The long look back

The Press asked me to write a little statement about my time with them, and oddly enough, draw up a head shot. The headshot won't get published, but here it is in all it's humble glory:

As you may notice this week if you look at the comic page, this week marks the 300^th edition of my comic “Your Square Life” and its sixth anniversary in the Anchorage Press. Unfortunately, it also will be the last comic. Please don’t worry, it wasn’t anything you did, most likely.

Bingo Barnes asked me to comment on my time working on the strip and my rather sudden decision to pull the plug on what can only be described as my labor of love. In my effort to remain humble about my achievements with the comic strip, I have only included a small illustration of my handsome face to accompany this article. Let it be an inspiration to you.

Seriously however, I have had a phenomenal time creating “Your Square Life” for the last six years, starting when the then editor Robert Meyerowitz asked me to draft up a locally drawn strip to include in a comic page he was introducing to the paper. In the beginning, I had little idea what I was doing and, unfortunately or not, I still don’t know what I was going for most of the time. My goal throughout it all was to make something each week that at least a little funny or thought-provoking. I have no idea if I was successful or not, as I’m desperately trying to remain humble.

Over time, the strip opened many doors for me. It allowed me to do a “Your Square Life” inspired play, “the Simple Dating System”, with the infamous Duke Russell for Out North’s “Under 30”. I also had a successful retrospective show at the late, great Noble’s Diner. I even had the comic published in a few issues of a glossy art magazine in South Africa, the true measure of international fame. Apart from all my obscure accomplishments, the strip and the modest halo of fame I’ve accrued have allowed me to meet scores of people I now call friends. I even got a wife out of the whole deal. Not too shabby.

In the end, I made the decision that I need to get out from behind the drawing board, where I’ve been camped week-in, week-out for six-years, and get out of the house a bit more. Apart from all the fame and adulation I’ve described above, drawing comics is a pretty lonely, anti-social hobby. However, I’m not getting out of the art business and should have a few books coming out, including a “Best of Your Square Life” volume, in the next year. I’ll be posting my new artwork and updates for my upcoming projects at yoursquarelife.blogspot.com.

-Lee Post