Funny how things turn out

This editorial, “Strange Maven’s Diary,” originally appeared in Strangehaven issue #1, June 1995.

Funny how things turn out.

When I was just about old enough to grasp a crayon, I started to scrawl my own Batman comics (albeit in yellow wax crayon) into old, partly used hardcover notebooks which my dad used to produce from god knows where. The resultant scribblings were intelligible only to myself, but this did not prevent me from inflicting my creations on members of my family, verbally describing my own tales of the caped crusader to anyone standing still long enough, blissfully unaware of the restrictions of copyrights and trademarks.

You may think that I’ve spent the intervening years dedicating myself to my art, honing my writing and drawing skills, but unfortunately I’ve wandered off onto tangents many and various; playing soccer, falling in and out of love, manufacturing furry slippers, playing in rock bands, fiddling about with computers, initiating an assortment of unsuccessful businesses and generally avoiding responsibilities and having a good time.

And yet, I’ve always been drawn back into the world of comics in various roles, this wonderful and unique form of art, entertainment and communication, in order to express myself. So here I am, back where I started. Except that I’m not using yellow crayons, I’m not drawing Batman, and I’ll leave it up to you as to whether the resultant scribblings are intelligible or not.

But I feel like I’ve finally come home.

Strangehaven is an ambitious project. It seems like it’s part of my nature to bite off at least as much as I can chew. Only this time, I still feel hungry.

Thank you for buying this issue. After a great deal of deliberation, I decided to include an additional eight pages of strip free-of-charge this time, in order to give a fuller taste of what’s to come. Next issue will contain 24 pages of strip and will be on sale in September. I do hope to increase my frequency as soon as I feel confident that I can keep to a tighter schedule, and of course, assuming that I can count on your continued support.

Please forgive the self-indulgence of a comprehensive “thank you” list elsewhere in this issue, but there are many kind souls without whom Strangehaven would have been a more difficult and less enjoyable task. Special thanks to those who at least gave me the chance to prove myself. They know who they are.