From the Archive: Oh, hello, where did this come from?

In which we see the very original origins of Sloth and Manatee

Well here we are, at the shortest days of the longest year.

I thought I'd share a beginning. Specifically, the beginning of these Sloth and Manatee fellows.

They came from essentially portraits. Manatee floats in space and Sloth has tea with Mother Sloth (those furry relations are now on a wall in the house of some lovely people). Both were displayed in the bank vault at the Jennifer Perlmutter popup gallery that became way longer than a popup:

And then came the story. I was putting up a page at a time, in the vault, and things were getting interesting. Birthday Kitty had disappeared. For reference here is Birthday Kitty:

And here are Sloth and Manatee's very first appearances:

Manatee pops in over the back fence, fresh in from space, for a visit.

That's where Sloth comes in. Manatee says:

And there is indeed a Sloth in the kitchen.

Things go from there. Kitty disappears, and Sloth and Manatee go to look for them, and a friendship is born.

Here is the very first drawing where they are cruising around in their familiar configuration. They are off to the Mini-Mart because Kitty likes cake and they figure that's a likely cake location:

And as you can see, this is quite parallel to the first comic in the Sloth and Manatee series itself:

Which is just to say, the seeds of everything that will ever happen, are present here and now. Sometimes looking back reminds me of this, and looking back on Sloth and Manatee and how their friendship formed and became a story feels... real. Like something really happened. Perspective, I guess. Makes things feel like they are of a piece.

May you start something big or small, may you find perspective and peace in the origins of things, won't you be my neighbor?

- Betsy