News

If you stayed up all night to see the comic update and it came an hour later than you expected it to, that's because daylight savings time is upon us again. Instead of 2am Eastern Standard Time, the comic will update at 3am Eastern Standard Time for the duration of daylight savings. It's a boring story, but we go through this update time change every year. So we're back to 3am updates for awhile.

Don't forget that I'll be speaking at VERICON this Saturday on their webcomics panel. I always have a nice time at Vericon and really enjoy doing panels for them whenever they ask me to return. Be sure to stop by and say "hi!" this weekend!

I meant to be so productive this past weekend... get work done on the next book collection, further tweak the first drafts of a superheroic side project, reply to my growing backlog of unanswered emails... but I readily confess that Mass Effect 3 took up most of my weekend. But I'm not the only one to blame. My poor wife was sick all weekend and insisted on watching the "Mass Effect Movie," which is her watching me play the single-player campaign and telling me how to play.
"Medi-gel! Use the medi-gel!"
"You better choose the romance option."
"Stop scanning planets and help the quarians already!"

Ah, geeks in love.

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

What's that in the sky?
Is it a bird?
Is it a (psycho)plane?
No! It's a cliffhanger!

Don't forget that I'll be speaking at VERICON next Saturday on their webcomics panel! It'll be my first convention of 2012 and I look forward to seeing you all again face-to-face!

By now I'm sure everyone has seen the KONY 2012 video, which has not only gone super-hyper-viral but received more than a bit of backlash. I think this BBC article sums up the whole situation nicely, from the intentions of the filmmakers to the positive and negative reactions it's received.

In less controversial movie news, I watched Mary and Max last night. It's an oddly humorous, somewhat disturbing, and ultimately touching animated film that I highly recommend.

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

Stunt may have provided Jayden with a revelation of his own today, albeit delivered not quite as gently as hers last week. Then again, no one has ever accused Stunt of being a healer of any kind.

And it's true. In the past, Luna has usually kicked Stunt's ass.

It's been two weeks now without my weekly fix of superhero comic books, and it feels both strangely liberating and sad. On the one hand, I'm happy to not be spending money on stories I don't enjoy any more. On the other hand, I miss my fix of over-the-top action adventure in spandex and capes. Sometimes in space. I'll likely be combing the shelves of my local comic book shop in search of an alternative. Hopefully it will include punching things in space.


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

Jayden's full explanation of her affair was explained at length during "The Shadow of Siegfried," and it took two comics to do it. I've been trying to keep current reminders of past events in this story, but setting up Jayden's explanation would have made this another twelve-panel update. So provided for your convenience are those two comics as a reminder.

And Stunt has never, EVER liked Siegfried, or any of the Royal Knights. I'm pretty sure that was made clear during this story, but these linky reminders are fun for me.

I picked up Mass Effect 3 yesterday. I haven't gotten too far into it, but the dizzying scale of the Reaper invasion has me intimidated and I couldn't be happier. It was also neat to be recognized at the GameStop where I picked up my copy. It was a great start to saving the galaxy!

Finally, set aside 30 minutes of your time and watch this.

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

As you can see, we've got yet another comic-and-a-half sized update for you fine folks today. It didn't feel right to end the comic on Jayden's unanswered question (and I felt it came across as a criticism of faith in general), so an extra four panels did the trick. I do hope you folks like the extra serving of comic.

We're going back a long way on this one, but a very strong white mage with a lot of faith in Jayden helped restore her magic at the conclusion of Visions of Doom.

I've caught up with my emails, so feel free to send them my way and I'll do my best to reply as fast as I... oh, who am I kidding? With Mass Effect 3 hitting the shelves today it's likely I'm going to fall behind all over again. I have a galaxy to save and an awkward quarian to romance!


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

The spotlight has been on Stunt for the past week and a half or so, and now it seems to be Jayden's turn. She was originally going to get right into her own story, but I felt it was important to return the "moment" that she so generously gave Stunt. Does this slow the pace down a little? Perhaps, but I feel these quieter moments are just as important as a revelatory backstory.

Over the weekend we received the unfortunate news that Ralph McQuarrie, the artist responsible for some of the most iconic imagery in Star Wars, had passed away. We owe some of the most memorable images of science fiction adventure to this man's visionary work, and his contributions to the world of art and film should never be forgotten. Do yourself a favor and follow the link to view some of his paintings. You won't regret it.

Mass Effect 3 comes out tomorrow. Once again, I apologize if there's no comic for Wednesday or any other day this week... but I'll be damned if I have to wait any longer to play a Quarian Infiltrator in multiplayer!
(For the record, I'm totally kidding. The comic will update normally this week.)

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

Some quick little news bits before we head into the weekend:

- I've begun playing League of Legends again now that they updated the Co-op vs. AI Mode from "insultingly easy" to "a casual, fun challenge." I don't really queue for PvP games any more. I found them (and most of the player base) unforgiving and too competitive to be any fun. With the new Co-op Mode you can practice your Champions, experiment with builds and play style, and nobody yells at you. Check it out via a referral from my account, or start up again if you've put the game down. I highly recommend it, even if you're a casual player like me.

- In two weeks I'll be speaking at the Saturday webcomics panel at VERICON. They ask me back about every other year and it's always a pleasure to be speaking at Harvard alongside the other webcomic guests. Come by and say "hi" if you're in the area!

- Mass Effect 3 comes out on Tuesday. I apologize ahead of time if there's no comic on Wednesday... or any other day next week.

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

For all Stunt's self-reflection and revelation over the past week, it looks like he's still got some work to do. At least he's apologizing for it. Again. And again.

It's March! That means it's time for my convention season to officially get started! Whoo-hoo! I've been away from conventions since November of 2011 and I'm eager to get back into the swing of things. Check the convention schedule down at the bottom right of the page to see where I'll be throughout 2012! New shows will be added as my attendance is confirmed, so keep a close eye on where to find me this year!

Thank you folks for indulging me yesterday on the leap year four month sorta-kinda-anniversary of my wedding. It was a fun little indulgence and it made my wife happy. Whoo-hoo!


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

Four months ago today I married the love of my life. It was a Halloween-themed wedding (a "Hallowedding," if you will) and it was the greatest day of our lives. She was a fairy princess. I was a monster in a poor excuse for a suit. I totally threw up the metal horns when we were pronounced man and wife.



I won't do this on the 29th of every month, but since today is a leap year and these are rare occasions, I wanted to mark the occasion with the day that changed my life four months ago.

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

In case you forgot it, Stunt's recalling the conclusion of his brawl with Urban Eddie in Barthis. It didn't turn out so well for Stunt, but it was even worse for Eddie.

An unexpectedly eventful day yesterday kept me once again from catching up on my backlog of emails. I will not fall into old habits. I will keep my resolution and answer your emails. I hope. Yeesh.

I'm excited that tomorrow is a leap year. It may seem like an odd thing to get excited about, but I was married on the 29th of October in 2011 and that will make this (and every other) leap year a rare mini-anniversary day for us. I'll likely celebrate by posting one of our sappy wedding photos down here in the news box, complete with some cavity-inducing gushing about my incredible wife. Consider yourselves warned.

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

Stunt's past misogyny has been primarily threats and insults, albeit very nasty ones. At least he's wise enough to know that the "at least I didn't kill anyone" argument isn't all that redeeming by itself. He was still really mean and words can really hurt.

I'm still playing catch-up with my emails. My apologies if you haven't heard back from me yet. I'm working on it.

For those who may have missed it over the weekend, there was a beautiful grouping of celestial bodies in the early evening sky. The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter were all shining brightly in a triple conjunction. I did my best to capture the event.



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

Just as we had a wind-up to Stunt's confession and tragic story at the beginning of the week, I felt that a cool-down was needed at the end of the week. A cliffhanger would have been very easy to set up, but after what we learned a couple of days ago I felt that it would have been too much.

So I hope you enjoy this somewhat tender moment between Stunt and Jayden as we head into the weekend.

And for those who may have forgotten (although this was pretty recent), this is what Stunt is remembering.

You fine folks have sent me a lot of emails over the last few days. I should catch up to answering them by today or tomorrow.

Other than that, there's little to report for today. As I always say, "no news is good news."


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

Stunt's confession continues today. Some of you enjoyed yesterday's twelve-panel reveal of the past that haunts him, while others voiced your displeasure with him and called for his blood. Some of you called for my blood for writing it at all. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and as always I encourage you to share them with me, but keep in mind that this story is not over yet. However, if you're too pleased/surprised/upset/outraged to wait until this tale's conclusion, drop me a line. I'll do my best to reply as promptly as I can manage.

Speaking of which, I've been pretty good about keeping up with my emails since I made my resolution for 2012. As of right now I'm a little behind on replies, but I usually catch up by Friday. I read all my emails as I get them, just to keep tabs on what people think of the comic so far. Or if folks are calling for my blood.

In other news, I watched Troll Hunter with Alyssa last night. I have a guilty pleasure for "found footage" style monster movies, and Troll Hunter was a blast. The beautiful, spanning shots of Norway's breathtaking landscape, the designs of the trolls themselves, their classifications, the ambiguous ending; everything about this film was very entertaining.

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

It's another extra-sized comic today, as you can see, but as this is an important part of this story I felt the bonus panels were warranted. Stunt's been having some trouble with this, and it's a doozy of a confession.

I wanted to keep going. There's more to his story and I wanted to get the whole thing out as quickly as possible, but this would've turned into a double or even double-and-a-half sized comic. I think this is enough tragedy for one day as it is. But who knows? Maybe tomorrow's update will also be twelve panels long if I think it's warranted.

In other news tidbits:

- I'm looking forward to picking up some new indie comics today. Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions!

- Alyssa and I just started watching Downton Abbey. We're only a couple of episodes into the first season, but... man! Why did I wait so long to get into this? It's amazing!

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

No comparisons to old comics in today's strip. Just a little joke after a few days of drama and dune buggy action. But feel free to look back through the archive anyway. There's lots of stuff to look at.

New comic books hit the shelves tomorrow. I've got a bunch of suggestions for new titles thanks to you fine folks, so I'll be sure to keep an eye out for new reading material. I'm going to finish up February with all my current superhero titles, but come March I'll be taking a break from the mostly disappointing landscape of superhero books from the big two.

And maybe, just maybe, a new issue of Orc Stain will finally come out. At some point. Possibly. Ah, indie comics.

Oh, and I just remembered that Mass Effect 3 comes out in two weeks. If I vanish for, like, a few months, you'll know what's happened to me. Blame the Reapers.

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