News

I had considered Suyan's "bad Callanian" to be as bad as Donovan's "bad orcish," but I figured the young Bikta should have a slightly stronger grasp of a foreign language than the old bard.

Mistranslations are very funny to me and the more outlandish the better. My favorite example of this, and the direct inspiration for Donovan's horrid grasp of orcish, is the Hungarian Phrasebook sketch. It's a classic and I bow to Monty Python's Flying Circus, my lords and masters.

That's all from me for now.
On rock.

May's Donation Wallpaper is up today, even though I said it'd be up last Friday. Turns out that Mastodon concert left me more sore than I'd anticipated. As always, if you're still seeing the thumbnail for last month's wallpaper, just hit the Refresh button on your browser and that ought to do the trick.

On today's comic, of all the times I've smacked Dominic in the mouth over the last seven years I would say that today was one of the occasions where he undoubtedly deserved it. As dearly as I love him, I think every so often every one of us wants to smack a know-it-all in the mouth, especially when he's being condescending.

THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS goes to the printer today, so cross your fingers that nothing goes wrong. If the Gods of Good Fortune decide to give me their blessing the fourth volume ought to be officially for sale by the time Anime Boston rolls around.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

I know I said May's Donation Wallpaper would be up by today, but there's going to be a slight delay. You see, I had every intention of coloring it yesterday, but I got a last minute opportunity to see Mastodon here in the Boston area. Naturally, I jumped on the opportunity and as I write this I am still recovering from their stellar show.

Remember how I was raving about their new album, Crack the Skye, yesterday? I was floored when they spent the first half of their set playing the entire album, song for song, note for note. I was highly recommending them yesterday, and so I do so again today. Mastodon rocks.

Oh right. May's wallpaper will be up later today. At least, as soon as I recover from the Mastodon show.

Ouch.

In case you haven't noticed, I do enjoy drawing these no-panel, full page, weird looking vision strips. They're just so liberating and fun for me that I think I'm getting addicted. I always try to make them move the story forward even though I'm essentially going "Whee!" the whole time I'm drawing them.

Mastodon's new album, Crack the Skye, is certainly lending itself to the creation of these out-of-mind vision comics. This album, as far as I'm concerned, is a masterwork of progressive, aggressive, almost ethereal metal that I simply cannot stop listening to. Oh, and it kicks a ton of ass, too. Highly recommended.

And finally, thanks to all of you who had nice things to say and constructive criticisms about my amateur photography. This is just a hobby of mine, but it's always nice to share stuff with you amazing folks because you always make me feel like a million bucks.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS is still up for pre-order. I sound like a broken record, I know, but I was always told that one of the most effective forms of advertising is repetition.

I went ahead and put up some of my (amateur) photography on deviantArt. Some people love this thing, others hate it with a passion. I decided to give it a try because, well, because I wanted to. I just do photography for fun and I'm happy to share my attempts at being photographically artsy. Just to warn you, though, some of the stuff is mature-restricted (oh god! not breasts!) so it may or may not be work safe. Otherwise, browse at your leisure.

THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS is still up for pre-order. I sound like a broken record, I know, but I was always told that one of the most effective forms of advertising is repetition.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

Life imitating art, or vice-versa?
With cats, I can never tell.

I worked my ever-loving butt off last week on THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS, giving myself several migraines, back aches and a recurring hatred for everything that showed up on my monitor. The reward, however, is that it's almost guaranteed that I'll have Dominic Deegan's fourth volume ready by ANIME BOSTON, and if anything funky happens between now and then I'll definitely have it by AKON.

It's going to be nice to only work on the week's comics. Almost relaxing. Refreshing. Unless I've forgotten something...

Oh yeah.

May's Donation Wallpaper ought to be up by the end of this week. Whether it'll be one or two wallpapers has yet to be determined.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

Some weeks you have to end on a cliffhanger.

Some weeks you just have to end making fun of yourself.

Because of all the work I've crammed in on THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS I've admittedly fallen a little behind in sending out April's Donation Wallpapers. I should have that fixed by the end of the weekend at the very latest.

Other than that, it's been a very long week and I'm going to keep things nice and short down here in the news box. You folks have a nice weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

If there's one good thing that's come from locking myself in my apartment for the last few days to power through the last parts of working on The Battle for Barthis, it's that my isolation from humanity has kept me safe from contracting swine flu.

Global epidemics aside, things are looking good with book four and if all goes well (cross your fingers) I should have them in time to debut at Anime Boston. If not there, then I definitely ought to have them for AKON, which would be strangely apropos because I've debuted my last two volumes there. Go figure.

That's all from me for now.
Oink.

Working on The Battle for Barthis these past few days has quite literally dulled my brain to the point where I have absolutely nothing of interest to say today. One can only be so interesting when one spends all of one's day staring at a computer screen as cobwebs slowly form from one's head to one's monitor. Those spiders are bastards.

The last couple of days have been really, really nice, too. The weather is almost taunting me as I stare longingly out my window at the shining sun and blue sky. With any luck I'll have the last of the book work done today so I can spend my weekend taking pictures out in the lovely weather, provided it holds up.

Ah well. Back to work.
Rock on.

My head hurts as I'm writing this news post, so I'm going to keep things short and (hopefully) entertaining today.

- The Battle for Barthis is available for pre-order.

- Working on the layout of book four for eleven straight hours without a break apparently gives me a killer headache.

- I don't like it when the (vegan) pizza delivery guy delivers my (vegan) pizza and I discover the toppings have all shifted onto one side.

- Professor Layton & The Curious Village remains my favorite Nintendo DS game ever.

- Turkish Delight is contending with maple candy for the title of "my favorite candy." This competition is sweet.

- I greatly enjoy mingling with the voice actor guests at conventions.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

NoBrandCon was, in summary, a weekend of pleasant surprises.

I admit that as a city boy I was worried about going to a smaller convention out in Wisconsin. I was all ready to come back here with stories of how I ached for the bustle of a major metropolitan city and how people looked at me cross-eyed when I mentioned the word "vegan." I never thought I'd be so glad to be so wrong.

Well, okay. Eau Claire, WI didn't exactly surprise me with a bustling populace, but who knew a vegan could have a disarmingly good black bean burger at a creole restaurant one night and a special-ordered tofu and vegetable dinner the next? I also managed to find a charming acoustic music cafe that served a killer lentil and roasted garlic soup. Mmm.

Food aside, the staffers and attendees of NoBrandCon blew me away with their generosity, kindness, and overall aura of awesome. I think if I stayed any longer I may have physically burst from all the love these folks showed me. I had such an amazing time that I really hope they'll have me back next year, because I'd be more than willing to make the trip again.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

Oh, and just in case you missed it the first time...

I'm currently at NoBrandCon.

The Battle for Barthis is currently available for pre-order.

Rascal is currently freaking out over so much awesomeness in one day! Scamp seems like he could care less.

That's all from me for now!
See you when I get home and have a nice weekend!

As I ship off to NoBrandCon today I leave you fine and wonderful folks with what I think is a fine and wonderful announcement.

THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS: Dominic Deegan Volume 4 is now available for PRE-ORDER in the SEER'S CATALOG! Take a gander at the cover and the added extras for this newest volume of collected strips! If you pre-order your copy before it goes on sale in May I'll sign it with a personalized autograph. Just let me know who I'm signing it to when you order your copy!

I'm excited about this newest book and I hope you are, too.

That's all from me for now!
Rock on!

Thanks to all of you who sent me and my girlfriend well wishes on our one-year anniversary. We're both saps who like to keep track of that sort of thing and, as you can tell, we also like to include as many people as possible in the celebration of these sappy things.

So, since I really have nothing new to talk about today, here are some of the things Alyssa and I did on our anniversary Monday.

- Went fishing for crabs with some rocks, dental floss and shredded salami. We let them go after we caught them and let them keep the salami bits.

- Alyssa took a nap while I worked on comics to cover my trip to NoBrandCon this weekend.

- We, with the help of her friends, crowded a tiny bar in a tiny inn where sea shanties are sung every Monday night. There was much food, much drink, much merriment, and I learned a few very dirty drinking songs.

I should have some pictures to share later.
That's all from me for now.
Rock on.