Hemingray.info - Laugh Lines: History

The true beginning of Laugh Lines was in May of 1994 when I drew my first insulator comic, "High and Dry" using SuperPaint on an Apple Macintosh Plus computer (See Figure 1). The concept was inspired from a drawing I had seen on the April 1993 cover of Crown Jewels of the Wire Magazine, in which a bunch of flies are huddled under a big multipart with the caption "Boy, those umbrellas sure do work!" My twist on the concept gave personalities to the insulators themselves.

In January 1995, I produced five other comics on the computer as well, none of which I felt were good enough to be published.

In 1996, I decided to revamp the whole idea of producing an insulator comic. To start with, the comic needed a name! My dad liked "Pole-ish Jokes", but I decided on using "Laugh Lines," which I felt conveyed the play-on-words style of my comic better.

I decided to draw these comics by hand as opposed to using the computer, as I had done with my old original comics.

On October 15, 1996, I wrote to Carol McDougald, who was the editor of CJOW then, and offered her my comic as a possible monthly feature. Much to my happiness, she accepted!

My first logo (Figure 2), drawn in Aldus PageMaker, served me well until March of 1998, when I decided to revamp the logo. (Figure 3.) This second logo was only used for 8 issues. In 1999 and 2000, my interest waned as I diverted my attention to college and other interests.

I revised the logo again in 2001 (Figure 4) when I resumed production of Laugh Lines, as I needed a fresh start. Starting with Laugh Lines #25, I began scanning the comics into the computer and using Adobe Photoshop to shade the comic (which I still continue to do today).

In 2008, Laugh Lines reached its 100th comic milestone. As a special tribute, it was the first comic drawn in color and was featured on the cover of Crown Jewels of the Wire Magazine (May 2008). Starting with Laugh Lines #102, all comics are now being produced in color.

Laugh Lines #101 and onward also saw a new logo (Figure 5). My Li'l Surge character had become sort of the "poster insulator" for Laugh Lines, so I thought it only fitting that he should be featured. I also felt that the previous logo took up too much room. With this design I reduced the height, allowing for a larger comic area.

In 2009, life once again got in the way, and I was running thin on ideas, so I decided to take another hiatus. Now, in November 2011, I have decided to resume production of Laugh Lines. Look for more issues in the coming months!