News

Today's comic was fun for me to draw not only because I'm happy with how vivid the grass looks, but my favorite color is green and green makes me happy.

Lots of things I love are green!
Vegetables.
Orcs.
Dominic's sweater.
Grass.
Money (at least here in the United States. I also dig the multicolored currency of other countries).
Green Lantern.
Kermit the Frog.

Anyway, work continues on Volume Four and getting enough strips done to cover my travel times over the course of the next few weeks. Other than that, things are sailing pretty smoothly over here so there's not much to speak of.

And sometimes no news is good news.
That's all from me for now.
Rock on!

I find myself lacking anything of significant interest to say today, so I will instead fill up today's news post with random and utterly useless facts about me and stuff that I've done.

Amon Amarth's album, Twilight of the Thunder God, has provided much of the soundtrack for this current story as I've been working on it.

I once met the jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove. He was a dick.

My cat, Rascal, like to try and burrow face-first into my flesh when she decides to nap on me.

My other cat, Scamp, likes to watch me brush my teeth at night.

I once met the legendary jazz drummer Roy Haynes. He was awesome.

Every Tuesday night I go over to my girlfriend's apartment, eat four tofu hot dogs, watch two episodes of Family Guy and eat a quart of vegan ice cream. It is a magnificent ritual.

I once had a dream where I was a Jedi Knight who wielded a lightsaber and the Soul Reaver. It was the single nerdiest night of my life.

I once met the jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. She was hot.

There you have it. If any of you found any of that remotely interesting, I thank you for thinking the random facts of my life are worthy of your attention. If you didn't find any of that remotely interesting, I certainly don't blame you.

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

This weekend I dedicated myself to drawing six pages of bonus material for the upcoming fourth volume of Dominic Deegan. I honestly didn't know if I was going to be successful or not, but I ended up getting around 85% of the work completely done and I'm proud of myself for that. With any luck I should have it totally done by the middle of the week and that, in my book, isn't so bad.

My next couple of weekends will not be so free. I'm hitting the road again as I'll be attending Webcomics Weekend this weekend, Anime St. Louis the next weekend and ICON the very next weekend. Whoo. I'm all over the place. There may be another stop for me in April, but I'll let you folks know later on this week about that.

Man. I should get back to work if I'm going to get all my work done before I start my tour. I feel like a nerdy rock star.

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

I know many of you miss the weekend updates, but I must restate how much I enjoy:
1) Having my weekends off to work on other things.
2) Having my weekends off to spend time with my girlfriend.
3) Having my weekends off so I can do cliffhanger endings like this one! It's like the end to a real comic book, only you don't have to wait a whole month to see what happens next!

Speaking of weekends off, this weekend is going to be the first in a long while where I really do have those two wonderful days all to myself! I've been traveling the last few weekends for various reasons so I'm looking forward to kicking back, relaxing... and spending the whole time working on bonus material for Volume Four. Ah well.

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

I like to listen to music when I work. Different stories that are centered around different characters get different "soundtracks" when I'm writing and drawing the comic.

When I first started and most of the strips were exclusively about Dominic I would primarily listen to classical music. Brahms was, and is, my composer of choice when I need inspiration for our grumpy seer.

I listened to the blues when doing Two Thief Or Not Two Thief. Whenever there are orcs, devils or undead I blast the metal. Anything involving Dominic's mindscapes or planar adventures usually gets a decidedly techno / electronica soundtrack.

If you're the creative type I highly advise listening to music while you work, though I do not advise using headphones for the process if you can help it. There's something altogether ethereal about music filling a room as opposed to music being pumped directly into your ears.

As I'm writing this I'm listening to a band called Kataklysm, which I think is appropriate for a story taking place in a land that's been torn apart by a... well, you know.

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

Wednesday was my favorite day of the week for a long time. Wednesday is the day that new comic books hit the shops, and I would go there with child-like enthusiasm to see what happened next to my favorite superheroes in peril.

Lately, however, that feeling has been drifting away from me. Not because I enjoy comic books less, but because the companies in charge of putting them out have made them less fun to read.

Both Marvel and DC are guilty of this and it's driving me batty. They've both got hundreds of heroes with countless worlds to explore! With that kind of canvas, one would think the variety of stories to read would be nearly endless! But no. With hundreds of heroes and countless worlds and possibilities... they choose to tell ONE story that crosses over into all their other titles. Every so often that makes for a really memorable tale of epic scope! But every month?

There seems to be a trend to park every story at the corner of Dark Street and Gritty Avenue, too. I read comics because I want to be cheered up! The world is dark and gritty enough these days as it is!

When I was a kid, a comic book used to be a world you wanted to escape to, not from. I hope someone in charge of these things remembers that one day so I can be as enthusiastic as I used to be about Comic Book Day.

If you look to your right you'll notice that a few more conventions have been added to the list. I'm very happy to be able to confirm my return to PortCon Maine as well as ConnectiCon, two of my favorites to attend every year.

I can't promise I'll be defending my title of the Pretty Pretty Princess of Portland, but I can guarantee that I'll be hosting the ConnectiCon Cosplay Chess as well as their Webcomics Charity Auction, where I usually end up topless.

I should be able to tell you folks whether or not I'll be at Anime Boston again this year by the end of the week.

Man. I'm all over the place this year! And it's only March!
That's all from me for now.
Rock on!

It's a pretty slow news day for a Monday, but there is a thing or two worth mentioning.

In case you're having trouble viewing the preview of March's Donation Wallpaper just hit the Refresh button on your browser. That should update the thumbnail.

I've begun the process of getting THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS: Dominic Deegan Volume 4 ready for your approval. With any luck it should be ready for pre-order later this month and available by April. If things get complicated (like they tend to do whenever I'm putting these volumes together) I anticipate pushing both those dates back about a month. I'll keep you fine folks posted as these things develop.

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

The last time we saw Neilen he wasn't looking so well. Then he reappeared in Jacob's service just before the current story began.

Now he's back and he's brought a weekend cliffhanger with him! That jerk!

March's Donation Wallpaper is up for your approval. I only decided to do one this month featuring lots of characters instead of two featuring one or two apiece. I'll probably switch back-and-forth between the number of monthly wallpapers until I find a groove that I like.

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

If I were to say "another reason I'm excited about this storyline is..." again I would easily be guilty of hammering a point home too thoroughly. Perhaps to the point of hammering you folks in the head with it.

But another reason I'm excited about this storyline is that I finally get to talk about the Orc War in greater detail. The Orc War is one of those events that's been mentioned in passing through the course of the comic and now I get the opportunity to shine the proverbial spotlight upon it. What caused it, what Maltak was like before it, what some of the great and tragic battles were, and what secrets lay buried beneath the bloodied, blasted earth in the aftermath. As always, I can only hope you folks enjoy the revelations as much as I enjoy revealing them.

March's Donation Wallpaper ought to be up later today, or tomorrow at the very latest.

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

In a weird and probably twisted way I am proud of the racial slurs I've come up with for orcs. I'm not a fan of racial slurs in general, far from it, but every time I write "piggart" and most recently "snout-sucker" it makes me cringe a little... which I think is the point of a racial slur. So, I guess I'm patting myself on the back for a job disturbingly well done.

I know I mentioned "cutting down on cuts to other characters" the other day, but I don't consider a flashback a cut to another character. It's the same guy, after all, only we're seeing Chief Thuen Gor much youn-gor. *rimshot*

Other than that, Webcomics Weekend is approaching and I'm still excited to be a part of it. Probably what I'm most excited about is that it's not really a convention, but more of a get-together where webcomickers and fans of our genre can come together, hang out, talk shop, and generally goof around. I'll just be chilling out doing all of the aforementioned things, so be sure to stop by!

One of the reasons I'm so excited about The March Across Maltak is that I'm finally getting to showcase all the orc clans. I thought up the Alheera, the Bikta, the Doma, the Shintula and the Rhazgala years ago, just after Dominic Deegan went online... but they were not originally orc clans.

What follows is a short story of epic nerdism. Read on at your own risk.

My friends had been creating their own fantasy setting for our weekly Dungeons & Dragons game and asked me to develop some ideas for one area of the world. It was an area of expansive plains so I thought up a number of tribes known as the Kelsheen, who were horse-riding nomads of the vast Northern Plains. My friends' world was very centered around humans, so these horse nomads were all humans. The pious Bikta. The warlike Doma. The shadowy Shintula. The flashy Rhazgala. The knowledgeable Alheera. I was so excited about my Kelsheen and ready to play them in our game.

For one reason or another the game never happened and my Kelsheen seemed doomed to be forgotten. Then, for one reason or another, I acquired the greatest readers in the world (that would be you fine folks) and I saw my chance. I've always loved the ideas of traditional fantasy "monsters" as heroes, so I made them all orcs and used the name "Kelsheen" as their first and greatest clan.

Now, after all these years, I finally get to put the spotlight onto that idea I spawned for a roleplaying game... and I'm still nerding out over it.

March's Donation Wallpaper will be up for your approval before the end of the week.

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

More than a few of you wonderful folks have informed me that, while you're enjoying The March Across Maltak so far, you've found it a little difficult to follow my somewhat rapid shifts between the major players in this arc... from Dominic and Luna's expedition, to Hukthak and Jacob, to Suyan and the Bikta, to Chief Thuen Gor of the Shintula, to Stonewater and his band of... yeah. You get the idea.

So, in an effort to cut down on the apparent confusion I'm going to cut down on the cuts. With any luck that'll streamline things now that everyone is more-or-less familiar with the players for this tale.

Of course, I may have broken my own rule with the last two panels of today's strip, but starting tomorrow I swear I'll cut down on the cuts.

That's all from me for now.
Cut.

Things are beginning to move forward in this latest epic tale, and while many of the elements of this story are still cryptic they're at least beginning to weave together. Can you tell I'm excited about this? I really am. Then again, I don't know how nerdy it is to be geeking out over your own story. No, I do know. It's amazingly nerdy.

Other than that, it was a fun week of strips for me to present and I hope you folks enjoyed them, too. Where things will go next week is anyone's guess... except mine, I suppose. I know exactly where the story is going next week.

Anyway, have a great weekend, folks! Thanks for reading, as usual, and for being the greatest readers in the world.

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

Here are some brief thoughts on some of the comic books I picked up yesterday.

Green Lantern was fantastic and, even with their particularly crippling weakness, I'd still sign up to be a Blue Lantern.

Blue Beetle's final issue wasn't the depressing end to a book I was afraid it was going to be. At least he'll be hanging out with the Teen Titans, where his friendship with Kid Devil is entertaining as hell.

Nova remains awesome. Period.

Skaar, Son of Hulk is an effective tale of a barbarian on a savage world. Unfortunately I also find him to be an unlikeable jackass, so I don't know if I'll be following this series much longer.

Reign In Hell was confusing, anti-climactic and difficult to care about. I felt like I was reading eight issues of a writer yelling at the cast of characters he chose to work with.

Superman is still my hero. Period.

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