One | Chapters | Last Train to Old Town

Chapter One

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 1

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, page 2

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 3

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, page 4

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 5

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 6

Last Train to Old Town, Page 7

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 7

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 8

Last Train to Old Town, page 9

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 9

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 10

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 11

Last Train to Old Town, Chapter One, Page 12

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 12

Last Train to Old Town, Chapter One, Page 13, by Kenan Rubenstein

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 13

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 14

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 15

Last Train to Old Town, Chapter One, Page 16 by Kenan Rubenstein

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 16

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 17

Last Train to Old Town, Chapter One, page 18

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 18

Last Train to Old Town, Chapter One, Page 19 by Kenan Rubenstein

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 19

Last Train to Old Town, Chapter One, Page 20

Last Train to Old Town,
Chapter One, Page 20

You've reached the end of Chapter One.

Weekly page updates will pause temporarily while I continue work on Chapter Two. In the meantime, I'll keep posting updates about process and progress and beautiful things that show up in my mailbox (holler for the address). Consider subscribing to this site ( E-mail | RSS | feed URL ) if you'd like to be kept in the proverbial loop.

And if, like me, you still prefer to read your comics on paper pages, there's a hand-bound, lovingly assembled, full-color physical book of chapter one, just waiting to be signed and sent your way.

Maps
Notes
- Author's Notes
  
  These icons will float up here in the corner while you read. If you'd like to see a map, just hover over or tap the orient above, and any maps relevant to the chapter you're reading will appear. The quill icon brings up author's notes, and the word balloon reveals reader comments. (Why not leave one while you're here?)
  
  Page 1
  Welcome to the very beginning of Last Train to Old Town. New pages go up on Wednesdays. Enjoy!
  
  Page 5
  I shrugged off my share of bullies in my middle- and high school years, mainly kids threatening to kill me with fists for being gay. (Pointing out that I was not, in fact, into boys always struck me as a craven and irrelevant defense, and I don't suppose anyone would have believed me had I made it.)
  
  But I always felt the biggest bullies, the ones with the most to prove, and the most to gain by exercising their social power over others, were the ones standing at the front of the classrooms. This is not to say, of course, that I didn't have wonderful teachers; I had several, and I owe them a great debt, forever. But I also had a lot of little emperors, people who seemed to have a lot personally invested in their authority to deny you the right to pee.
  
  I used to wonder what had made their lives so miserable that they took such satisfaction in ruling over a bunch of kids. I still wonder that, actually.
  
  Page 6
  I was thinking a lot about Mister Phil's interview with Sarah Oleksyk while working on this page, specifically their discussion of how her incredible book Ivy renders the social striations of adolescence, and the unthinking treacheries they enable, or maybe encourage, or maybe demand.
  
  I was also thinking, more obviously if somewhat less influentially, about Mean Girls, and Eleanor Davis's delightful little riff on Mean Girls toward the beginning of The Secret Science Alliance, and, you know, high school itself, which I suppose will continue to haunt anything I try to make, and any thought I dare to think.
  
  Page 10
  One challenge I've found to working digitally is knowing when to stop. The medium lends itself to infinite revision; it's as easy to go back in and fix one little line as it is to eat the first potato chip in the bag.
  
  This page was the first I completed, and while I did go back and redraw a couple faces that diverged significantly from the ones the characters later evolved, I'd really like to redo the entire page. I can honestly barely stand to look at it.
  
  Of course, I'd like to redraw all the pages, and have no doubt that, when I finished, I'd want to draw them all again. A somewhat arbitrary line needs to be drawn, or the story will never get told. So this was the state of page 10 when I decided it was time to come to terms with my vast and varied imperfections and move on to Chapter Two.
  
  Page 11
  I grew up, for the most part, in suburban New Jersey, along the shore. It's probably pretty obvious to those of you who share that point of origin, and will, I suspect, become obviouser still from the coming pages. Which is to say that my heart is often there, haunting its old haunts, retracing its steps.
  
  What happens, I've been wondering, to those ghosts confined to towers that have crumbled away? It's an unsettling question, but ultimately, I feel certain, an academic one. 'Cause let me tell you something about the folks back home: they're a bunch of stubborn bastards, and they won't be going anywhere, anytime soon. Come spring, they'll be barbecuing to Springsteen, taking their kids on the brand new ferris wheel, cutting each other off and cursing each other out in their lightly-armored SUVs. New Jersey, for better and worse, is a kingdom frozen in time, unaided by its advances but impervious to its ravages. Just you wait and see.
  
  Page 16
  The house where I grew up (for the most part) was roughly an hour and nine minutes down the North Jersey Coast Line from New York City, and a walkable distance from the station. The train ran along the back of the park down my street, and twice every hour or so, its whistle (although I guess they aren't actually called whistles anymore) would echo through the neighborhood. Three out of every five weekends, I'd take the train into the city to stay with my Dad, who lived and worked in Manhattan.
  
  In the other direction, the commuter rail passes through Long Branch and Asbury Park, eventually terminating in Bay Head. Further south is Atlantic City, and then the procession of small shore towns resumes down through Cape May County, home of the Wildwoods, where my family has convened every July for over 50 years. Wildwood is a wondrous place for a kid, full of lights and noise and rides and ice cream and girls in bathing suits and food you don't know is terrible. As an adult, it feels lost in time, perhaps because it changes so little from one year to the next, or because it always seems culturally to lag about ten years behind the rest of the country, or maybe because it is one of a rapidly dwindling number of legitimately working-class vacation destinations left on the North Atlantic coast.
  
  I was thinking about absolutely none of the above while drawing this comic. It occurs to me now, though, that some of it may be relevant.
  
  At last week's book party, I walked folks through the unnecessarily arduous creation of this page. Video of the presentation us up in the news section.
  
  I've also posted a bloggedy version, with fewer jokes but more information and visible visuals.
  
  Page 18
  You guys, I really like trains. I just want to make sure everyone understands that.
  
  Page 20
  And so concludes Chapter One.
  
  I lived in the Hudson Valley for the better part of four years; on weekends, I'd take the Metro North line down to Manhattan to see my little sisters. I've also done a decent bit of political canvassing in the Lehigh Valley. I suppose some of each could be found in this drawing, if someone cared to look for it.
  
  Weekly page updates will pause temporarily while I continue work on Chapter Two. In the meantime, I'll keep posting updates about process and progress and beautiful things that show up in my mailbox (holler for the address). Consider subscribing to this site ( E-mail | RSS ) if you'd like to be kept in the proverbial loop.
  
  And if, like me, you still prefer to read your comics on paper pages, there's a hand-bound, lovingly assembled, full-color physical book of chapter one, just waiting to be signed and sent your way:
Comments
- Reader Comments & Annotations
  
  Page 1
  1. 18 September 2012 @ 2:20 pm
    Neil:
    
    Did you use a reference for these panels?
    - 18 September 2012 @ 2:30 pm
      Kenan:
      
      I climbed onto my mom’s roof in the suburbs where I grew up to sketch some rooftop and snap some photos, which definitely influenced this page.
      
      But the resulting town is no place in particular, a combination of my hometown in New Jersey and a lot of places I’ve canvassed for political campaigns, including Denver and Pennsylvania’s Leheigh Valley.
  2. 25 September 2012 @ 9:09 pm
    Keera Bhandari:
    
    Kenan, I love these panels they are so beautiful.
  3. 26 September 2012 @ 1:57 pm
    Matt Aucoin:
    
    I didn’t know you were working on a longer comic. I read the first six pages, I found out via twitter, then I immediately ordered a copy before you start doing the math and charging more money. It looks beautiful. You’re using techniques that could only be done in comics. Wonderful. Love the character designs too, I can’t wait to read more of the story.
  page 2
  1. 20 September 2012 @ 10:17 am
    Neil Brideau (@OhBoyComics):
    
    Man! Traversing through hallways in high school and middle school should be its own olympic event. Once in middle school I was walking down the hallway, and this kid came running down the hall, punched me in the stomach, and kept on running. I don’t think we knew each other even.
    - 21 September 2012 @ 6:14 pm
      Kenan:
      
      Wow. You couldn’t have told me that story before I drew the page? Serious missed opportunity there.
  Page 3
  1. 23 September 2012 @ 9:22 pm
    Matthew Ocasio:
    
    And to make it worse for us nerds, a bag that’s actually full of books and a desire to be to class early makes running the gauntlet all the more difficult and harrowing.
  2. 11 October 2012 @ 5:26 pm
    Kenan:
    
    You wanted to get to class early? Nerd.
  page 4
  1. 25 September 2012 @ 2:56 pm
    Rebecca Rubenstein:
    
    I love how the font in which the character’s speak reflects the personality of the characters themselves. I find I relate best to “two-shoes” – I’m pretty sure that if my conversations could have been transcribed while I was in high school, that’s exactly the font in which they’d be written.
    - 10 October 2012 @ 9:04 pm
      Reid Psaltis:
      
      Nice. I hadn’t noticed that until you commented on it. Hurrah, comments!
      
      The font changes are subtle, not overdone, just right.
  Page 5
  1. 21 September 2012 @ 5:59 pm
    Josh Shalek:
    
    As much as I hated living through middle school, reading about it sure is gratifying. Love the map – can’t wait until the story goes to all those places!
  2. 25 September 2012 @ 3:00 pm
    Rebecca Rubenstein:
    
    The locker scene! Too good. It’s subtle and awesome. I like how it’s casually inserted into the page and not acknowledged later, as if getting stuffed in lockers is commonplace in this poor kid’s day.
  3. 25 September 2012 @ 9:11 pm
    Keera Bhandari:
    
    I also love the pop-out map and the “notes” section. A really fun surprise!
  Page 6
  1. 1 October 2012 @ 6:22 pm
    Kate Brideau:
    
    Kenan, this looks amazing! And so does the book itself (at least in photograph and video form). Also, Neil is full of those kinds of punched in the stomach by random jerks kinds of stories, you might want to pick his brain for future chapters. Looking forward to the rest of this comic.
  Page 8
  1. 10 October 2012 @ 9:13 pm
    Reid Psaltis:
    
    I’ve spotted at least five Kenans in the background so far.
    - 11 October 2012 @ 5:28 pm
      Kenan:
      
      Seriously? Where? I’ve only spotted one!
      
      31 October 2012 @ 1:10 am
      Reid Psaltis:
      
      Okay, maybe I exaggerated, but there’s more than one. With the tongue out, last panel of page 5… that’s you. Page two: panel two, mid-left… that’s jock-you.
      
      31 October 2012 @ 9:11 am
      kenan:
      
      Now begins my potentially lifelong search for jock-me. That guy and I have a lot to work out.
      
      4 November 2012 @ 8:05 pm
      Reid Psaltis:
      
      I bet he’s voting Romney.
      
      5 November 2012 @ 1:58 pm
      Kenan:
      
      Good point. I guess I’ll have to find him today.
  Page 13
  1. 16 November 2012 @ 5:21 pm
    Neil Brideau (@OhBoyComics):
    
    Fuffbunnies on Ice!
  - Indie Comic Review: Last Train to Old Town
    by Brian Gardes for Stumptown Trade Review
    “Last Train to Old Town is everything that is right with comics. It is well-written, superbly illustrated, and takes chances. Rubenstein could have left this as a story about bullying. We all would have nodded our heads, agreed it was sad, and then moved on. However, he has taken a risk and started the story that way and then moved it beyond the obvious…beyond the mundane. Isn't that what we have been waiting for all along? Isn’t that what we were all waiting for all those afternoons in the cafeteria? Something new and exciting to happen?”
    
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    “On the technical side, this is the best presentation I’ve seen of a web-comic. The site gives you multiple viewing options, easy places to submit feedback, and creator insight all via a non-intrusive side bar. The comic itself blends form and content beautifully. Each character is given their own hand-written font to ever-so-slightly differentiate their speech. The backgrounds are done with minimal black, until characters directly interact with them. Conversations intersect within panels, making each interaction feel natural, bringing the reader into the characters’ world.”
    
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    “More passion and soul goes in to a single book from Kenan than the entire output of the Big Two combined.”
    
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    “Last Train To Old Town is the first chapter of a collected webcomic of the same name, with simply breathtaking color art from Kenan Rubenstein. It’s a book that’s obviously a true labor of love, complete with maps, offbeat hand-lettering, hand-mounted panels, and serves as an example of craft comics where you can strongly sense the hand of the artist present on every page. The creative energy leaps off the page. It’s an impressive comic purely as a unique objet d’art. It’s clear that Rubenstein has a handle on everything artistically, from the design of the book, to the topography of the rural environments he works in, to the strong figure work, to the fact that his ear for dialogue rings true, but not in the sickeningly self-aware fashion that so many books about kids try to portray.”
    
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  - MoCCA Arts Festival Award Winners & Exhibit
    fromSociety of Illustrators
    “The Society of Illustrators is excited to announce the inaugural MoCCA Arts Festival Awards of Excellence. This awards recognizes the most outstanding work on view at the festival.
    
    This year's winners are Kim Ku (Ghost Hotel), Andrea Tsurumi (Andrew Jackson Throws a Punch), Jane Mai (Sunday in the Park with Boys), Gregory Benton (B+F), Kenan Rubenstein (Last Train to Old Town), Nick Offerman, and Honorable Mention to Simon Arizpe (OHaBEAR). Artists winning this award will have their work exhibited in the second floor MoCCA gallery at the Society of Illustrators from May 21 - July 6, 2013. ”
    
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  - Minis: Kenan Rubenstein, Drew Beckmeyer
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    “When Stone and his pals conspire to get Two-Shoes out of school and out to the train station, the reader expects the worst. Is this a high school bullying story? What do these kids (whose identities seem fragile in some respects) want with him? When Stone tells him that they're not going to the city but to Old Town, Two-Shoes says it's dangerous there. At the very end, Rubenstein pulls off an audacious twist as he starts to show us just what kind of people are going to Old Town and then a final page reveal of just how old Old Town actually is. It's an incredibly clever maneuver that flips around the entire nature of the comic. I'm eager to see future chapters. ”
    
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