"GENE, ROGER & HORACE"

In addition to escaping into Shunderland to distract me from my feelings, Movies were always another escape for me. When I got old enough to open my own account at Bradley Video, I spent all of my money on renting movies and absorbing them alone in my room while I drew. But I would also watch movies in Shunderland. Different movies. Movies that I wanted to see that probably no one else did. When I wanted an R-rated GI-Joe movie where Destro was a savage murderer who skinned Duke alive, leaving Storm Shadow to avenge his death, I could watch that in Shunderland. When I wanted to watch the Care Bears get grossed out when the Garbage Pail Kids gang invaded their clouds and vomited on their stomachs, I could laugh at that in Shunderland. But, where there’s movies, there’s critics. And Shunderland has some harsh critics, including the acclaimed trio of Gene, Roger and Horace. Taking the well-known “thumbs up or thumbs down” rating system to a new level, Gene and Roger give entire “hands up or hands down” no matter how painful it is. And an even more unique thing about this trio is that Horace can’t even watch the films because he has no eyes. So, most of the time spent watching the film is really spent talking over it, describing it to Horace while Gene and Roger bicker about who’s talking more over the film. So, they ultimately don’t even absorb a lot of what they are watching, but trust me, their reviews are worth watching on YouTube if you can figure out how to stream down in Shunderland.

"Gene, Roger & Horace" is part of my "Alex In Shunderland" series, which focuses on the imaginary world of characters and stories that I have created over the last 20 years as a way to escape and distract myself while dealing with depression and anxiety.

Created using traditional acrylic paints. 2021