News

Many thanks to those of you who pointed out the cosmetic errors I'd made in Friday's comic. I have since gone back and fixed them so the strip looks as proper as it can.

What the frack happened to September? This was just the last weekend of the month and October is already looming its busy head upon me. Next weekend is stuff for my girlfriend's brother's wedding. The weekend after that I go to another friend's wedding. The weekend after that is my girlfriend's brother's wedding. That next weekend I get to breathe. The last weekend in October I'll be spending Halloween at ONI-CON, where I will totally be in costume.

On the bright side, I have been generously helping myself to delicious autumn brews. Mm. Oktoberfest beer and pumpkin ales.

This is also the season for apple picking and engaged in said activity on Saturday. There are few things in life I enjoy as much as the crunch of a freshly picked apple. That, and Alyssa is totally psyched about making delicious apple-based goodies for me. Apple pie for me!

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

Yesterday I mentioned two big crossover events in comics that I feel are going on far too long. I may have mentioned my dislike for one or both of these in the past, but I feel like talking about them again. My two big problems are with Marvel's Dark Reign and DC's World of New Krypton.

For months upon months upon months now I've been given very little choice as to whether or not I actually want to read about these stories. Being a Superman fan I braced myself for the worst, and at first liked it, but now that the main storyline is carrying over into three separate titles plus annuals and one-shots and oh god I've totally lost track of who's done what to who and where and why. In any given Superman title I pick up (with the exception of Secret Origin) I don't really seem to have a choice but to read about General Lane's very long, exhaustive, complicated behind-the-scenes manipulations. Honestly, I've gotten bored watching an old general smirk at a screen every time something happens to Superman.

Dark Reign has a similar problem with me. I have no choice but to watch Norman Osborn be devious and crazy across every single Marvel title being published, and it's been going on now for months and months with no sign of stopping. I've gotten bored with the revelation that "Osborn was behind the whole thing." Whoop de friggin' doo.

Now you may point your finger at me and say, "You freakin' hypocrite. The March Across Maltak has been going on for months and months now with no signs of ending any time soon. How can you complain about these complicated, long, involved stories when you yourself have been writing one since January?"

And I would defend myself by saying that The March Across Maltak isn't a crossover. If you hate this story, the characters, the heroes, the villains, the length of the tale, or if you just hate me, you can click over to any one of countless other webcomics and be free of this story for however long you like. You won't see Johnny Wander: The March Across Maltak or Questionable Content: The March Across Maltak. You wouldn't even see ads for this comic! You'd have the choice not to read it. Period.

I wouldn't have such a problem with these major comics events if I had the choice not to read them. Blackest Night is the only "event" going now that's keeping its story and its tie-ins totally separate from the regular books, and that's awesome.

Still, it would be nice to have that kind of influence in the webcomics community to have everyone do a crossover based on an idea I had. Oh well. Maybe one day I'll do it and then I'll really be a hypocrite.

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

Lots of good comics came out yesterday.
Lots of comic bookery to talk about.

First of all, I'm very sad that Wednesday Comics is over. Twelve weeks, twelve issues, one-page stories that really captured the feeling of old-school newspaper weeklies. My favorite stories were those that featured Batman, Superman, Hawkman, and my two absolute favorites, Supergirl and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth. This was a great experiment and I hope DC decides to do this again. If a collected edition of this comes out (or if you can find all twelve issues at your local comic shop) I highly recommend picking it up.

Superman: Secret Origin kicked off to a great start. I love Superman. I love it when he's written well. I love it when he's drawn well. The writer/artist team of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank nailed it in this first issue. Seeing Clark deal with his inexplicable alienation and difficulties of being hopelessly different from everyone as a child is really touching, as is his parents' initial hesitation to tell him the truth of his birth. I have high hopes for this mini-series.

In even more Superman goodness, Blackest Night: Superman was one hell of a brawl. Watching Kal-El go up against Kal-L, seeing the full range of the emotional spectrum glowing through Superman's body (without looking ridiculous), the "return" of Psycho Pirate... and who knew Martha Kent wanted to kick so much ass? Thumbs-up on this title, too.

Detective Comics featuring Batwoman continues to artistically blow me away. If you like the different layouts I've done here when Dominic has a vision, you'll love this title. The fight scene alone between Batwoman and High Madame Alice gave me an artgasm. I cannot say enough good things about how great this book looks.

Tomorrow I'll talk about two big crossover events in comics that are driving me bonkers, why I think they've gone on way too long, and why I don't think I'm a hypocrite for saying so even though The March Across Maltak has been going on since January.

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

I don't know why, but ever since he first appeared in the comic right up until today, Stonewater remains one of my favorite characters to draw. Go figure.

Since today is the day that new comic books come out, I feel like it's an appropriate time to talk about a game I've been playing pretty regularly over the past few weeks.

Champions Online fulfills just about every superhero fantasy I've ever had. From the insane flexibility of the character creator, power selections, and even the ability to create your own custom nemesis, there's really no detail that's left me going "man, I wish I could make a character that could..." because if you're clever enough, you can make whatever you imagine. That kind of creative freedom in a game scores major points with yours truly.

So if you can afford it, and the monthly fees for an online game... and you have a computer that can handle the impressive graphics... and you can tolerate the numerous bugs they're very good at working out... and you can spare the countless hours it's probably going to take away from your life... then I highly recommend throwing on your cape and smacking down some evil-doers!

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

I'm surprised I forgot to talk about this yesterday.

On Sunday I played my first game of Pathfinder with my friends (and fellow shameless nerds) Scott and Brian. It's one thing to look at a roleplaying game's book and nerd out over the rules and concepts, but it's an entirely different matter to play the game itself. Sunday's game was a test run for this book that I've been ranting about for weeks now.

My fellow shameless nerds, I am happy to say that Pathfinder's streamlining of the D&D 3.5 rules is both efficient and lots of fun. That, and I finally got to play a half-orc bard that doesn't suck.

So yes. Pathfinder officially rocks my nerdy socks off. I highly recommend it if you're an old-school tabletop roleplaying gamer like me.

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

My weekend consisted of doing absolutely nothing of consequence. It felt great. The last few weekends have been either busy or something's come up at the last minute, leaving precious little time for doing absolutely nothing of consequence. Thankfully, this was one of those weekends.

The highlights of said weekend were sitting on my back porch with a pumpkin ale (mmm!) and a thick sandwich, and seeing a pirate-themed cabaret show on Talk Like A Pirate Day. Yarr.

Next weekend will be equally uneventful, but once October hits my weekends become the property of other people. Namely the two weddings I'm scheduled to attend and the fine folks at ONI-CON have been gracious enough to invite me back as a guest. I missed Oni-Con last year due to the floods in Texas so I'm extra excited to be returning this year.

But alas, another weekend is behind me. It's back to doing stuff of consequence... however much you consider doing webcomics the stuff of consequence.

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

I had originally planned for a big, impressive image for the Akta to match the scope of Luna's encounter with the Nakta, but in the end the image of tiny little sparkles of light tickling her was just funnier.

Ever since my copy of Pathfinder arrived in the mail I've been flipping through it and checking it out to the best of my ability. It's going to take a while because it's a pretty massive book, but I can easily say this... Pathfinder is everything I wanted Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition to be, from content to presentation. This is the kind of tabletop roleplaying game I grew up playing.

D&D 4th Edition is a fun game, I admit, but it feels more like a board game than anything else. Even the books read and look like video game manuals. There just feels like there was something missing. Pathfinder took everything I loved about the old rule system and polished it right up.

The following paragraph will make no sense to you if you haven't played Dungeons & Dragons in the past. You've been warned.

It's great to be able to play a half-orc that's not just a big, stupid brute. I love how even more versatile Bards have become and they can kill you with laughter. The bloodline options for Sorcerers are awesome. There are actual, different benefits for being different kinds of specialist Wizards, even the universalist kind! The rules for Grappling don't require you to have a PhD in mathematics. Now if a Paladin decides to Smite you, you're basically screwed.

But I don't miss THAC0... and if you know what THAC0 is you're at least as big a nerd as I am.

Okay. I'm done.

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

The making of today's comic was delayed significantly last night when I spent a significant amount of time looking for my cat, Rascal. I couldn't find her anywhere and was convinced she had somehow gotten out of my apartment. It turns out she was just under the bed, behind a pillow that had fallen under there. The most ridiculous thing about it is that I'd looked under the bed at least five times, with a freaking flashlight, before Alyssa came home and found her in under a minute in the same spot.

It's moments like this that make me wonder how I manage to, well, do anything.

On a complete nerd note, the newest issue of Blackest Night came out yesterday. Things just keep getting worse for our heroes and in every issue something heart-wrenching happens, no pun intended. However, I had no idea that being a compassionate person meant you got to kick a ton of zombie ass. If that's the case... the zombie apocalypse is going to be awesome.

Atomic Robo has been added to my list of comic books that are actually fun to read. Deadpool and The Incredible Hercules are the other two that actually seem to be enjoying their adventures, and even when they're miserable it's actually amusing instead of crushing. It's almost like comic books can be fun.

Tomorrow I'll probably gush on and on about how wonderful I've been finding Pathfinder to be. Squeak.

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

If today's strip seems confusing... like why would someone supposedly devoted to light and healing seal someone away in the underground darkness, or what the hell Grench is doing in the wall, or how being underground in the dark in the wall is "servitude" to the Akta... rest assured that it'll be explained more clearly tomorrow. This strip was more about action than exposition.

Otherwise, the first batch of pictures from my weekend trip to Maine have been posted for your viewing pleasure. These are my continued attempts at being an artsy photographer. It's a hobby and it's fun, so I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

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

I say this every year around this time and so I will say it once again. The fast approach of autumn, the weather cooling down and the leaves beginning to change colors can only mean one thing... the fall beers are starting to come out! Whoo!

Summer is a relatively bad beer time for me. I love India Pale Ales but besides that my selection is a bit limited. I'm not a big fan of the summer seasonals. Wheat and fruit beers have never done a thing for me. I like heavier, darker brews with unique tastes and flavors. The autumn season of brews showcases my favorite beers... Octoberfest beers and pumpkin ales. Mmm! Give me a pint with a bowl of hearty vegetable soup on a cold day and I am a very happy man.

After the fall beers cometh the winter... and that means it's time for the stouts. Mmm. It's going to be cold and delicious in the coming months.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on and respect your beer.

Something altogether disturbing and shocking happened to me this weekend. I came to the horrible, reality-altering realization that, in my new apartment... I'm the cleanest one.

I don't mean this in terms of hygiene, mind you. My girlfriend and our friend are very clean women. Sometimes when they smile their teeth do that "ding!" thing. I meant that I'm the cleanest one in terms of doing the dishes, cleaning the cat litter, putting stuff away when I'm done with it and so on. The reason that this is such a mind-bending shock is that for the past thirty years I have been a Slob with a capital S, and yet this weekend I found myself spearheading an operation to straighten up my new apartment. If you're a chronic Slob like me, you realize what an affront to our nature this is.

To reward myself for a job well done I picked up From Mars To Sirius by Gojira. This album is a few years old, but if you haven't heard this progressive masterpiece of metal you're truly missing out on some high quality music.

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

New comic books were delayed a day thanks to Monday being Labor Day, which worked out well for me since I was unable to get to the comic shop on Wednesday. I picked up quite a selection of new issues and some stood out more than others.

I may be more of a DC fan than a Marvel fan, but I must admit that Marvel is putting out two of the funniest titles I've read in a long time. Deadpool (when written by the hilarious Daniel Way) is one of them, and the other is The Incredible Hercules. Greg Pak writes Hercules in a charmingly oafish way while smartly weaving classic mythology into the Marvel universe. Maybe I'm biased because I was a huge mythology nerd in middle school, but I've been reading this title for months and it's never failed to keep me thoroughly entertained.

Good lord, is this Dark Reign crap over yet? I try to avoid it as much as I can but Marvel gives me very little choice in the matter. As if I wasn't struggling to keep reading Thunderbolts already, this month I'm force-fed yet another showcase of how devious Norman Osborn is. I get it already. I got it months ago, but this crossover seems to show no sign of stopping so I guess if I want to stop reading about how devious Norman Osborn is in every freaking Marvel title I think I'll just have to give up Marvel altogether. Except for Deadpool and Hercules, anyway.

I can't say enough good things about Wednesday Comics. If you're not reading this wonderfully reminiscent series in its old-school format you are seriously missing out on some good old comic bookery.

Adventure Comics has been very enjoyable so far as it features the recently "resurrected" Superboy trying to get his life back on track. It's still too early to make a decent call on this series, but with two solid issues like this I just have a good feeling about this one.

The Warlord is a guilty pleasure of mine. Classic sword and sorcery adventure and everyone is running around in bikini armor and loincloths.

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

I almost didn't manage it with all the traveling I've been doing, but somehow I was able to produce a comic for you fine folks today. I hope you like it.

I'm very tired and don't have much energy left to write an even semi-entertaining news post, so I'll just pass for today and come back with something (hopefully) interesting to read down here tomorrow.

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

Some short news updates for today.

Still in New York dealing with an urgent family issue.

Will be heading back to headquarters in Boston later today.

Will be trying my best to get a comic drawn and uploaded for tomorrow despite all the family stuff and traveling I'll be doing, but I can't guarantee anything.

Much love and hugs to you, the greatest readers in the world.

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

Oopsie. Looks like I slipped up. There's a small continuity error in today's strip and I didn't notice it until well after it was scanned and uploaded. The hole in Luna's dress from when Thuen Gor stabbed her with the hukthak mysteriously vanishes in today's fourth panel. Oh well. Chalk it up with one of many mistakes I've made over the seven years this comic's been updating.

As for those vague family matters that need my attention, I'm leaving for New York today and should be returning to headquarters tomorrow. I don't anticipate any problems with the strip's updates, but I'll be sure to keep you folks posted if anything comes up.

I got some fantastic photographs of my friends from my weekend excursion to Maine and will be posting them for you fine folks to see once I get back from New York.

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