Responsibility
Rediscovering old comics from my sketchbook.
Hi friends! It’s been almost a year since I started posting this weekly-ish newsletter and sharing old comics from my old sketchbook, “The Drawing Book.” It’s been so much fun! And I want to keep doing it! But I have to be honest, it’s getting a bit harder to do. I’m grappling with a few new challenges, these days - more about that, another time. For now, just wanted to say thanks for your understanding that these posts might be a bit more sporadic. The comics are all still here, though, and I’m still looking forward to sharing them whenever I can!
This week, we seem to have a couple of busy, complicated pages documenting my old life as a flight attendant/mural artist. A recent contract to paint a big mural was leading me to think about Verantwortung (responsibility), and to start a little company, which originally was called “Silvio Art & Murals.” I’m sure I’m not the only person to name a company after a Bob Dylan song… right?
I drew a lot of these drawing book pages on airplanes. The flight from Calgary to Frankfurt (and back) was between nine and eleven hours long, give or take. There was always some down time, and drawing helped me to stay awake!
Thinking about all the people getting married and having kids, made me think about a song from the soundtrack of the movie "Cabaret.” “Heiraten” means “getting married.” I learned these songs at an early age, since my parents loved this soundtrack. But the song “Heiraten” doesn’t actually appear in the movie (I don’t think?) which has always puzzled me. Maybe it was in the original theatre version, but didn’t make it into the movie?
Oh how wonderful… nothing is the way it used to be… all though a tiny word: “Marriage.” From out of the first floor of the building, appears a fairy tale castle…
As I grappled with more existential questions, I thought of more German cabaret tunes, like the one from “The Threepenny Opera” quoted here… you might know the English version, “Mack the Knife!”
The drawing book shows me a picture of the way my life looked all those years ago… trying to build something out of my life, while trying to figure out how I fit in. But then every once in a while there’s just something ridiculous. The next page shows a picture that’s clearly making fun of a character from “The Neverending Story” (an excellent book - also originally in German, incidentally - which was also made into a movie): the Luckdragon. My mural painting assistant made a joke about a “Lickdragon” and this was what it turned into…
That’s my jumble of serious and silly drawing book comics for this week! Thanks for rolling along with me, dear readers. I do feel a strong sense of Verantwortung for all of you, especially those paid subscribers who are helping me to justify taking the time to dig this old stuff up and write it all down. Thanks for being there! I’ll see you back here again soon, hopefully next week!