The autobiographical stories in
Gig Line
are all two-pagers, which forced me to be concise in my story-telling and to focus intently on the imagery necessary to convey a meaningful lesson that I've learned in life. I'm a history teacher and have been for more than thirty-four years. It's my main gig. Comics are my side gig, but I owe everything to the sequential arts because that is how I learned to read. The stories contained herein are chronological because I'm a historian, and I follow the sage age-old advice to "abandon chronology at your own peril." The term "gig line" comes from its military usage. Lining up your trouser fly, your belt buckle, and your shirt buttons establishes a straight gig line. If you do something wrong in the military (especially during an inspection), you get "gigged." If you don't have the proper gig line in your uniform, it doesn't look neat, and you appear to be out of alignment. The military taught me discipline, to take pride in what I do, and to focus on the mission. I was also contemplating "plumb line" as a title. My dad was a carpenter and keeping everything plumb and using a plumb line were things I learned early on. Nobody wants a crooked house, right? We need to be balanced and in alignment, and that has been the struggle of my life, as depicted in these stories. So, as the old World War II song by Nat King Cole goes: "Straighten up and fly right!" I appreciate how each artist captures me in their own unique way, reflecting my various moods, attitudes, and phases of life. After all, in real life, each person perceives us differently, right? I selected each artist for specific stories because their style perfectly captures the ambience of the narrative. All of this is done in the spirit of cooperation and peace. I hope you agree and enjoy the results, dear reader.