We thought we had to have this in the house. At close hand. I put him on the sandwich scavenger hunt in its pages and he turned up the stuff below. Why do people draw comics? We’re lucky animals to have such powerful imaginations.
Drawings by Marc Bell. And here is an interview with the man.
Is anything original? Can we conjure out of nothing? No, we cannot. Why are sandwiches so nearly universal? Bread is at the root. Bread, so fundamental. You start with it – all its exponential and existential complications – and want to put something on it. Butter, mayonnaise, cheese. You start with nearly nothing – wheat, yeast, water – and can create nearly everything.
Freshman year, University of Wisconsin-Madison, I took a philosophy class, naturally. First day, professor professing his commitment to the syllabus et al, an earnest freshman raised his hand, was called upon to speak and said, “I am everything and I am nothing.” Can we conjure out of nothing? No, we cannot.
Still, our imaginations make whole worlds. All the exponents and existents of everything. Or nothing. Haha.
I can’t imagine drawing a comic, as much as I wish I could. Such a big world of whatever. A big world of mysterious beings, life, creatures, worlds, adventures, sandwiches!
Last weekend, the bf and I stopped at Smudge and encountered lots of DIY comic folks, including Cole Goco, the creator of Billy the Pop. Cole has created a world. Imagine that, a whole world. Billy and Cole are both charming and disarming and I wrote to Cole, “Do you have any strips about sandwiches?” He did and he sent it. Aaw, fishing and sandwiches. A pop eating a sandwich. Can you imagine? Yes, I could and said so. Cole wrote back, “I’m glad that was enough sandwichiness for you :)”.
A pop eating a sandwich. That’s everything you need.
Billy the Pop
Interview with Cole Goco, by Mike Rhode for the City Paper, here.
The Lunch Encounter 