This week’s scene is just one page so here is your super-short update:
I can’t say a ton about this one as it kind of kicks off the plot. You’ll learn more about who this guy is next week. In the meantime I can say that this page does kind of establish my frequent use of physical comedy in Reckless Life. Even not knowing what’s happening here you can tell no would actually mug the camera Jim Halpert style like after receiving good news that but I’m not above tossing verisimilitude out the window to land a gag.
The only other thing to note on this page is the background noise. it certainly very "of" my college bar experience. Plus one "nagga-nootch" for good measure. The Tim of 2002 was really into Kevin Smith apparently.
As long as we have some extra time this week some additional backstory on this arc as a whole.
I actually had the title ‘Mad at the World’ before I had this story. I knew that was kind of Locke’s thesis. Apt seeing as Locke served as my id for most of my twenties and I got that term from my dad who frequently used it to describe my world view. (Pushing back against the idea that ‘life isn’t fair’ is a frequent theme in my work.)
Anyway, I had this kind of vague idea that the first arc should establish that Locke is something of a cynic and generally fueled by a sense of bitterness or that he’s somehow been cheated out of the life he wanted for himself. I think there’s something a bit universal in that. It’s hard not to look around and see people failing upward all the time. It’s an idea that’s central to the “adolescent male power fantasy.” I’ll be honest I wasn’t even familiar with that descriptor when I wrote this story but Graphic Smash co-creator Alexander Danner said on the reckless life feedback forum that the thing he enjoyed most about this story was that it took that notion and really turned it up to eleven. I wish I could say that was a conscious choice but the truth is that’s the only sort of story I was into at that age and it just REALLY came out in this first arc. (You’ll see how as we get into the next couple chapters.)
At the same time, I wanted to marry that idea with the “Locke steals odds things or things for odd reasons” that I established in Pop Art (again stay tuned for next week) and viola! Mad at the World was born.
NEXT WEEK: What just happened here and how does this relate to Locke?