News

Yesterday, while I was working on today's strip, turned out to be one of those "aggravating art days" where nothing turns out the way you envision it on the first, second or fifth try. I'm mostly happy with the way the comic for today turned out, so go me for powering through one of those days. Of course, those of you who absolutely hate my artwork find every day to be an "aggravating art day," so I guess it's just business as usual for you.

On the topic of finding interesting things to talk about for these daily news posts, my girlfriend has made the same suggestion for the past couple of days. "I know what you can write about... your lack of Christmas shopping."

I get the feeling she's trying to tell me something.

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

This upcoming Sunday I'll be taking over as game-master for my weekly Pathfinder game, and I have to say I'm both excited and a little nervous about it.

I've been a GM many times over the years for different groups of friends playing different types of tabletop role-playing games, so it's not that I'm nervous that I won't be able to handle the role. It's that I'll be trying to create an entertaining game for a couple of very creative friends of mine and my best friend in the world (who's been putting up with me since we were eleven years old), so the "pressure to impress" is somewhat on my shoulders.

Granted, I'm not going to lose sleep over this. It's a tabletop RPG. We're going to sit around for a couple of hours, make funny voices over Skype, laugh at some bad jokes and then go our separate ways until next week... but these are the things I worry about in my idle time.

And when I have nothing else of interest to talk about in these news posts.

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

Today's strip originally had Hukthak reacting to Reinholdt's retort in a way that looked like it really landed, but as I was working on it I decided I really needed a laugh. It works with my original idea to never really have Dominic and Reinholdt get along, and it made me giggle, so I hope you folks found this as chuckle-worthy as I did.

There's also an update on the strip's updates. This week and next week the comic will update seven days a week, meaning there will be comics on Saturday and Sunday, just like the old days. Why am I doing this? A little while ago I said this current story would be over by the end of the year. I was trying to do some editing to stay true to that claim, but in the end I felt like I was rushing things and coming up with an unworthy ending. Having four extra days will help move things along while giving me the extra time I want to really deliver a worthy ending to this year-long tale.

However, even with the extra update days, The March Across Maltak will probably still end up concluding in early January 2010, which is actually when it began in 2009, so in essence I'm still keeping true to my promise of concluding this story within a year. Go me.

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

As you can see from yesterday's news post, the Dominic Deegan scarf sold out in a single day. I didn't really have a huge supply to begin with (nor the most attractive model in the world... man that guy is scruffy) but it's still impressive that they're in such demand. All orders will be shipped out next week via U.S. Priority Mail, so they should arrive well in time for the holidays.

This entire month will probably be spent at the post office making certain that everyone's orders from the SEER'S CATALOG arrive in a timely manner. You can have the same confidence from the Shark Robot orders.

Anyway, it's back to work and the post office for me.
Rock on and have a nice weekend!

Dominic Deegan scarves are now available for purchase!

Sorry it went up a little later than 3pm on the dot. I had a very nice picture of a very lovely lady modeling it for you, but I accidentally deleted it and she's, well, at her real job around now. So I was scrambling to get a proper picture to show it off and, well... you got me instead. I hope that will do.

Take look-see and get yours while supplies last!

Scarf!

UPDATE: No more scarf!

Wow. You folks really wanted some scarves. Sold out in a day. Granted, I had a very limited number of these to begin with, but it's still flattering that they're in such demand.

Capitalism ahoy!

The holiday sale is GO! in the Seer's Catalog! For the entire month of December I've done away with all shipping costs to anywhere on the planet!

I've added a permanent link to the Dominic Deegan store front at SHARK ROBOT! Apparently you folks are very happy to see the classic Death From Above! shirt again, especially in blue. I'm very happy that Shark Robot can now offer you all more sizes, more colors and more variety than I ever could on my own.

Okay. Now here's the deal with the Dominic Deegan scarves. They'll be available for purchase at 3PM EASTERN US STANDARD TIME today. Supplies are extremely limited so I'm going to limit one scarf per person. If you make your purchase and there are none left you will be refunded in full. At 3PM EASTERN US STANDARD TIME today the Dominic Deegan scarf will be up for purchase in the Seer's Catalog.

That's enough commercialism from me for one day.
Rock on.

Okay.
Here's the deal with all the commercial December stuff.

The "holiday book sale" will be going up tomorrow along with the very, very limited edition Dominic Deegan scarves. They'll both be going up at different times, however. The book sale will be going up overnight, since that's simply another option for buying stuff that's already on sale.

Scarves will not go on sale until 3pm Eastern US Standard Time. This will give people who don't stay up all night an equal opportunity to purchase a scarf if they want one.

Oh, and I'll be adding a permanent link to the Dominic Deegan store front at SHARK ROBOT, where lots of awesome shirts are available for your approval. Well, I think they're awesome. I hope you do, too.

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

Holy crap. It's December already.

Lots of people I know dislike this time of year. Whether it's because of the holiday shopping crowds, the pressure of "finding the right gift" or the dread of seeing one's family gathered in one place, this is a stressful time for lots of folks.

Me? I love this time of year. Maybe it's because my family and friends have always had strong holiday traditions, or maybe I'm a sucker for holiday music (be it commercial, religious, or both), or maybe it's because this is the ideal weather to drink delicious stouts and porters. Whatever the case, I'm a happy guy in December. I hope you folks are, too.

Remember that new and classic t-shirts are available for pre-order at SHARK ROBOT! I'm very proud of these so I do hope you folks like what you see.

Information on ordering your very own home-made Dominic Deegan scarf will be available tomorrow. These will just be how and when to order them. I want to give people plenty of heads-up since I have an extremely limited number of them and, if years of conventions have proven anything, they're usually in very high demand.

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

Man. I think I'm still processing all the Thanksgiving food I stuffed my face with this weekend. I hope all of you had as hearty a Tofurkey Day as I did.

Anyway. Back to business.

I am very pleased to announce that a whole bunch of brand new and classic shirts are available for pre-order through SHARK ROBOT! The classic Death From Above! shirt is back, and I'm very proud of the six new Orc Clan shirts that showcase the clans' symbols and their respective traits. Thanks to my new partnership with Shark Robot I can now offer you fine folks more of a variety than ever, so I do hope you like what you see.

A permanent link to the new shirts will be going up in the Seer's Catalog later this week, along with a holiday book sale and details on how to order your own Dominic Deegan scarf!

In other news, some of you wrote to me in regards to the closing of the old Keenspot Forum. For those who used to frequent that message board, many of the regulars there have gone and made a new forum called 9gig. It's not a Dominic Deegan-dedicated forum so it won't be going in the LINKS page, but I figured it would be fair to mention it in today's news post so curious folks would know where to go.

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

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and here's what I'm looking forward to...

- Stuffing my face full of delicious vegan food.
- Trying to make myself heard over my family.
- Trying to speak fast enough so I can get a full sentence out before a member of my family cuts me off.
- Watching my girlfriend win over my family with cupcakes.
- Impressing all my young cousins, who are decades younger than me, with my knowledge of video games and comic books.
- Falling into a food coma.
- Waking up from said food coma, only to stumble a few feet over to my next resting place and resume the aforementioned food coma.
- Stuffing my face full of delicious vegan desserts.

If you live outside the U.S. and don't celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, do me a favor and eat a big, hearty meal for me if you can. We'll share in the spirit of the holiday anyway.

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

It's a little strange coming closer and closer to the end of The March Across Maltak. I've been with this cast of orcs for close to a full year now and it's weird thinking that the spotlight won't be on them any more. That's not to say I'm not excited to bring things back to Callan and the rest of the cast. It just feels a little odd beating up certain characters that have remained untouched, seeing sleepers awaken and other climactic things after such a long time, but in a good way. I only hope many of you are as affected by the oncoming end to this tale as I am... but in a good way.

In other news, there seems to be a slight glitch with the program that updates the comic and the news posts. Whenever I try to adjust the time to compensate for daylight savings, the comic updates at the newly adjusted time but all the news posts are one day off in the Archive. So, rather than try to fix this during the week of a major holiday I'm just going to let the comic update an hour earlier than normal. Big news, I know.

Just a quick reminder that there will be no comic up on Thursday, since it's Thanksgiving here in the U.S. There will be a crummy filler doodle or a photograph of my cats, or something like that. The comic will update normally on Friday. I guess you could call the filler for Thursday... stuffing.

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

Good lord, what happened to November? I feel like it's just flown right by me. I mean, I can hardly believe that this Thursday is already Thanksgiving (for those of us in the United States, anyway)! Since it's a major holiday here it bears making some announcements in regards to the comic.

Obviously, there will be no comic on Thursday. There will be some silly filler, be it a crummy filler doodle or a photograph of one of my cats. The comic will update normally on Friday.

After Thanksgiving it will be December, which means it's time to start holiday sales and such. I will be offering another "holiday special" similar to last year's in the Seer's Catalog, as well as offering an extremely limited number of Dominic Deegan scarves.

Brand new t-shirts will also be available for pre-order soon through Shark Robot! They will be based on the symbols for the various orc clans, so I do hope you like them. Also, for the first time in years, the original Death from Above! t-shirts will be available again, also through Shark Robot. Keep an eye on things there for more ordering information, and I will also be keeping you folks informed here.

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

The folks at Keenspot, who graciously hosted me for a few years and helped me build this awesome fan base, have informed me that they are taking down my old forum from their collection of message boards. I figured I should make this announcement for those of you who frequent that forum.

Truth be told, I have an aversion to internet forums in general. For any reason, for any website, for anything, I get a tiny dose of anxiety whenever I click the "Forums" button. Sometimes I feel like a boxing glove is going to fly out of my monitor and punch me. I just get this constant vibe of negativity, whether it's forums for a TV show, a video game, comic book or webcomic. Sometimes they are very useful sources of information, but I just always get overwhelmed by the arguing and/or complaints.

It's like my relationship with asparagus. I'm a vegan. Asparagus is a vegetable. Asparagus and I should get along because it's good for you and provides some very useful nutrients. I cannot stomach it, however, because for some inexplicable reason I hate the taste, regardless of how good it is for me.

Maybe that's why I go to so many conventions every year. Maybe I'm trying to make up for my lack of internet forum-going by letting everyone know where I'm going to be for three days a time. That way folks have the chance to say what they have to say to my face.

On a totally unrelated note, the newest Brave and the Bold comic that came out this week, featuring Batman teaming up with The Geek, was surprisingly touching. I highly recommend it.

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

Okay, I know in yesterday's strip that the Rhazgala archers all had their bows pointed up and today those arrows are flying horizontally past Suyan's head. This "continuity error" is just a dramatic choice on my part because I felt the arrows flying straight on past him looked cooler. Should I have just had them pointing their bows horizontally in the first place? Probably, but I also originally thought the original path of the arrows was what I wanted. Oh well.

Also, just in case anyone forgot who Suyan is talking to in today's strip, it has admittedly been awhile since we've seen Zinirenku in the comic, so I hope this linky little reminder helps.

As of writing this I'm still working through the week's new comic books, but one that especially stood out for me this week was the Realm of Kings one-shot, which sets up Marvel's next space opera. I'm often the first to criticize Marvel for its crossovers and events, but I am unabashedly in love with their cosmic heroes. With this featuring the return of Quasar and the revelation of a Lovecraftian threat on the horizon... this is something I'm really looking forward to. Also, "what the ftaghn?" may be my new favorite phrase, if only I could figure out how to pronounce it.

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

I've always been a fan of archers in fantasy settings, too. I was thinking of writing a news post on how archers never seem to get any love, but then I realized I would look like a moron because archers always get respect in fantasy. From Legolas to Robin Hood, archers need no help from me in being badass. So yeah.

While we're on the subject of fantasy settings I must again sing the praises of Pathfinder. I know I've linked the hell out of this and you're all probably sick of hearing me kiss its (beautiful) ass, but I've been having such a blast playing it with some good buddies of mine that I felt the need to once again spread the nerd love. Leveling up is very, very satisfying and the game mechanics are so smooth that you feel like you're playing an easier game while still capturing that glorious pen-and-paper roleplaying game feel. It honestly makes me feel like a sixth-grader again when I geek out over how awesome my multiclassed half-orc bard/sorcerer is.

Oh, who am I kidding. I've never stopped geeking out over stuff like that.

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