CA24MIX

Today I celebrate the 24th anniversary of my venture into comic book storytelling! The brand now known as Catomix began in August 1990 as "Jim W. Comics" and consisted entirely of derivative stories based on Back to the Future, Warner Bros. cartoons and Star Trek.

It was a time when everything was possible and I proudly hung every single comic I made on the wall with sticky tack no matter how crude the art was. Many years later I'd become so critical and obsessive about the quality and content of my work, I would all but shut down. Only in the last three years have I begun the slow and still-evolving process of accepting what I am, what I want to do, and how I need to do it.

If that sounds dramatic, that's what it is to me. My passion for comics and the influence they have had on me plays a role in every major decision I make in my life. I learned how to tell a story in a hundred different ways. I drove myself to get better at art, a class I used to hate with a passion. As I got older and more confused with myself and the world, I sorted things out by drawing private fantasies in comic pages. I chose a masters degree in animation because I wanted to integrate my illustration skill with my filmmaking studies. I weigh my job prospects on how well they would assist my comic book side ventures. Selling comics at conventions has given me confidence at being an entrepreneur. I've made lifelong friends through collaborative projects, and I've harshly bid goodbye to a friend as a result of one as well.

I cannot imagine a life where I don't make comic books. It is just what I am, and today I realize that more than I ever have.

When I started drawing stick figure Star Trek comics with crayons in notebooks, my audience was my parents and my younger brother. Today my audience is you. Strangers on the internet, finding something in my stories that resonate with you. A flight of fancy in the mind of a seven-year-old has become a living dream come true, and it is because of you.

Thank you, forever.

Jim Whaley