053 “Be My Fantasy”

Volume 2 begins, and a Mike strip. This is unusual as the other volumes start off with either a Madame X strip or a strip involving Madame X characters. Nonetheless, I had a whole bunch of Mike ideas and wanted to put them to work. I had an idea that maybe, Mike was enjoying torturing his roommate and this strip came as a result.

About the guest artist (pencilled the last panel over my layouts): Ian Oji used to be someone I considered a close personal friend. People drift apart I guess, and like many of the artists I have become friends with over the years, just lost track of each other. Part of it was due to some truly vile badmouthing by women who I had disasterous relationships with (I am always astonished by some people’s capacity to not be happy with just dumping someone but requiring them to be destroyed. Apparently lying is bad in a relationship but absolutely necessary once you’ve broken up). He was a great friend, and it was a memoriable thrill to meet him in Tokyo when I did. I miss you guy, I hope you’re doing well.