PS I ♥ U

You folks ever see the movie All That Jazz, with Ben Vereen, Jessica Lange and Roy Scheider? You oughta check it out, it’s great. And I’m not just saying that because it was one of the only ways you could see nudity on TV, as a kid of the 1980’s.

I vividly remember discovering the movie on PBS late at night when I was supposed to be sleeping. It blew my tiny pre-pubescent mind. I think it was the first time I saw Afro-bush. I didn’t know whether to shit or go blind. One thing I took away from that viewing experience was this: titties galore. Including Sandahl Bergman’s. She was Valeria in Conan the Barbarian. You’re welcome.

Also, Roy Scheider as iconic choreographer Bob Fosse, singing “bye bye life, I think I’m gonna die” (to the tune of the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love”) about a million times, during the big closing number, and then they zip his ass up in a body bag.

How about that, huh? That’s from 1979, when dance, theater and jazz still fucking meant something, and it’s about an artist coming to terms with their own death.

I’m only dying in the philosophical sense that we’re all dying, but I think about death a lot. Maybe too much. The idea of no longer existing as a consciousness terrifies me, to the point where I create little fictions to deal with it.

This is what we all do. There’s no shame in it. All of us fear death to varying degrees, to the point where we embrace things we know not to be true. This is what it is to be a mortal human being of sound and free mind. The catch is your awareness that ultimately, everything will be taken from you, even your identity. You know, “all we are is dust in the wind” and such.

Sorry- didn’t mean to bring the room down. Look, if I don’t constantly remind you that I’m a fine artist, I might be mistaken for a loafer here in my office chair. I resemble some sort of out-of-shape boardwalk profligate, and most of my clothes are from literally last century. One time I puked between my monitor and scanner and stained the wall of my old apartment. I fart in front of baby strollers.

It’s entirely possible that you’re a millennial. If so, I want you to know that I’ve got your back. I’m Generation X; there is nothing I know better than scorn and condescension. They mean absolutely nothing to me. You merely adopted irony; I was born in it. Molded by it. I can give you the tools you need to defeat your imaginary oppressors. I’m even trained in Slack. Hans- bubbie- I’m your white knight.

(If you’re a Boomer, you’re wondering where I would get the idea that you needed me in the first place, me clearly being an out-of-shape boardwalk profligate.)

Currently I am engaged in the process of making Mike the Pod financially sustainable. It’s been a rocky couple of years, but that’s how these things go. These are the growing pains, and to tack on more clichés, I’m well past the point of no return and there’s no turning back. Plus, being a full-time artist, my actuary skills are on par with the average broiled pork chop. Consequently:

The domain for ceaselessfables.com expires soon. At present I cannot afford to renew it. Even if you hate my other site, I would hope you wouldn’t want to see it go poof, especially with the strip starting up again in February.
Of course, the domain for this site expires not long after, because if you run more than one site, you tend to group these things up when you pay the bills. I can’t afford to renew this domain either.
There are several other business-related expenses I can’t cover that I won’t go into here. We’d be here all day. Just an example; support for my computer’s operating system ends next month.

That’s still not even getting into the living expenses and other shit with which I am struggling. Luckily, as we enter 2020, there’s a system already in place where you can help, and get some exclusive stuff in the bargain.

You can always PayPal me money, or Venmo. I never met the goal of my “Survive 2019” GoFundMe, but somehow I survived. So… goal actually met, I suppose?
If a thousand of you supported me on Patreon for $1 a month, I’d be sitting pretty. Hell, I’d settle for a hundred. (Not really.)
Patrons and donors get to be Patron Saints (PS), who see my new comics before anyone else in the world, not to mention “How It’s Done”, a step-by-step guide to putting together your own comics.
The more funds I have, the more I can do for you. Podcasts, videos, the sky’s the limit. I want to produce radio dramas, and obviously, new animation. It’s been too long.

Welcome to the ground floor. There’s nowhere to go but up.

This is as serious as I get, my friends. I am walking the line between life and death. This plan will succeed or I will die trying. You want a cause you can rally behind? Climb aboard. I’ll take you places you never knew existed. I might be the only truly independent content producer you know. I’ve led a legit cult for 30 years. I’m in my element like a futhamug.

You want the good shit?
I got you fam. I got you.