Entry Inhibitors A bit of info on a new class of HIV medications. I started on a clinical trial on one of the entry inhibitors in development. This is not a legal endorsement or medical advisory, but it did knock my viral load down to undetectable in about 6 weeks. And after participating in some disappointing clinical trials, let's just say fourth time's the charm.

Next for Norvir You might be reading this strip, with Norvir becoming available in a store-at-room-temperature formulation, and say (1) when will this happen or (2) didn't this already happen? When I did this strip, and eventually posted it on the web, it happened yet, though was proposed in early 2009.

The Getaway Car Being an artistic sort, the lack of imagination in the color of HIV meds really gets to me, with so many nearly matching in color. I know these meds come from different companies who don't consult, but it probably cheer us up if we opened our pillbox and it looked more like Skittles or M&Ms waiting for us.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This I first found out about this "tip" about four years ago from a drug company rep, didn't know until a year later that it was suggested by my friend Guy Pujol. Guy is the director of Atlanta's AIDS Alliance for Faith and Health. I've never been on Sustiva, I'd be resistant to it, 'cause you can bet I'd find just the perfect video...

The HIV Drug with Just ONE Side Effect An online correspondent acquaintance was under the impression this strip was completely autobiographical. While some retell/summarize actual events, on the other hand, I've yet to meet Calvin & Hobbes as I did in an earlier strip. THIS one, however, is practically a word-for-word account of some friends and me after one of our support group.

Topkatz the Naltorian Getting the actual number of possible, feasible HIV combos was a task far more difficult than visiting a carnival fortune teller. It seemed the major AIDS organizations in the country had a number 3 or 4 years old, but with newer meds introduced (and reformulated) I turned to my buddy Talbot Katz who is a whiz at math and serves unlimited champagne at his wedding.

Just Needs a Little Salt... Probably the most ironic thing about this strip is my Dad worked for Morton Salt for over 20 years when I was growing up. We had more crap, er, promotional items featuring the many incarnations of the Morton Salt girl over the years. Surprisingly she hasn't been updated since the late 60s, but she had four (?) earlier looks to match the times.

Homeland Security Meets the FDA I've noticed that among my friends, the first thing they do when starting a new medication is NOT check out the dosing, the frequency, and the common things... no, they skip ahead to the side effects, no matter how infrequently they may occur... and often base their decisions on that. While that can be important, placing it first to me is a little odd. So why not help those "worse case scenario" folks out?

Saving Face You probably can't read the small type on the lower left, "Note: It is, as always, the policy of the strip not to endorse any specific method of treatment." Frankly, I'll share my experiences but never say my way is the best... or only way. I'd been on (and still am) a clinical trial on a new entry inhibitor drug which wiped out my viral load faster then NBC could cancel The Book of Daniel... but still had that "AIDS look." That's why I decided for "one of those facial wasting treatments." (Lookin' good!) The strip is based on The Portrait of Dorian Gray, the "attic" is actually the apartment of friends that even scared the crew of Queer Eye off. <g>

O Canada With our government waffling on the legalization of importing of much less expensive meds from our friends to the North here to the States (I grimace when someone refers to the meds as "cheaper" -- that being a relative term), this makes up for every spam mail I get pushing "Canadian medications for less!".

Is That a Greg Louganis in Your Pocket... or are you one of those folks who just find hauling around 17 pills for your 9 o'clock feeding a little, well, inconvenient ? The solution is here. And in case you're wondering, yes, I did meet Louganis in 1995, I doubt he'd remember me, but a friend of mine knows him, and said he'd be passing along this comic to him. He hasn't yet.

The Sustiva Olympics I'm as surprised as anyone else might be about me doing a second strip on Sustiva, but as more and more friends told me about dealing, coping, even getting dressed in the morning, I knew I had to do another. And to answer some questions I've already received, (1) No, I've never been on Sustiva myself, and (2) Yes, both "Mercy Velveeta" and "Rick Rubio" are based on very close friends of mine, both who were ecstatic to see themselves in this strip after giving me lots of support on it for some time.

The ADAP Duck Time to lampoon another commercial. Wasn't sure if this commercial aired outside the south (it did, I learned), and I figured it was time my real dog Juneau got her appearance here in the strip.

We're All Wasted! This strip had bits and parts of it floating around for a while, as HIV ... or more specifically, the HIV medications ... started doing things to our bodies we never would've imagined when these "life-saving drugs" came into use. While I've never had the lipodystrophy that many of my friends put up with, I do have those cheekbones I had only ever seen on Faye Dunaway in Chinatown . It took my friend Marcya though, simply walking up to me with "I have a topic for you to do a strip on! Training bras!" Never had a conversation begin that way before, but once she explained, I pulled other anecdotes from friends' lives, as well as my own. See what I'll do if you ask nicely?

Titanic Let's all beat our chests ... "My heart will go onnnnnnnnnnnn ..." No, I promise you won't get a Celine audio file from clicking here, the virus is bad enough. Thanks to the friends at my birthday party for the inspiration for this one. What amuses me most is that some sales reps from DuPont wanted to reprint this in their sales literature...

The Protease Nazi Based on the famous Seinfeld episode ("No soup for you today!"). And by the way, I have tried the Soup Nazi's soup (the seafood chowder) and it IS that good.

Expiration Dates Speaks for itself. And has, in another way. It's the only strip I've done that I've been asked to translate into another language... twice. And of course, neither a language I speak, but it's available also in Spanish and German.

Bewitched I'll let all you Bewitched fans have fun with this one. After seeing another magazine ad with a windsurfing protease inhibitor theme, I ignored my degree in Advertising and honored the show which actually inspired me to go into the field. I'll just point out I got (for my buddy Paul) Kasey Rogers' e-mail address. (She was the second Louise Tate ... and she wrote back!)

Virus Wars You might have seen this episode in the June, 1999 issue of POZ , though it was actually done several summers earlier. Back when protease inhibitors first caught on, and my attempt to explain them. POZ reprinted this with the release of Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace. Never did see that one.

Rapunzel Funny how many Grimms Fairy Tales were so prescient...

I Need a Vacation The big buzzword in longterm treatment is the "drug vacation" -- interrupting treatment to give a chance for the virus to come back stronger so you can hit it even harder. Yeah, makes little sense to me, so I approach it with the logic of a Monty Python routine...

Bridget Jones' Diary, Part 2 Once in a while I do a strip that mirrors a health problem I was encountering at the time. Here's one of those cases. The parody of the movie is largely based on just the previews for the movie. I eventually rented it on DVD but kept falling asleep in it, despite my great affection for Renee Zelwegger.

Lucy Does a Protease Inhibitor Commercial Though Ritonavir/Norvir has returned to the capsules, its time as the dreaded liquid was too easy of a target to pass up. Plus, it's the only "full-page" episode of the strip. So why don't you join the thousand of "happy peppy people" and get your own bottle?

• On Trial Also about advertising aimed at us, but this time, it's the viatical companies that's the target. Not that it's anti-viaticals... it's not... just their advertising.
• Counting Blue Pills Fortunately my pill count has dwindled, and the colors don't match, so this was just for fun. But when it ran, some folks wondered what I was doing working at a TV station. I produce shows (mostly about comic books) at the local cable access station here in Atlanta -- though Barbara Gordon is not our receptionist.)
• Radio Radio When I thought of this strip's idea, I had this great photo that I wanted to use. But later misplaced the photo for a long time. I try to explain the mutations possible with the medications, and no, the title doesn't mean the strip has anything to do with Elvis Costello, but it is a great song.
• Clinical Trials & Tribulations I've been on four clinical trials in connection with being HIV+. The first was a ludicrous one involving a Chinese cardiac congestion drug that killed the virus in the test tube, but in people, not so much. Later I got into an NIH one involving lowering lipids caused by all the other drugs I'd been on. Sigh. Trying to find one that fits your profile can drive you nuts, and that's where I thought of this imaginary dream web site. If you use the idea and make some bucks off it, send me the royalty checks...