No New Comic This Week--WE'RE MOVING!
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 - 12:00 AM
[Update by Brian]
Hopefully, this will be the last week without a new comic for awhile. We're moving, and not only are our assets currently split between three different residences, I also just realized none of my comic-drawing stuff is with me at the moment, which makes things a bit difficult.
Next week, at last, should be the end of another long and crazy month. On top of that, I should have an awesome (and PERMANENT) new workspace in which to hunker down and churn out piles of comics.
So, until next Tuesday, hang in there and thanks for your patience. Also, in the meantime, you should check out the new Cape Comic Con website, which I may have played some part in developing.
Take care, and thanks for reading!
Chaotic Evil
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - 12:00 AM
[Update by Brian]
I guess it goes without saying that The Six are pretty imbalanced, but Rodney in particular strikes me as the mad scientist of the bunch. Must be the nose.
I've started publishing the comic 50 pixels wider than I was. Last week was the first week that I did it, but I forgot to mention it to you. It suddenly dawned on me that I had some real estate in the site layout on either side of the comic, so I figured, hey, let's make the comic a little bit bigger! It utilizes the space better and makes the website feel much fuller.
Not too much else is going on right now. My dad is still doing well during his recuperation, I have two nieces turning one year old this week, a growing pile of freelance projects, and Amanda and I are closing on a house on Friday. Nope, not much else going on at all. Not sure if there will be a blog this Thursday or not. I might be able to get one done during my lunch hours this week, but we'll see.
Take care, and thanks for reading!
Positive Thinking
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 12:00 AM
[Update by Brian]
Here is the comic. Good gravy--can't we get through just one of these storylines without some kind of death ray getting involved? What is that thing, anyway?
So my dad had a double bypass on Thursday, which is why I was not able to post a comic last week. It wasn't an emergency situation--no heart attack or anything like that. However, it was a procedure that needed to be done. He went in for an angiogram on Valentine's Day in response to some lingering chest pains, and they decided right then and there that surgery would be happening. We were expecting maybe stents being put in at the worst. My dad is in pretty good shape, so we didn't think the issue was going to be so serious. He's had lots of issues with heartburn and indigestion for awhile, as well, so it's possible even those were warning signs of a heart issue. However, we Rhodeses all have a lot of heartburn/indigestion issues, so nobody really thought much of those.
Anyway, the surgery went extremely well, and Dad recovered so quickly that they sent him home three days after surgery. He's back at home now, and Amanda and I are staying with him and Mom to help take care of things around the house for a couple of weeks while he recovers. We were getting ready for all of this last week, and thus the comic did not happen.
That's all for now. Believe it or not, I think I'll have another game review ready for Thursday. Until then, take care and thanks for reading!
Leave of Absence
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 8:22 PM
[Update by Brian]
There will be no comic this week. I need to take a brief leave of absence for personal reasons. I will try to update you as to whether or not there will be a comic next week. There should be, but I won't make any guarantees right now. Some Valentine's Day, huh?
Thanks for your understanding and patience. Mike and the Ninja will return as soon as ninjally possible.
Double Swerve
Monday, February 6, 2012 - 9:00 PM
[Update by Brian]
Ah, the double swerve--friends turning against friends for no reason whatsoever. It makes no sense in the storyline, but boy, you can't argue with the ratings! Ah, pro wrestling.
This concludes our little wrestling side story. I got quite a bit of positive feedback on it, so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.
I'll be back on Thursday, ninjamaniacs! Will I finally be able to review Super Mario 64 this week? Only time will tell. Until then, take care, and thanks for reading!
Video Games and Anger
Thursday, February 2, 2012 - 8:03 PM
[Update by Brian]
I try not to get angry at video games. I think it's stupid, it shows a lack of control, and it makes me uncomfortable when other people get mad at games. When I hear my wife string together an impressive 40-cuss combo from the next room because some boss killed her in Zelda, I try to shrink to about three inches tall and hide so as not to stray into her warpath. I know she feels the same way about me when I get mad and shout obscenities at Robotron: 2084 because I died five times in 15 seconds.
Lately, I have really lost control playing video games. I know I like to make lots of jokes about yelling and throwing the cat across the room when I play difficult games, but I'm serious this time. I've really gone nuts! I fly off the handle at every death, mistake, or the slightest flaw in game design that costs me a life. I shout, drop the controller onto an unforgiving hardwood floor, smack myself on the legs hard enough to cause bruises, and try to rip the arms off my chair. I always tell myself that the only two things in the world I allow myself to get angry about are sports and video games. However, in recent weeks, even my anger with video games has gone too far.
My behavior brought to mind a story my brother once told me. He got so fed up with an NBA video game for Xbox that he turned off the console, ejected the game, and crushed the disc in his bare hands without remorse. I feel as though I'm quickly reaching a similar point of complete savagery. And while a couple of different games are responsible for my recent inhuman wailing and gnashing of teeth, one in particular has driven me nearly to insanity: Super Mario 64.
I was eagerly looking forward to reviewing Super Mario 64 this week. However, I can't do that because I can't beat it. I can't do it. Yeah, I could go kill Bowser and rescue the princess and call it good--that part is easy. But we all know the real goal of Super Mario 64: collect all 120 power stars. This feat CANNOT be accomplished--I am certain of it, regardless of any screenshots or video footage or other proof I have seen with my own eyes that confirms that it is possible.
According to my research, I am hung up on the same star that everybody struggles to acquire: collecting 100 coins in "Rainbow Ride." This is supposedly the level that will make a player love or hate Super Mario 64. (Definitely hate, in my case.) It's a series of floating platforms, magic carpets, and endless tricky jumps suspended over a bottomless expanse. Getting from place to place in "Rainbow Ride" requires the greatest of patience and the depth perception of a driver's ed teacher so as to ensure achieving the proper distance on each jump. If you mess up any jump on this level, you are dead. Period. And now, I have to contend with all of the above, plus collect 100 coins. The trick is to collect six blue coins (worth five coins each) to eliminate a hefty amount of the deficit, but I can't reach five of the coins before they disappear. They appear when you hit a switch, and then you must wall-jump back and forth up a long shaft in a very limited amount of time to collect the coins before they vanish. On a practice run, I can work my way up to where the coins are with no difficulty whatsoever. However, as soon as I hit that coin switch, I puke all over myself and fail the wall-jump immediately, and have to restart the level to get another shot at the six blue coins. It's impossible! Not to mention it's very depressing to watch an endless number of YouTube videos in which the wall-jump is performed flawlessly, while my wall jump typically ends with Mario launching himself face-first into a wall, or careening into the great beyond.
So that's where I'm at. I have 117 stars--I still need to get the stars in "Bowser in the Fire Sea" and "Bowser in the Sky," plus I need to beat "Bowser in the Sky" to rescue Princess Toadstool and beat the game. But all of those objectives are going to be a breeze compared to the horrors of "Rainbow Ride." This is the greatest 3D platforming challenge I have ever encountered, and my lack of skill definitely shows each time I overshoot a jump and go hurtling into oblivion. I am gradually mastering the camera, which is helpful, but doesn't always make a difference.
If I can maintain my composure and my sanity, you might see a review of this game next week. If not, you will never see any more updates on this website ever, because I will be in an asylum.
Tainted Victory
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 7:06 PM
[Update by Brian]
Stu got the information he was looking for. And then some.
I mentioned earlier this month that January was going to be a flurry of comic-making activity. I can't believe it's already the end of the month. As usual, things have been completely nuts--we're trying to buy a house, I'm commuting to and from work a total of an hour and a half a day (an inconvenience that will be remedied if we can buy a house), plus lots of activity with family and friends. However, despite everything going on, I have still managed to draw twelve comics this month. That's three times the usual four comics I draw in the average month. Keep in mind, I have not inked all twelve of those comics--that honor fell to only the five comics that were published this month. However, once I'm suitably far ahead in drawing, I will work to ink all of those pages, as well. I'm proud of the work I have accomplished this month, and hope to continue to build a massive buffer for the times when my life inevitably gets too busy to work on comics. I also want to just maintain this momentum I've built--now that I'm working on comics so frequently, I sometimes have to stop and ask myself why I was only drawing four a month up until this point. I've proven to myself I do have the ability to draw more than the minimum each week...why slow down now?
I shall return on Thursday with a blog. Might be another video game review, depending on how things go...it's too soon to tell.
Until then, take care, and thanks for reading!
Outside Interference
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - 8:18 PM
[Update by Brian]
From the looks of it, I'd say this style of wrestling goes back to the times when one chairshot square in the back would put a guy out for the rest of the night. Today, a guy can take a chairshot to the head every fifteen seconds and still end up winning the match. That was a lot of the reason why I lost interest in wrestling somewhere around 2002 or 2003, when guys would whack each other with chairs all night, and then the winner of the match would end up using his opponent's finisher to get the win. I always hated that--I thought it cheapened the importance of the finishing move. The idea is supposed to be that the guy who normally uses the finisher has mastered it--nobody can do that move as well, and if he lands that move, it's all over. When some other dope just walks in and uses the other guy's move to win, why wouldn't everybody start using that move? I think it was supposed to be considered insulting to use another wrestler's finisher against him, but I never saw it that way.
I gotta get going! More comic work needs to be done tonight. Sorry about the delay in posting today's comic--I was going to finish it last night, but I ended up going to bed at around 8:30. That's the earliest I've gone to bed since the time I had mono, or possibly since the last all-nighter I pulled in college. This is not the first time I have been completed exhausted lately; I think the weather being all over the place lately might have something to do with it.
Then, I was going to finish the comic this morning, but my stomach was acting up, so it didn't get done then, either. I blame karma--I was lazy and didn't do very much work this weekend, and of course, it ended up catching up to me in the end. Lesson learned: NEVER BE LAZY AGAIN.
Thanks for reading, everybody! See you soon!
Tonight, In This Very Ring
Monday, January 16, 2012 - 10:13 PM
[Update by Brian]
This week begins a series of comics I have been dying to get to--the continuation of our pro wrestling subplot. I've had a lot of fun watching, reading about, analyzing, and critiquing wrestling over the years. Now, I have a chance to create some wrestling of my own. I really enjoyed writing these comics, and drawing them even more so. There are a lot of things to like about wrestling, but there are also a lot of really dumb, clicheed things about it that are ripe for parody--I've tried to include some of each in this series of comics. If you like wrestling, you can enjoy these comics as an homage to something I've loved since I first saw King Kong Bundy stepping on Hulk Hogan on an episode of WWF Saturday Night's Main Event some 25 years ago. If you don't like wrestling or think it is dumb, I hope these comics exploit the silliness of wrestling in such a way that you still get a kick out of them.
I need food and sleep, so I'm gonna get going. I'll be back on Thursday with a blog. I'm really hoping that I can have a game review ready for this week, but we'll see what happens. Until then, take care, and thanks for reading!
Video Games Update
Thursday, January 12, 2012 - 8:51 PM
[Update by Brian]
I haven't done a video game review in a pretty long time, and have compiled a mighty list of defeated games that I need to cover soon. It takes me awhile to write game reviews, as they usually involve a little bit of research and a lot of thinking, so I haven't been able to put the necessary amount of time into writing one recently. While I am hoping to get some new and complete reviews out to you soon, in the meantime, I'll give you a rundown of the games I'm currently playing (or have played recently) and my abbreviated thoughts on them. Note that since Amanda has been playing a lot of Skyrim and Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword lately, I have been allowing her as much time with the TV as possible, and have been sticking to mostly PC and portable games.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - I completed A Link to the Past over Christmas break, but my personal rules prevent me from giving it the full treatment here because I've already played through the game. (Multiple times, in this case.) I was on a little bit of a Zelda kick a couple of months back, and I decided to play this installment again, as I hadn't for a very long time. This might be my favorite Zelda game--it adds just enough to the original Zelda formula without becoming overly complicated. While I keep the original Legend of Zelda very close to my heart, the updated mechanics and sheer volume of content in A Link to the Past sets it just slightly ahead of the original. I had forgotten just how good this game really was. I played the Game Boy Advance version, and I found it to be a faithful port of the Super NES version, with a few added goodies here and there.
Commander Keen - Commander Keen is the earliest PC platformer I can remember playing. It is a charming romp through space as 8-year old Billy Blaze battles the Vorticons and other intergalactic villains. You jump on platforms, avoid obstacles, shoot bad guys, and collect candy bars and other junk food items for points. In other words, it is exactly what a platformer should be, and the game is just as fun today as it was when I was seven or eight years old. However, I'm finding that the game is much more difficult than I remember. Bad guys come at you from all over the place, and many of the jumps require grace and precision platforming skills that I apparently no longer have. I am, however, playing the game with a keyboard and not a gamepad, which might be making a difference. I still haven't replaced my old Gravis Gamepad Pro that gasped its final, rattled breath cradled in my hands as I played X-Wing many months ago. I've finished three of the five episodes, and things just keep getting harder...yikes.
Super Mario Galaxy - I've been wanting this game for a long time, and got it for Christmas. I haven't played it too much, yet, but it is galaxies ahead of Super Mario 64, which I still need to complete before I give Galaxy my full attention. I was a little concerned I might not like the whole planet-hopping aspect of this Mario installment, but the gameplay is so much fun that jumping around between planets is barely noticeable and hardly an issue. It is still a Mario game, and that's all that matters.
Jamestown - This is an indie, vertical-scrolling shooter set in an alternate, technologically advanced version of the past, in which the "New World" was not the Americas, but the planet Mars. As Sir Walter Raleigh, you are wanted back in England and will surely be executed if you return, so you seek to redeem yourself on Mars by flying a ship around and blasting the combined legions of the Spaniards and Martians. I breezed through the main story mode without too much trouble (with the exception of the final level, which is complete and utter MADNESS), but there are additional difficulty levels I have not yet braved, as well as a Spanish Armada's worth of unlockables, and some downloadable content I may or may not purchase. I really like what I have played of this so far!
In addition to these, there are also a few additional games I finished over the break, but I will wait to reveal those until I can give them a complete review. Stay tuned! Or...logged on. Don't touch that URL! Whatever--you know what I mean.
Shadowy Assailant
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - 12:00 AM
[Update by Brian]
Mike may have that Chaos Gene that is apparently responsible for him getting in trouble all the time, but Renee certainly does have a tendency to get herself in a jam pretty often, as well, and seemingly without any genetic assistance.
Work on the comic is continuing at a fevered pitch. I haven't drawn this much in such a short amount of time in forever. I read an inspiring article entitled "25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing" late last week (features language that is not safe for work or kids), and even though it specifically covers writing, I feel like it can apply to pretty much any creative effort. It has definitely helped me stay motivated about drawing, plus I do have to write these comics, too, so it hasn't hurt in that department, either. I recommend you check it out if you feel like you need a swift kick in the pants to get yourself excited about working on a project.
I need to get to bed so I actually wake up and exercise in the morning like I am supposed to. I shall return on Thursday. Until then, take care, and thanks for reading!
Drawings and Drive
Thursday, January 5, 2012 - 7:40 PM
[Update by Brian]
I wanted to share these pieces with you guys. These are some drawings I did for my nephews for Christmas. The older one asked me a few months ago if I could do an Indiana Jones drawing and a Star Wars drawing for him sometime. I figured Christmas would be a good time to deliver on that request. My younger nephew has recently become obsessed with video games (at three years old, which is about the same time I started playing video games), so I drew him a Q*Bert and a Mario. I'm probably most proud of the Mario and the Indiana Jones, although the Indiana Jones draws heavily from the colors and setting from another Indiana Jones piece I found on DeviantArt while I was looking for some inspiration.
These drawings are part of the reason why I've been enjoying drawing so much since a little before Christmas. I really like to draw, but aside from the one comic I draw a week, I don't do very much drawing, aside from the occasional gift for somebody else. However, the week before Christmas, I not only had to draw a comic for that week and a comic for the following week, I also had to draw four other things, being these pictures. I actually had to challenge myself--I had to get them all done in a reasonably short amount of time, but they still needed to look great, too. I couldn't waste time watching YouTube videos while I worked, or get up every five minutes to go find a snack. Even though I enjoy drawing, I usually approach drawing anything (including the comic) with a lot of fear and resentment because of the time commitment that goes into it. However, once I got a couple of these drawings done, I was on fire and eager to draw more. I had somehow managed to rekindle a passion.
As I mentioned in Tuesday's blog, a lot of things happened this year, both good and bad, that negatively impacted my motivation to work on Mike and the Ninja. Even when great things were going on in my life, that often meant I was too busy to really sit down and put the necessary thought and effort into the comic. And when bad things were going on, I found no solace in making sure a comic was out every week. In fact, as you may recall, I took a break for a month to regroup. Later in the year, there were a few weeks in which I considered shelving the comic for awhile, or quitting altogether and never looking back, unwilling to face the unfinished task still in front of me.
I set a goal for myself after missing the update two weeks before Christmas: I wanted to draw seven comics over Christmas break. I was weary trying to keep up with the weekly schedule, and decided that I needed to re-establish a buffer of finished comics in case too many things were going on and I couldn't get my work done. I know drawing one comic a week doesn't sound like much work, but it can be brutal if you don't manage your time correctly, a trait for which I can be notorious.
I didn't think I would actually be able to draw seven. I thought maybe two or three at the most. But after re-examining the upcoming story and doing these Christmas drawings, I got really excited about getting things done, and managed to meet my 7-comic goal over the break. I also think I might be improving a little bit based solely on the sheer volume of work I've accomplished in the last three weeks.
Anyway, I'm excited about finding my passion for drawing again. I hope I can keep it up.
It's Open
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - 12:00 AM
[Update by Brian]
The first comic of 2012 is here! I always feel a great sense of pride in posting the first comic of any calendar year, because it means I have already bested my comic production from 2007, the year in which I produced exactly zero comics.
I've had a great Christmas break, and it's going to be genuinely difficult to go back to work tomorrow. I've had a chance to relax; spend time with my wife, family and friends; play a lot of video games; and get a lot of work done. I'm excited about the beginning of the new year and some of the goals I have set for myself. I already got a lot of work done over the break, including drawing seven comics, writing several more, and completing a bunch of other lingering tasks. On top of that, January is shaping up to be a month of furious comic production, and I am looking forward to getting a lot more work done. Overall, 2011 was not a very friendly year for Mike and the Ninja. While the new website debuted and a new book was released, so many things (many of them good, many of them bad) were going on that it was often difficult to find either the time or desire to make comics. There were a lot of instances in which I just didn't want to work on it. Fortunately, I'm plowing into 2012 with a head of steam, and I hope I can keep it up and continue to enjoy making comics as much as I have over the last two weeks.
Keeping in mind many of the negatives of 2011, I am foregoing my usual "year in review" blog. I'm ready to file 2011 away and move on to 2012.
Oh, and check out these fantastic Mario and Luigi ornaments my sister made me for Christmas:
I have a little bit more work to do before I retire for the evening, so I better get to it. Don't forget--Thursday blogs resume this Thursday, so don't forget to check that out! Until then, take care and thanks for reading!