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I grew up in the Washington DC area. My high school was five miles as the crow flies from the Pentagon, and being in that kind of proximity made what was already a terrifying and incomprehensible event even more pertinent. It was on my mind a lot in the following year, and as I tend to cope with things best through creativity, I embarked on a graphic novel character featuring a personification of September 11th (and other days of the year). Drawing that was extremely helpful in my coming to terms with how I felt about things, though I would be lying if said I don’t think about them around this time every year anymore. It’s been enough time that I’ve managed to have a fantastic productive day despite the anniversary weighing on me, but the thoughts are all there.

I first drew the protagonist/narrator of that graphic novel in 2002. I finished the story in 2003. I’ve drawn the character around this time every year since then. Here he is again, all of those times and now. While I haven’t felt the need to write him any narration in several years, drawing him each year still makes me feel better about that general weird feeling that comes with the date.

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