D.J. Coffman – Sequential Artist, Thinker

I’m back from vacation. Rested and rejuvenated and ready to step up my game on several fronts, (mostly comic drawing!)

Myrtle Beach was fun and relaxing. We stayed at the Sandy Beach Resort and pretty much just chilled every day. Visited the Ripley’s Aquarium, and then the Ripley’s Museum too. Visiting the Ripley’s museum made me wish I had submitted for that cartoonist job they had for the “Believe it or Not” feature years ago when i had a chance.  That would have been really fun stuff to draw! Most people don’t even know that Ripley was a cartoonist, and he sort of accidently stumbled on the “Believe it or not” as a happy accident when he hurridly renamed a one shot comic he was doing… and it took off from there. I visited the Ripley’s museum in Florida when I was 12 and left if an impression on me that the world was full of crazy and mysterious and creepy things. Which is very cool when you’re 12.

But I digress…. Vacation was fun to chill with the family. We stopped in Raleigh on the way home to visit my wife’s Aunt, Unlce and cousins there. All good people to the core. My wife has been saying she wants to move to North Carolina now, and I can’t blame her… heck I’d do it if the circumstances are right. Something about a fresh start in a  new location is appealing to me. This area has really grown on my nerves for some reason.

While in Raleigh, we stopped by a tattoo place in Wake Forest called Eternal Ink, my wife got another one… her “Atomic Bombino” symbol for Derby, which consists of  a skate wheel with the atomic symbol around it. Pretty sweet. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks what I want my next tattoo to be, all I can say is that it will be big, probably like an entire sleeve of my arm, and it will be Wally Wood related.

An update on the OLD HOUSE situation which I was hoping to sell. The days before we went on vacation and I was over cleaning it out and some of the neighbors came over and convinced my wife to do a rent-to-own with their daughter. This time we’re doing a full on contract– but these folks were gungho to get in there– they cleaned up the yard, painted some inside while we were away, it was like a whole different place outside when we showed up Monday to check things out. However… the old tenants… the people who were supposed to be our “family” left TONS of fleas inside. We’d bombed the place twice, and then the new people bombed it… and then they called an exterminator as well, and there are STILL fleas. There are no carpets in the place, just hard wood floors, but the old flea eggs keep the baby fleas protected, so they’ll keep hatching for weeks. I feel bad about this, so I may go over and shopvac… there is also some weird problem with the electric in the kitchen– Im starting to believe they really did a number on screwing with the place, maybe clipped a wire to be dicks? I can’t believe they lived there with all those fleas either… it’s RIDICULOUS! That makes me wonder if there isn’t a way to sabotage a house with flea eggs or something??? Sigh. The new tenants are young– but I think it may work out this time. They seem to see the opportunity we are giving them and i offered a deal of a lifetime to them i they can come up with a certain amount by December, they can own the entire place now. I really want it off of my hands.

I’m also loving what I call “conspiracy rap” lately. Some of it seems a bit far-fetched, but the messages of expanding your mind being the only way to really be free is important.

“CHILDREN OF DA MATRIX”