By the pricking of my thumbs...

Hiya.

Welcome back to the "Saturday" update, where the drawings are always on point and the commentary is all over the place.

Progress report:  I'm still working on editing the book.  It's coming along swimmingly.  Whatever that means.  I mean, I know "swimmingly" means "smoothly", but how on earth did that word come be used that way?  Seems like there are more appropriate synonyms for smoothly.  What's smooth?  Milkshakes...bowling balls...Ricardo Montalban.

"How's the editing going, Noah?"
"Oh, it's going Ricardo Montalbanly."

At any rate, the editing continues to go well.

In other news, it's fair season in this part of the country.  Late Summer and early Fall mean county fairs start to show up on the doorsteps of America, laden with manky stuffed animals, colorfully-tattooed employees and deep fried excellence.

I always look forward to wandering around the fair.  Rides with rusty hinges, chickens with hairdos, weird booths advertising god knows what, and food that shortens your life expectancy with every bite.  It makes me wonder why fairs, circuses and carnivals are so maligned in movies and books.  They always seem to be places where bad things happen to good people.

One of my favorite creepy movies to watch in October is "Something Wicked This Way Comes".  Jonathan Price (oddly assisted by Pam Greer) is the head of a carnival that comes to town one dark autumn night to prey on the unsuspecting townfolk and only Jason Robards can stop them.  Great movie, but also a perfect example of a pejorative depiction of carnivals.

Well, no more.  I aim to set it right, which is why there's a circus in "Saturday" that's more in keeping with my own experiences with fairs, carnivals and circuses (circusi?).  Ok, it doesn't have clowns because clowns are creepy and make me unhappy.  But there is a group of traveling performers who don't try to steal India's soul or anything.  In fact, they even help her out.  This is what their poster looks like:

The poster only appears once, in one panel for the briefest of moments:

So there you have it.  You heard it here first: Circuses, carnivals and fairs usually AREN'T filled with demons and murderers and people who want to feast on your everlasting soul like so many onion rings.

Maybe stay away from the food, though.

Cheers.