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Whaaaat? Luna used to like her tusk mouth? And she knew an alterist that treated her with respect? So why did she come to hate the way she looked? And why did she have such an aversion to alterists? And why does she even still have tusks after "giving the curse back" to Maltak? Why, Mookie?! WHY?!

That's how I imagine someone reacting to today's comic. In my head it also involves someone falling to their knees in the rain and screaming their outrage to the heavens. It's all very dramatic. And silly.

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

Wow. The e-mails you folks sent me regarding Kaldonia being the comic's first transgender character were overwhelmingly positive and supportive. My thanks to all of you who continue to give me so much love and encouragement.

As far as her choice of name goes, I may or may not have had Louis Jourdan on my mind. There's no hidden metaphor or anything here. I just love his music.

If you're wondering who Elanora Roane is and her apparent effect on Luna, don't bother searching through the archives because she's never been mentioned before. We'll get to her this week.

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

Unless you count Stunt's very brief time as a woman in the Wild Edge, this makes Kaldonia the comic's first transgender character. I think she's neat and I hope you folks think so, too... but I imagine that someone, somewhere is going to offended by the whole thing. Ah well.

Other than that and my involvement with the Comic Creators Alliance donation drive there really isn't much to talk about here at the end of the week. Unless you count the "news" that the zodiac has been "rearranged." Ah well. I guess I'm a Gemini now.

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

So we did indeed get hit by a significant snowstorm in my area, and for awhile my internet was going off and on. It looked as though the comic would indeed be delayed for today. Thankfully the weather calmed down and stability was restored, so the comic was uploaded successfully!

I hope you enjoy Dominic's story of horrible visions of disturbing arcane surgery that scarred him for the rest of his life.

As crummy as the weather was here, though, I realize how lucky I was to only have a bad internet connection to complain about. The weather has been much worse in places like Brazil and Australia. Things are terrible there so please keep these people in your hearts.

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

As you can see on the right I've created a link to the Comic Creators Alliance donation drive so you fine folks can remain aware of this great cause without me having to repost the link every day for the next two weeks or so.

For more information about the CCA and their cause, either click the link above or read yesterday's news post. It sums things up much better than I could.

We're supposed to get pummeled by a snowstorm around here overnight. Even as I write this I can see the snow falling and starting to accumulate into an apocalypse death blizzard. That doesn't really affect the comic much at all, seeing as you don't get a "snow day" when you do a webcomic for a living. Unless the snow is so bad that it clogs up all the internet tubes. You never know.

Now that I think about it, "Apocalypse Death Blizzard" is a great name for a Facebath song. Metal.

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

I'll let Lora Innes, who spearheaded this amazing project and asked me to be a part of it, do the talking today.

*****

Tuesday, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. In honor of the event the Comic Creator’s Alliance, a group of over 100 comic book creators (both web and print!), volunteered their artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause. There are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide- more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. Unlike slavery in the 19th century, what is happening today is happening in secret. It won’t end until awareness is raised and people like you and me take a stand.

So here’s what we did: each creator contributed an original drawing of one of their own female characters, and combined them into a single image! This year's theme was "The Brady Bunch." There is so much going on in this image you can look at the wallpaper for a long time and still find something new!

All of the artists included in the drive are amazing and some of the fan favorites are: Scott Sava (The Dreamland Chronicles), Adam Hughes (Star Wars, Wonder Woman), Sarah Ellerton (Inverloch), Bryan Glass & Victor Santos (Mice Templar), Beau Smith (Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars), Billy Tucci (Shi), Crystal Yates (Earthsong), Lora Innes (The Dreamer), Thom Zahler (Love and Capes), and Alison Action (Bear Nuts).
View the full listing of contributors here.

Donate today to download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper. Or, this year you can buy a print! The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from January 11th – 24th. All proceeds will be split evenly between Love 146 and Gracehaven House, two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime.

To learn more about the problem, visit love146.org/slavery. (Note: contains adult themes and actual accounts of sex slavery.)

*****

I'm so honored to be a part of this great cause.
Rock on.

Some of you have written to me concerning comics that are either missing or simply show up as broken links when surfing through the Archive. This is a known issue and I'm working with my gracious hosts to figure out what the problem is.

I personally don't have any problems with anyone who gets plastic surgery or body modification. I actually respect the people who have the bravery to decide to change their bodies forever. So I say if you want to stretch your ears, split your tongue, get immense breast implants or a huge member, and it makes you happy (and you've given it a lot of thought), go for it.

But that doesn't change the fact that this all freaks Dominic out. Read on this week to find out why.

The most "modification" I ever got was my ear pierced in high school. I don't know if the crappy tattoo I got on my 21st birthday in Las Vegas counts, but I'd sure like to have it modified so it doesn't look so crummy anymore... as I am stuck with it forever.

Dominic would disapprove, I'm sure.

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

Alterism and necromancy are the two schools of magic that have been bad-mouthed and scorned the most by Dominic in the comic's history. While Dominic's dislike for necromancy was reconciled during Around The World, alterism has remained a sour subject for him.

I'm looking forward to next week's comics because, at last, alterism will be put into the spotlight and we'll get some insight as to why Dominic is so freaked out by this largely mysterious school of magic.

Don't expect much more alliterative slang for alterists, though.

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

Today's comic is an example of why I'm afraid to go to the doctor. I'm always afraid that I'm going to get one thing checked out and they'll come back with a million things that are wrong with me. This one time I went to the dentist because I had bad gingivitis. They said, "Not only do you have horrible gingivitis, but six cavities! And we have to yank your wisdom teeth out!"

We're going to be seeing a lot of this sort of thing in 2011. Sappy romance and sweet nothings, that is, not continuous examples of Dominic's physical frailty. So brace yourselves for a lot of Dominic and Luna being lovey-dovey and supportive and all that other sappy crap because I'm getting married this year and sappy crap is going to be saturating my very soul.

And with me planning my wedding this year, I wonder if Dominic and Luna will finally be getting around to their wedding?

I'm very mysterious, I know.

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

Sorry to start things off on a somber note so early into the new year, but Luna's condition wasn't just an arbitrary choice at the end of The March Across Maltak and, even though she didn't want to address it right away, the time has come to face it.

Besides, ending today's comic with a punchline would've been completely tasteless.

Speaking of tasteless comedy, I used my telescope to find Uranus last night!


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

And here we go. 2011 is underway and the first comic catches everyone up to everything that's been going on. This is how it's done when my family gets together over the holidays, it's how the Deegans do it, and I suspect there are a few other families out there who, to the casual eavesdropper, sound just like this at the dinner table, too.

There's a new Donation Wallpaper up for your approval this month. I haven't drawn Dominic and Luna just hugging in awhile and I needed some sap. So there you have it. I hope you fine folks like it.

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

The crummy filler doodle says it all.

I'm on my "winter break" this week and the comic returns next week, on the first Monday of the new year.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend, and I hope you all have an equally wonderful new year. You've blessed me with an amazing 2010 and I hope to continue to be worthy of your support for 2011.

That's a lot of hoping!


That's all from me for 2010!
Rock on, and see you next year!

No big surprises.

No cliffhangers.

No world-endangering crises.

Just bringing Dominic, Luna, Donovan and Spark back into the comic after almost a year's absence. It's nice to see them again, and having old friends show up on your doorstep with nothing but smiles is what this holiday weekend should be about.

So have a great weekend, everyone. I hope your holidays are filled with as much love, cheer and joy as you've given me this year. I cannot express my gratitude enough.

The comic resumes on Monday, January 3, 2011. I'll have some crummy filler up this Monday to remind you folks in case you're lost in the daze of a holiday hangover.

That's all from me for 2010.
Rock on!

Looking at Miranda's assortment of magic items, some of you may think I missed a golden opportunity for some alliterative names. The truth is I avoided them because alliteration is not really her territory. That's Spark's domain, and most everyone knows you don't step into a cat's territory without some consequences.

I picked up some choice comic books yesterday. Here's a quick rundown of my favorites.

- Nowadays I cringe at anything involving vampires, but Deadpool's encounter with them is funny as hell. I especially like his "all vampires are named Dracula" stance.

- I really wish Power Girl would stop almost remembering Max Lord. Otherwise it's a fun series that I highly recommend.

- Justice League: Generation Lost teeters back and forth from really funny to crushingly serious. Rocket Red cracks me up and I love Booster Gold. But I swear, if anything happens to Blue Beetle I'm boycotting DC Comics forever.

- I love Cliff Chiang drawing Zatanna.

- As silly and ridiculous as it was, the Larfleeze Christmas Special was really fun to read, complete with the cookie recipe, maze and free Orange Lantern ornament!

I hope you folks enjoyed the penultimate comic of 2010. Last one is tomorrow, and then it's a week off for me!

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

Anyone who's ever played a game of Dungeons & Dragons knows that the coolest magical items and spells are the ones that have a particular wizard's name attached to them. It places them above and beyond the countless other spellcasters of ages past and, in essence, immortalizes them. Bigby, Mordenkainen, Tenser, Leomund and Evard should ring a bell in the minds of my fellow RPG nerds.

I think "Miranda's Gem of Magical Empowerment" sounds nice. I think she likes the way it sounds, too.

I also took particular joy in drawing young Miranda. Happy little nerds make me immensely happy.

Also, thank you to the reader who sent me this wonderful time lapse video of the lunar eclipse, which I sadly missed due to cloud cover. I also want to thank the reader who clarified that all lunar eclipses happen during a full moon. It seems I still have a lot to learn.

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