Crankshaft joins the Website

posted on December 7, 2011

During the recent Alzheimer’s story arc that ran in Crankshaft, a number of emails about it came to me through this Funky site. Apparently a lot of people can’t locate the Crankshaft website, so they contact Chuck and me here. So starting now, if you click on the Crankshaft logo on the home page, it will take you directly to the Crankshaft site at crankshaftcomic.com where you may make all of your Crankshaftcentric comments. Frankly, I’m fine with however you want to do it, but for those of you who like your I’s dotted and you T’s crossed, you’re now golden.

So many people wrote to say how much they liked how Lucy and Lillian’s story was resolved, that I thought I’d repeat my post from the Crankshaft blog so my good and gentle readers who come here looking for Crankshaft could read it. For a long time there has been a bit of unfinished business hanging out there in regard to that particular story. It revolved around the letter from Eugene that Lillian hid from Lucy and the guilt that Lillian carried because of it. From time to time I had thought about dealing with that, but I never found a particularly elegant way to bring closure to the story. Then one Saturday I went out to the derelict and shuttered Chippewa Lake Park to wander through and take some pictures. By the way, a number of sharp eyed readers spotted Chippewa Park as the visual stand-in for Summit Beach Park which is the setting for the story in the strip, but which has long since disappeared. As I wandered through the melancholy detritus of the former playground, I suddenly came upon a collapsed building and there in the rotting remains was a bit of lattice work that was similar to what I had seen in pictures  of the Wisteria Ballroom at Summit Beach Park. All at once I knew how the story was supposed to end and why I had taken time off from a Saturday (my best workday because nobody ever calls) to visit the blighted remains of the old park. I couldn’t get home fast enough to write it all down.

A number of readers have asked if there would ever be a complete collection of the Alzheimer’s story and I’m pleased to let you know that The Kent State University Press has plans to publish just such a book down the road a bit. I’ll be providing more details as that time draws closer.