Introducing the Highside/Lowside comic strip

These Highside/Lowside comic strips came in unexpectedly from a loyal listener, Michael Pierson III. He explains that he works as a merchant mariner on tugs running betwen Seattle, Alaska and Hawaii and has lots of time on his hands, "staring into the void of the Pacific," as he described it. That would explain why he's not one of the listeners complaining that nearly two hours of discussion is a little long for a podcast.

He also spent some of his time at sea riffing on some of the discussions in the podcasts, imagining further conversations between Zack "Quartz" and "Sturgeon" Dunbar, along with cameo appearances by producer Chase and me, in my role as Common Tread editor and occasional podcast guest.

The Highside/Lowside drinking game will also be familiar to regular listeners. In season four, a listener invented an entire drinking game for listening to the podcast, such as one drink every time Zack says "my colleague Ari Henning" or "that's a whole 'nother podcast," or Spurgeon mentions his Uncle Bob or says "KTM in the garage." Two drinks follow any mention of Spurgeon's cross-country trip on his Triumph Bonneville or Zack racing sidecars.

If I'm interpreting the next strip correctly, the author and artist is suggesting that one of Zack's happy dreams of riding has been interrupted by a loud exhaust once too often and he's decided to cast his allegiance with those who are ready to crack down. (For context, just look at the range of opinions in the reader comments on yesterday's article about noise cameras.)

We can tell Michael reads Common Tread, as well as listening to the podcast, because he provides an imaginary behind-the-scenes look at the editorial process. Though I swear it's not an accurate one in real life. Spurgeon's not nearly such a pushover and I'm not anywhere close to that despotic. Really. No matter what Spurgeon tells you. I'm not.

Anyway, you get the picture. Literally. Thanks to one podcast listener who went well beyond the role of content consumer to become part of the creative process. Thanks for the laughs, Michael.