BARBERTON BAND: THE UNFINISHED STORY

Life Story Cartoon Posted May 28, 2022

To say that I was a band nerd in high school is an understatement.


Circa 2002.

Band was my life. I loved the Barberton Musical Magics so much that I decided to make a whole comic about it. The strips were featured in the high school newspaper, The Magician, for nearly three years.

Why did I love the band so much? It was one of the very first things that clicked for me after my homeschool years, and my director was among the very first people to believe in me during a time when I didn't really believe in myself. Like some of the other stories I've written, I'll guide us through what I've been able to unearth.

Why did I draw myself as an albino blob with arms and legs of a Powerpuff girl? I just did. I also can't recall a single time when I was able to spell out Mr. Flicsh, Fliesh, GAAAAHHH!!! *checks*... Fleischaker.

ALSO also: I totally stole the joke from Garfield.

Despite the title THE STORY BEHIND THE BARBERTON BAND, many events potrayed here were ficticious, over the top, and had very little to with the program or music in general.

I wish I had talked about the places we went together, and the shows we were in, and all the awards we had won. I wish I had talked about what happened after those crazy Friday nights, when everyone on the bus was sleeping and laughing and singing as the faint glow of streetlights passed underneath us. Instead, I opted to slap every white thing in existence onto the strip and call it good.

I liked to shoehorn other students and teachers into the strip, but I couldn't tell you who they really were or why they were there or if they even liked to ski. Their inclusions make Ms. Pacman look like Eleanor Roosevelt.

Also... it's espresso, not expresso.

Am I being too hard on my younger self here? Probably. There are some rather clever undertones here as well. Real life constantly throws obstacles at you. You should expect nothing to work right. You should expect to be punched around and stomped on.

You should expect everything you know and love to be overhauled at a moment's notice.

And you should expect to be stung in more ways than one. If you can arrive at the next scene smiling and relatively unscathed... is that not essentially winning at life?

This strip was one of the few that I actually had to change. The vending machine was originally laced with explosives.

Despite my assurances to keep the strip going, I ended up resigning from the newsletter and scaling back my participation with the band halfway through my senior year. By switching my focus to digital media and networking I had given myself the best chance to stick with college and become a part of even greater things.

I think about bringing this comic back sometimes and giving it a "good old-fashioned Hollywood reboot." But I really don't want to. I started this comic when I was 14. I am 34 now. I am a different person, with different taste and different ambitions as a storyteller. I think I can do much better with fresh characters and new tools at my disposal. To go back to this would be basically admitting that I'm stuck in the past. I'm glad this comic attracted some attention, and I'm glad it ended up having its own line of books and even a website. But at the end of the day, it was all my way of telling myself that it's okay to move on...


Circa 2006.

...in the face of loss, of friends, of family, and of the Musical Magics.

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