Happy Anniversary to the woman I have fallen deeply and madly in love with, Stephanie Cooper. We matched on Tinder and within a day, she asked me out on our first date – August 28th, 2021. I was broke as fuck, I had to work that night, and it was Jack Kirby’s birthday, so I almost said no. I’m glad I didn’t.

So Stephanie hated comics, but as she started to get to know me, she expressed more interest in possibly reading some.

As we all know, Comics Are For Everyone. She was under the assumption that all comics were straight male misogynist supehero power fantasies, with women often projected as sex objects. Sadly, she’s not entirely wrong, but Comics Are For Everyone. They may not get as much press or spotlight, but all sorts of comics exist outside that narrow field, and I knew I’d get her hooked if she just was willing.

Enter Strangers in Paradise. She said “I like dark stories with female protagonists”. Now, I knew that SiP could get dark, but starting her at the beginning, a book that was written 30 years ago might get problematic. I decided to re-read along with her. Luckily, she fell in love with it almost instantly. So as she worked her way through the series, I knew that I would get her to read Terry Moore’s other books. As of this moment she is entirely caught up through his ouvre, and is eagerly awaiting Moore’s brand new Parker Girls series.

As she read Rachel Rising, she fell in love with Jet and Earl (they are fucking adorable). About a month ago, Moore posted the following sketch on Twitter, and eventually made it for sale.

Stephanie LOVED it, but there was no chance that either of us were affording it. But, hey, I’m an “artist”, and our anniversary was coming up, and I can download things, and I know how to ruin perfectly good pencils…!

So, this is definitely not the next best thing to owning original art, but it’s the best I can do. Sorry, baby. Love you.