News

In the last two weeks a lot of comic books came out, and since I wasn't in town to pick up Wednesday's new arrivals last week I had quite a stack of books waiting for me yesterday. There were some great titles that came out, including Green Lantern, Deadpool, Nova, Batman & Robin, but I don't want to talk about any of those today. There are two things that struck me as I read two weeks worth of comics, and they're probably things I've mentioned before, but I feel like talking about them again.

First of all, I feel like Marvel should just name their next big event "You Have No Choice But To Read This." I have no interest whatsoever in Dark Reign and I've never liked Norman Osborn, not even in that "I love to hate him" sort of way. I've just never liked him. I cannot, repeat, I cannot pick up a Marvel comic book without his face in any given issue. I feel like I'm being bashed over the head. I know I'm guilty of that more often than not in my own comic, but I'm not presiding over an entire comic book universe populated by a team of writers and parallel dimensions and an enormous cast of superheroes where, with all these possibilities, one story is told. Would I feel differently if this was all centered around a villain I actually loved to hate? I don't know.

Second of all, I was irritated by the preview for the upcoming Cry For Justice, where Green Lantern (whom I normally adore) makes a speech before the Justice League and calls for a change. It's not that I'm opposed to change in my comic books, it's the argument that was presented. It was something along the lines of "being 'good' and 'true' doesn't scare the villains back any more. These aren't the villains of yesterday, and we have to be meaner, too," etc. Call me old fashioned, call me a hopeless idealist and escapist, but I'm just so sick and tired of that kind of argument being presented before colorfully costumed superheroes. The world is bleak and dark and wearing a cape and costume isn't a realistic way of dealing with bad guys. I get that. I do. I read the news every day. I guess whenever the real world starts leaking its way into the ideals of my colorfully costumed superheroes I turn into a grumpy old nerd.

If I ever publish a superhero comic book you can rest assured the heroes will be irritatingly idealistic and you'll have a choice as to what stories you'll want to read about.

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

I should have all the pictures from Anime Boston and A-KON posted by the end of this week at the latest. I didn't have room for my camera last weekend so I was relying on some very generous friends of mine for pictures. Once they get them all to me I'll post them up for your viewing enjoyment.

Other than that I don't really have much else to say today. Oh, I missed getting comic books last week thanks to Memorial Day delaying their delivery to the shops, so with any luck I'll have a double-dose of comic bookery today. Oh, and I hear The Sims 3 is awesome so I may treat myself to that. Oh, and I'm very close to confirming my attendance at another major summer convention. Oh, and I may have news on new t-shirt designs in a couple of days.

I guess I had a little more to say than I thought.

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

After the madness of A-KON and a long journey home, I spent most of yesterday in a post-convention slump. Sometimes I have "lump days," where I just decompress from being surrounded by people for three straight days and become a lump. Granted, I was surrounded by wonderful people, generous readers and old friends all weekend, but three days of being open and friendly for at least ten straight hours at a time can be very draining. Hence, I take a solitary day to recollect myself.

The drawback of these "lump days" is that I get only the minimal amount of work done. As such, it will probably be tomorrow or the day after when I finally get all my pictures together from both Anime Boston and A-KON to show off to you fine folks. It's been a crazy two weeks and I want to share some of the insanity.

Along with all the links provided yesterday, I want to give my love to some other folks who joined me at A-KON and made it a very memorable weekend...
Juno, we never had a chance for a good scandal.
Dave, you're as big a crybaby as I am at the movies.
Shawn, you're a much harder worker than Dave is.
Matt, darling, I eagerly await another Ikkicon reunion.

June's Donation Wallpaper will be updated as soon as possible, as well as more upcoming conventions. My summer tour continues!

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

My flight back from A-KON was delayed three hours and I arrived back at Mookie Headquarters well after one o'clock in the morning. Needless to say I am numb from the neck up and can barely manage the strength to write even this meager news update.

I will, however, provide links to those kind and talented friends of mine who contributed their own visions of Luna to fill in my lack of a comic for today. I do hope you will show some love and help me thank, in order of appearance after the original Luna:

Hawk
PsyGuy
Riot
Micha
Jennie Breeden
Xero Reynolds
J.E. Seams
Heidi
Jen Brazas
Brion Foulke

I am humbled and floored by their willingness to help me entertain you fine folks with some Monday filler. I'll have a more coherent news update when I recover from the insanity that was A-KON.

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

If you're reading this then I hopefully arrived in Dallas for A-KON yesterday safe and sound. With any luck those of you in the area will be able to find me in the massive Artist's Alley today and all will be (relatively) well.

That's... really all I got. I mean, I typed up this news post before I left, so with any luck everything's going smoothly and I'll be back with an update on Monday. If, for any reason, there's filler instead of a comic next week, I apologize.

That's all from me for now.
Have a nice weekend!

Stuff happening in the dark is comedy gold, in my opinion. Plus, whenever I decide to use this gag it makes for a very easy comic, which is good because I had to produce enough strips to cover my absence for A-KON, which I am leaving for today. The rest of the week is covered for updates, but there is a chance that Monday will have some kind of filler instead of an update. We'll see how my flights go.

If you're going to be at A-KON this weekend you can find me in the Artist's Alley, selling merchandise for as long as supplies last. Last year I sold everything I brought with me, so we'll see if this year will be a repeat of that incredible occurrence.

I'll also be doing my notorious Writing Unique Heroes & Memorable Villains twice this weekend. I've never done this before so we'll see how my energy levels match up with the apparent demand to see this panel I do. Keep your fingers crossed.

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

I scored major boyfriend points yesterday, and since I have little else of interest to say today I will share this little tale with you fine folks.

My girlfriend's iPod broke a few months ago. I was going to get her a new one for her birthday but money was a little tight at the time. Then, as luck would have it, I got one of those membership rewards catalogs you get from putting a crap-ton of money on your credit card (and paying it back, obviously). Anyway, over the years I'd accumulated quite a number of points after spending quite a bit of money on getting quite a number of books printed. I flipped through the catalog and found it. A pink iPod Nano. Really, really pink. It was perfect.

I must confess it was a little difficult giving up all those points after eyeballing all of the toys I could've gotten for myself, but with any luck I'll accumulate more in a few years after spending even more money (and hopefully repaying it). Some of those iPod docks were so pretty.

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

I wasn't kidding when I said last Thursday was a rough day for yours truly. That was when I worked on last Friday's comic and let a glaringly bad spelling error into the strip. Normally I'm content to let these things slip, but misspelling "orcs" as "ors" was too big (and too stupid) to ignore. So I went ahead and fixed it. It only took me a couple of days to do it, too. Sheesh.

As for today's comic, well, I hope you folks find Adrak's face as gross as I could manage. I really like it when characters hide their faces behind masks and cowls because there's something horrible underneath. Granted about only half of the characters around here who've worn masks fit that criteria, but I still like a good "blech!" revelation when someone removes a mask. That, and I hope it furthers the parallels between Donovan and Thuen Gor in terms of their children.

Don't forget that THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS is now in-stock and officially up for sale in the store!

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

Anime Boston was awesome but it has left me effectively numb from the neck up. I'm honestly surprised I was able to get today's comic done after the annual craziness of this immense convention.

I should have pictures up before I head off to A-KON this weekend, but if I don't I will just combine two cons worth of pictures and do one big post.

I'll have links to fine folks and a more coherent news post up tomorrow. Today I'm going to recover from AB, enjoy a day off with my girlfriend, and gear up for A-KON.

Oh, and THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS had a great debut this weekend. It is now up for sale in the store. I do hope you folks give it a look-see and approve of it.

And finally, as a small reward to myself for having a great weekend, I secured a copy of Punch Out for the Wii, and I have to tell you that the place in my heart that I've held for Glass Joe just got a little cozier.

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

I had such a hectic, scatterbrained day yesterday that I wonder how I'll look when I get to Anime Boston today.

All in all, despite my craziness and hair-pulling stress I was able to get all the books out for those of you who pre-ordered THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS. However, I do ask your forgiveness if I failed to sign your copy to the specific person you requested, to the wrong person, or just forgot to sign it altogether. It was a long day.

In any case, I am at Anime Boston this weekend. Like I said, I'll be in the Dealer's Room at the ConnectiCon table, hanging out with the folks there, selling swag and helping them promote their very awesome convention. Come by and say "hi!" You'll get to see how I'll look after the day I had yesterday.

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

Seven years ago today I was a year out of college and still trying to write the next great fantasy novel. Seven years ago today I was waiting tables at a Boston jazz club and becoming convinced that smooth jazz does more damage to one's ears than heavy metal. Seven years ago today I was trying to figure out what the hell to do with the rest of my life.

I had no idea that seven years ago today, when the very first strip of Dominic Deegan went online at Keenspace, that I would be one of the luckiest, most blessed nerds in the world and I have each and every one of you to thank for making the last seven years the greatest of my life.

And thanks for turning me away from working on that novel. It was awful. Really, really awful. Only two people ever got through the whole thing. Even one of my parents couldn't get past the first ten pages.

Anyway, Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire is seven years old today. You're all the greatest readers in the world and I hope I've done my best to let you all know how grateful I am.

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

THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS arrived at Mookie Headquarters yesterday, and I'm very happy with the way the fourth volume looks. I'm going to spending the next few days leading up to Anime Boston sending out the pre-orders. The books will be making their "debut" at the convention, and will officially go on sale in the Seer's Catalog next week.

On a completely unrelated note, I finally beat Professor Layton & The Curious Village last night and it was one of the coolest, smartest, most stylish and charming games I've played in a long time. I may have played it too much, however, since my girlfriend has nightmares of the tune that plays while you're solving puzzles. I can't wait for the sequel... or the two other sequels... or the movie. Whee!

Other than that, tomorrow is a special day for the comic. I'm sure you can figure it out if you hit the FIRST button.

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

The criminally neglected Fan Art pages have been updated once again. There's lots of awesome artwork to look at so be sure to pop your head in and take a look at these stellar contributions. Thanks to all of you who bless me with your work, and an added thank you for putting up with my inability to make updating those pages a regular thing.

Other than that, there's really not a lot to say today that I didn't say yesterday, so if you need a recap just take a look at the previous news post. It'll have everything vital you need to know about this upcoming weekend.

Short post for today, but sometimes short is sweet. Like a dwarf. With a battle axe.

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

Like I said last week, these next two weekends mark two of the busiest and craziest conventions I attend all year. Anime Boston and AKON are right around the corner and are within a week of one another, so let's get right to it, shall we?

For those of you coming to Anime Boston there will be a number of treats. THE BATTLE FOR BARTHIS is on its way from the printer and will (hopefully) be available for your purchase and approval. There will be convention-only scarves, as hand-made by my mother. Since it went over so well last year, I will be selling the Love Scarf T-shirts for charity again this year.

Finally, I won't be in the Artist's Alley this year. I will be in the Dealer's Room at the ConnectiCon table. I've been very involved with them for years and they'll be "pimping me out" as a Guest there later this summer. If you pre-register with them at Anime Boston this weekend, there may be an added treat for you.

Well, back to work for me. I have to gear up for two insane weekends.
Rock on.

I'm going to enjoy this weekend as much as I can. I'm going to do my best to do as little as possible and emulate as much laziness as I can muster. Why am I going to try so hard to be such a human lump, you ask?

Because the following two weekends are Anime Boston and AKON. These are traditionally two of the craziest weekends of my entire year and this year they happen to fall within seven days of each other. I have to be lazy and unproductive this weekend so I can charge up my internal batteries to be ready for two weekends of absolute chaos. This ought to be an experience.

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