Well, here it is Monday and I have some explaining to do as to why there’s no Nergon.com cartoon up here today.
This site started in the fall of 2006 as a place to show my “Stranger Things” cartoons. I’ve always thought of it as a place where I can experiment with my comic strips as I never really knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. Even at that time I had a backlog of strips that had appeared on Comics Sherpa and then on Full Tilt. On Nergon.com, you’ve seen different themes explored and I’m not sure I ever really hit a consistent stride. I’ve had some personal favorites and I’ve seen several that I couldn’t quite get exactly right. And some of them are just weird. But that’s because they are a product of my disturbed and strange mind. Mostly it’s been a steady diet of alien, video game and movie references. And while cartoons I draw will most likely always be somewhat tainted with that material, I come to a point where I realize that if that’s all I reflect, then I’m ashamed of myself.
I found out years ago that “Stranger Things” was a name used for a comic strip several years back by someone else. When I found that out, I started looking for other names, but never really hit on anything I liked enough to stick with and eventually just dropped any name besides Nergon.com. Comic strip names notoriously are plays on words, a lot of times using the character names and/or a well-known cliche. But I thought song lyrics could be a decent place to look. I remember one phrase from a song that I really liked was “This terrestrial ball”. Sounded kinda cool for a science fiction type comic strip. And some of you may recognize what type of song that phrase comes from. Particularly if you’ve spent much time sitting in pews over the years.
There’s a particularly meaningful song sung in church now and then called “It Is Well With My Soul”. Sadly, on fewer occasions these days, but still it remains well-known. I say particularly meaningful because of the author’s story which has been told so many times by now. If you haven’t heard it, I recommend following that link and giving it a read, along with the lyrics posted at the right.
There’s a phrase in those lyrics that goes “My sin, not in part, but the whole”. Jesus suffered a horrible death on a cross to pay for our sin. Not just the kinda wrong stuff. Not just the fairly ugly stuff. Not in part. The whole thing. For all of us. For all time. There’s no deficit. No difference to make up. Not in part.
My personal faith is in Jesus Christ. Some of you who know me know that I don’t always reflect that. And I can’t pretend that I do. I can’t pretend that I have all the answers. I can’t pretend that I’ve always lived in a way that makes God proud. Not by a long shot and I know it. Believe me, I remind myself of it often. Although admittedly not often enough.
After several years of doing comic strips, I’ve come to a place where I’m tired of talking about video games and movies all the time. Like I said, those things will probably always be mentioned here and there in my comics because they’re part of who I am. But I want to concentrate now on what’s most important to me. And that’s not video games and movies. God help me if it is. God gave me a talent for drawing cartoons and I want to use it to point right back at him. If I’m going to do comic strips, I want them to be ones I can use in teaching my Sunday School class. Or ones that could be used by ministers in Power Point. If I’m going to be found at my drawing table (err, iPad) when the Good Lord comes for me, I want to be drawing comics that do Him proud. Talent and gifts are His to distribute. I want to honor His choice in me. And I don’t want to do that just once in a while at Christmas or Easter or whatever. He didn’t hold back for me. I don’t want to hold back for Him. If I give my time or talent, it shouldn’t be in part.
All this is to explain why Nergon.com is not going to be updated with new comics. I’m sure I’ll still draw Nergon and Alan now and then. But I’m kicking off a new site with new priorities. And I hope you’ll follow me over there. Soon I’ll be pointing nergon.com over to the new site and I plan to bring over the old backlog as well. But for now, I hope you’ll come see NotInPart.com and keep in touch with me over there.
Thanks so much for reading the strips over the years. I know their quality, so your continued visits in spite of that are an encouragement to me! Sooo much of an encouragement!
-Keefe
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