Clattertron

[dc]Y[/dc]esterday’s comic went through a few changes before I finished. It happens. I start with a rough idea, work it out, work it out some more, ask Stephanie for advice, read it to the cats, roll some dice, and then make more changes.

I had a totally different idea for this week’s comic, Christmas Song Barfo, than what I ended up posting.

The original idea was similar to the final idea: a bingo card of overplayed Christmas songs.

I went so far as to make up a bingo card to figure out where to place songs, or at least how many I needed (25). Once again my Pilot G-Tec-C colored pens came in handy.

My original rough idea.

I started a list of songs off the top of my head, but then I ended up referring to this Billboard chart to fill in the gaps. I had an idea to include different cover versions of the same song, because you hear a lot of cover songs during the Christmas season.

So many Christmas songs.

I shared my idea with Stephanie, and we talked it over a bit (as mentioned in last week’s newsletter). We ended up deciding the better joke was to focus on cover songs. I did some research and I found out White Christmas is one of the most covered songs, ever (not just Christmas songs).

After reading about all the different cover versions of White Christmas, including those by Iggy Pop and Twisted Sister, I knew what I had to do.

Once again, I started with one idea and the finished comic ended up being very different. It happens and it is OK.

It also means I won’t get an angry text message from my sister asking why I didn’t include Dominick the Donkey or I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. I’ll still get angry texts, I’m sure, but for different reasons. Like the time I taught one of my nephews to say “badonkadonk.”