So– I wanted to do some sort of road trip where Joe goes and tracks down a bunch of the people he deployed with. My first thought was to do it over the summer, and have him do a big cross-country road trip on his motorcycle. But I kinda wanted something more involved, with more people traveling with him. An obvious idea was to have the big annual November anniversary special be this “road trip”, but it would also be unrealistic for Joe to do that cross-country on a motorcycle in winter.

What I decided to do was have Joe and Juni meet up with Jorge Ricardo and do some hops around the country– short visits to different people that have settled into their lives post-deployment. They’re going to travel counter-clockwise around the country, technically starting in Arizona to meet Ricardo but I’m going to fast-forward to the next stop, which is Lieutenant Mirav Mizrachi who is still on Active Duty with the 1st Cavalry Division. I wanted to retain their “1st Cav” credentials and work back from there.

Okay, so, as for the pizza– it does not matter why someone in a group has a particular dietary need: they could be Jewish (no pork or shellfish, and no meat & cheese at the same time) or they could be Muslim (no pork or alcohol); they could be Mormon (no coffee) or they could have lactose intolerance (no dairy) or vegetarian (no meat) or vegan (no animal products at all) or celiac’s (no grains). Someone will need a “special” meal primarily for them, and most of the rest of the group declares that whatever this “one-off” meal is, it is probably disgusting or disappointing.

Then, the meal arrives, and it is “discovered” by the group, who decide it is delicious, and proceed to vacuum it up.

Happens every time.

This is the gang’s first stop– instead of doing a two- or three-page post each day of the week, I’m going to stick to my Monday and Thursday posting schedule, but these posts will be a two-page special that reaches out to some of the different people Joe, Juni, and Jorge deployed with a year earlier. They’ll get caught up and have a “Friendsgiving” meal before moving on to the next person. We won’t see everyone, but we’ll catch up with some of the folks that made life interesting in Iraq.

By the way, you may note the different ink style– I hired an inker to bring his magic to the story. For the “Friendsgiving” storyline, a fellow Iraq veteran named Andrew Watkins is doing the digital inking for me. The basic art, story, dialogue and coloring is still mine, but the definitive lines that make the art “stand out” are his doing. You may notice a difference in the art style. I really like what Andrew brings to BOHICA Blues and I may have him work with me on a few more episodes in the future. He’s an excellent illustrator and artist and I’ll bring links to his home page in the next chapter. Write in below and tell me what you think, and don’t forget to “Like” BOHICA Blues at Facebook as well:

https://www.facebook.com/bohicablues/