Read Slinky Comix #1!
Following up on the established format of Slinky Comix #0, I am proud to release Slinky Comix #1!
The first offical issue of Slinky Comix presents all new stories featuring your favorite cartoon lizard! Some of these stories are years in the making, so it is exciting to present them in this finished collection.
The first story, “Slinky Rides the Inspiration Pony” began as a minicomic created for the San Francisco Zinefest Zine Marathon in 2016.
The marathon brought together local zine makers to create their own zine in under an hour, with the original zines being raffled off at the SF Zinefest. I showed up to the marathon with an idea in mind, but that was quickly discarded as I overheard fellow zinester Breena Nunez say, “It’s time to ride the inspiration pony” as the event was beginning. Running with this phrase instead, I penciled out the story that would become “Slinky Rides the Inspiration Pony”, coloring in my rainbow cover just as my hour was up.
This story is followed up by “Slinky and the Revolution”, as Slinky joins forces with other protesters in combating the powers that be.
In “Make a Wish”, a star shoots across the night sky as a variety of characters each reveal their deepest desire. Readers can then join Slinky in the short comic “Slinky Wizard” as he casts a spell with unexpected results.
In “Balloon”, Slinky goes world wide as he drifts across a variety of international locales. And finally, join Slinky in his final adventure of the issue “Slinky Goes to Hell” as he mistakenly takes a bus to a depraved inferno.
You can read all of these stories now, on www.slinkycomix.com!
Welcome to Slinky Comix!
My name is Alex Sodari, and I am the artist behind Slinky Comix!
The origins of Slinky Lizard go all the way back to my time as an illustration major at the California College of the Arts (CCA). While I have been a reptile enthusiast all my life, my lizard persona first revealed itself in this three page comic completed as a final project for my Illustration 1 class at the end of 2011. The character would develop through several other paintings and sketchbook illustrations while at CCA.
The evolution of Slinky Lizard
By the time I had reached my final semester at CCA, Slinky had made his comic debut in “Lizard in Love”, a Valentine comic I completed at the beginning of 2014 featuring an as yet unnamed lizard protagonist.
Finally, Slinky was given his name in my first full length comic completed for the Lazer Zine, a comic and illustration anthology I founded in Spring of 2014:
I love to draw trash because it can be anything
Since then, Slinky has appeared in every issue of the Lazer Zine as well as several of his own solo adventures. Last year, I self published Slinky Comix #0 which reprinted “Lizard in Love” alongside “Slinky Goes to School” and “Slinky Feels the Feels”, establishing a new minicomic format for future Slinky Lizard publications.
Over the years, the character of Slinky Lizard has provided me a way to emotionally process a lot of the terrible things that have happened to me or the world we live in. The original “Lizard in Love “ comic was sent to someone I loved, but who had to move out of the Bay. “Slinky Goes to School” provided a catharsis to the stress of my final semester of college, and “Slinky Feels the Feels” pokes fun at the challenges of navigating positive mental health states.
Terrible things are always happening to Slinky Lizard in his stories, but he always gets back up and spins it into a positive. Writing these stories and making Slinky endure these ridiculous and terrible challenges has been a way for me to get some humor out of the horrible and survive anything that comes my way. I joke that he is named Slinky, because you can push them both down a flight of stairs for great entertainment.
You can read Slinky Comix #0 in it’s entirety here on the new website and sign up for my newsletter for notifications on future Slinky Lizard content!