I’m really loving the opportunity to start from the beginning and catch up on Teen Titans Go! Five years’ volunteer cartooning for the VCU student newspaper helps me appreciate details I wouldn’t have noticed, decades ago. I’m happy to slow down and study techniques. I’m especially paying attention to line weights, because I know mine are weak.
Slowing down has also helped me spot where the creative team has worked together to sneak in references to what I guess is one of their own fandoms: Mystery Science Theater 3,000. I’ve seen “MST3K” on signs, billboards, and license plates. And it seems Tom Servo is a favorite character, as part of his name, or his image on a t-shirt, is lurking out of the action focus, there for a wandering eye to discover.
I remember, decades ago, learning that cartoon illustrator Al Hirschfeld sent a message of love to his daughter, Nina, while he was too busy working to be with her more directly. It became a game for us who loved his style to look for all the places where his lines hid her name.
And you made me feel a lot better about my mistakes, when I noticed in issue 19, page 21, the 3rd panel, second-to-last line, where “GIVING”