art by Dan Shive

There above is the picture that started it all. As I answered in an interview with the Author Support group years ago, when asked what inspired me to write:

In general? An active imagination. I’ve always been a storyteller, from my earliest childhood memories. I’ve had stories in my head that I wanted to tell, and I’ve explored various mediums for telling these stories -- art, writing and even running roleplaying games. As for Fallout: Equestria in particular, the inception of the idea was from an artwork by Dan Shive called “Pony Vegas”. It was a wonderful piece, playing on my twin loves of Friendship is Magic and the Fallout series of games. But at the same time, it didn’t make sense within the context of the show. My imagination immediately started trying to figure out how you could make the combination make sense, and the story began to take form.

So, needless to say, I owe quite a bit to Dan Shive for this particular artwork. But this is by far not the only work of his that I have found inspiring. And considering his unique role in the start of this community, I felt it would be appropriate to share a bit more of his work.

Dan Shive is the creator of an online webcomic called El Goonish Shive, a brilliant comic following the adventures and friendships of a group of high school students touched and surrounded by magic and the strange in world filled with barely-hidden supernatural wonder. El Goonish Shive sports some impressive and evolving world-building, and the comic excels in foreshadowing and character design. Dan Shive supplements the main comic with additional artwork, side stories and single strips.

But aside from just giving us good storytelling and fun characters through his comic, Dan Shive also gives us a lot to think about and grow on. For example, his classic comic below is one that I have often passed along to people who are dealing with critics. It is absolutely excellent advice, some of the best I've seen on the subject:

(The biggest difficulty, of course, is that there are at least several hundred million folks on the internet who fall into category four, and most of them believe they should fall into category three. Hint: if someone doesn't have to file taxes for their income as a critic, they aren't a professional. They're just another yahoo on the internet with an opinion and an inflated sense of ego.)

Dan Shive has routinely offered up wisdom in regards to dealing with aspects of internet culture and similar problems...

...sometimes addressing the concerns of fans directly in his side comics. (It is the third panel above that I consider worth particular note.)

(It is the third panel above that I consider worth particular note.)

Likewise, his comics usually come with a follow-up post. These posts are often used just for humor, or to provide helpful links back to earlier related story strips or other foreshadowing. But sometimes, particularly for the side strips, the commentary provides particularly useful nuggets of advise or insight, such as this simple and straightforward tidbit which followed a strip dealing with the option of disabling user comments on your site:

Some people view disabling comments as censorship, but it's really not. Nobody is obligated to provide space for others to say stuff. They can say whatever they want about whatever, but you don't have to provide the podium. Censorship would be more like if they were commenting on their own site and someone tried to somehow silence them.

However, by far, the most noteworthy and admirable aspect of Dan Shive's work is the way his comic tackles issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. In a comic full of magical martial arts, mystical mayhem and body transformation shenanigans, El Goonish Shive manages to have a deep and mature conversation about one of the most profound struggles of our modern age, especially for young people today.

This comic will open your eyes if you let it, and has a lot more to teach than you would expect.