News

If you're confused as to what the Lost Treasure of Luana is and what it can do, as well as who Masutel is, don't worry. Stunt is just as lost in this conversation and he'll be demanding answers as soon as he gets over being called an "insignificant criminal."

And for the record, Rilian is referring to Urban Eddie and Jaxon, not Stunt's mother and Lizzy Sarkhas, as the "other criminals."

I'm still a sucker for tournaments (I played too many fighting games in the 90s), so I think it's neat that I made it to Round 2 of the ComicMix March Madness Webcomics Tournament! Thanks for all your votes in Round 1! Now let's do it again in Round 2!

In more metal news, the new Meshuggah album "Koloss" leaked and is all over the internet. From what little I've listened to, it's a fucking monster and I will most certainly be buying it when it's released in the US next week. Meshuggah is a technically masterful powerhouse of a metal band and, while my brain goes into seizures trying to figure out what time signatures they're playing in, I highly enjoy them.
(pardon my language, but when metal is this heavy and awesome an uncensored F-bomb is the only adjective that will do)

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

So technically it was Miranda who first told Jayden of Rilian, but it was Luna who had more recent and personal dealings with him. I imagine she didn't have too many nice things to say after he left her to die.

Though it's been quite awhile since she's done it, Jayden has blasted zombies in the past with her white magic.

The site was down for awhile this weekend, but as you can see things are (hopefully) running smoothly here once more. If for some reason the site is down for an extended period of time, the best way to stay informed is to check either my Twitter feed or ZeHosting's Twitter feed. Besides being an admitted Twitter junkie, I try to keep folks as in-the-loop as possible regarding site issues when they arise.

Thanks to everyone who came to see me, Chris and Aaron on the webcomics panel at VERICON this past Saturday! I had a blast and I hope they invite me back next year.

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

He's baaaaaack. Again.
Last year ended and this year began with an appearance from Rilian. And he still doesn't look happy to see, well, anyone.

This was brought to my attention yesterday, and I think it's neat. ComicMix is holding a "March Madness" tournament of webcomics and Dominic Deegan is among the 128 "competing" comics that you can vote for! I know it's silly, but I'm a sucker for tournaments. Whenever I see a tournament bracket I either hear the Mortal Kombat theme or remember the Karate Kid tournament montage (is that Stunt fighting for Cobra Kai?).

It's been a week of interesting dates being turned into weird "holidays." March 14th was Pi Day and I heard a rumor that today, March 16th, was Stone Cold Steve Austin Day. 3.14 and 3:16. I don't know if the second one is true, but professional wrestling is a not-so-guilty pleasure of mine, so I'm hoping it is.

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

Jayden did mention that the Desert of Eldariat was an ancient nation before it became a wasteland inhabited by magical monsters. Looks like whatever flew over their heads unearthed some of those ruins. And just who, or what, is living there?

There was a bit of webcomics news about an android app called DailyComix that was hijacking other webcomics' RSS feeds to make money. Dominic Deegan wasn't on the list of comics being "offered" (not that I'm complaining) and that's probably because there is no RSS for this comic. People have been asking me to implement one for years but I've never felt it was an urgent issue. I understand that it would be convenient for folks to be reminded that the comic has updated, but it's been updating at around the same time every weekday for the past decade. I figured after nearly ten years people would remember that. But who knows? Maybe this is the kick-in-the-pants I needed to actually get one this year. Maybe. I dunno. It still doesn't feel like an urgent issue to me.

Also, if you see anyone offering some kind of RSS feed for Dominic Deegan, I've got nothing to do with it. There is no official RSS for this comic. Yet. Maybe.

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

I finally finished Mass Effect 3 yesterday. I was very invested in the excellent story (as I have been for the past two installments) and powered my way through to the end. I won't talk about the controversial ending because I don't want to give away any spoilers, and I'm still processing what I really thought about it. But I imagine what I would have to say about the ending has likely already been said by countless gaming articles either praising it, condemning it, or both.

But I will list what I loved about Mass Effect 3 without giving anything away:
- The last level leading up to the final confrontation was intense.
- The Shepard and Tali romance is the sweetest one in the game.
- "I am the very model of a scientist salarian."
- A beautiful soundtrack.
- "Eve." What a woman.
- The quarian missions.
- Everyone I've spoken to who imported save files from the previous games has had a remarkably different story to follow.

I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject as time goes on (and downloadable content becomes available) but, as I usually say, that's all from me for now.

Hackett out.

No news to report in any great length today, so I'll keep things short.

- Still working on my first Mass Effect 3 playthrough. I should have been done by now, but I've been hijacked by some friends into the admittedly addictive multiplayer mode. I should complete it sometime this week.

- I'll be speaking at VERICON this Saturday at their webcomics panel! Be sure to stop by and check it out!

- Slowly catching up (again) on my backlog of unanswered emails. Thanks for all your patience!

- Oblivion Folder made a "guest appearance" over at NINE SHOT SONATA. Rawk.


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

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.