I'm not trying to fool myself here. In the grand scheme of things, one hundred strips ain't much-- I know. But it feels good to hit a milestone of any sort and, not so surprisingly, as a creator, it forces you to take stock of what's been going on in your head, on the page, and in your life.

"Bad Shape" started in a hospital room. Last August, my two year old daughter was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare children's cancer that attacks the eye(s). Less then twenty-four hours after being diagnosed with a massive tumor in her eye, my wife and I were sitting in a waiting room while my daughter's right eye was surgically removed. The surgeons found no traces of cancer anywhere else in her body. Her left eye was/is perfectly fine. But, after thinking the worse was over, our oncologist sat us down and said that my little girl was going to have to undergo chemo as a precautionary step.

I felt completely powerless. Probably because I was.

Chemo started and the "overnight ritual" began. She was to have six chemo treatments, each treatment entailed a three day/two night stay at the hospital with my wife an I alternating nights on a cramped foldout chair, while my daughter lied zonked out on drugs.

It was hard to sleep those nights.

And that's how Bad Shape started.

I should've hit strip #100 back in late April; my daughter was heading towards her last treatment and her prosthetic eye was/is looking great. But then my wife got a call and we discovered that my sister-in-law in LA was coming back east to stay with us.

She had recently been diagnosed with an extremely serious case of breast cancer and was/is going to do her chemo and double mastectomy here in Massachusetts.

Strip #100 was supposed to be something hilarious. Faithful readers were looking forward to the possible return of KITT, maybe some more ho's, or the return of Trina. Instead, it was what it is. I plan on getting to that other stuff soon.

But cancer has been fucking with me an' mine for a while now. So, I think it's time to fuck with cancer.

Can't think of ANYONE better than Slim to do it.

Stay tuned.