Saying Goodbye to A 7 Year Web Comic - No Tears: Life With FD / FD Heroes IRL

The only thing you can count on is change! I’ve really been blessed to work with the Dysautonomia Foundation on a very niche and meaningful web comic for the past 7 years, but now the foundation is going in a new direction. In 2012, I met David Brenner and his son Michael at a small comic con in Jersey (Toys on the Hudson in the fall). David (then director of the foundation) had been thinking of a FD comic for awhile since his son loved comics. He loved how my Misfortune Cookie mini comics featured unfortunate subjects in a lighthearted manner, and knew I was the right fit to make his ideas a reality.

The very first No Tears: Life With FD comic! Created in January 2013

Backing up a bit, FD stands for Familial Dysautonomia, a rare Jewish genetic neurological disorder that effects the sensory and autonomic nervous systems. For example people with FD may have trouble swallowing so they need a feeding tube, as in the comic above. I’ve also done a few comics featuring the BiPap machine, because sometimes people with FD have trouble breathing while sleeping. The comic’s title has a double meaning - one of the symptoms of FD is the absence of overflow tears / corneal drying. The title also encourages FD patients and their families to have hope through their daily struggles. Topics in the comic series range from dealing with specific FD situations, like Crisis, to social scenarios of persons with disabilities, and more. The comic has always had a light-hearted and touching theme focusing on the closeness of families.

In the beginning, David wrote the scripts and I hand drew (and even hand-lettered) the comic, coloring it on the computer. It would be posted each week on the foundation’s Facebook Page.

In 2016, sadly David Brenner passed away from cancer and was dearly missed by all. I wondered if the comic would continue, since it had personal ties to David himself. But the interim director, Paul Schack, was happy to continue the comic. It became more of a collaborative endeavor, as I suggested more script ideas and eventually wrote the scripts all by myself, with some edits by Paul. This is the first comic script that was all my own. I also switched to creating the whole comic digitally using my wacom tablet, and turning my handwriting into a font for digital lettering.

Previously the comic had different characters for each strip, with a few recurring characters like a family with a newborn baby with FD. But when I wrote the script, (and also thinking of fresh subjects for the strip) I had lots of creative freedom to explore subjects like special needs dating with recurring characters Adam and Ariel. And I also loved featuring FD Man and FD Girl (top comic) for positive messages! David originally came up with the idea for FD Man, but FD Girl was one of my additions to the comic, and they made a great team!

In late 2018, the Dysautonomia Foundation hired a permanent new director, Lanie Etkind. Again, I wondered if the comic would continue. In 2019, Lanie and others at the foundation suggested focusing on real people who had FD for the comic, like a spotlight. Thus, “FD Heroes IRL” was born! People with FD who were interested in being featured reached out to me and I asked them some questions. I then created a script from their responses (this is much like how I work with people to create custom comics). The FD community loved the new comic too! Andrew S’s comic, above, was personally very inspiring to me because he didn’t let FD stop him from going on an awesome road trip!

And well, since the community is small (it’s a rare disease affecting only 200 people on Earth), the comic has seemed to run its course. I’m so happy to have been involved with the FD community and have contributed to making their days a bit brighter through the comic. Really, it’s amazing the comic has ran for 7 years! I’ve learned so much about FD and always tell new people I meet about the disease and the comic when they ask about what I do as an artist. Spreading awareness!

Comic in memory of Scott Fass, who passed away from FD.

I found the comic work I’ve done for the FD Foundation to be incredibly rewarding and I feel like the comic touched people’s lives, even if in a small way. I like working with non-profits because of the meaningful impact. For a few years I also did a comic for the RLS Foundation called “Night Walkers.” When one door closes, another one opens. I’m definitely open to continuing my comics journey with other non-profits! Please forward this blog post or tag someone on social media who you think would be interested in working with me to create comics that have a positive impact on people who may be going through struggles of any kind.

Working With Writers

Here's another one-shot comic page I created with writer Patrick McEvoy!  I love his techie futuristic themes.  Also, couldn't help throwing in another disco-ball pattern in the computer room in the first panel.  (Side note - the window and last panel colors were inspired by Sonic 2's Oil Ocean Zone).  It's great that Patrick is cool with whatever I come up with, as writers should allow freedom for the artist to do what they do best!  He was also open to suggestions I had for making the second panel two separate panels, so it's more clear that we are zooming into the computer's circuitry.

The Papercutz team on the Charmz School panel at NYCC 2016!  Left to right:  Sven Larsen (marketing), Jeff Whitman (editorial), Janice Chiang (letterer), Mindy Indy (penciler/inker/colorist), Amy Chu (writer), and not pictured is Jay Jay Jackson (penciler/inker/colorist) who joined us later in the panel!

Working with others was one of our discussion topics on the Charmz School panel at NYCC.  letterer Janice Chiang and writer Amy Chu talked about how they worked together on many projects over the years, as writing and lettering are very intertwined.  Jay Jay Jackson and I are both "triple-threat" penciler/inker/colorists, so we talked about our experiences working with others, but also benefits of being sole creators of comics. 

NYCC's line up of panels was MUCH better than last years!  I targeted other writing panels too, as I'm working on rewriting AER HEAD, and panelists kept suggestingfor writers to start working with an artist on one-page comics before delving into their magnum opus.  This is great, because it helps both writer and artist develop their communications to see if they work well with each other. 

This is something that people don't really think about.  Lots of indie creators are just so excited to get their work out there, that they don't take the time to get to know their team-mates working style:  Do they respond to email timely?  If not, was there a good reason?  Do they ask lots of questions to ensure clarity?  If not, they may end up doing extra work over changes.  What is their schedule like?  Do they prefer to work late at night?  All of these things and more can be ironed out with a one-page comic before committing to too much if you realize you're not working well together.

I also work with writers in the FD Foundation and RLS Foundation for our weekly and monthly comic strips.  My first boss for "No Tears:  Life With FD," David Brenner, usually sent me the script and I drew it: easy-peasy.  Occasionally, I'd offer suggestions (like "I don't think a kid would say it that way"), and sometimes he'd agree and we'd change the script, but usually the script stayed "as-is."  My new boss for No Tears, Paul Schack, and also the team at the RLS Foundation are very open to my script suggestions.  They give me the dialogue and I'd sketch it out, realizing that it would be better if some things were changed in the script or action description.  Sometimes it's a back-and-forth process, which leads to a better finished comic!  For example, the No Tears comic above was originally scripted with just the bottom 2 panels, but I suggested we insert a 3rd panel in the beginning giving more explanation that October is Dysautonomia Awareness month.  YAY TEAMWORK!

Jay Jay Jackson and I were talking later on about how we don't like Robert McKee's "Story," a book about screenwriting.  It's supposed to be this really great book, but it's so old that I don't get half the movie references, and the writing is pretty dry.  I have the book sitting next to my bed, for when insomnia strikes it helps put me to sleep.

Honorary Custom Comic!

Some of you may have seen the weekly No Tears:  Life With FD comics I create and share on Facebook.  FD stands for Familial Dysautonomia, a very rare disease.  The guy who writes the scripts for the comics, David Brenner, the FD Foundation's executive director, has worked there for a whole decade!  Some people from the foundation reached out to me and we came up with the idea to make him a custom comic as a special honorary gift!  They wanted to depict David as a Navy Seal, the most specially trained, technology savvy, and elite fighters of the USA.  I definitely listened to the In the Navy song a lot while working on this :)  (Can anyone find the Beatles Yellow Submarine "Easter Egg" I placed in there?)  I made the comic in a record time of 8 days, along with my teaching job and other duties.  I presented the comic at last Sunday's FD Day, their annual conference.  Everyone loved it!

Usually I draw custom comics for couples, as you can see from the custom comics section on my site.  It's a great way to tell the story of how the couple met, got engaged, and so on!  But I think the honorary custom comics are extra special.  Sometimes the couples comics are just for 2 people, unless they're displayed at a wedding reception.  But the honorary comics can be displayed in the office and seen by everyone!  It's kind of like a visual resume - if you're new to the company, or not as familiar with the honoree's day-to-day work, you can tell what a hard worker and amazing role model the person is in the comic! 

Comics for the Dysautonomia Foundation

First off, Happy New Year!  Mindy indy is back to blogging after a break for the holidays.  I've been making a lot of custom comics lately!  This one is for the Familial Dysautonomia Foundation.  Familial Dysautonomia (FD) is a rare genetic neurological condition that affects the sensory and autonomic nervous systems, causing severe gastrointestinal, cardiac, pulmonary, orthopedic, renal and ophthalmologic problems.  The Dysautonomia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity that supports medical treatment, research, public awareness and social services for the benefit of people afflicted with FD. The Foundation has established the world's only two FD treatment centers and is the largest single source of funding for research and treatment specifically for the benefit of people with FD.

The FD Foundation contacted me after meeting me at the Toys on the Hudson convention.  They wanted a comic to brighten up their Facebook Page.  The comic is educational for people not familiar with the condition, and is also something that families and people with FD can relate to.  I did 3 comics so far for them, and they'll want me to do more if it gets good responses on Facebook, so please "share" and "like" the comic on their page!  Thanks a bunch!