"It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves … How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the roots of tradition and conformity." -Henry David Thoreau

As I near the 2-year mark of High Maintenance Machine, I can't help but think of where I want to take my comics. And to be honest with myself, it isn’t into another year of diary comics. I never intended to draw a diary comic this long--it just happened. And while I did sometimes lose sight of my original purpose, the strip was always about drawing practice, about pushing my art and myself into new places.

So beginning August 5th I will be changing things up: I'm going to focus on longer stories--both true and fictional, about myself and others--rather than daily diary strips about my life. And because I feel that long-form comics work better in print, I will stop regularly posting pages online. Each month, a new issue of High Maintenance Machine will be released, either as a compilation of stories or a chapter in a longer work. We'll see. I'm not sure what this will look like, or where it will go, but it's a place I have to visit, and I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Thanks,

Matthew

I took back a bunch of stuff home with me from MoCCA this year, and I promised that I'd try to write about some of it for the benefit of posterity. I just finished up benrosen's Insult to Injury #8, a little collection of diary comics from the end of his freshman year in college. Rosen's been drawing comics since he was in high school, but that was only last year! His diary comics are a mix of 2-panel to 8-panel strips chronicling his life in college. But don't think Animal House or Revenge of the Nerds--while Rosen's strips tend toward the humorous punchline, they are still grounded in a life anyone can recognize and appreciate. Like most diary comics, Rosen's drawings are simple and even hurried--sometimes you get the impression that he drew them between classes, walking down the hallway, right after something happened--but this gives the art a spontaneity that his earlier, plotted-and-planned stories lacked. The linework says as much about the quick moment that he captures as the dialogue; it tells us that Rosen was the only one paying attention, and he wants to share that with us. If you ask me, that's the key to a good diary comic, and Rosen's fits the bill.

My personal favorites:

• Shotgun
• Chivalry is not dead (Best 5th panel ever)
• So f#*@$&% indie (Inspiration for my fan art up there...)

The first seven issues of Insult to Injury were compilations of longer stories and little shorts, mixed in with some diary strips. Give them a read. (I guess go to his Livejournal and ask for them?)

If you don't know Sarah Glidden's work, head on over to smallnoises.com and read her amazing, Maisie Kukoc Award for Comics Inspiration winning comic, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. Probably the best mini comic made in the past 5 years.

Today I posted my 700th High Maintenance Machine strip. Well, there are 2 ways of counting. This is the 700th strip I've drawn for High Maintenance Machine, but there are 2 strips I've never published. So maybe Saturday will be my 700th. Who knows.

Speaking of Saturday, I'll be at the MoCCA Festival at the lovely Puck building in lower Manhattan. You can find me on the 7th floor at tables S58-S59 with the rest of the Boston Comics Roundtable rabble. I'll be there from 11-6 on Saturday only, and I'll have issues #21 and (fresh off the press) #22, as well as a hundred and fifty (or so) pieces of original art for sale at $15 a pop. PLUS, the Roundtable will have the first issue of our new quarterly anthology, InBound. I saw a copy last night and it looks really great. You don't want to miss this opportunity! Plus, if you're a cartoonist, you should stop by so I can put you in my usual convention roundup. Hope to see you there!

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When I'm not drawing, I have a job. Here's a little something I wrote for our work blog, 852: RARE.

Last month, I asked you to draw your own High Maintenance Machine strip for a chance to win some fabulous prizes. Wendy, Montana, and Elmer had a tough time picking their 3 favorites. At one point, Wendy asked if I had enough stuff to give out big prizes to all 21 participants! (I don't.) However, we did change the winners brackets a bit. Instead of one first, one second, and one third prize, we are awarding 3 First prizes in separate categories, as well as 2 overall honorable mentions. But to be honest, every single comic deserved a prize, because they were all great!

So I want to say Thank You to everyone who submitted a comic, but especially to the people who had never drawn a comic before. If your entry was your first comic, let me know because I have a special bonus prize for you! Anyway, here are the winners names. If they had posted their comic on their own website, I included a link. Thanks again, and all participants will be hearing from me soon!

The following are Grand Prize winners. They will get a Draw Comics Every Day t-shirt, a coupon good for High Maintenance Machine original art of their choice, some stickers, and a copy of New Stars, the Trees and Hills most recent anthology.

• Favorite Drawing: Sarah McIntyre
• Most Innovative: Monica Feeney
• Favorite Concept: Brian Payne

And the following two are honorable mentions. They will receive a Draw Comics Every Day t-shirt and a copy of New Stars and some stickers!

• Colin Tedford
• Sam Merwin

Thanks again to everyone who submitted a comic! You can see all the submissions in the forthcoming March issue of High Maintenance Machine. (If you submitted, you'll get a complimentary copy!) We had a great time doing this, and we'll probably do it again next year!

While lying on the couch listening to the radio, I managed to finish a drawing I've been working on for the past month. (Drawing on the couch with a Studio2Go is wonderful, by the way, whether or not you are sick.) Apologies, of course, to Botticelli.

Any suggestions for my next one?

I needed a way to make my drawing desk portable, so that I could easily work on my strip while on vacation, and so I could easily relocate anywhere in the house when I needed to. My solution was to modify this wooden drawing case to hold all of my supplies as well as serve as a drawing surface. I have a lot of photos behind the cut.

( See more behind the cut )

Here it is in action! Lighting is still an issue when I'm not at my desk, but I'm trying to find a nice, compact flexible lamp that will run on batteries. Any ideas?

UPDATE: boxbrown sent this to Make Zine and they posted it! Thanks, Brian and Make!

February 28th's strip is the 600th strip I've drawn for High Maintenance Machine. To celebrate, I'm going to have a contest! Draw Your Own High Maintenance Machine Strip and win fabulous prizes. Submit your very own High Maintenance Machine comic by March 20th, starring you and yours or Wendy and me, and you could win one of the following:

• First Prize: A Draw Comics Every Day T-shirt, Original Art of Your Choice, and a bunch of stickers
• Second Prize: A Draw Comics Every Day T-shirt and a bunch of stickers
• Third Prize: A copy of New Stars plus a bunch of Draw Comics Every Day stickers

Everyone that enters will have their entry printed in the March issue of High Maintenance Machine, and will receive a complimentary copy. Please enter, even if you think you cannot draw. You can! (Have you seen the terrible strips I drew at the beginning? Sacredieu!) You can email me a 300dpi copy of your strip if you have a scanner or a digital camera, or you can mail me a photocopy of it and I'll scan it. (Address on my website)

The strips will be judges by a panel of 3 celebrity judges: Wendy will choose her favorite, Elmer, one of our cats, will pee on his favorite, and Montana, our other cat, will throw up on the one she likes the best.

I hope everyone enters, and I want to thank you all for reading my little comic for these past 19 months, and I hope you all stick around for the next 19 months!

Hey kids, last week Brigid from Digital Strips interviewed me for the website. She found a copy of High Maintenance Machine #17 at The Hub Comics in Somerville, and discovered that I also put them on the computer internet. That is how they are "digital." Anyway, you can read the interview here.

I hope everyone has a safe, happy holiday season this year. Or, as my friend Tom characterized the Cambridge/Harvard version this week, "the most wonderful all-inclusive non-denominational multi-purpose fluffy crunchy filthy hippie time of year." I'm on a holiday leave! Comics will possibly appear between now and January 2nd, but if not, then they'll all appear in one big happy bunch in the new year, along with a new print issue!

The strip for November 26th is the 500th strip I've drawn for High Maintenance Machine. Hurrah! Perhaps to mark the occasion, I'm going to start selling the original art for the strips. The first 500 strips are all in sketchbooks, so those strips are off limits, but any strip beginning with November 27th, 2007, will be available for the low low price of $15, including Priority Mail shipping within the US. That's basically $10 for the art, $5 for shipping. Wowza! What a great Holiday present some original art would make. Strips are all brush-drawn on bristol board and are 7" x 5 5/8". For now, just shoot me an email letting me know you'd like to buy a strip, and if it's available, I can send you a Paypal invoice or you can mail me a check or (well-concealed) cash. This is a little introductory offer to see how it works. I might raise the price after the holidays, so get in while the getting is good!

You know what else makes a good holiday present? High Maintenance Machine gift subscriptions. Order now and I'll include a free "This gift is from..." ink drawing of whatever you want! If you need some convincing, check out this great review of the print version of High Maintenance Machine by Marek Bennett, the creator behind Mimi's Doughnuts Zine!

A big thanks to Charlito, Mr. Phil, and Alec Longstreth of Indie Spinner Rack for the really nice comments on the latest episode (#98). You can have a listen right here if you want! They talk about all kinds of great stuff from SPX, including my buddies Marek Bennett, Marcos Perez, thingpart (Joe Sayers), Julia Wertz, and one of my favorite things from SPX, two new amazing comics by ziel (J.P. Coovert). Plus a ton more! Woot!

Also, a big thanks to Sarah (kidglidden)for the heads-up. I'm so behind on listening to stuff I wouldn't have known about this for weeks. I think Sarah's mini, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, was my favorite book from SPX. I haven't seen anyone write it up so maybe I'll do one! (I did find this mention next to a plug for a Rutu Modan project, though!)

I've been back now a few days, and I finally uploaded my photos from SPX. I didn't take too many, because I was so busy! Anyway, here are some fun SPX Roundup links for you:

• My Cartoon Roundup of all the cartoonists (and a few extras) I met at SPX
• My SPX Photos
• Brian and I on the Daily Cross Hatch Photo Roundup
• An Awesome photo Jamie took of Sarah Louise and I
• Me, Alec Longstreth, and Clutch by David Lasky! (You can see my awesome apron here)
• A sketch I did of McKenzee
• Marcos Perez's great roundup My boxed set was his favorite haul!

I'll add more links as I think of them!

In a few short hours I'll be flying off to Bethesda, MD, for the Small Press Expo. I'll be at tables A6-A7 with the Boston Comics Roundtable. I thought I'd give you a little sneak-peek of what I'll have in tow! First off, I'll be debuting the 14th issue of High Maintenance Machine, the largest issue yet at 48 pages, with 2 bonus stories and a bunch of great fan art and letters. I'll also have the usual back catalog of HMM titles, as well as the first issue of Happy Child and Skippy minis.

I'll also have Rollie Fingers stickers as well as the ever-popular Draw Comics Every Day stickers. But in case a sticker doesn't cut it for you, I'll have Draw Comics Every Day t-shirts as well! And for that special someone in your life, I'll have limited edition, hand-made boxed sets of the first year of High Maintenance Machine. Believe me, these took longer than we thought, so we won't be making them again! Get in on that action! Our table will have plenty of other great stuff from boxbrown, danmazur, Alexander Danner, Shelli Paroline, David Kender, mister_wolf, catskillz, and tons of others I am forgetting! Ok, off to the airport. Hope to see you there!

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If you're in the Washington D.C. area, or are just a super indie comics fan, why not make a trip this weekend to the Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda, Maryland? Tons and tons of your favorite cartoonists will be on hand, selling minis, t-shirts, buttons, stickers, and other assorted crap. I'm even getting in the swing. Stop by the rectangular Boston Comics Roundtable tables A6-A7 this Friday and Saturday, October 12-13. We'll have work by the 10 or so cartoonists coming down with us, as well as the 10 or so members who couldn't make it. I'll have all 14 issues of High Maintenance Machine, a few others minis, Boxed Sets of the complete First Year (with handmade slipcases!), t-shirts, and stickers. Hope to see you all there!

EDIT: I'm not planning on bringing any issues of InkCollective unless someone asks me, so pipe up!

Thanks to everyone who came down to the Box Social in Williamsburg on Saturday. The opening was a huge sucess, thanks to the prowess of Sarah Glidden and Julia Wertz and a chap named Jason that I didn't get to meet. There is some really great stuff up, and if you're in NYC, I urge you to make the trek out to Secret Project Robot (weekends only) and have a look at some cool pages from some cool cartoonists. I've got some photos up, and Sarah Glidden took a ton as well.

Hey kids, just wanted to draw your attention to some exciting events that are coming up in October:

For all those New Yorkers out there, I'll have 6 new pages in a gallery show at Secret Project Robot in Williamsburg. The show, called "Box Social," is curated by kidglidden, Jason Estrin, and Julia Wertz. It runs from October 6 through November 4 (the gallery is only open on weekends) and features work by boxbrown, longstreth, Julia Wertz, kidglidden, and many more! The opening is on Saturday night, October 6th, and I'll be heading down there to schmooze and see all the great work they've assembled. If you can't make it but want to see the story I drew, check out the forthcoming anthology from Trees and Hills, debuting at SPX. I hope to see many of you there!

October 6, 6pmish? Secret Project Robot, 210 Kent Ave, Williamsburg.
Directions:

L train to Bedford Ave.

Walk towards Metropolitan Ave.

On Metropolitan, walk towards the water.

We are located on the corner of River St. and Metropolitan Ave.

River St. is one street below Kent.

The entrance to Secret Project Robot is the arch doors on the Loading Dock

And let's not forget about SPX, the Small Press Expo. On October 12-13. I'll be at the Boston Comics Roundtable booth with boxbrown (even though he's not from Boston!), danmazur, and a ton of other great cartoonists (you can read more about us at the Comics Journal website). I'll have issues 1-14 of High Maintenance Machine, Happy Child #1 and copies of Skippy and the Magic Tricycle, a new boxed set of the first year of High Maintenance Machine, Draw Comics Every Day stickers and t-shirts, and Rollie Fingers stickers. Plus maybe some paintings. Who knows? If you're coming, stop on by and say hello, and don't miss all the other awesome cartoonists who will be there, like lizbaillie, longstreth, kidglidden, preachertom and yellowcardigan!