P.S. – Don’s been working on and posting a lot of work on Tumblr. Check out his new stuff.
[a message from Don Ahé, the artist of Yontengu]
Hi Readers,
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read Yontengu. I appreciate that Christopher let me stretch my drawing arm on his platform, and letting me grow as an artist in his arena.
I met Christopher as a fan of Little Dee, shortly after I started Road Apples Almanac. Dee ‘s art and humour placed it as an all time favorite of mine right along side Cul-De-Sac, Calven and Hobbes, and Krazy Kat.
The best way to grow as an artist is to keep drawing and pushing yourself, I needed to get out of my anthropomorphic cartoon bubble, this project was tackled for that reason and so I could say I finished a book. Which I now have, thanks to Christopher, who offered to write a story and give me a chance to show his audience!
Working with Christopher was great, he handed over a basic script with few suggestions and let me do what I wanted, if I had story concerns or suggestions he would listen and most of the time make the changes I thought would help, (there weren’t many). He let me expand a 104 pg script to 123 pgs, to pace it the way I liked. In turn Christopher rarely made any art suggestions unless I asked, or it was crucial to the story. At the beginning when I was have some personal problems he roughly thumbnailed the 5 page Earthling, Annaarden chapter for me. Thanks again Christopher!
I wish you all a Happy new year, thanks for reading!
Sincerely, Don Ahe.
P.S. I hope you enjoyed reading Christopher’s story as I did bringing it to life
[a message from Christopher Baldwin, the author of Yontengu]
Hi Readers,
I’m writing this because Don did, and I like the idea! Thank you all for following us with Yontengu.
When I first read Road Apples Almanac, I was delighted. I loved the nostalgic feeling, both innocent and sophisticated, reminding me of Krazy Kat and Nausicaa other comics. I was happy to finally meet Don during one of the years I tabled at TCAF in Toronto, and without hesitation mentioned that if he ever wanted to collaborate, it would be my pleasure.
And what a pleasure it was when he asked! He had asked for an oldie classic sci-fi feel about a young woman who can fly, and I took to it with enthusiasm.
but the exciting thing for me is to see him take that idea and bring it to life. it’s odd being a cartoonist and have someone else (who you admire) adapt your work. They make many choices you would not make, but if you admire them, they become fascinating wonderful choices. I am thrilled with how Don brought out the material.
And there will be a printed collection to be sold through TopatoCo, but we won’t have it all pre-pressed and printed until probably February or March.
best, Christopher
All the links at Road Apples Almanac are broken, so I can’t see anything more than the main page.
Thanks for the strip. It was really well written and poignant.
Thank you, Don, and thank you, Chris. I truly enjoyed it from beginning to end.
Coyoty the site is fixed!glad you enjoyed it Herandar!
Thank you for the art and story. Both had an impact and made me think.
Truly, some closure with this story.. very sad as others have pointed out, but a real feeling of hope.
I just wonder where this peaceful, agrarian society is going to expand once their population reaches a certain level.
@0Z79, I imagine they’ll try to keep their population from exceeding the limits of the land.
I know this probably wasn’t planned (and if it was, that was some epic planning!), but it’s really nice that this wrapped up right at Christmastime. I’m sad it’s over but very satisfied with the ending. Thanks to both of you for a unique and beautiful story!
Thank you both Chris and Don for a great work!!
And also I’m thankful because due to this collaboration I met the great talent of Christopher.
Happy new year!!
You all are so great. Thank you, from both of us. 🙂
Here’s a working link to Road Apples Almanac!
LOVE IT, hope he picks it up again!
http://roadapplesalmanac.com/comic/poor-galileo-suffers/
Yontengu was a wonderful, highly original journey, thanks for the ride!!!
I had the pleasure of working with Don a few years back (one of those 9-5 jobs). He brought me back to this world, introduced me to Little Dee and I had the pleasure of seeing Road Apples Almanac created from the start. I thoroughly enjoyed Yontengu and hope this leads back to some fresh Road apples and/or some more collaborations. Thank you Christopher and Don!
Great story, well done!
German reader here(in case you don’t understand a single word, haha…ha. Ehm.).
I really enjoyed Yontengu, your style is quite unique.
This plus Christopher’s storytelling…you should do this again sometimes.
Best of luck for your future artistic career 🙂
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hooray for a real ending