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GHOST THOUGHTS?
What are your thoughts on ghosts? Personally I love the idea of them, but find it a bit hard to believe in them I guess. Like Mulder, I WANT to believe, but alas. I have had a few spooky occurrences in my life that I still can’t really explain but nothing definitive where I have literally laid eyes upon a spirit from beyond. I wish! I love being scared.
“The Widows Mite, 1876” Source: Library of Congress (Public Domain)
That’s kind of a weird thing about me I guess. I love the feeling of being totally freaked out and terrified. I love horror movies that aren’t all about the jump scares and are more about a slow burn of terror. Sort of getting under your skin, and creating a distinct mood or vibe. Perhaps I should consider a few favourites as fodder for a pop-culture movie reference comic like I do sometimes. Actually now that I think about it, there are loads of pop-culture pools that have ghost stuff in them. Like Scooby-Doo, or Ghostbusters, or the Holy Roman Catholic Bible!
GHOSTS IN DEAR INNER DEMONS
In fact, why the heck haven’t I done more comics involving ghosts?? They’re people too, after all! Well… they WERE people? You get my point. I have a few joke ideas that could play well with the idea of a ghost. Plus it’s fun to draw! PLUS it gives me an excuse (not that I need one) to revisit my favourite time period: Victorian! That time was RIFE with ghosts. All fake, I’m pretty sure, but still! So fun!
DON'T CHOKE
As for the ghost in this particular comic, not so scary, haha. But what IS scary is choking. Have you ever had a bad choking experience? I had one that was so bad at one point that I came to terms with the idea that I was about to die. I couldn’t get any air, and was home alone. I fell to my knees and luckily whatever was stuck in my throat came dislodged. I suppose I could have attempted to “self-Heimlich”
HEIMLICH
Speaking of the Heimlich Maneuver … we no longer use that term, haha. If you’re anything like me you were raised with the knowledge of the Heimlich Maneuver and that was just what we called it. I think for years I just assumed “Heimlich” was some guy from the 1800s to whom we owed a debt of gratitude. Wellll….turns out not so much? First off, guy lived from 1920-2016. If you’re interested in a nice overview of the whole situation this article from Mental Floss is the ticket I’d say: ARTICLE. But I’ll give you the gist: the maneuver that he pioneered is kind of controversial. Both the AMA (American Medical Association) and the Red Cross always maintained trying 5 strong back slaps before attempting the so-called Heimlich Maneuver. In fact, the reason that his meneuver became so popular was basically because of him marketing it and disparaging the back blows method as “death blows”. Needless to say this created quite a rift between Mr. Heimlich and the AMA and RedCross. In fact his own SON (Peter) went on to try and spread the word that his father was peddling a pack of lies. Anywho, NOW we say: Abdominal Thrusts.
Now you know! And knowing is something-something.
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