News

The site was down for a little while today, but things seem to be back up and running now. Yay!

Thanks to all of you who have been notifying me of charities and organizations dedicated to helping out in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. You folks are the best.

Other than that, enjoy your weekend!

I'm going to get serious here today.

The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico makes me sick. This is an environmental catastrophe and I'm sad to see it happening in my lifetime. My heart breaks every time I see a photograph of an animal coated in that oil.

I want to help. Some of you have e-mailed me and told me you want to help, too.

This week I'll be looking into various charities and organizations that are dedicated to helping those affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and next week I plan to dedicate every single dollar from the Donation Wallpaper to the organization of my choice, in addition to money out of my own pocket. If anyone has any suggestions for organizations or charities, please e-mail me and let me know.

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

Miranda's dimensional visitors are more fun for me to draw than they ought to be. Wheeheeheehee!

My girlfr... I'm sorry, my fiancée is on a new work schedule nowadays so every other weekend she has Friday off. This past Friday was one of those occasions so, naturally, I didn't go near my computer for three days (except to play video games with her).

Anyway, I just got caught up reading my e-mails yesterday and discovered that many of you want me to post the "full written review" of FACEBATH from last Friday's comic. Normally I wouldn't have a problem doing that, except that I didn't actually write a "full review." I made sure there was enough to get the point across in the important spots where text was visible. In the other spots there are FACEBATH-shaped holes like a cartoon character had just run through a wall. I can post that if it would amuse you folks.

I do live to amuse my readers, after all.

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

Just a couple of quick little news tidbits today.

- Happy birthday to my younger brother, John. He levels up today but doesn't get any new powers. Everyone knows those are for even-numbered levels only.

- This week is yet another "interlude" which addresses the ongoing mystery of The Beast. I had such a good time with Miranda's planar escapade last time that I wanted to do it again. Hope you folks enjoy this brief little ride.

- THE WAR IN HELL: Dominic Deegan Vol. 5 is on sale now!

Told you things were going to be brief today.

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

And so ends this storyline, which I have decided to name "B.Y.O.B." Fans of System of a Down will hopefully appreciate the reference to that incredible band. And, in the end, Gregory got to "be his own bard" after all.

Some people wrote e-mails to me asking what band Facebath sounds like or what sort of metal they're supposed to be playing. I'll leave that "officially" up to each individual's tastes and imagination, but I will go so far as to say that I used Pantera's classic metal album "Vulgar Display of Power" as inspiration for Facebath's quest to find their own sound, even their glamorous beginning. For those of you who didn't know this, Pantera actually started out as a glam rock band. I'm not kidding. Look it up. There's something altogether disturbing about seeing Phil Anselmo in full makeup and teased hair.

I hope you folks enjoyed this metallic tale of brutal music and Gregory's new purpose in life. It was a blast for me, and I hope you like what comes next.

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

Now on sale in the SEER'S CATALOG is the fifth volume of Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire.

Rock on.

A-KON has been a memorable convention for me over the last few years. I always meet tons of great readers, hang out with friendly fellow webcomickers and participate in panels that are as entertaining for me as they appear to be for those in attendance. Oh, and I always sell most, if not all of my merchandise. That's nice, too.

While there were countless memorable moments over the weekend, two stand out in my mind as of this writing.

A gentleman came up to my table and had the honest-to-goodness balls to say to my face, "Hey, I have to admit that I only read Dominic Deegan to make fun of it." I proceeded to invite him to visit my table again so we could talk about what he didn't like about the comic. What followed was a polite, civil discussion and critique of my comic. It was an overall pleasant experience.

A young lady of about nineteen or twenty (in a gorgeous Poison Ivy outfit) came up to my table and, in one sentence, made me feel absolutely awesome and incredibly old. She said, "I started reading Dominic Deegan when I was eleven years old. I basically grew up reading your comic." Wow.

THE WAR IN HELL will go up for sale tomorrow in the SEERS CATALOG. I made sure to send out all of the pre-orders before A-KON so if you haven't received your copy yet, rest assured that it's on the way.

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

I'd apologize for yet another Monday filler if these renditions of Facebath weren't so awesome.

The three lovely ladies who came to my rescue with three "visions" of these three rockers are, as listed above...

Jennie Breeden on bass guitar (and the bass guitarist).

Crystal Yates on drums.

Gina Biggs on lead guitar and vocals.

I am absolutely exhausted from A-KON and will write a proper news post about it once I've recovered.

Yep.
Szark's dad dropped the comic's first F-bomb.
I make no apologies and neither does he.

This comic (expletive included) was inspired by a story my own dad told me. As he tells it, he was in college and attended a concert in which Jerry Garcia was the headliner, but opening for them was a band called The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Nobody had really heard of them and so there were little expectations. Then they began to play. While they weren't a hard rock band their sound was big and had a similar "room shattering" effect that was depicted in Wednesday's strip. My father says that after their first song the audience was dead silent for a few moments... until one guy stood up and shouted, "I don't fucking believe it!" which triggered a huge response from the crowd.

And while I don't know any heavy metal accountants, I do know a heavy metal lawyer. It really is always the ones you least suspect.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on, and say hi to me at A-KON! That's where I am now!

The audio assault continues in today's comic. My favorite panel was drawing Pam desperately hanging on to Dex as she's nearly blown off her feet by the music. It's just such a ridiculous image that I had to indulge myself. Hee hee.

Today I fly down to Dallas for A-KON this weekend. The comic will update normally tomorrow so there's no need to fret over crummy filler doodles or pictures of my cats. Hee hee. "Fret."

Tomorrow's comic will likely upset a few people. Consider yourselves warned. Metal often comes at you without such warning.

I will be selling THE WAR IN HELL down at A-KON this weekend, but rest assured that if you were kind enough to pre-order it last month your orders are on their way, along with an exclusive print that previews an upcoming story!

That's all from me for now.
Rock on, and see you at A-KON!

There have been quite a few metal shows I've seen in the past few years that have left an impression on me similar to what the crowd is feeling in today's comic. Everything from the fiery introduction from an impassioned front man to those mind-shattering first chords that rip across the stage and through the performance space. Oh man. I live for moments like that in live music, and metal is the only genre that captures it for me on such a visceral level.

Here's hoping I conveyed that feeling well enough in today's comic.

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

And we're back.

I'd apologize for taking Memorial Day off yesterday, except that I'm really not very sorry at all. Whee! That was the first weekend Alyssa and I had (mostly) to ourselves in a long time and I enjoyed putting work aside for one day so I could spend some much-needed quality time with her... and her family... and my family... since we'll all be one big family at some point in the future. Whee!

Don't forget that I'll be down at A-KON this weekend! I'll be doing panels, selling merchandise and generally causing trouble down in Dallas like I do every year. I really hope some of you fine folks can make it down and say "hi" because I love to meet you.

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

The lovely, talented and scandalous Jennie Breeden surprised me with a visit yesterday.

It's amazing that I was able to get today's comic done at all.



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

My internet connection is working fine now, which comes as a great relief to me. After days of speaking to people at my ISP who were of no help at all, I finally spoke to two people on one day who were more than willing to help me. I even managed to convince one of them to check out the comic... so if you're reading right now, thanks for all your help! Life is better now! Whee!

Anyway.

In lieu of anything else interesting to say, here are some links to some more recommended metal. Most, if not all of these, are not work safe so exercise caution of you choose to click the links.

This stuff is pretty brutal.
You've been warned.

Meshuggah - "Bleed"
Behemoth - "Slaves Shall Serve"
Gojira - "To Sirius"
Finntroll - "Solsagan"
The Sword - "How Heavy This Axe"

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

In the midst of my excitement over getting engaged and the hair-pulling aggravation of my internet connection crapping out for no apparent reason, I forgot to mention something very important that happened last week.

As of last Friday, May 21st... Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire has been online for eight years!

I think it's appropriate that the comic on that day was Gregory's band rocking out in a celebratory revel of metal and more metal.

Thanks for making the last eight years the greatest of my life. You're all far better to me than I deserve and I wouldn't be where I am today without all of you. There isn't a day that goes by when I don't appreciate the fact that I have some of the best readers in the world.

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