News

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.

It looked as though Stunt was about to have a repeat of his adventure across the Wild Edge, where he had to care for a wounded traveling companion, but the "stored spell medallion trick" has saved Jayden's life once before.

Thanks to everyone who sent me recommendations for new comic books and graphic novels. I've got a lot of non-superhero, non-big two (Marvel and DC Comics) titles to check out the next time I'm at my local comic book shop thanks to the suggestions sent by you fine folks!

And finally, I spent last night playing board games with my friends. I'm not much of a board gamer. I play casually and usually get my butt kicked, but I enjoy the time spent goofing around with my friends. However, last night we played a game that really struck a chord with me. It's called Small World and I highly recommend it. High fantasy fun and quick-to-learn rules made for a really great night of gaming. And, shockingly, I actually won! My lucky combination of seafaring orcs and swamp dwarves led to an unexpected victory. I highly recommend this game and will likely add it to my own (small) collection of board games.

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

Looks like Jayden wasn't kidding when she said that priests with white magic aren't invincible. Looks like Stunt may have a big problem on his hands, besides the giant desert insect monster. And he has it in more of a headlock than on his hands. And it looks like... nevermind. It's a cliffhanger for the weekend and I make no apologies. Mwa ha ha.

Thanks to everyone who sent me comic book recommendations yesterday! Friday is now my "catch up on the emails I fell behind on answering during the week" day, so with any luck you'll hear back from me before the end of the day today. Unless I fall behind again. Which I hope I don't. Because then I'd be falling back into old habits. Like cliffhangers for the weekends. Mwa ha ha.



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

Stunt hasn't had a misogynist rant in awhile (which is a good thing), and even though this one is pretty nasty I don't think it's the worst we've seen him deliver. I think Pamela got one of Stunt's worst verbal tirades during Two Thief Or Not Two Thief. He also doesn't look as happy about it as he used to (which is also a good thing).

Sometimes I get emails from folks coming to me for advice on writing. I came across this interesting piece the other day and figured I'd share its wisdom with you. It starts off a very blunt truth: People Are Going To Shit All Over You.

I think I need to take a break from superhero comic books. I only picked up a few yesterday and most of them left me a little apathetic. Even Thunderbolts and Wonder Woman, which were good reads! I'll likely finish up February's releases and then only buy indie comics in March. Any and all recommendations for quality books not released by Marvel or DC (or any of the companies they own) are welcome.


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

Stunt has nothing but bad experiences and memories of the Royal Knights. Besides the fact that the knights were indeed known to kill thieves on sight, he and Bumper were chased and caught by Lord Siegfried's "knight vision."

I've been linking a lot of old comics down here lately, even when it's unnecessary. I think with the comic's tenth anniversary coming up in May, I've begun to realize that I've made almost ten years worth of comic strips and I'm rather proud of that. I've said before that these links to older comics are a trip down memory lane for me, and I hope you folks enjoy the occasional stroll as well.

Speaking of comics, new comic books hit the shelves today and... man, there's only two reasons I really go to the comic book shop any more. One is to make sure my subscription to ATOMIC ROBO has arrived, and the other is to visit the awesome lady who works at my local shop. Superhero comics have me so down and disappointed lately. Even Ghost Rider, the first superhero comic I ever collected, is in the news for all the wrong reasons. There are plenty of great non-superhero comics and graphic novels out there, and I encourage you to support your local comic shop, but my superheroes just don't feel so "super" any more.

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

It looks like the Desert of Eldariat may indeed be the arid cousin of the Wild Edge Territories. Both lands seem to have weird underground worm-like ambush predators, only this one was less successful.

It may also look familiar to anyone who's familiar with a certain RPG bestiary. Just my little nod to a great game and the frightening-looking death worm.

I finally picked up Nightwish's new album, "Imaginaerum." I've liked Nightwish for a long time and this new album is a great offering. Some of the songs, like "Storytime," contain their signature sound and some are sweeping orchestral compositions. "Slow, Love, Slow," manages to successfully blend metal, classical and jazz influences (my three favorite musical genres) into one song. There are some ambitious ideas behind this album's concept, and the final song even feels like a movie's closing credits. I found "I Want My Tears Back" and "Song of Myself" to be just a little too corny for my taste (and I have a very high threshold for that sort of thing). Overall, this album has a lot going for it and I highly recommend it.


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

While it's not important to remember the one comic where the Wild Edge Territories' origin was briefly explained, here it is for your viewing convenience. Is the Desert of Eldariat the arid cousin of the Wild Edge? One way to find out.

Much like Stunt's appearance in Walk the Wild Edge, it's an interesting shift for me when he's in the spotlight. Normally it's Dominic and/or Luna driving the story forward, and their encounters are usually magical or set in the highly malleable psychoplanes. Stunt's adventures are more physical in nature, and it's almost unusual for me to have a character who can pull off death-defying stunts (no pun intended).


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

Other than ending this week with a bit of slapstick, there's not much news to report today. So here, for your quick perusal, are some news tidbits to bring you into the weekend.

- I've decided not to redo the Snowsong/Supergreg story for the next volume and will instead use the time to make an exclusive story for the book.

- The conclusion to Atomic Robo & The Ghost of Station X was amazing.

- HR 1981 and ACTA are two dangerous laws that threaten internet privacy. Here we go again.
(note: the same Congressman who authored the infamous SOPA is behind HR 1981)

Think that's about it. Hope to see you folks on Monday as Jayden and Stunt begin their trek across Eldariat. How long of a journey will it be? One way to find out.

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

These two really needed a laugh. Jayden has spent most of this storyline in prayer or silent regret. Stunt has spent most of this storyline baffled, ignorant of religious practices, or in silent regret. These two really needed a laugh.

That, and "Bobert T. God" gives me the chuckles (and no, it's not really the name the Scapilans gave their God, whose lightning-bolt attitude is borrowed from Zeus).

Throughout this comic's history I've made a conscious effort for every character to not refer to their God as "Him," or with any gender specification. It's been almost ten years and I don't think I've ever slipped up on the issue. The dialogue in today's comic hopefully reinforces that.

I also decided not to give the world's only deity (however a religion interprets Him/Her/Everything) a name, like the case in so many other works of fantasy. I did this because I never liked it when fantasy characters shouted things like "by the gods!" I thought a nice, visceral "oh my god!" is something easier for readers to relate to.

Now that I think about it, I could have established a pantheon and people could still have shouted "oh my god!" in preference to their favorite deity. Oh well.

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

I'm one of those people who needs breakfast. Some people, like my wife, are "breakfast optional" people who can wait until lunch. Me? I need breakfast. Like Stunt, I'm grouchy if I don't eat when I wake up, even in the face of religious philosophy and belief-powered enchantment (not that I've experienced any of the latter). The only exception to this is a convention weekend, where my body goes into a three day work mode where I realize food is going be randomly scrounged up at best.

New comic books hit the shelves today, and with them will (hopefully) be the latest ATOMIC ROBO! As for the other superhero titles I collect, we'll see which ones remain and which ones fall off my pull list. Perhaps I ought to focus more on some indy superhero titles. I've heard good things about Irredeemable and Incorruptible. While it's not a superhero book, I wish a new Orc Stain issue would finally come out. What a bizarre, disturbing and fascinating world that was.

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