Tessa Stone and Hanna is not a boy's name!

Quite some time ago, I stumbled upon the work of Tessa Stone, a writer/artist who had been

making regular additions to her Web Comic, Hanna is Not a Boy's Name.

The story was on hiatus, even when I discovered it and it has never returned,

which is a shame, because it was very good.

As far as I can tell, this was the very first page of the strip and it set

the basic tone for the Addams Family vibe of the story line.  Which

was a mix of light hearted, screwball comedy and traditional horror elements.

One of the most arresting things about the strip was Tessa's use of colour and her willingness to experiment with the story telling & layout.

From searching around the Web for information, it becomes clear that,

from the very beginning, the strip was intended to be a test-bed for Tessa's

developing skills as a cartoonist.

Skills that were already well developed and only improved, over the short amount of time that the strips were being produced.

Suddenly, without explanation, Tessa stopped adding to the story and as far as I know, has never returned to it.  Instead, she turned up again in collaboration with writer

Ananth Panagariya, as the artist for their book "Buzz" which was published in December of 2013.

Unfortunately, I don't find the direction that Ms. Stone has moved in,

with respect to her cartooning, captures me.  At least, not in the same way that Hanna... did, right from the start.

Then again, it wasn't aimed at an old guy like me.

I still return to my saved files of Hanna is Not a Boy's Name and admire

the talent on display there.

In her eclectic panel designs, she reminded me of the work of the Golden Age comic book

artist, Bob Powell.  Michael Gilbert, another very talented guy, pointed his work out in

an early interview and I was surprised to discover that Bob Powell had worked in the studio of the great Will Eisner, as a young man.

A solid cartoonist, Mr. Powell worked in the field for many years

and even contributed to a couple of books for Marvel Comics in the 1960's.

He also worked on the Mars Attacks trading cards.  Look him up on the Web,

he was a complex human being and a prolific artist during his time in the comic book trenches.