TEXT
Dash knew she inherited her smarts from a long line of savvy women. But too often she felt anxious and timid. Her dreams tangled into knots.
Dot advised her to consult Dr. Dee, so she did.. “Who can I call upon,” she asked him, “when my mentor-mothers have disappeared beyond the barbed wire fence of fear, beyond the great marsh of misgivings, beyond clouds of doubt?”
As she spoke, Dot caromed around the room like a panicked bumblebee. Dee got a butterfly net out of his closet, scooped up the distraught Dot, and handed the net to Dash.
“Tinkerbell here needs to calm down,” he said.
Dot pulsed quietly in the net while Dash’s eyes ran over the balanced wooden handle and the fine, light mesh that held Dot but didn’t harm her.
“I need a tool,” she whispered.
“You need a kit,” said Dee, shuffling back to the closet. He pulled out an old messenger bag, and handed it to her. A verse was printed in neat block letters inside the flap:
Practice your craft.
Those skills are the oars
That power the raft
Of wisdom.
-- League of Grandfathers
COMMENT
This in an experiment using a different format -- more like an illustrated short-short story. It showcases better writing (I think) but doesn't depict each "beat" like a regular comic strip would. Well, Zuzu's Notebook is all about experimentation.
The mentor-mothers and the pests are from my personal symbol library. Dot going crazy is a scatter brush.
Font. Heavy Hand (like what a carpenter might use with his fat, hand-sharpened pencil)
ZUZU'S NOTEBOOK is a Mad In Pursuit Graphic Quasi-Memoir project. To start a conversation, find me on