News

In the face of Otakon preparation and other such things, I am very excited about one very nerdy thing today.

The first issue of The Blackest Night comes out today. I've been crossing my fingers for months, hoping that this will be good. Today I'm going to find out if the start of this story really captures me like I hope it's going to.

Other than that, there's not much to report... unless you folks want to check out some of the new photographs I've put on deviantArt. I think they're cool, but I'm biased.

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

I'm moving in to a new apartment in September with my girlfriend. The prospect of this is very exciting, so much so that I was willing to go through a process that I absolutely hate.

Moving.

I like being in new places. I hate the process of packing up my life, securing safe transportation for it across a major city, hoping it's all in one piece when it gets there, then taking it all out of the boxes again. The process of moving all my stuff from one locale to another makes me five kinds of aggravated.

So you can imagine my joy when we decided on an apartment that's downstairs from my current one. Minimal effort for moving! Just carrying stuff down a single flight of stairs! I don't even have to put my cats in carriers!

I thought I'd avoided one of the biggest annoyances of the moving process, but the last few weeks has reminded me of the other aspect of moving that makes me want to kill someone.

Realtors.

For the past few weeks strangers have been walking through my apartment and deciding whether they want to live there or not. I wouldn't be so opposed to this process if the last few realtors had actually bothered to call me before they showed up. One went so far as to come in, unannounced, while I was taking a shower.

No matter how easy moving appears to be, there's always something that sneaks up on you and makes you want to kill someone. Preferably a realtor.

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

I blame the Super Mario Bros. for today's strip. Thanks to them, whenever I see mushrooms in a fantasy daydream land they have to have spots on them. I was also recently at a restaurant where a vegetable of some kind had its skin shaved to resemble a Super Mario Bros. mushroom. Whether those are power-up or one-up mushrooms in Thuen Gor's daydream is a mystery even to me, but whatever their inspiration may be it only means the Shintula chief loves mushrooms as much as I do.

Otakon is this weekend! Oh lord! When the hell did this mammoth convention sneak up on me? As usual, you can find me in the Artist Alley with all my swag alongside some very cool friends of mine. I should have Seer's Digest in time for the convention and back up for sale around here shortly afterward.

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

Today's strip was a very personal one for me to write. It speaks of feelings rooted deep inside me that have affected my growth not only as a writer, but as a man. I've experienced many conflicts like the one in today's comic and, while I have not always emerged the victor, I have always emerged stronger. There's no denying what I was feeling after making this strip.

Because mushrooms are delicious and drawing so many of them over the past week has made me very, very hungry.

I'm not talking about the psychedelic / head-trip kind, either. I've never tried those so I have no idea what they're like. I'm talking about shiitake, portobello, or any other kind of delicious mushroom that you'd put on your pizza, in a salad, a stew, or whatever else you can imagine. Personally, I like a thick portobello mushroom sliced over a nice green salad and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar. Mmm!

Making the orcs herbivores was a fun decision for me because I've been a vegan for over a decade. While I'm not going to get into the ethics of why I became a vegan in the comic, I will spare no effort in celebrating all the delicious food I've been enjoying for the past ten years... and as much as I may love it in real life, I promise not to create "fantasy tofu."

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

As promised, July's Donation Wallpaper is up for your perusal and approval. Luna's "dark side" was a lot of fun to draw and I do hope you folks like it, too. As always, if you're having problems seeing the preview thumbnail just Refresh your browser and that should do the trick.

DC's new weekly comic came out yesterday, appropriately entitled Wednesday Comics. I cannot express how happy this "issue" made me. For those of you who don't know about this, every Wednesday DC is publishing a newspaper-style serial comic in the tradition of the newspaper dailies. The format is fantastic and every story, although only a page long, left me wanting more. I really hope this turns out to be as awesome as it's begun because it left me feeling like a kid again.

The newest Green Lantern left me even more excited for The Blackest Night. I am seriously crossing my fingers on this one.

Superman: World of New Krypton continues to surprise me in its showcase of how awesome Superman is even when he's surrounded by a population of Kryptonians who all have his powers, too. It's intriguing and really shows that it's not Superman's powers that make him the champion he truly is.

It's nice seeing Blue Beetle in his own story again, too, even if it is a "second feature" in the latest issue of Booster Gold, who always cracks me up.

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

I'm not a baseball fan, but I think Hukthak hit a home run today. If this were a comedic story Jacob's head would've certainly gone flying.

Anyway, there's not much to report today except for some further geekery. I downloaded a WiiWare game yesterday called BIT.TRIP CORE and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. The graphics couldn't be simpler, but I grew up playing an Atari 2600 so it just brings me back to my childhood. Add a catchy soundtrack and rhythm-based shooting and I'm addicted! If you've got a Wii and some points to spare for a download, give it a try. It's good, simple fun.

And if that wasn't enough to geek out about, new comic books come out today! Wednesday Comics! Whee!

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

The March Across Maltak has been going for a long time now. A very long time. When all is said and done this will probably be the longest story in the comic's archives. I know some of you really love these epic, world changing, high fantasy storylines and some of you absolutely hate them. Whether you're still excited about the fate of the orcs and their homeland or you've thrown up your hands in aggravation and given up on me altogether... all I know is that I'm still having a blast with this story, and in the end I can only speak for myself.

On a completely unrelated note, I have been unable to get this song out of my head for days. It's catchy, it's fun and oh so very metal.

On a related (and metallic) note, that very dark side of me is very excited about Behemoth's upcoming album, which promises to be more brutal than I can probably handle... but why, oh why did they have to go and name it "Evangelion?" Anyone who's spoken to me for more than ten seconds on the subject of anime knows my feelings on that. Guh.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on and stay metal.

I had a very interesting weekend. It was full of celebrations, both for my thirtieth birthday and the birth of the United States. It was full of surprises, like when my brother and my best friend surprised me for my birthday, and when my girlfriend and I traveled all the way out to Cape Cod only to have to turn around and come right back. It was full of hangovers that could slay a walrus, like when... well, nobody really needs to know about that.

Needless to say this had been one of the most memorable and happy weekends of my life and it was a hell of a way to kick off my thirties.

And thanks to all of you who continued to send me birthday wishes over the course of the weekend. That was very sweet of you and I am very grateful.

Now then. Back to business.

Otakon is nearly upon us. Holy crap. I ought to have Seer's Digest back in stock in time for that mammoth convention.

July's Donation Wallpaper will be up by the end of this week. I mean it this time.

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

You fine folks continue to find ways to impress, humble, and flatter me all at the same time. I extend my sincerest gratitude to those of you who wished me a "happy birthday!" yesterday. You folks show me more love and support than I deserve, and I cannot express my gratitude enough. Thank you.

Now then, onto some business that I think deserves some of your collective love, too.

Saturday is the last day to pre-register for ConnectiCon at the super cheap rate for all three days. Those of you who have been around here a while know that ConnectiCon is very close to my heart and I'm very involved with it, so I encourage you to attend it if you can. Not only am I all over the place at this convention, but so are an entire army of webcomics.

I met Brian Carroll at the very first ConnectiCon and we've been buddies ever since. He's got a business proposal for his new feature-length movie that, in my opinion, is well worth the money spent. I could tell you more about it here, but Brian explains it all so much better.

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

Happy birfday to me!
Happy birfday to me!
Happy birfday dear LORD I'M THIRTY!
Happy birfday to... me?

I warned you folks that there would be crummy filler doodle today, and I kept my promise.

Anyway, today's my thirtieth birthday and I'm still trying to cope with the fact that I am irrevocably an adult now. I think you can still get away with calling yourself things like a "young adult" in your twenties, but now I get a whole new definition: a thirtysomething. Yikes.

Still, I am a proud nerd and this sort of thing would bother me if I counted my age in years. I count my age in levels. So strike up the level-up theme song, maestro!

Today I'm a level 30 nerd.

And many mooooore.

As the two craziest conventions of my summer loom ever closer, Otakon and ConnectiCon, and more things seem to be falling into place concerning finances, my location in September and demand, it looks like I'll have SEER'S DIGEST back in stock earlier than I'd anticipated. I'll keep you folks posted on this as more things fall into place.

Other than that, I'd say today is a pretty slow news day. That's not always a bad thing, in my opinion. "No news is good news," as I always say.

Oh, I guess there is a piece of news I could share. I don't normally like getting political down here in the news area because I don't have a brain for politics. I never know where I stand on issues like the economy, health care, foreign policy, and other things like that because I usually find both sides to have valid arguments (to a degree). There is one issue where I firmly stand my ground because it is the easiest issue for me to rally behind. Gay Rights. It's not even a matter of politics! It's a matter of the heart, and I've always been the most comfortable defending love against legislation.

Anyway, I thought this article on CNN.com was really interesting, if for no other reason than I think the term "gayby boom" is hilarious.

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

If years of cartoons, comic books, anime, science fiction and fantasy have taught me anything, it's that when someone's hair changes color you know they really mean business. It's very dramatic, after all, and you all know how much of a drama queen I can be.

There probably will not be a strip up for this Thursday, July 2nd. There will probably be a crummy filler doodle because on that day I'm turning thirty and giving myself the day off. I did this last year for a much less momentous birthday and I'll probably do it again next year. So, y'know, go me for living this long.

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

And so I come upon the last weekend in June, one of two this month in which I have nowhere to be. These weekends seem to be getting rarer and rarer with the onset of more and more conventions. All this traveling has made me appreciate such do-nothing-days that much more. Granted, I rarely do nothing, though I am often tempted to be a lump.

Here are some of the things I like to do on my do-nothing-days:

- Practice my amateur photography.
- Sketch out some ideas for a new webcomic.
- Treat myself to a nice dinner and/or high-quality beer.
- Write out drafts of stories for other burgeoning projects.
- Play video, board and/or roleplaying games.
- Cuddle with my girlfriend.
- Try to keep my cats from killing each other.
- Try to keep my cats from killing me.

I don't know how many of those things I'll get to this weekend, but I know I'll be doing it leisurely.

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

EDIT: Looks like things still aren't updating on time around here. My apologies for the delayed updates. I've been uploading them well ahead of time but there still seems to be something wrong. I'll try and get this fixed ASAP.

Yesterday was one of those days where a crap-ton of new comic books all come out at once, and many of them were impressive. Since I tend to share my comic bookery with you fine folks, I will do so again today by telling you which of yesterday's buys were my favorites.

Green Lantern continues to rock my socks off. Larfleeze is almost endearingly creepy in his rabid greed, the Guardians of the Universe are dicks and the Blue Lanterns remain my favorite of the new Corps. I'm still waiting for a Ring to fly through my window and select me.

Nova is another space odyssey that continues to rock my cosmic socks off. I always liked Nova in the old days as New Warrior, and now that he's continuing to kick butt with cosmic-level powers... well, blue blazes, I say!

Guardians of the Galaxy is yet another space adventure that... oh, you get the idea. These guys always seems to be in way over their heads and the almost light-hearted mood they bring to interstellar, plane-warping threats is quite refreshing and entertaining as hell.

I was very reluctant to like the new Thunderbolts team. I was very attached to the previous incarnation and was mad to see them all brushed aside for this whole Dark Reign crossover which I'm already sick to death of. However, with Songbird making her reappearance, Ghost getting creepier by the issue and Ant Man being... Ant Man... I'm more interested in seeing where this goes. I still miss Speedba-- I mean, Penance.

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

This is just a test to see if things are updating properly. There were some technical problems which prevented the comic from updating on time and this is a test to see if everything's fixed.