Don’t Call Me Ishmael | Next-Door Neighbor

George O'Connor is the author and illustrator of several picture books for children, including the New York Times bestselling Kapow!, Ker-Splash!, Sally and the Some-Thing and Uncle Bigfoot. In 2006, he adapted the journals of the 17th century explorer/barber/surgeon Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert into the graphic novel Journey into Mohawk Country, published by First Second Books. His second graphic novel, Ball-Peen Hammer, written by novelist and playwright Adam Rapp, is to be released in October 2009. George is a founding member of Studio XOXOs (Hugs and Kisses) in Brooklyn, the borough where he also lives (in a nice, non-infested apartment). He's currently hard at work on a multi-volume series retelling the Greek myths as graphic novels called Olympians; the first two volumes Zeus: Father of the Gods and Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess are due to be released April 2010.

{ click on images to advance the story }
posted Sunday, April 5th, 2009 leave a comment or trackback
link to this page or email a friend

26 Responses

4.6.09—8:14 am Tim Hamilton
ohhhh.
Monday, happy Monday.
You Brightened my dreary day though, George.

Very effective. I know the time constraints involved, and the art is different than what you usually do. In a good way. Very clean.

Very European?
4.6.09—10:07 am natsch
Great stuff George! I loved the dinosaur panel. Very good storytelling.
4.6.09—11:01 am Dan Goldman
Great comic… but I am visibly upset now, grinding my teeth as I write this. I personally find violence against animals so much harder to stomach than against people, so this story evoked an intense anger/disgust/sadness in me. Yes that is a testament to the power and quality of your craft… but urrghgGHHHGHH!!!!!

Incidentally, I think this is one of my favorite Next Door Neighbor stories thus far.
4.6.09—11:52 am Shawn Kittelsen
Great story. I had a similar mouse infestation earlier this year. Like Dan, I have a deep abhorrence for animal violence. I became obsessed with stuffing steel wool into every nook and cranny of the house to simply stop the mice from entering, but we kept finding the little poopies (which you draw so well).

By now I had slivers of steel wool embedded in my hands and lost sleep as I listened for the scuffle of scurries. I finally put the no see/no touch snap traps all over the house. The next morning I walked into the kitchen and the rear half of a dead mouse hung out one of the traps. I couldn’t bring myself to look at it, let alone dispose of it, so I asked my wife—she’s tougher than me—to please shovel it into a bag. That was the last mouse we caught.

If I had a problem of your scale, I would have gone all Colonel Kurtz and tried to stomp on the mouse too. You perfectly captured the overwhelming madness of a rodent invasion. Well done!
4.6.09—12:51 pm Bob Fingerman
Excellent work. This story really resonates for me as I have a nearly pathological hatred of mice, having battled them in the past (and having killed a few myself). The ending is poignant, but satisfying.
4.6.09—1:38 pm Jim D.
I feel like this story could have been mine. I’ve been at war periodically with rodents over the years. One just has to know history to realize that this world belongs to them, we can only defend a little patch of turf from time to tim. I agree that glue traps are terrible and inhumane - if you’re going to kill them, make it quick.

The best part of my campaign was when I called an extermination service (you know, the “experts”) for an estimate. Their prescription was for them to set poison bait traps and snap traps, all for the low-low price of like $30 a month. I was like, “can’t I do that myself for the cost of the traps?” and the sales dude had to admit it.
4.6.09—1:57 pm simon fraser
Having had to deal with a number of rodent infestations I do sympathise. You convey the mania and the silences very well.
The last mouse I managed to catch was alive and I gave the problem of dispatching it from this world some thought. Eventually deciding to drown it in alcohol [ I'm scottish so this seemed merciful to me ] …..next time I’ll just put it in a bag and step on the poor thing.
Good story well told.
4.6.09—3:39 pm Rick Parker
Great Job! Liked your work on this very much!
4.6.09—6:43 pm mike mc
Beardoes, heh.

It’s amazing how you can recall so much even while maintaining that level of compassion in your narrative, George. I sometimes feel terrorized by my own actions, and don’t realize how it’s dulled my recall ’til work like this comes along. That is to say, concise, powerfully emotive, and deeply observed.

Love the simplification choices.
4.6.09—8:19 pm Pops
Great story, I will admit that the infestation brought back very strong memories of my youth on Twilight Lane. You have done a wonderful job on this .
4.7.09—12:03 am kat
yes!
but, no. george, dear god, noooo!!!
4.7.09—8:53 am Uncle Rick
Great Job George!
Maybe the Beardos are a strain of mutant mice.
4.7.09—11:43 am RICK WALTER JR
I LOVED IT! My mom stabs mice with pitch forks,so your not that crazy. It was great Georgie.
4.7.09—12:49 pm Barbara
Great story and such great drawings. Anyone that has ever lived in Brooklyn could echo this story. I still have a major fear of those mice. You convey the feelings so well. Thank you!
4.8.09—5:46 pm Your Brother
Great story man. You left out the part where Arta held you in her arms as you were sobbing over the mouse you had to cinder block. Sissy.
4.19.09—5:43 pm Lookfar
A great story with an underlying theme of moral ambiguity, which you catch so well in the last frame. I’ve used a lot of snap traps in my life. They are so cute, those little mice, until you start finding their doots all over.
4.20.09—12:56 pm Logie B.
Found this hiding in my inbox this morning; loved it! I’m pretty sure I was visibly cringing when you cinderblock’d that mouse.

Also, this took me a little while, but I really like the color scheme that you used here.
4.23.09—2:02 am Kate L
I get the obsession, and the frustration. However, not only am I opposed to killing the mice, I have an alternative that smells great and is super cheap.

Peppermint essential oil. Mice can’t stand it.

Drop it liberally around doors, cupboards, anywhere they’re coming in. Put it straight onto the carpet in corners. Reapply once a week or so. They will pack up and leave. I have used this with astonishing success.

I only ever caught one mouse in a glue trap, a trap that was actually out for the mouse-sized spiders. Yeah, that place was a dump.

I’ve also used the live traps, but unless you’re willing to take the mice far, far away to release them, it’s basically snack time, solitary confinement, and a field trip.
9.22.09—4:34 pm Connex Enviromental
Great story and love the artwork!
1.20.10—6:22 am โหลดเพลงใหม่
Thank you for everything. Very useful art
3.7.10—12:50 am โหลดเพลงฟรี
Thank you very much but i like informaiton to you.
3.7.10—12:51 am โหลดเพลงฟรี
The best information but i like
6.14.10—2:13 pm Fibromyalgia Treatment
The plot was not well developed no one knew who they were or why they would be angry and if indeed the did leave the mouse. Not a bad story just needs more panels.
5.21.11—4:26 am gianmarco lorezi shop
Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s tough to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and appearance. I must say you’ve done a great job with this. Also, the blog loads extremely quick for me on Chrome. Exceptional Blog!
11.7.11—9:08 am เพลงใหม่ๆ
It is a good idea to have a good article to read.
5.10.12—5:53 pm ruby on rails jobs in portland
Great write-up. I’m a normal visitor of your site and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the excellent site. I will be a regular visitor for a long time.