Time to Get Famous!

This is it. Nine months worth of work going out to the syndicates! At least now I know that I tried to follow my dream. If this is as far as I get to being syndicated, so be it. I will continue to just publish online if I never hear back from anyone.

I feel like my comic strip Just Say Cheese has so much to offer over other strips. There is not a lot of depth to some of the current strips. Unfortunately, space is limited and the comic strips that are being published are very good. It has been a long time coming for a strip like mine to get published. The story packs such a punch with the two kids sharing a bond because they have both lost a parent. We watch the two forget about the real world through some crazy, twisted adventures. It starts out dark, but the audience becomes too wrapped up in the mayhem to really dwell on the past.

Who knows. Maybe I’ll be surprised pretty quickly and get picked up. A total of seven syndicates are receiving submissions. Five are pictured here. Two others were sent electronically over the internet. I am very excited about my comic strip finally making it to the syndicates… but I know the chances of ever hearing back are pretty slim! The syndicates receive THOUSANDS of strip ideas per year. I’ll be lucky if I even get looked at!!!!!

Not having tried is worse than being shunned after trying.

0048 - Happy New Year! Time for things to get serious...

Just Say Cheese had a huge run last year! In its first year on the internet, Just Say Cheese was a HUGE hit on Facebook gathering a cult following of nearly 2100 fans. The strip continues to grow as much as 15 to 20 or more fans per week!

I am now in the process of submitting my concept to the 7 major syndicates in North America. Just Say Cheese is also being entered into a HUGE contest by the Cartoonist Studio where the winning strip gets a developmental deal with Creators Syndicate. The next 6 months should be the biggest months of my life! It is "make or break" time! It is as exciting as it is scary!!!!

However this turns out, I do not plan on giving up. My main goal is to make people laugh and enjoy my warped sense of humor. I am not here to make money... just to make a living! If I never get syndicated, I will be happy to just take it slow and post a strip every week... but being paid to do it every day would be so frigging COOL!!!

Follow this blog to see the latest strips and latest news about my comic strip Just Say Cheese. Also, become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stripcheese

I apologize for neglecting this blog. I put all my efforts into the Facebook page. Now that Wordpress has improved with the tab functions, I am going to drop my other blog on Blogger and focus on Wordpress and Facebook.

Here is a quick look at the finale from the series that was started a while back.
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0047 - Name That Fan

I think it is time we gave the fans of "Just Say Cheese" a name!

In the past when comic strips hit their prime, their fans where hailed by nicknames tagged by the strips' syndicates or marketing groups. Well, I've got squat so I am doing this myself. I have come up with a list of names for my diehard fans.

I took two elements of my strip and expounded upon them. The elements are Cheese, Hamm and Okra. Wait, yes... I mean three elements. Cheese come from the main character's name Fug Cheese. Hamm comes from the name of Fug's friend Billy Hamm. Okra comes from the rock band the Okra Pods who move to town and starts the strip going.

Here are my suggestions...
1. Cheese Wizzers
2. Hamm Bones
3. Cheese Doodles
4. Strip Cheesers
5. Okrapolytes
6. Hamm Hocks
7. Cheese Louise

If anyone cares to vote on one, please do. If anyone has a better suggestion, please let me know.

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0046 - The Fine Print

I have been advised by my legal council to make a few disclosures concerning my comic strip, Just Say Cheese. Upon testing the strip on a focus group and studying the effects my humor had on the volunteers, a few unfortunate side effects were recorded and analyzed. The following is a list of potential harmful results.

1. Weight Gain - The study showed that in some circumstances the parietal lobe would swell and result in the retention of excess fluid within the body. The brain has to work extra hard in order to comprehend the sometimes hidden humor of this panel strip resulting in the swelling.

2. Bladder Splatter - On rare occasions this strip is actually very funny... VERY funny. The unexpected surprise has been known to release the fluid stored in the body from reading too many of the extremely bad strips which causes the parietal lobe to swell as mentioned above.

3. Blindness - Some readers have been known to gouge out their eyes rather than be forced to read another Just Say Cheese strip.

I have also been advised to alert everyone that reading of my strip should only be attempted by readers during their own allotted time. Please do not read these strips if you are at your place of employment during office hours.

Now that I have all the notices out of the way, here is the latest slice of Cheese!

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0045 - El Hijo Loco Collapses

It was rumored that El Hijo Loco injured his back at a show in Lubbock last night. It appears this injury is just a work because El Hijo needs time off for some personal issues. The eight time OWW Extremely Heavyweight Champ will be returning to his hometown of Okrapolis later in the week.

A report on the internet by someone in attendance at last night's show states that El Hijo Loco was attempting a moonsault off the top rope when the turnbuckle snapped under the weight of his girth. El Hijo Loco fell out of the ring, landing on ring announcer Sal E. Mandor and wrenching his back. Sal E. Mandor is currently in critical condition after being squished by the tragic fall.

Meanwhile, back in Okrapolis, Billy is still meeting Fug's pets.

Click the image to enlarge....

0044 - More Trouble for the Pods

Stars Derik Hamm and Dave Jones of the comic strip Just Say Cheese were on the radio again today, this time in Miami, complaining about their new record label Mow Town Records.

"It is getting so frustrating," comments Dave. "I have three awesome new parody songs written but this new record company thinks it is best to use parody songs based on songs no one has ever heard of or to songs that just plain stink. They insist we write a parody of Toto's song Africa. There is no way in heck that anyone can make that song funny."

"We've decided that if we do complete this doomed record, we will name the album "What In Pod's Name?!?" because that title fits best with the emotions we have felt during these last few weeks," explains Derik.

Below is today's strip!
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0043 - Mounting Tensions

Well, the rock band who star in my comic strip seem to be having issues with their new label, Mow Town Records. The Okra Pods are a parody rock band that poke fun at popular classic rock songs.

The Okra Pods released their first album under this new label last month. The new album, Drawn Together, featured a parody of Cheap Trick's "He's a Whore" twistedly entitled "Dudley Moore". The band pleaded with the label to allow them to release a parody of this not-so-recognizable song. The gamble paid off as this song has become the most popular track from the album.

This morning band members Dave Jones and Derik Hamm were on the air in Boston promoting the new album and trashing the new record label. Derik reveals that the label was so impressed with the popularity of the parody of "He's a Whore" that they have demanded ALL of the tracks for the next album be parodies of not-so-popular songs.

"The jerks have even given us a list of songs they want us to parody!," complained Dave. "I do not write like that. Songs just pop into my head. Plus we are already three-quarters of the way through the recording of a really great album. We have to shelve this for now."

"Plus the songs they want us to parody are really terrible songs," adds Derik.

The label Mow Town Records, which doubles as a lawn care business, had no comment today. Everyone was out cutting grass or trimming hedges.

Here is today's strip!
Click image to enlarge...