini-comic that includes extras not found online.
Dan Mazur and I talk about Oprah and mini-comics.
“it takes someone who really understands how comics work to create strips like these which just so gracefully knock the wind out of you. They’re amazing, beautiful things, all the more so for their economy.”
--Anne Thalheimer, Fleen.com
These comics slice a moment from a day and then break it down to its most basic and beautiful beats, like steady thumps of a heart. On good days, High Maintenance Machine delights. On bad days, it reminds me that I am not alone.
--Daniel Barlow
I love Reidsma’s simple, even stark style, his bold use of black and white, and his sensitivity to the little moments in life which his readers will laugh at or relate to.
--Jessica McLeod
While High Maintenance Machine is often autobiographical, they capture a common feeling of being. Matt is not journaling about his day, Matt is journaling about the world. Matt, his wife Wendy, his friends and cats .... and the readers ... are just in for the ride.
--David Ano
I just received my first subscription copy of HMM in the mail this month. I sat right down and read it, and my first reaction was, “Wow, this is what indie comics is all about!”...Thank you, Matt Reidsma, for renewing my faith in mail-order comics communication!
--Marek Bennett
In prep for writing a feature on Hub Comics on Bow Street, I bought a couple of comics by local artists. “High Maintenance Machine” by Walnut Street’s Matthew Reidsma was one of them. If you haven’t read it, please start. It’s slice-of-life humor at its best. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much from reading a comic book.
--Steve Bagley
When I first read High Maintenance Machine, Reidsma’s gentle, clean lines and sweet sense of humor filled me with envy and rage. Things really haven’t changed.
--Box Brown
