News

It's been a long time since we've seen Jayden. The last time she made a significant appearance was THE SHADOW OF SIEGFRIED, and then only a brief (non-speaking) appearance during OH, SNAP. We've seen Milov a few times since then, so I think it'll be nice to catch up with her.

Yesterday I mentioned MOVEMBER. Upon seeing my news post, my best friend directed me to his brother's Movember fundraising page. I know whose moustache I'll be supporting.

Remember that the comic will not update tomorrow, as it's the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. and I will be celebrating it by stuffing my face full of delicious tofurkey. I'm also looking forward to grossing my father out as I eat whole handfuls of brussels sprouts in front of him. He hates them. I loves them. Nom nom.

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

I wish I could take credit for today's comic. A few weeks ago, a reader visited me at YOUMACON and asked me if the reason Mervin's moustache was so bad had anything to do with the metamorphosis. This wasn't the case originally, but the idea made me laugh, so I decided to go ahead with it. Truth be told, I'm not going to miss drawing that god-awful moustache. Bluh.

Tessa here is a very minor character who originally showed up in two versions of "The Confession," and again in THE SHADOW OF SIEGFRIED. I don't expect anyone to remember her, nor has she been a major player in past storylines, but I like to bring her out every so often when the Luanians are around. Plus, I enjoy drawing her crazy hair.

And finally, the appearance of Mervin's rejuvenated moustache coincides nicely with MOVEMBER, the moustache-growing fundraiser to raise awareness for men's health issues. I considered participating, but I look awful with just a moustache. But it's a good cause, so I'll simply donate before the end of the month.

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

If you don't want to flex your webcomic memory muscles, here's your linky reminder that Miranda and Donovan kept Karnak hidden during the Orc War.

This Thursday is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. and I'll be taking that day off, as I have every year for the past several years. There will be crummy filler doodle and/or a (hopefully) amusing picture of my cats engaged in some form of antics, whatever that may be. The comic will update on Friday normally.

I'm a big fan of Thanksgiving. It's my second favorite holiday, behind Halloween. It's entirely about the preparation and consumption of delicious food. And I stuff myself stupid on tofurkey (which, despite the jokes made about it, will fill you right up). I'm looking forward to my annual food coma.

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

A couple of notes about today's comic, the conclusion of THE SEARCH FOR CELESTO:

- Gregory did say he was going to do this to Celesto if he found him.

- Does that door look familiar? You think Luna will be kicking herself once she realizes how close she came to actually finding Celesto earlier?

- While it may be interpreted that Dominic is the reason that Celesto is bleeding so profusely, remember that he's been bleeding all day.

I do hope you folks liked this story. As always, feedback is welcome.

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

Dominic can be pretty compassionate to his enemies, all things considered... except when they lay a hand on Luna. No pun intended. Well, actually, pun very much intended.

I picked up new comic books yesterday. A lot of them. Here are my favorites and what I thought about them:

ATOMIC ROBO: VOLUME 6, #3: Another great issue of this fantastic comic. The perfect mix of quick, engaging dialogue and fast-paced action. The chalkboard may have been my favorite part of this entire volume so far.
BLUE BEETLE #3: The conclusion of Blue Beetle's "rebooted" origin story, which remains pretty close to his original origin story. Whatever. I love Jaime Reyes and Blue Beetle is a great superhero.
WONDER WOMAN #3: Another surprisingly great series of the DC reboots. Cliff Chiang's art is fantastic and the heavy tie-in with Greek mythology is making me a very happy comic book nerd. This is a solid read.
DEADPOOL #46: When written by Daniel Way, Deadpool is amazing. Forty-six issues of solid entertainment is a hell of a track record. His current duel with Evil Deadpool is funnier than it has any right to be.
THUNDERBOLTS #165: I love this team. I love this book. I love that the Thunderbolts went back in time to punch fire Nazis in the face. Pure, awesome comic bookery.

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

Does the last panel of today's comic remind you of that scene in John Carpenter's THE THING where one of the Things is cornered and it looks totally human except for its horribly malformed alien hand? Because it totally did for me after I drew it.

The recent prequel is give or take. The original is a must-see. Go watch it. Now.

Today is, once again, new comic book day. And while many of my regular titles are falling to the wayside thanks to reboots, changes and disappointing new direction there is one title that is (hopefully) coming out today that I remain very excited about. ATOMIC ROBO. I've sang this comic's praises for months, even years, so I think you fine folks may be tired of hearing me gush about it. I'll sum it up in one sentence.

ATOMIC ROBO. Go read it. Now.

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

Looks like Luna's late sister Amelia had been up to her old tricks. Driving people to suicide to gain money is a Travoria family trait that has missed Luna entirely. Good thing for Dominic, too.

Yesterday I said I'd talk about why I was going to rewrite and redraw the SNOWSONG/SUPERGREG story for an early 2012 collection.

During the arc of that story, I was going through a lot of drama. I'll spare you the details if you weren't around for it as it happened, but basically I moved across the country and tried to put my personal life back together. During the course of all this I fell into a pretty deep depression, and I thought working on Dominic Deegan would be my anchor. Looking back at how the SUPERGREG story turned out, I feel like I should've taken more time off.

I am not unhappy with the themes or decisions made in that storyline. When it's redone there will still be action books, skindex outfits, and Gregory will still say "ABRAKABOOM!" to turn into SuperGreg. What I am unhappy with is the pacing. Really fast-paced action followed by weeks of slow, boring exposition. I think I could do a lot better now, and will try to do so when I rework this comic book flavored tale.

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

This third and final part of The Search for Celesto is going to be a bit of recap/epilogue, but it's not going to take long. Probably no longer than this week. It's just to fit some pieces together from what happened to both Dominic and Luna, since both of their encounters with Celesto happened around the same time.

This week's comics will not all feature so many panels from previous comics, as I had done with the recap/epilogue of the SUPERGREG storyline.

Speaking of the Snowsong/SuperGreg story, it is the next one to be collected into book form. Unlike all the previous collections, however, I'm going to completely rewrite and redraw the entire story for release sometime in early 2012. Why am I doing this and what's going to change? I'll answer those questions tomorrow.

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

Yep. Mark your calendars. It's November 11, 2011. 11/11/11.
Or, if you live in Europe, 11/11/11.
Tee hee.

Alyssa and I are a lot like Dominic and Luna in today's comic. We don't function very well when we're apart, even if it's only been for a few days. Granted, we haven't faced planar horrors and unspeakable monsters in our absences (although I've seen things at a few conventions that have come close), but we're always super mushy when we're reunited. So much so, in fact, that anyone who saw us would probably get cavities.

Also, the term "nerd" is used today with the greatest affection, even if it hasn't been so endearing in the past. I, myself, wear the mantle of "nerd" with great pride.

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

Dominic probably should have said "I always have eyes for you," but then the reference wouldn't have worked.

I picked up a few comic books yesterday. Here are some of the ones I picked up and what I thought of them, in brief:

BATWOMAN #3: Even if the dialogue feels a little stiff, the artwork and panel layout of this series is stunning. I'm going to keep reading (and drooling over) this comic.
GREEN LANTERN #3: It's disarming how quickly Hal Jordan has turned into an unlikeable prick in this series, but it's refreshing to see Sinestro written so compellingly.
AVENGERS ORIGINS: VISION: I've always liked Vision, and this is a nice one-shot if you don't know his origin. Even though I already knew everything contained in this book, the artwork is great.

And finally, if you're up late enough you'll notice that the comic is updating one hour earlier now. That's because of daylight savings time. If I try to adjust the update time to account for it, all the news posts become one day off. It's annoying, and I could probably just get someone to fix the coding so that doesn't happen, but I'm just not that concerned. So until daylight savings returns, the comic will update one hour earlier.

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

I do enjoy writing the priests and healers associated with the Luanian Church. As devout and kind as they are, they can be as foul-mouthed and naughty as anyone.

More on the Luanians (and a certain priestess we haven't seen around here for awhile) coming soon.

Once again it's new comic book day, but I still find myself dropping more and more of my monthly titles. I remember, a few years ago, when the superhero genre had me absolutely entranced with incredible series like 52 and PLANET HULK. I remember driving like a madman to the comic shop just so I could see what happens next. There was an almost childlike wonder in me back then that current titles have yet to recapture.

Except for ATOMIC ROBO, but he's more of an action hero than a superhero.

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

Does today's comic look a little familiar to you? Unlike yesterday's super obscure reference to the sacred knights, Celesto was last seen in the previous story performing this very same mantra and justifying his actions to himself... though his struggle for control is more dramatic in today's comic.

Other than that it's a slow news day. With all my conventions for 2011 done and my wedding behind me I may have to struggle for interesting things to talk about down here in the news box.

But if you fine folks like me randomly rambling about craft beer, comic books, video games, politics, astronomy and heavy metal, then there I should have no problems finding things to talk about down here.

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

YOUMACON was amazing. From the staff to the attendees to everyone who came to say "hi" to me, this show was a real treat and the perfect way to end my 2011 convention year. As with every great show, I'm happy to be home after a busy weekend but I was very sad to leave.

Anyway, back to business.

Remember the Sacred Knights of the Luanian Church? No? Well, I don't blame you. They've only been mentioned, like, once or twice in the nine years this comic has been around, which may make this the most obscure reference in the comic's history (and they also won't be wearing Ky Kiske's outfit from Guilty Gear any more).

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

Got questions? What "truth" was Luna aiming to convey? Why did the warped battlecasters leave? Why was Celesto giving Luna a dirty look? Answers to these questions and more to come in the conclusion to this story next week!

In the meantime I'll be at YOUMACON this weekend, starting today! This is my first time at this convention so I'm looking to make it a memorable appearance. I'll be doing panels and selling merchandise so be sure to stop by and say "hi" at what is sure to be a really fun weekend!

There may be con photos and/or crummy filler doodles on Monday. I don't anticipate there being a(nother) delay in updates, but just in case I have travel problems or any other surprise the cosmos wants to throw my way I just wanted to give you fine folks a heads-up.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on and see you at YOUAMACON!

This was totally unintentional, but Battlecaster Stiles holding up his maimed arm to help Battlecaster Mervin with the shield kinda makes him look like Mega-Man. And if you weren't thinking that before, you're probably thinking it now.

I picked up a couple of comic books yesterday. Here's what I thought about some of them:

Animal Man #3: Are you reading this yet? Seriously. This is one of the most intriguing titles to come out of the DC Reboot. With its planescape-spanning story and mind-bending artwork this is one you should absolutely be reading. Do it. Do it now.
Red Lanterns #3: This should really be called "Red Lanterns: Ass Shots of Bleez."
Action Comics #3: This take on Superman's early days in Metropolis is interesting. The flashbacks to Krypton are really neat in this issue. Give it a look.
Stormwatch #3: Still undecided on this one, but I like Martian Manhunter.
Avengers Academy #21: Don't know how I feel about Speedball and Veil leaving last month, but I love Mettle so I'm going to stick around with this title for the time being.

Alyssa and I are very grateful to everyone who sent us congratulatory emails regarding our marriage. We just finished reading through all of them and you guys really warmed our hearts. Thank you all so much. Select pictures of the big day will be posted when we get them back from the photographer.

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