Sunday, January 18, 2009

A Year of "Losers Are Made, Not Born"

It's been a year since I started this site and I have had so much fun doing it and I hope that you have too. I would like to thank Comics.com for updating their site so the past strips could be used for this installment. It was my very first post where we learn that Brutus has not aged well unlike his Uncle Ted who we never see again. Also, we learn that Gladys is so numb to her marriage that she can't remember when her husband's pants caught on fire. I'm glad that she's able to let go of horrible memories but you'd think she'd remember that. I know I would.

Also, I am introduced to the phrase "subprime" which would wreck havoc on our economy within a short nine months or so. And, yes, such a serious word is resorted to a bad joke about television. We also learn that Wilberforce has a college-aged friend (must be where he gets his weed) named Rick Goetchius, who we never hear about again. And we discover Brutus doesn't know what "24/7" means. So that takes us through the first month or so of Born Loser strips and looking at these old strips makes me nostalgic for those good ol' days of early 2008. I was a small fish in a big pond but now I am a medium fish in a big pond. Of course the original idea came from Josh Fruhlinger's site The Comics Curmudgeon where I think everyone else who does a comic blog has stolen--borrowed--the idea. I originally made fun of The Born Loser in my "Watch This Space" prototype I had on Blogger (now deleted). It wasn't anything great just more of a personalized blog that ended after about 40 posts. It was within this first month that we got Creepy Panel #1 with Brutus' doe-eyes. We also learn that Brutus' birthday is on March 3rd so we'll see if that holds true in 2009. (Unlike Veeblefester who has two birthdays within a year). It was also my first attempt at making my own version of the strip, something I don't do very often. I also attempted to create a murder-mystery story within the realm of The Born Loser that didn't last past the first chapter. Also, it's determined that I lost my mind with the March 10, 2008 edition of The Born Loser and I haven't been the same since.

Starting on March 14th, I discovered how to post the comics on the site itself instead of linking to Comics.com. I had originally planned to post the strips back on the earlier posts but decided against it because I felt it ruined the simplistic value of the site. March 24th's strip shows just how bad (and confusing) a driver Gladys really is and on March 31st, we learn Veeblefester's wife is named Lividea who we won't see until June 12th. In April, I tried to honor the Kansas Jayhawks NCAA Championship by posting a Girls & Sports comic that is completely irrelevant. But we also get one of the creepiest panels in this strip's history. I became a huge fan of sacks of money and I make a reference to bus stop patron Crazy Amy who is a real person. My friend Randy saw her first when returning to Lawrence and taking the bus from the Greyhound station to his place of residence. She kept talking to him about random stuff and kept saying she married a Nazi. Turns out she lived next door to me and while she wasn't really married to a Nazi, she was married to a Professor of German Studies which is where that came from I guess. She was pretty much insane and where I lived kept trying to get her evicted but she owned her condo and was current on all dues so there was no legal way to get her out. I don't know if she's still there but every time I pass by the street corner I can still picture her doing her interpretive dancing while waiting for the bus.

In May, I made a list of actors I would like to see portray our characters in a Born Loser movie and I am still waiting for it to come true because Hollywood is still putting out crap (Marley and Me, anyone?). I finally reached the 100th post and we get possibly the only sweet moment in The Born Loser.

Starting in June, Brutus starts asking Veeblefester about his redeeming qualities which soon becomes a running gag and makes me wonder why Brutus does that. Also, I purchased the domain name Tauycreek.com and officially changed the name of the site from "Losers Are Made, Not Born" to "Watch This Space" and began doing more comics aside from The Born Loser. Commentor Aesop pointed out that people talk like idiots in the BL universe and we celebrate National Cheesecake Day.

Starting in August I tried something new with Superman comic books and we get our first BL strip without any of the main characters. Alley Oop celebrated his 75th anniversary and two of the lamest comic characters are married off plus I reach my 200th post and I immediately go on vacation as For Better or For Worse comes to an end.

I was unable to come back as I had planned because of Internet issues but when I did get back, color had been added to the strip but not much else had changed. I began my Peanuts tribute that only lasted about two months or so before I got sick of it. I did a entry on my favorite horror movies before doing a massive entry for Halloween.

In November, we learn that Chip Flagston has a cellphone flask, that Wilberforce's teacher is pure evil and that Brutus does not eat a healthy breakfast. December opens with post number 300 and an interesting take on a murder story. Also, because of a change of schedule, I stopped posting other comic strips, focusing mainly on The Born Loser which brings this site back to it's roots. I also began the Story Series Secret Identity which I hope you all are enjoying.

And this ends the 2008 reign of The Born Loser. I hope you all have enjoyed reading as much as I have writing. Any and all comments are welcome but before we close, I must comment on the weirdest comment I've ever received (so far) on this site.
Did you ever find the indian burying grounds near Tauy Creek? Archeologists are sickminded and disrespectful or they would not dig up old graves, would they? "Let my bones be!", he would have screamed, had he been alive, but he was not alive, so he said nothing. Was it okay for John Brown to kill the people at Potowatomie in your opinion? I found a catfish hole in Tauy Creek once a long time ago and boy was it deep for such a little creek. There's ghosts running nuts all over the old military trail from Leavenwoth to Fort Scott. I saw one once on the old bridge over the Marais des Cygnes 6 miles east of Ottawa. Bye.
I'm not sure what Indian burial grounds he is talking about but there is a cemetery near the Tauy Creek, which is where John Tecumseh "Tauy" Jones is buried. As for John Brown and the Pottowatomie Massacre: was it right for Sheriff Sam Jones to lead a posse into Lawrence and burn it down? But before that, Jones was shot while trying to make an arrest in Lawrence. Was it okay for John Brown to kill those people? That's not for me to say because it was all done in retaliation. As for the ghosts, now you're just getting weird but if ghosts do exist I'm sure there are plenty between the Black Jack site and Mine Creek (both near the Leavenworth/Ft. Scott Road).

For those who want to know, the name Tauy Creek comes from a creek that flows from the Marais des Cygnes River in Franklin County, Kansas into Douglas County, through Baldwin City. I thought it was a cool name and decided to use it. The creek was named for the aforementioned "Tauy" Jones who was a major influence on the Ottawa Indians in the 1850s. A hall on Ottawa University campus is named for him and a wood-carved statue adorns the campus, too. He's buried in the Indian Cemetery located outside of Ottawa on Osborne Terrace between Nebraska and Nevada Roads.

I want to thank all the readers and passers-by who helped make this site was it is. It is you that give me reason to update the site on a (nearly)daily basis and here's to another year of The Born Loser. And I do apologize for all the links.