News

On the first of every month I usually find myself saying something like, "Sheesh, is it (new month) already? Whatever happened to (previous month)?" But with a wedding this past weekend which had followed a year-and-a-half engagement, I was very aware of October's each and every day. November is here, and I welcome it.

Getting back to "normal" has been pretty easy. Life with Alyssa hasn't changed much at all. Getting back into my work routine, however, has been a bit rough. I have that idle haze in the back of my mind as I make a new comic, similar to the one I usually have to recover from after an exhausting convention weekend. I'll likely get over it in a few days... until YOUMACON this weekend, anyway.

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

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I'm going to keep things brief here in the news box today because I got married over the weekend and I'm still recovering from the sheer awesomeness of the whole event. In brief, it was a magnificent day and everything I dreamed it was going to be.

Select pictures will be forthcoming once I get them back from the photographer.

I'll be going to YOUMACON this weekend for the first time so be sure to stop by and say "hi!" if you're in the area!

That's all from me for now.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I'm getting married in a few days, so I'm taking the rest of the week off.

The comic will resume on Monday which, incidentally, is also Halloween.

Will Alyssa and I be getting married in Halloween costumes similar to the ones doodled in the crummy filler art above?


Possibly.


I hope you fine folks have a great weekend. We're hoping to have a memorable weekend ourselves.


That's all from me for now.
Rock on, have a great weekend, and OHMYGODI'MGETTINGMARRIED!

Much like his band's sound, Gregory's amplified scream sounds like whoever has the most distinct "metal roar" to you. While there isn't an "official" inspiration, here are people with some of the most distinct metal roars/screams/high notes that I've heard throughout my meandering experience as a metal fan:

- Max Cavalera of Sepultura
- Phil Enselmo of Pantera
- Nergal of Behemoth
- Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden
- Ronnie James Dio

There are many, many more examples, but those are some memorable ones.

Today is the last day the comic will update this week, as I'm getting married at the end of the month and need a couple of days to attend to real life wedding stuff. There will be crummy filler for Thursday and Friday, and the comic will resume updating on Monday.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on, and wish me luck.

Mervin may have a bad moustache, but he's still a royal battlecaster and a magical badass. That is, until one of his buddies apparently betrayed him.

It looks like some of the werewolves of the Winter Archipelago may have been right.
Callanians suck at loyalty.

Don't forget that today and tomorrow are the only other days the comic will be updating this week. I'm getting married and I need a few days off to deal with wedding stuff. The comic will resume its normal updates on Monday.

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

Remember that the comic will only update on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I'll be taking a couple of days off to get married. Normal updates will resume the following Monday.

Am I nervous about getting married? Absolutely not.

Am I nervous about the wedding? A little.

Marriage to Alyssa is coming very naturally. She's the love of my life and my best friend, and I don't anticipate married life being any different for us. A wedding, on the other hand, is a big party that requires a lot of planning and people to accommodate. Between the wedding venue, the caterer, the music, the drinks, the officiate and everything else... yeah. It can be stressful.

Here's hoping I have nothing to be nervous about after all.

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

For the record, Luna is glaring at the fact that Mervin is not hideously deformed beneath his mask. However, if the idea that his terrible moustache is as shocking to her as it was to Gregory makes you chuckle, then who am I to correct you?

A bad moustache is a disarming thing to see if you're not prepared for it. Most men don't know if they're going to have a bad moustache until they try to grow one. Men like Frank Zappa, Hulk Hogan, Salvador Dali and even Super Mario are men who make moustaches epic. Mervin the battlecaster is not one of those men, sadly.

When I was a teenager I dreamed of growing a Zappa-esque moustache. I ended up looking like I had a dead caterpillar on my upper lip. Oh well.

The comic is only going to update Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week. I'm taking a few days off to get married. I hope you folks don't mind.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on and have a nice weekend!

I picked up quite a few comic books yesterday, and this week did not leave me with such a lamentable taste in my mouth. A lot of it had to do with the new ATOMIC ROBO hitting the shelves (and on time, too!) but other superhero offerings actually showed some promise.

Here, in brief, is what I thought:

ATOMIC ROBO & THE GHOST OF STATION X #2: Every issue of every series of this comic is amazing. Why aren't you reading it yet? You're missing out on all the robutt!
WONDER WOMAN #2: I had my doubts with this one, but between the heavy mythology storyline and Cliff Chiang's great artwork, this new Wonder Woman book is promising.
NIGHTWING #2: Decent offering of pretty standard superhero stuff. I like Dick Grayson, so I like to follow what he's up to.
BLUE BEETLE #2: If any hero didn't need a "reboot" it was Blue Beetle. Still, this new series hasn't changed much of what made the character so endearing. Blue Beetle is such a breath of fresh air into modern superheroes that I'll gladly read his story again.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #2: Nice to read about Lanterns other than Hal Jordan. Especially the more alien ones. Go Isamot!
SUPERGIRL #2: Her new costume sucks, but I've been enjoying this so far.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on and geek out!

I know I'm biased here, but I think Luna is looking particularly badass in today's comic. And Celesto's toothy grin is looking particularly wicked. And I guess I'm overall happy with the way today's comic looks! But then again, I am pretty biased.

It's once again new comic book day, which has become the day where I lament the current state of superhero comics. While ATOMIC ROBO is, in my opinion, currently the best comic on the shelves and the only one I really look forward to, I wouldn't call it a "superhero" book. Yes, he's an atomic-powered robot who fights a time-traveling dinosaur and the ghost of Thomas Edison, but I'd consider Robo more of an "action hero." It's the state of the heroes in tights and capes who sling around superpowers that has me disappointed lately. Oh well.

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

I finally saw The Thing yesterday, so I'm feeling a little suspenseful today. And when that happens, it usually translates into a cliffhanger. Mwa ha ha.

Overall I thought The Thing was a pretty solid monster movie. Was it a masterpiece equal to John Carpenter's film of the same name? No, and I think that if it didn't carry that film's namesake it wouldn't be under as much scrutiny as it is by fans (like me) and critics. But since it was a prequel to Carpenter's movie it had some big, monstrous shoes to fill.

What I thought they got right:
- Gruesome monster transformations.
- Great moments of tension.
- Attention to details that link it to the Carpenter classic.
- The "dum dum... dum dum" was in the movie.

What I thought they got wrong:
- The monster was more aggressive than a lurking terror.
- A CGI monster is less scary than a makeup-effects monster.
- Forgettable characters.
- The "dum dum... dum dum" wasn't in the movie enough.

I still recommend seeing it, though. If you've never seen the original, the new The Thing stands alone as a decent monster flick. But if you've never seen the original masterpiece, treat yourself to a classic tonight.

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

I do hope all the musicians reading this enjoyed today's joke. I never played the piano myself. The closest I ever came was the Nintendo Miracle Piano Teaching System.

I played the trumpet all through elementary, middle and high school. I even went to band camp, but I never had the kind of experience they tell you about in the movies. Music theory and sight reading killed me, but I developed a great love for jazz and classical music. I also came to learn a lot of musician jokes.

This is my favorite trumpet player joke of all time:

What's a trumpet player's most effective form of birth control?
His personality.


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

For those of you keeping track (of which I doubt there are many of you actually counting), this is the 2600th Dominic Deegan comic. It's not much of a milestone, but I think it's a number you can really sink your teeth in to. Tee hee.

Speaking of shapeless and horrid monsters with rows of death-teeth, I've been cautiously excited about THE THING, which opens today and is a prequel to the classic 80s monster movie of the same name. I am a huge fan of the John Carpenter film. With fantastic suspense, nail-biting tension and special effects that are an exhibition of grotesque monster makeup, it's one of my all-time favorite films. So I've been keeping an eye on this movie and hoping beyond hope that they'll "get it right." I'll likely see it over the weekend, so cross your fingers. And if this news post does nothing else than inspire you to go check out John Carpenter's classic film instead, then I've done my job.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on and have a nice weekend!

In case you're wondering where you've seen that bizarre language before, it's been spoken by the Infernomancer and even Dominic, but the Beast was the most eloquent.

I only picked up four "new DC 52" comics yesterday on the shelves. Here's what I thought of them, in brief:

BATWOMAN #2: Absolutely stunning artwork and creative panel layout. May keep reading this for the art alone.
LEGION LOST #2: The story feels rushed and the dialogue is very stiff and unnatural. May drop this one.
GREEN LANTERN #2: Hal Jordan is an unlikeable prick, and we're just two issues in. Luckily, Sinestro is proving to be the more compelling character.
BATMAN & ROBIN #2: Batman has no idea how to be a father. Nice to see him dealing with something difficult that isn't an elaborate Joker crime.

I've been generally unhappy with the state of superhero comics for a while now. A few titles are picking up momentum, but nothing has really grabbed me. We'll see what happens.

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

And now a linky reminder for your reading convenience:

Celesto maimed Dominic.
Celesto tried to kill Luna's sister, Barnet.
Celesto destroyed the town of Lynn's Brook...
...and as a result of that, Celesto was taken into custody by the Royal Battlecasters.

I hope you folks enjoyed that linky walk down memory lane.

It's comic book day again, and I'll be looking a little more into the second issues of DC's already notorious "new 52." Will more titles stay and will others be dropped? Tune in tomorrow to find out what... actually, yes. I'm not going to continue with some titles and I'm going to continue with others. I can't have too many cliffhangers on one page.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on and geek out.

It's been awhile since that old joke's come up, huh? I think Luna's been secretly waiting for an excuse to use it after all this time, too.

It's been awhile now since I started playing League of Legends, and while I was having a love affair with it at first I have discovered how heart-wrenchingly awful a three day losing streak can be. I should know, as I've had quite a few. From what I've been told I'm in the level range where one either has incredible matches or games where you just want to reach through the monitor and punch someone in the throat. But for all its occasional frustration it's still a fun game with a lot of personality, so if you want to give it a try and see for yourself, you can sign up via a referral from my account.

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