Family Update January 6th 2022

Well Family, it's a New Year! We hope you all had a nice holiday season!

Unfortunately for us, we don't have great news to share. We previously let you all know the family crisis we're dealing with but unfortunately it's not gotten any better. JJ, our son, has run away again. He's been gone since Sunday. We spent the last month taking turns sleeping in shifts at night so he could be watched. It didn't matter. Even with cameras in the house, he just disables them and slips out the moment someone isn't looking. JJ says he doesn't want our help and is apparently spending time at houses of friends we've never met by telling their parents we "beat him until he couldn't get off the floor". Unfortunately his lying has reached an all new level of absurdity and our options for helping him all require him to voluntarily participate, which he either lies and says he will until he gets there then runs away from that facility or flat out refuses. His behavior has escalated so rapidly and severely we now have concerns for our own health and safety.

I share all of this with you because you're owed an explanation for why we're having such trouble getting the comic out. It's been a rough few months and it's been draining both emotionally and physically. To have someone you've loved for so long and want to see succeed from a family of toxicity and dysfunction, it's heartbreaking watching them follow in those footsteps. All we wanted was to give him a life away from the toxicity and yet even with all those choices, he's CHOOSING to be toxic. It's incredibly frustrating and deeply saddening. I want so badly for him to "wake up" and come around to get things on track but every time it seemed like that's what was happening, it turned out he was just manipulating us to think that so he could get what he wanted again. It's been draining.

That all being said, our comic has always been inspired by real people but as an ideal, a fun fantasy version of some of our experiences but with happier results than real life. More than ever that's what we need it to be. If this life experience is going to be this negative, I need to create the equal opposite and put it out there to create a balance. I never want our comic to be ignorant or "toxic positive" I just want it to be positive even with tough life lessons.

As always, thank you for your patience with us. We'll have new comics coming soon. It's just challenging to do with so many intense and often conflicting emotions flowing so strongly but we'll get there.

Thank you for your ongoing support with what has become our biggest life challenge yet. We will continue to do all we can for JJ. It's very important to me to know we tried our hardest no matter how it all turns out.

Big Hug!

-Bryan & Simon