Mike and Stu's new digs

Thursday, December 31, 2009 - 5:50 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Amanda and I returned to my apartment late Christmas morning after spending Christmas Eve at my parents' house with my family. We sat down in front of the tree to exchange gifts--she had fawned over some art sets we saw at Hobby Lobby some months ago, so I got her one of those and a sketchbook, and I drew eight Legend of Zelda coloring book pages for her to color with the new art set.

There was one present waiting for me under the tree. It was heavy, and Amanda said to be careful with it. I cautiously removed the wrapping paper to find a pane of glass waiting for me. I was a little perplexed, but I smiled because I thought I had an idea of what it might be. Amanda played along.

"It's the first piece of your light box!" She said. We had recently discussed my getting a light box for use when tracing was necessary, such as needing to draw a building or other piece of scenery consistently across multiple frames. I was excited, but curious as to where the rest of the light box might be.

"Can you grab my robe off the drawing table? It's a little chilly," Amanda said as she rubbed her arms briskly to generate some warmth. I got up and walked over to my brother-in-law's drawing table, which was on permanent loan to me as long as I kept using it.

I picked up the robe to find a large, square hole had been cut in the surface of the drawing table.

Except it wasn't my brother-in-law's drawing table. It was a different table:

It was my drawing table.

Amanda inserted the pane of glass into the hole in the table to reveal a built-in light box. All I have to do is place a light below the table.

If I haven't mentioned it on the site before, my dad has a wood shop in which he makes all sorts of things--furniture, decorative boxes and doodads, shelves, cribs, rocking horses, etc. Well, it turns out Amanda and my dad covertly built me a new drawing table in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and Amanda covertly switched out the old drawing table with the new one on Christmas Eve after I was sent out on a bogus errand by my mom to get cottage cheese for a recipe. As soon as I got back to my apartment, Amanda hopped in the car and we were off to my parents' house, leaving me none the wiser as to what was really going on.

I was stunned. For a long time I just stood there, staring and smiling at the new table. Amanda's knack for thoughtful gifts is incredible. I just couldn't believe it. It's a wonderful gift--she really outdid herself this time.

I hope to keep this table in service for a very long time.

Some closer shots of the table are available in the revised Tour of the Studio. I have also added a Tools of the Trade section that details the pens and other tools I use to draw my comics.

I will be back on Tuesday with the first comic of 2010. Until then, Happy New Year! See you next time!

Grim Conclusion

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 - 1:59 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Welcome back to the world of the internet! (Please don't tell me you were hanging around here over the holidays....) I hope everyone had a good holiday and a good weekend, and I'm happy to be back online with the next comic strip, in which Stu realizes what must be done.

I am extremely excited about the new year because my head is bulging with ideas. I don't know where they all came from, but judging by how frequently I narrowly complete my comics in time to make my Tuesday deadline, I'm definitely not going to complain. I already have all four strips for January written and could pretty easily keep going into February and March. Meanwhile, there's a novel I've been working out in my head for a few months now that I'd like to get started on in January. And, on top of all of that, I thought of an idea for a video game over the holidays that I might be able to put together in Adobe Flash with some more self-training, but that's the kind of project that will take a back seat to everything else.

Also, my friend Joe referred me to some nice tutorials on HTML 5 and CSS 3, and taught me more about CSS in about three minutes than I've learned in the last three years. With all of this newfound knowledge, I'd like to rebuild the Mike and the Ninja website--not redesign it, just rebuild it. How I have it put together now is kind of sloppy, but with some care, it will be in better shape and a little bit easier to manage.

Also on the not too far horizon is Cape Comic Con 2010. I need to go ahead and start planning for that early so there's no rush.

I think it's shaping up to be a pretty big year!

I got some awesome Christmas presents, but I'll wait to tell you about those that pertain to the comic strip until the Thursday blog entry, as some photographs will be necessary. All I'll say is that I couldn't stop smiling at the grand finale.

I'll return on Thursday. Until then, enjoy the comic and thank you for reading!

Snow Laughing Matter

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - 7:55 AM
[Update by Brian]
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I wanted to do a little holiday special this year, so you get a Christmas splash page this week...unless you've been a naughty boy or girl, that is, in which case I have teamed up with Santa himself so that the website shows you a picture of coal instead of the comic. On top of that, a picture of coal is even more worthless than an actual piece of coal, which could theoretically be used to heat your home or be turned into a diamond at some point in the future.

Since this is a special, I also made it in color, which is something I don't really do all that often anymore because I've become enamored with black and white and grayscale. Despite not working in it that often, I do think my colors look a lot better than they used to. However, it's still not really something I like doing all the time because it takes a lot of time for me to make colors look natural and not painfully bright.

I'm happy to report that next week's strip is also already finished, so it should be posted relatively early next Tuesday. I worked ahead a little bit to compensate for all of the fun Christmas activities that are going to take up my regularly scheduled comic-making times over the next week. I also have the next three strips after that written, so I'm feeling pretty comfortable and upbeat right now as far as the comic goes. I've noticed that if I'm working on a comic and have no idea what's going to happen in the next comic, the work goes really slow and I spend a lot of time thinking about what needs to happen next and how to get there. When I have a solid idea of how the next two or three (or more, hopefully) strips are going to go, I get excited and work quickly. As such, I'm trying to stay much farther ahead on my writing than I used to. Usually I read during my lunch breaks at work, but with Christmas coming up and the possibility of new, exciting books to read, I haven't started any books I already own and have been working on writing comics, instead. The move has paid off.

That's all for this week, and I won't be back until next Tuesday with the next strip. Merry Christmas from Mike and Stu and me--enjoy the blessings of the season, have fun with your family and friends, eat good food, and relax! See you next week. :)

Decisions, Decisions, Part 5

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 6:13 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Come on--you didn't really think Stu was going to break that kid's TV, did you?

As you've probably noticed, I tried something new in this week's comic strip--hand lettering. This is something I've wanted to try for a long time, but I kept putting it off because I wanted to put some hours in practicing the art before actually employing it in a live comic strip. However, I soon came to the conclusion that I was never going to take the time to practice my lettering, so I just went ahead and started doing it. I wanted to give hand lettering a try for a series of reasons....

1) I'm tired of taking a lot of time drawing pretty backgrounds, only to have them covered up by word bubbles.

2) Along the same lines as #1, I'm not very good at planning out my panels. Frequently I won't leave enough room for word bubbles when I draw my artwork, and the word bubbles end up jutting out of panels or cutting off parts of characters' heads and this sort of thing. If I hand letter, I can put in all of the word bubbles first and then draw around them, which saves me some time and hopefully results in better panel layouts, rather than cramming word bubbles into tight spaces or covering up important details with them.

3) There's a huge variety of comic fonts out there that are great and will still be a part of my arsenal even though I'm switching to hand lettering. However, over time, all of these fonts end up feeling stale and sterile. Cartoons/Comics deal with artwork that is supposed to trigger and appeal to emotions, and the word bubbles should do that, too. With a font, you don't get that emotion; each letter is exactly the same, the kerning can be awkward at times, and there's just no umph. Even if I bold a specific word to show urgency or emphasis, it doesn't share that same quality of a hand-bolded word. (Yes, if it wasn't already, "bold" and "hand-bold" are now verbs.)

4) It's kind of becoming a lost art, and I thought I'd like to give it a whirl.

Granted, I'm not that good at it, yet, and it is going to take some practice. So if some of the hand lettering or word bubbles appear to be a little wonky, bear with me--I'm learning.

That's all for now! I have to go get to work on some Christmas presents. Thanks for your support, and I'll see you next time!

Conquering My Fear of 3D Games

Thursday, December 10, 2009 - 10:02 PM
[Update by Brian]
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My girlfriend, Amanda, is an avid Legend of Zelda fan. She has all the games (except the Phillips CD-i games, which apparently are rare and are not very good) and has beaten all the games (except Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, but let's face it--that game's a pill) and is pretty much an expert through and through. I love the original and A Link to the Past, and really like a few others in the series, but I have nowhere near the same familiarity or love of the series that Amanda has. Most notably, I have avoided the 3D Zelda games. I own all of them, and I really do want to play them. I've started Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, but didn't finish either one.

Honestly, I think I'm intimidated by the 3D. The 2D Zelda games are puzzling enough as it is. Now add that third dimension--forget it. There's no way I'm figuring anything out. For whatever reason, there are some series of games that have made the transition to 3D that I just can't handle. I did Metal Gear and Metroid and a few others without any trouble. But there are some others that make me uncomfortable for whatever reason. Zelda is one of those series. Hyrule is just so big...where do I go? What do I do next? What if the solution to a major puzzle is in some nook in the wall I don't notice because of a bad camera angle? I've never really played a 3D Mario game, either. I've played a teensy bit of Super Mario 64, mostly around the time the Nintendo 64 came out and I burned time on the display unit at Wal-Mart while Mom got groceries. I want to go back and play Super Mario 64 all the way through, and the same goes for Super Mario Galaxy. But I'm scared. I'm scared I'm gonna miss so many secrets and give up out of frustration on account of that lousy third dimension! Who needs it?! I'm perfectly happy with my side-scrollers and my top-down action RPGs!

Also, it's not lost on me that some of these revolutionary and intimidating 3D games I'm talking about came out over 10 years ago. I guess I'm just that old-fashioned when it comes to video games.

Every now and then, there's a video game or a series of video games with a scope I can't overcome on my first attempt. I remember when I was in grade school, I bought the original Metroid at Toys R Us for 10 bucks when they were phasing the NES inventory out. Today, Metroid is one of my favorite games, and its sequel, Super Metroid, is in my top 5 favorite games of all time. But back in grade school, Metroid was so scary and daunting to me that I ended up selling the game to one of my grade school chums for less than I paid for it at the store. I didn't like it. Planet Zebes was just so big...where do I go? What do I do next? What if the solution to a major puzzle is in some secret corridor I didn't notice because I bombed in the wrong spot? It wasn't until maybe four or five years later that I found a used copy of Metroid for cheap somewhere, and decided to give it another shot. This time, it wasn't scary. The dark corridors, the creepy music, the secret passages, the huge, seemingly endless world to explore...this game was awesome! Why did I ever willingly get rid of such a gem?!

I suspect that the 3D Zelda games and other huge 3D games that I feel are out of my league are just more examples of this initial intimidation factor of a new, huge scope of game that I must overcome. If I can just get past that worry that I might miss something, or that it's too complicated for me to figure out, and realize how cool the game is, I'll finally be comfortable with the game and be able to approach it like any other.

I am currently giving Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time another chance. I do still feel a little overwhelmed, but I'm getting the hang of it. I'm at that point where the thought of playing it makes me nervous, but I feel compelled to continue. That's a good sign that I'm getting there.

Decisions, Decisions, Part 4

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 - 7:55 AM
[Update by Brian]
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Okay, I didn't have to work late, and the mouse in my house was captured and eliminated. Nothing stood in my way of completing the comic this time, and now I offer it to you as a token of good will.

I like this one overall, but Amanda pointed out that the little boy's eyes look a little creepy. She suggested that maybe I drew them too big and that's why they look scary, and I tend to agree. Usually I use dark eyes like that on characters we don't know a whole lot about (like Stu, being a ninja and all, or people in the background or characters that will only appear in one strip), or on characters that are shrewd and villainous (like Bob). It's not really something I intended to do--that's sort of just how it worked out. I think if the eyes were a little smaller on the little boy, they wouldn't seem so out of place. Not a big deal or anything--I just wanted to talk about eyes.

I finally ordered an ISBN for the Mike and the Ninja book a whopping seven months after the book actually came out (should've been saving money more diligently, but oh well), but I haven't had time to apply it to the book yet. Once I have all of that stuff straightened out, I should be able to get the book into the local stores and sell it here and on Lulu.com, as well. Hooray!

I need to go to work, so I will leave it at that for now. Blog entry later this week--in the words of Chicago Cubs fans, it's gonna happen. (Except in this case it actually will happen.) Thanks for reading, and I'll see you then!

No comic this week; it just wasn't meant to be.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - 11:41 PM
[Update by Brian]
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This has definitely become one of those weeks in which the forces of evil simply did not want a comic strip to be made. Although, I must admit that part of it is my own fault for not working ahead to compensate for the Thanksgiving holiday, in which my typical Saturday work day was instead spent with family and friends I don't get to see often enough, as well as stuffing my face with a wide variety of good food. I should have gotten more work done on what has come to be known as Black Friday, but I spent too much time lollygagging. (Is that how you spell that?)

While I enjoyed my holiday weekend very much, things haven't exactly gone to plan since then. On Monday night, I sat down to have supper and read a few webcomics before working on the comic the rest of the night. As I was returning the used dishes to the kitchen, I turned the kitchen light on and noticed something small and brown scurry across the floor and disappear into a previously unknown gap between the wall and my kitchen cabinets.

The only plus to this situation is that it was only a mouse, and not a rat. This is the first such rodent invader I have encountered in this apartment, and I guess it only recently came in for the winter, as it has gotten pretty cold over the last few days. I called Amanda and we set to work. The hole the mouse came from was plugged, and I got back to work on the comic for just a little while before it was time to pay my bills and head for bed. (The mouse came back the next morning--turns out there's an identical hole on the opposite side of the kitchen. It's plugged now, as well.)

Tuesday morning after exercising and getting ready for work, I sat down to get a little more work done on the strip before heading up the street to my real job. I took the comic with me, intending to work on it during lunch--I figured I could get it to a point where I could have it posted at some point late Tuesday night.

Unsurprisingly, my plan did not work out. Probably the last three times I've tried to work on the comic during my lunch break at work, I ended up not getting a lunch break as a result of the volume of work needing to be done. And, it happened again today--I guess I'll just quit trying to use my lunch break to work on the strip, as it never seems to work out.

By the time I got home, ate, unwound, and helped Amanda sort out some business matters, some friends had come over for a scheduled video game night, and I decided to shelve the comic for the time being.

That's all. I just wanted to let you know why it wasn't happening this week. However, it will for sure be happening next week, so please check back on Tuesday for the next strip. Thanks for understanding!

Housekeeping

Friday, November 27, 2009 - 9:00 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Two things to address tonight. Some time ago, I mentioned wanting to restructure my links page. Well, I finally got around to it. I trimmed the page (and the sidebar) to include only friends of the site, some other things I've done, and some especially useful comic-making resources. I also trimmed the number of recommended webcomics to the handful that I read consistently. I used to have a lot more time on my hands to pour over webomics all day, but sadly I've had to limit the number I check out on a regular basis. I won't discourage you from reading the ones I took off the list, and I'd like to find the time to read them again someday, as they are excellent comics. However, I'd like to keep my links trimmed to the essentials. Like I said before, I don't think links pages are a really big thing anymore--that sort of thing is shared more on twitter and the social networking sites these days.

I also put the forum to rest. The forum never seems to catch on, probably because the Mike and the Ninja community is not yet large enough to support it, and because it is consistently overrun by advertising robots. I'd like to find something similar to replace it, or maybe just incorporate a commenting system of some sort. But before I do that, I'd like to focus more on making comics and putting out a good product, as that is where the most reader response and interaction is going to come from. Less bells and whistles and more comics seems like the way to go right now.

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving holiday! Enjoy your weekend, and I will return Tuesday with a brand new comic strip!

Decisions, Decisions, Part 3

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 - 9:10 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I must admit that there was a bit of a learning curve in the creation of this comic strip, as it is the first strip to be made with my new computer. I forgot to transfer all of my Photoshop and Illustrator preferences, so I had to set all of those up again. I also had to download a new driver for my Wacom Tablet because pressure sensitivity wasn't being detected. And, most of all, I'm still just getting used to the new computer. If you use the same one for six and a half years, there are bound to be new nuances and idiosyncracies to adjust to in a new computer.

But I got through all of that, and here is a comic strip for you. If you're anything like Stu and me, you're always finding some new reason to wedge yourself behind a big entertainment center, whether it's to hook up that new, awesome video game console, or to track down that missing Nerf dart somebody shot back there. Everybody's done it somewhere along the line, and I figured it was only natural that ninjas probably do, as well.

Since I won't be posting again until the weekend, most likely, I'd like to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving. Share it with your family, your friends, or whomever you've got, eat well, and enjoy yourselves. I'd also like you to know that one of the things I'm very thankful for is your support of the comic strip. Knowing that there are folks out there always eager to read the next comic strip makes it very easy to keep at it and continue working hard. Thanks so much for your enthusiasm and support this year and always.

See you next time!

New computer online, has not sent any androids to kill me yet.

Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 7:40 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Due to the incredible size and dark gray color of my previous computer, it was dubbed "Monolith." My new computer is only about half the size, but its glossy black outer coating is mesmerizing enough that I have dubbed this new machine "Monolith Mark-2." It is online, but it is not yet sentient, which I hope never happens because then I'll have to get rid of it before it threatens mankind, and I don't want to do that because I really like it so far. It's very fast, Windows 7 is great, and I have not (yet) had any compatibility issues. My scanner gave me a scare at first, but I found some drivers online that worked. I should be getting a video card soon, which will allow me to play games, and apparently Photoshop CS4 has graphics acceleration support, so I guess it will help out in that regard, as well. But I'm not gonna kid anybody--the video card is for games. Period.

I'm extremely happy to finally have everything transferred over to the new computer. I needed to finish some things up over the last week, and I didn't have time to deal with moving all of my files, and I didn't want to chance losing anything in the middle of a project. Meanwhile, the new computer sat next to my old hunk o' junk, mocking me, tempting me with its shiny finish and pretty lights and front USB ports. I almost couldn't stand it anymore as I watched, irritated, as my old PC struggled with mundane tasks that I just knew the new PC could breeze through in a couple of seconds. Well, it took pretty much all day today, but the new one is set up, and I think it's going to make my computing quite a bit easier.

It's always funny transferring files to a new computer because it gives you a chance to look through all of your old stuff. I can be something of a pack rat when it comes to keeping files (or anything, really--it's a habit I'm trying to break), so I had a ton of stuff that should have been deleted years ago and never was--out of date files, duplicates of stuff, old pictures of cars or girls or cars and girls that people have sent me (mostly from my friend Gabe), and hard telling what else. I even had older versions of this website that I was keeping around for some unfathomable purpose. It was a fun, nostalgic trip to look through all of those files, but it was also a good time to part with many of them--many of them no longer served a purpose, many of them were projects in progress I no longer have a desire to complete, and many of them drum up bad memories. It's hard to believe that there are literally about 10 years worth of files on my computer, ranging from old, bad animated .gif files, to archives of instant messenger conversations, to old clips of test footage my friends put together when we used to make movies. It's really neat to look back and see all the stuff I've either done or built up over the years.

One last thing--I wanted to share with you a drawing that I'm particularly proud of:

I drew this for my nephew for this birthday. He's a big Star Wars fan and seems fascinated by the clone troopers, so I drew him as a clone trooper and gave it to him in a frame. I think he liked it--obviously he can't play with the picture like he can his Star Wars Legos or his G.I. Joes or his Wii, but I'm pretty sure he still thought it was cool.

I'm done for the night. I'll be back on Tuesday with the next comic strip. See you then!

Decisions, Decisions, Part 2

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - 10:52 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Hm...I wonder what he's getting himself into?

My new computer arrived on Thursday of last week, but I haven't really had a whole lot of time to mess with it yet. However, from what little I've used it so far, I must say I am desperately looking forward to transferring all of my files and getting the show on the road already. Windows 7 seems very fast and simple thus far, and it's nice to be able to load my web browser and not have to wait 20 or 30 seconds for it to finally pop up on the screen.

I have a few more things to share with you, but I need to get to bed. I think I'll finally be able to do a real blog entry sometime between Thursday and Saturday. Until then, enjoy the comic, and thank you, as always, for reading.

Decisions, Decisions

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 6:36 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I have returned from my week off, and here is a comic strip for you. Coincidentally, I managed to stay almost as super busy during my week off as I always am, but I believe it was still a benefit in that I was able to sleep a little bit here and there.

I ordered a new computer, which should be arriving sometime this week. I built my current PC in the spring of 2003, and after some careful deliberation, I decided not to do that again. Don't get me wrong--building my PC was probably a worthwhile experience--I learned the inner workings of a computer, including all of the components and where they go. I also learned that I don't have very nimble fingers. I dropped a lot of screws into the bottom of the case and had to fish them out clumsily. I also learned that if any piece of the computer you assemble is defective, it will always be the motherboard, which is the thing that you plug all of the other things into and thus, if something goes wrong with it, you pretty much have to take the entire computer apart in order to replace it. I had two bad motherboards on this machine.

Despite all of that, as I said, building the computer was worthwhile, and with the exception of the two bad motherboards, it has run like a charm for a good six and a half years now. (Except there's one case fan in it somewhere that roars like a '67 Firebird when I boot the computer--that's a problem.) However, I think the newest software is finally starting to catch up to it, and it really struggles at times, especially with all of Adobe's software, my antivirus software, and any time really complicated flash ads run on websites. It also restarts on its own from time to time. I'm very proud of how well it has held up over the years, but now I'm turning the computer expertise over to Dell, as I have purchased a new machine from their fine outfit. The most important thing I learned from building my previous machine is the value of having somebody else build the machine for you! A new Dell, with a clean install of Windows 7 is what I have to look forward to, and I really hope it turns out okay. I've heard positive reviews about Windows 7 from actual friends and colleagues as opposed to positive reviews from technology pundits and NewEgg customer reviews, and I've learned over the years that my friends' reviews are typically a lot more reliable. So we'll see what happens. The computer does need a graphics card...not sure what I'm gonna get as far as that goes just yet. As long as it can handle Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 when they come out, that's probably all I will need.

I'd like to keep my current PC for old games, as well--it's just a matter of having the space and patience to keep it around. I'd like to format the drive, put Windows XP Service Pack 1 back on it (so I can play games that stopped working with Service Pack 2), and just load the thing up with games (especially the ones that won't work with Windows 7, if any). But I'll just have to wait and see on that.

I'm gonna go eat and work on the next thing I need to work on. Hoping to have time to do another blog entry on Thursday or Saturday. Until then, thanks for reading, and I'll see you later!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Taking a Week Off

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - 8:16 PM
[Update by Brian]
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In order to not kill myself with stress and busyness, I've decided to take a week off from the comic strip. The entire month of October was more or less a non-stop work-a-thon of making comic strips and working on the side project (currently out on third proof), and at the moment, I'm about all drawn out. (I even had to work on stuff during my precious Philadelphia Eagles football games, which is unheard of.) I'm proud of all the work I was able to accomplish during October, and I'm giving myself a much needed and deserved week off.

It's at times like this that I really wish I was doing this sort of thing for a living. Whereas it is now necessary to use my free time to work on the things that I might eventually be able to parlay into a ful-time gig as an illustrator/writer/ cartoonist/whatever, if this was actually my job, it would just be part of my 8-hour day, and then I'd have the rest of the day to either work on all of it more if I wanted, or do other things that I also enjoy. That is exactly why I have to keep doing this sort of thing in order to one day fulfill that dream. However, it's also important that I give myself some proper recharge time, as well, so as not to burn out. As such, for the first time in...well, probably forever, I don't feel guilty about putting the comic on a 1-week hiatus. In the past, any time I've had to miss an update, I felt like a jerk for not doing the work I needed to be doing, regardless of whether or not I had a good reason for not doing that work. This time, I know I've done my part in the past month.

I will probably resume work on Thursday. I need to make a big writing push and figure out exactly where the next batch of comic strips is going. I need to re-organize my links like I was talking about a few weeks ago. I need to do all of those favors I was putting off until the side project was done or mostly done. After all that's done, it's back to the drawing board. Should be a good time. :)

Mike and the Ninja will return Tuesday, November 10, and I think you're really going to like where we're going from here. Until then, take care, thank you for all of your support, and I'll see you next time.

Halloween

Friday, October 30, 2009 - 7:00 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Thank you so much for your patience this week while I finished my side project. Tomorrow I'll be working on the third draft, and I'm hoping it will be good to go after that. Overall, they like it a lot! I'm excited to finish it.

Now, here is the comic! I wanted to do a Halloween comic, and was trying to think of a way to work it into the current story arc, and this is what I came up with. My initial idea was to have Mike and Stu walking down the street while other people dressed up as ninjas walked past them while Stu complains about how Halloween cheapens his profession. The only problem was I couldn't think of a punchline, so I did this comic instead.

I'd love to stay and talk a little longer, but I'm going to a Halloween party shortly and need to get ready. Take care, thanks for reading, and I'll be back soon!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This Week's Comic to Be a Day or Two Late

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 5:45 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Hello, friends,

I'm making one final push to get this big secret project out on a first proof before my self-imposed deadline (end of October), so I am dedicating all of my time tonight and possibly tomorrow toward getting it out the door. As a result, I am delaying this week's comic until Wednesday or Thursday night. There WILL still be a comic this week, but will your patience hold up?! Can you endure?! My guess is that you can, but not without great suffering. (I apologize for that part of it.)

So I'm gonna get to work and try to use my time wisely, and I'll be back here Wednesday or Thursday night. Thank you for understanding, and I'll be talking to you again soon.

Deflowered

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - 6:11 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I felt so bad drawing this comic--that poor woman!

I'm also very proud of the joke in this one--Bee Man is clearly made entirely of bees and could easily just engulf the woman at the counter. But instead, they choose to attack using a brieface full of more bees.

My Thursday/Saturday blog posts may become scarce over the next couple of weeks while I finish up this side project I'm working on, which I will reveal more details about once it's done so I don't jinx anything. Meanwhile, the production of new comics will continue unhindered, barring a Halloween-related vampire scourge or the inevitable explosion of my computer. The thing sounds like an idling automobile these days, so I know all ain't right within the inner workings of the machine.

Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content wrote an interesting blog entry regarding his take on the state of webcomics in this day and age. His words are honest and, to a young upstart like me, encouraging. Read if you'd like.

My work here is done for the evening. I need to hit the gym, eat, and resume work on the side project. If I'm lucky, maybe I can enjoy an episode of Star Trek before bed. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.

First Day

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 - 7:18 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I can't imagine Mike is all that thrilled about having to go through orientation for a second time.

This is another idea that I've been kicking around for awhile. I always thought it would be funny to see one un-uniformed person standing among a legion of other uniformed people. I didn't quite pull off the scope I originally wanted, but it still works. This strip also pokes fun at the whole first-day experience at a new job--everybody's had one, and I figure just about everybody does something they're not supposed to or doesn't do something else they are supposed to on their first day that makes them feel dumb. I, for instance, walked around work wearing a "guest" badge for three months before I actually got my own badge. I was under the impression one would be furnished for me, but I never got one. I started to see other employees newer than me with their own badges, and I was beginning to wonder what I had to do to get a badge. It turns out I just had to go see the photographer--I thought they would come get me when they were ready for me. Apparently not. But nobody ever called me on it, so I guess it worked out. Although I'm curious to know how many people wondered what in the world I was doing wearing a guest badge after I'd already been there a couple of months.

In my blog entry on Saturday, I posed a question concerning audience and how I should handle having links for high school or college-level humor sites on what is essentially a family-friendly website. I think what I'm probably going to end up doing is pruning my links page and eliminating a lot of links to some of the other stuff I'm interested in. The reason for this is that links pages are sort of a thing of the past. I remember back in the late 90s, it was a big deal to have a links page to direct your visitors to all the other cool stuff you found on the internet. These days, links pages don't seem to be as important, and I can't imagine there are all that many people using my links page as their hub for browsing the 'net.

If I do end up pruning the links page, I've decided to cut it down to just the webcomics (and I'll put a little warning behind the names of the ones not for kids), the comic resources, and websites of my friends and associates. This is, after all, a webcomic, and it would probably be best to keep my links relatively close to that realm.

That's all for this week! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Audience?

Saturday, October 10, 2009 - 12:09 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I'm having something of a moral dilemma.

When asked about the audience for which Mike and the Ninja is appropriate, I've normally said that it's probably suitable for kids 12 and up. I kind of feel like the strip's theme and style resemble that of a Saturday morning cartoon most of the time, although there is the occasional curse word, amputation, crude humor, or bloody fight scene. When parents inquire about the suitability of the comic for their children, I encourage them to read it first and make their own decision as to whether or not it is acceptable reading material for their kids. However, I personally would consider Mike and the Ninja to be a family-friendly comic strip, overall, despite the occasional outburst of violence or bad word.

Anyway, despite the fact that I consider Mike and the Ninja to be a reasonably tame, PG-rated, family-friendly strip, a lot of links I've posted will direct your browser to other websites that are absolutely not family-friendly. There are links to many other webcomics and humor sites that are for mature audiences only. I am a fan of these sites and like to promote them to you. But at the same time, I would never want my mom or my nephews to see some of the links on this site--I think they're funny, but Mom certainly wouldn't, and the boys don't need to see any of that content until they're mature and responsible enough to deal with it. I don't want parents to deem my website or my comic strip to be unacceptable for their children (or unacceptable, in general) because of links to other sites that are quite a bit more vulgar or more adult-oriented. The audience of the comic strip is evolving beyond the original teen to 20-something demographic and now includes young kids and responsible adults who probably aren't going to appreciate some of the more crass links on the site. I want my comic strip to be open to a large audience, but at the same time, I don't want to "sell out" and give up my true identity by removing a lot of links that have been influential to me and my style of humor, or that I simply enjoy, in order to appease both a more moral audience and a more innocent audience. Do I leave it up to parents to make sure their kids aren't seeing anything bad? Do I trust kids not to look at something they're not supposed to? Or do I take matters into my own hands?

I've considered a number of different options. I have considered leaving the site as it is, but I've reached a point where that no longer feels like the right thing to do. I have considered removing all of the links to kid-unfriendly sites entirely, which is slightly more comfortable than leaving the site as is, but also feels like I'm doing it only to cater to a certain part of the crowd. And finally, I have considered creating a "mature audiences only" section of links so as to separate the all-ages links from the possibly inappropriate links. I like this idea, but the downside is that it still won't stop anybody from looking at links they're not supposed to--it only identifies what might be inappropriate. Ultimately, I'm still not quite sure what I want to do.

I would love to hear some reader input on this. I would tell you to use the forum, but I think I'm going to ditch it entirely--I still don't have enough of an audience to support it, and I still can't keep the spambots off of it. (I may implement some sort of reader feedback mechanism to replace it.) However, if you would like to email me your thoughts on this matter, I would love to hear what you think. I don't want to alienate any potential or existing readers, but I also don't want to give up too much of my true identity. Where do I draw the line?

High-Sticking

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 7:50 AM
[Update by Brian]
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Ah, now this is how a webcomic should operate--updates in the morning, not in the evening. If I can continue to get things done on Saturday and Sunday like I did this week, this could be a regular occurence! Outstanding!

This is an idea I've had for a long time, and was just waiting for Mike to finally get back to his apartment so I could use it. Much like jokes about Uranus (Ah ha ha ha ha!) Spoiled food coming to life and attacking people is always funny, and it was a bit I felt I had to use at some point. There was a point in my life when I wanted to create an animated series about my friends using Flash, and there was going to be a bit in which a Dairy Queen Blizzard that my friend Ashley left in the downstairs freezer at my mom and dad's house for a couple of months comes to life. Unfortunately, the series never came to be. I'd still love to use that bit, though--it has a pretty amusing ending.

Special care went into the details of the kung pao chicken monster. I added some highlights and shadows to the many sheens of slime oozing down its slippery form so it would have some variation and depth instead of just...well, a big blob of gray. It took a very long time, but it was worth it--I dig how it turned out. I debated on whether or not I wanted it to actually look like kung pao chicken, but I figured it would be more iconic as just a pile of slime.

Also, Mike is apparently a hockey fan, or played at some point in his life. Even I was not aware of this.

Well, I gotta get to work, and then I gotta get back to work on my side project this evening. New blog entry Thursday or Saturday. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you then!

Comic Books and Why They Intimidate Me

Saturday, October 3, 2009 - 11:34 AM
[Update by Brian]
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I was introduced to comic books at around age four or five by my brother, Craig. We shared a room growing up, and when he would finish reading a comic book, he put it in a sleeve and nailed it to the wall. One of our walls was completely covered with Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, Alpha Flight, a couple issues of What The?!, and I'm sure there were other titles, as well. I was fascinated by the comics on the wall, but was too young to fully appreciate them.

By the time I was six or seven, Craig demanded that I begin reading the comics as well as just looking at the pictures. The first comic I ever read was an Uncanny X-Men somewhere in the early 200s. I didn't comprehend it that well--I just remember the X-Men were in it, and they were battling villains whom I would later learn were called the Marauders. Even so, I was on the comics bandwagon.

Despite that, I've never fully been into comics. I've always been a big X-Men fan, but my fledgling comics collection consisted of only an issue here and there, and then issues of other comics here and there. I never had a subscription to any of them, and I probably never had more than five consecutive issues without missing one (until later in life, anyway). However, I did have X-Men video games, the X-Men cartoon series, and, most importantly, X-Men action figures. I didn't need the comics or any knowledge of origin stories, as I could make them up with my figures. Although I must have known some things about X-Men canon, because I remember noticing inconsistencies in the TV show and the comics even at eight or nine years old.

Anyway, my love of the X-Men eventually grew into a love of superheroes and comic books, in general. Even though I didn't have tons of comics, I always had a pretty good idea of what was going on in comics until about 1996-2000 or so, when Marvel titles were being re-launched and they did the whole Ultimates thing, which I was never able to get into. I was too much of a purist to be okay with Marvel ditching the old stories and re-booting everything for the hip, young audience, although now I understand why that is sometimes necessary.

Because of this, I'm lost. I'm still ingrained in the comics of the 1960s-1990s, and have absolutely no idea what is going on in today's comics. I can't go out and buy comics because I don't know which ones are linked to the comics of my youth, and which ones are re-boots, off-shoots, or alternate universes that I don't care about. X-Men, for example, has had so many titles in the 2000s that I don't even know where to start. At some point or another in the 2000s, I'm pretty sure there has been Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, Xtreme X-Men, New X-Men, Ultimate X-Men, Astonishing X-Men (I did read Joss Whedon's run on this and thought it was pretty good, but I was still lost on how they got to that point), and possibly some other titles, as well. One could argue that in my youth, there was Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, Excalibur, Generation X, X-Man, etc., which is an equally absurd and confusing number of titles. But the difference is that those were all dinstinctly different teams in different settings with different characters. If I pick up any of the aforementioned X-titles of the 2000s, it seems like the same characters are in every one. Where the hell am I supposed to start?!

On top of that, you have company-wide crossovers like Civil War or Dark Reign or whatever is going on now, and in order to get the complete story, it feels like you have to buy literally every comic book the company publishes to know what's going on. I don't know where to start, and I'm afraid to get into it for fear of being completely lost. I know that comic enthusiasts recommend good "jumping on points" for each series, and I guess if I do want to get involved in today's stories, I will eventually have to "jump on" somewhere. (Which, in all fairness, is exactly what I did when I started reading comics in the first place.) However, it's still really intimidating to do that (not to mention financially stressful).

I'm hoping that there might be a day in which I have enough time on my hands and enough spare cash to get back into the comics scene. Until then, I'm probably going to do the same thing I've been doing for the last ten years and continue to buy graphic novels and trade paperbacks of collected story arcs, or Marvel's Essential books. The latter are in black-and-white, but at least it's a cheap way to collect lots of old stories.

Still a Trade Secret

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 10:23 PM
[Update by Brian]
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The idea for this strip suddenly popped into my head while trying to think of a way for Bee Man to get into human clothes without having a bunch of ho-hum exposition in the beginning of the strip in which Bee Man decides they need to find some human clothes. I have no idea where it came from, but I really like the result--far less boring than my original idea.

This strip should have been up yesterday already. I was ahead of schedule as of Sunday night, but a nasty piece of malware hijacked my computer, so I had to remove it and finally cave and update my anti-virus and anti-spyware and anti-whatever software. I'm usually pretty good about staying off untrustworthy websites, but I apparently picked up something somewhere along the line. Then I worked late at my real job yesterday and today, further hindering my progress. Sorry about the delay; on the plus side, at least it's still Tuesday!

Saturday is 24-Hour Comics Day. In the past, I have put together a little event in which friends gather around and play games and have fun while I work on stuff. This year, I think I'm gonna keep the affair to myself so as to get as much work done as humanly possible. I probably won't actually work the whole 24 hours, but it does give me an excuse to sit down and pump out as many comics as possible. In recent weeks Saturday has sort of become my comic-making day, anyway, so it works out in that regard.

To update you on the previous blog entry, the game I ended up playing next was Kid Icarus on Nintendo. After all these years of playing video games, this is my first foray into Kid Icarus. I like it--the feel of the game falls somewhere between the original Legend of Zelda and the original Metroid. It has the fantasy elements of Zelda, the sidescrolling and vertical corridor elements of Metroid, and the labyrinth exploration of both. And, being an NES game (an early NES game, at that), it's hard, and that's all I have to say about that.

I'm done here for the night. I will be back Thursday or Saturday with a new blog entry. Enjoy the comic, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Video Games Progress Report

Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 11:53 AM
[Update by Brian]
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As you may have noticed, while this blog is primarily for the purpose of talking about things going on with my comic strip, my process, or comics, in general, on the off days I like to delve into something going on in my life at the time of writing, or I like to talk about my interests. As such, I'll probably be revisiting certain topics over and over again. Video games is one of those topics--prepare yourselves.

A few weeks ago, I lamented not having a lot of time to play games and how I am helplessly behind in completing the library of games I have amassed. I still don't have a lot of time to play games, and I'm still helplessly behind in completing the library of games I have amassed. However, I have made some progress in my quest(s). The following information may be news to some of you, and a pleasant (or unpleasant) trip down memory lane for others, as these games are not recent.

I finished X-Men Legends the morning we left for vacation. I really like this game because it completely immerses the player in the X-Men universe--you get to explore the grounds of the Xavier Institute, control many of your favorite characters (though Nighcrawler is very underpowered in this game, sadly), and take on a rogue's gallery of classic X-Men villains. Granted, it is the Ultimate X-Men universe, which I don't know very much about, but it's still a re-imagining of X-Men, so it's still pretty awesome. Even so, the game frustrated me because I couldn't figure out the combat. For pretty much the entire first half of the game, the floors were regularly wiped with multiple X-Men corpses, as I was usually executing their superhuman combat skills poorly, starving them of precious health packs, or dropping them into bottomless pits. Robots were killing my superheroes, which is terrible because if you haven't heard, superheroes just don't lose to robots. Period. Not even Sentinels, the most awesome of robots.

Fortunately, somewhere around halfway through the game, I finally figured out the combat. You control a team of four X-Men, and I found that with a balance of two melee-based fighters (usually Wolverine and Colossus for me) and two ranged energy attack fighters (usually Storm and Iceman, and usually I was only bringing Iceman 'cus I kept having to build ice bridges to cross chasms), the X-Men could plow through pretty much anything. Once I had the combat figured out, the game was a blast, which means I'll probably have to track down the sequel. I also have Marvel Ultimate Alliance on the Xbox 360, so that will be fun...when I get around to it.

Next, I loaded G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor into the old, reliable NES. This is the sequel to the original G.I Joe on Nintendo, which I beat earlier this year. In this game, Cobra has raised the lost continent (or city or whatever) of Atlantis and is using it as a base of operations. G.I. Joe must infiltrate Atlantis through many levels of old-school, sidescrolling bliss and stop Cobra before they can achieve whatever world-dominating schemes they may have up their sleeve. You control a team of up to three G.I. Joes per level, and you can amass a team of six Joes from which to choose. I made it a little ways into The Atlantis Factor before having to leave on vacation, so I took down a password to resume my adventure where I left off when we returned.

Mistake. The password system in this game has unforgivable drawbacks. While your characters keep all of their power-ups (you grab "Pow" icons to increase their fighting ability) when you use a password, you start with 100 rounds of ammo no matter how many you've stockpiled, and you lose all of your radios, which you earn by completing levels and are used to call upon healing and/or ammo-giving helpers Spirit, Big Bear, and Gung Ho. What a rip-off!

I resolved to complete the game in one sitting to avoid using the ridiculous password system. And with careful, conservative, and strategic play, I managed to do so without dying a single time. How does that happen?! This game has been giving me fits for years, and I beat it without dying once? Whatever--I'll take it. This game is pretty awesome; it's a unique take on a sidescrolling platformer in that you have a roster of different guys, all of whom you can power up in numerous different ways, which allows you to put together a team in which each member has their own specialty. My personal favorite team to take on a level ended up consisting of General Hawk, who has the best laser rifle; Roadblock, who is the most durable and has the strongest punches; and either Snake Eyes or Storm Shadow, who both have a ranged attack that doesn't use ammo and can also jump really high.

I'm also working on Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia on my DS. I haven't put much time into this game yet, and I'm stuck on a boss I cannot defeat. I love the entire run of Castlevania games on Game Boy Advance and the DS (with the exception of Harmony of Dissonance, which is slow and awkward compared to the others and has bad music for a Castlevania game), but the games are usually pretty easy. I already don't like the weapon system in this game, but if the difficulty of the game is significantly ramped up compared to the other handheld Castlevania adventures, this could yet become one of the more memorable installments in the series. I only play my DS on the road or at Mom and Dad's house, so these games pass more slowly--it'll probably be awhile before I finish Order of Ecclesia.

Now I'm trying to decide which console game I will tackle next. I should be getting my 360 back from the shop tomorrow (I had it shipped to my parents' house since it was scheduled to be shipped back while we were on vacation, so I'll pick it up when I visit them), and I am very tempted to grab Shadow Complex off Xbox Live, as it is in the same 2D, exploration based vain as the Castlevania and Metroid games to which I am so partial. But at the same time, I have so many older games to unleash. I'll let you know what happens.

Who Needs Sleep?

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - 10:16 AM
[Update by Brian]
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It looks like the comic successfully updated automatically. Mr. Big is pleased.

I have returned from vacation. Our return trip was a solemn affair, mostly due to the fact that a) it rained much of the way home, and 2) we didn't want to go home. You know how on some vacations you reach a breaking point at which you start to feel like you're ready to go home? This trip didn't have one of those (not counting the one I had while driving through really heavy rain somewhere along the endless stretch of interstate between Memphis, Tennessee and Jackson, Mississippi). Sitting on the beach, I felt completely at peace for the first time in months--it's nice to get away once in awhile.

Now I'm back, super charged and ready to return to work. I need to start on my big, paying side project, and work on comics and a couple of other things in the meantime. It's going to be an extremely busy month, so here's hoping I can get everything done.

Vacation

Saturday, September 19, 2009 - 10:17 AM
[Update by Brian]
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Amanda and I are going on our vacation to the beach I mentioned some blog entries ago. We will be out of town on Tuesday when the comic is supposed to update. However, I have the next comic done, and if my website is working properly, it should appear automatically on Tuesday. If it doesn't, please be patient and I'll post it when we get back on Wednesday.

I really like traveling vacations. I got the bug when I was in first or second grade, and Dad got a video about national parks. I was fascinated by all of these exotic geographical wonders--geysers, arches, big jagged mountains, waterfalls, balanced rocks, that sort of thing. I was young, and besides maybe the beach and the Smoky Mountains, hadn't really seen much in the way of landscapes that I couldn't find around the area in which I lived. I wanted to be the people in the video, the ones walking the trails, exploring the visitor's centers, and generally captivated by the beauty of their surroundings.

We took a family vacation to the west a couple of weeks before third grade. We flew to Salt Lake City, rented a van, and made a circuit around the west, visiting Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Rocky Mountain National Park, the Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, Bryce Canyon, and some other sights and monuments that I can't pull off the top of my head at the moment. It was some of the most fun I've ever had, and I fell in love with the southwest, in particular. Any time I get hit with a spell of wanderlust, I always find myself wanting to go to Arizona or southern Utah. My parents and I took a number of other trips around the country in the ensuing years, and we eventually found our way through all the lower 48 states except for California. I always had fun on these trips, but I was a teenager in the later ones and probably didn't appreciate them as much as I could have or should have because I was wasting time being cranky and angsty and wanting girls to like me more.

I still love to travel, although now that I'm on my own and don't make a lot of money, The only vacations I've taken have been to Chicago to visit my brother and sister-in-law, or a weekend excursion here and there with a group of friends (sometimes for the purpose of competing in dodgeball tournaments). And these trips were great in their own right--awesome adventures with friends that I'll never forget. But at the same time, they never captured that pure spirit of travel--just leaving home for a few days to just drive and find something pretty. At times I've been tempted to just pack up and re-trace one of our family trips on my own, or just go somewhere, but I never did it, usually because I didn't have any money. But now I'm a little bit better at budgeting, and I have somebody special to share the journey with, so I'm going for it.

Also, it's going to be a hectic week at work, and thus, I've picked a fine time to go on vacation. :)

In His Clutches, Too

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 - 6:48 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I get the feeling Mike really doesn't like Bob.

This comic strip was a nice re-introduction to proper perspective. Most of the time when I work in perspective, I get lazy and just fake everything and hope that it ends up looking good. However, I drew this strip Saturday morning--it was cool, quiet, and I really got into a nice groove, so I decided to do things the right way, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. I have a feeling the next strip is going to involve a lot of perspective, as well, so I think I'll keep it going. I was also forced to draw buildings, which is something I'm not very comfortable doing, so it was nice to get some practice there, too.

I have a meeting tomorrow regarding my big first paying cartooning gig. I'm excited to get all of the final details and get to work. Though, sure enough, Amanda and I are going on a brief vacation in a few days, so as long as I can come out of vacation fired up and ready to go, I think I can pump it out pretty quickly. It will also be helpful that my Xbox 360 has been sent in for repairs due to the Three Red Lights and the E74 error--one less distraction from work.

Lastly, I was unable to post a blog last Thursday, but if I had, I would have made mention that football season started that night. As always, I wish the best of luck to my Philadelphia Eagles (whose starting quarterback, Donovan McNabb, has already been injured) and Cleveland Browns (they'll never be good again), and I wish grim misfortune upon the New York Giants, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins, and Brett Favre. Not the Minnesota Vikings, mind you...just Brett Favre.

In His Clutches, Part 2

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - 8:01 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I think it's startin' to get a litttle bit uneasy in Bob's office.

As I drew this one, I questioned whether or not accidentally hitting the SAP button on a television and being unable to get it back to the original language setting was still a relevant joke. Do TVs still have SAP buttons? Either way, I liked the joke, so I kept it in. Then again, I don't even know if TV repair shops still exist--it seems like these days if a TV breaks, you just go get a new one. Then again, we don't know exactly what year Mike and the Ninja takes place, anyway, so that pretty much takes care of any doubts I had. All I know is we haven't seen an HDTV in any scenes so far, and there was a floppy disk drive on Mayor Pratt's laptop. Soooo...I'm thinking 1998, maybe? Who knows?

I bought a crow quill pen and a little paint brush so I can try some different methods of inking. I love my Micron pens, but they don't always capture the look I'm trying to achieve, so I'm going to try a few means of capturing more fluid linework. I'm not sure if it will work or not, but it will require practice either way.

I set up a Facebook fan page for Mike and the Ninja, which can be accessed here (assuming the link works). Show your support for Mike and the Ninja by becoming a fan on Facebook, which will in turn make your friends feel inadequate because they are not fans, and then they'll come check it out, and then their friends will feel the same way, and so on.

Also, tighten your woodscrews--the Forum is back! I'd love to get some discussion going about the comic, or really any topic that piques my interest. I figured now would be a good time to get it going again with the addition of the Facebook page.

That's all I have for tonight. I should be back Thursday with another blog entry. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you then!

Allergies

Thursday, September 3, 2009 - 10:24 PM
[Update by Brian]
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About five years ago, my body suddenly decided to be allergic to every free-floating particle in the air between late August and sometime in October. I remember noticing it during the first week of school in August, 2004. I was sitting outside Kent Library at SEMO with some friends and realized that each time I contributed to the conversation, I had to pause and take great gulps of air between sentences because I couldn't breathe through my nose anymore. "Wow," I thought to myself. "My allergies have never been this bad before."

I've always had some allergy problems in the fall, and a few in the spring, as well. But how is it that as of August 2004, I am suddenly three or four times more allergic to certain things than I used to be? Have I mutated? Has a change in climate resulted in the presence of more allergens in the air that were not previously there? I considered the possibility that maybe I had just as bad of allergies in previous years and just don't remember them, but I think I would remember allergies if they were as bad as these.

Being September and all, I am once again mired in this allergic quagmire. Any attempt to clean my nose--blowing or other, less respectable means--will always cause about seven or eight huge sneezes all in succession. I once made fun of Sammy Sosa because he threw his back out sneezing in the Chicago Cubs' locker room; I understand now how that could be possible. It's a vicious cycle because after the first round of sneezes, I will usually have to blow my nose again, resulting in more sneezes. I eventually have to just settle for a middle ground and deal with it so I don't blow my throat out sneezing all day.

I also have the red, puffy, itchy eyes, which may mistakenly give one the impression that I'm completely coked out of my gourd. This is not the case, and I'm getting tired of all of these people on the street stopping me and asking me if I have "the stuff" just because I look like I'm on drugs. However, if there is a plus side, it's that it feels really good to rub my eyes in this state, but I know that it's bad for them, so I try not to do much of that.

Lastly, there's the congestion. This is the part of the allergy season that I cannot stand. I would take double sneezes and double drug eyes if it meant being able to breathe freely. Any number of pills, mentholated cough drops, and spicy foods relieve the congestion, but only for about 15 minutes at a time. I don't sleep very well while this is going on because my nose tends to seal up completely at night, and I toss and turn trying to keep one side open.

I briefly considered cutting my nose off, but I guess that's probably not a healthy or socially acceptable solution.

In His Clutches

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - 11:00 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I listened to a lot of Counting Crows as I drew this strip--I thought it would put me in the melancholy mood necessary to draw what I hope is a pretty depressing strip. Not that I want you feeling all down after reading it, but it was really important to me to capture Mike's utter, helpless despair at the thought of working for Bob again. (Especially in this case, as it looks like he will be providing his services for the long haul.) Pretty much every panel in this strip was a lot of fun to draw, and I really feel as though I was able to capture emotions well. That is something I have struggled with in the past, so I'm really happy about that.

I don't have much else to report, and I need to get to bed, anyway. Thanks for reading, and I'll be back on Thursday with a blog entry.

Swimming

Thursday, August 27, 2009 - 9:03 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I learned to swim in about two hours last night. I dreaded the idea of learning to swim for 17 years, and I learned in two hours.

I was eight years old. During the summer between second and third grades, I was spending three days a week at daycare while Mom and Dad were at work and while my brother and sister weren't at home all the time to keep an eye on me. I also stayed with my grandparents the other two days of the week, but that is beside the point.

I took swimming lessons as part of daycare--all the kids who were signed up got ferried to the city pool in a van. Unfortunately, the lessons didn't go that well. To start, I was afraid of water, which made the thought of even attending the lessons a serious challenge. Second, I had recently discovered what I came to know as "self-consciousness." I was eating too much that summer and didn't really like what it was doing to my body.

However, the thing that was really off-putting is the fact that I was put in the wrong class, in which our first exercise was to swim underwater. Keep in mind, they weren't teaching us to swim underwater; we were just supposed to do it. Maybe it was a warm-up or something--I dunno. Anyway, being unable to swim, but terrified of what might happen if I didn't follow instructions, I attempted the exercise, anyway.

Well, it didn't work, and somebody somewhere put two and two together and realized I was not in the right class. I was bumped down to another class, and I either did a very poor job of paying attention, or the lessons were just really bad, because here, too, I was being asked to do things I had not yet learned.

I was bumped down again. Now here I was, an 8-year-old, learning with the Kindergarten-age kids. These lessons consisted mainly of not learning anything, but just splashing around and having fun. By the time the two weeks of swimming lessons were over, I didn't want to learn to swim or be around water, in general, ever again.

When I was 21, I worked up the courage to try learning to swim again. However, I was in the pool one night with some other people and got pushed too far into the deep end, panicked, and had to be pulled out. After that incident, whatever courage I'd built up was gone.

Amanda and I are taking a brief vacation to the beach soon, and she asked me to learn some basics of swimming before we go so I'm not completely helpless should something go awry in the ocean. I was hesitant, but I promised her I'd learn to swim someday, anyway, since she likes the water so much. Now would be as good a time as any.

She taught me the basics in two hours' time. At first I didn't even realize I was learning--I thought it was just activities to get me used to sticking my face in the water. But suddenly I was putting all of those actions together into something resembling a swimming motion. I'm obviously not very good yet and will need a lot of practice, but I can move from one side of a swimming pool to another without my feet touching the bottom. So I'd say that's a start.

Because I was so stubborn about not wanting to learn how to swim, my friend Kyle once asked me if I would learn to swim if a supermodel was my teacher. Amanda is not a supermodel by trade, but I think the same concept still applies. So yes, Kyle.

Yes. :)

The Cost of Freedom

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 - 6:35 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Finally, an on-schedule update. Take that, mono!

I'm going to vote on the Harvey Awards. Allegedly, you're only supposed to be able to vote if you're a comics professional, so it will be fun to see if I am considered that or not. If not, I'll raise a big stink and cause a bunch of needless webcomics drama! Or not. No, I'll probably just say, "Fine! I didn't want to vote for your stupid awards, anyway!" and then go do another comic and/or eat some Spaghetti-Os.

Anyway, I assure you that at least some of my votes will be going to Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid based on the fact that it has been the first book I've read in a long time that has made me cause a noticeable ruckus in the breakroom at work due to hysterical laughter. I will also be voting for How to Make Webcomics since it is a pretty good book and has served as a guide to me under numerous circumstances.

I have a busy night ahead of me (starting on the next comic strip being among the many tasks I must accomplish), so I will be on my way. Thanks for reading, and I will see you next time!

Video Games

Saturday, August 22, 2009 - 3:28 PM
[Update by Brian]
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For the record, this blog was delayed five minutes because wasps are getting into my apartment and I had to kill one. I'm just glad I have some reasonably effective bug spray. But anyway, on to the matter at hand.

One of the downsides of playing Starcraft online for about five years, Ultima Online for three years, World of Warcraft for 10 months, and arcade games on Xbox 360 from time to time, is that I'm way behind on all of my regular video games. What happens is that I'll get a game, but I don't have enough time to finish it before another game I want comes out. I buy the new game and start playing it, but I never finish the first game. (I don't have 12 hours a day to play games, which is apparently the standard for finishing a game in six months' time these days.) If a game is over 30 hours long, it literally will take me six months to a year to finish it, which is really frustrating because every game that comes out these days is over 30 hours long. If reviews complain about a game being "too short," that is usually a sign that the game would be good for me because I might actually be able to finish it before the next game comes out.

As a result of this process, I am literally years behind on playing video games. The last game I beat was Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, the Playstation 2 spiritual sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins. The game came out in 2002, and I think I beat it in June of this year (although I've only had it since 2005, I think). Now I'm working on X-Men Legends for Gamecube, a game that came out in 2004. I think I'm about 20 hours into the game, which means I'm probably not even halfway through. When Amanda is using the TV, I play Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on my PC. This game came out in 2003, and I think I'm around six hours into it, which means I'm probably not even ten percent through the game. Beyond that, other really old games I've never finished that I have to look forward to are (and this is off the top of my head, so I'm sure there are more) Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy 9, Final Fantasy Tactics, Resident Evil 4, Tales of Symphonia, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, Viewtiful Joe, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metal Slug Anthology, about five Zelda games, a number of games for Wii and Xbox 360, and a bunch of Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy games that are far too numerous to list here.

I love to play these games, but it's frustrating because I'm so far behind. The upside is that I can wait to buy new games until they're in the clearance bin or until they get the "Greatest Hits" treatment and are reduced to 20 or 30 buckazoids. However, it's both exciting and daunting to see the huge pile of games I've yet to complete because I wonder if there will ever be a time when I can say I've finished them all. The fact is I'm an adult now with a lot of adult responsibilities, as well as hobbies and business-owner type things to do that are more important that sitting around hacking my way through mobs of bad guys. They're not always as fun as killing bad guys, but they do a better job of putting me on track of making something of myself someday.

In the meantime, I'm gonna keep working on X-Men Legends until the Ghostbusters game is down to 30 bucks. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll have finished it by then.

"Meta" Mucil

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - 11:55 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I had semi-seriously considered doing a one-off comic strip in which Mike and Stu shrink to combat the illness within me. When a couple of readers suggested I do the same thing, I figured it was worth a shot.

I'm feeling much better. I intend to post a blog on Saturday, and after that, barring any more illnesses or power outtages, I should be back to a regular schedule.

Goooooooodnight!

Mono: 1, Brian: 0 -OR- Mike and the Ninja Will Return Next Week

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 8:06 PM
[Update by Brian]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sorry, folks--it ain't happenin' this week. I think I could pull it off if I didn't have a day job, but once I get home from work, I have maybe a 1 or 2-hour window in which to get things done before I collapse for the evening. (I have to go to work because I don't want to waste all of my days off on being sick--I got PLANS for those days off!) That being said, I'm very much hoping to have something to you next week. If not, I will regale you with a tale of romance and intrigue. And, if you're good and eat all your vegetables, I may include some ghosts and rocket cars in the story, as well.

But on the plus side, my throat is finally starting to feel a little better. That in and of itself will be half the battle, as far as I'm concerned.

Until next time, I shall be the one taking it easy.

In the Clutches of Mono

Monday, August 10, 2009 - 7:24 PM
[Update by Brian]
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While I don't intend for my new gig to slow me down, this very well may do the trick.

When my strep throat didn't get better over the weekend, we knew we had something worse on our hands. Another day off from work and another trip to the doctor's office today revealed my true affliction to be mono, hiding beneath the classic symptoms of strep throat. I'd never considered the possibility of mono, but now that I know that's what I have, it explains why I've felt like going to bed at noon every day for the past week or so.

As far as painful maladies in my life go, I'd place mono somewhere between a swift kick in the pants (not so bad) and the complete breakdown of the regulation of my digestive system (the worst thing I've had). It's rather miserable, but I'll manage.

However, I did want to let you know that this week's comic is probably going to be late again, and I wanted to give you a heads-up on what's going on if you don't see it by Tuesday. Until then, take it easy and I'll get to work....

...right after this 16-hour nap.

Sick-day blog, plus a pretty cool announcement

Thursday, August 6, 2009 - 5:55 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I ended up staying home again today as I continue to recuperate from strep throat. I woke up this morning feeling more awful than I did yesterday, so I decided to take it easy again. I'm hoping to get back to work tomorrow, and hopefully back to my normal lifestyle by Saturday or so. ("Normal lifestyle," in case you're curious, typically includes, but is not limited to, swank parties at exotic locations where the Hawaiian Punch flows like wine, skullduggerous shindiggery, and rousing games of Yahtzee.)

To make some productive use of my impromptu day off, I scanned some of my non comic strip artwork and added it to my long-empty deviantART gallery. I only have four drawings on there right now, but I hope to add all of my sketches and other drawings I do in my "Draw Things That AREN'T the Comic" sessions, which I am doing more of these days. I've added links to the gallery to the Links page and to the sidebar, as well.

Now, for my pretty cool announcement. I probably can't give out too much information, as I'm not exactly sure what kind of press embargoes and that sort of thing are on the project. So I'll keep it to the very basics: I've accepted a professional cartooning gig from an old friend and mentor on a project currently in the works. I am super pumped because this is my first paying freelance cartooning job, which is something I've been working toward for a long time and is another big step in that whole "living the dream" thing. I remember in 5th grade, everybody in the class entered a contest in which they had to draw a picture of himself or herself working at his or her dream profession. Naturally, I drew myself at a drawing desk with Marvel and DC and Dark Horse posters hanging in the background, along with posters of some of my own creations. I didn't win. I figure something traditional like "doctor" or something super cool like "shark doctor" probably took home the prize. But here I am.

I am the guy sitting at the drawing desk with Marvel and DC and Dark Horse posters hanging in the background (or at least until they all blew down because my walls are rough plaster and I have fans blowing in here all the time). I don't know that I'll ever be drawing the X-Men for Marvel, but this is still pretty cool. While I haven't exactly "made it" or anything like that, in another sense, I have made it. I really am working at that dream profession. (Writing would also be okay, but I'll take what I can get.) And while the income involved with this project is a one-time thing, and certainly is not going to be enough to allow me to quit my day job or anything like that, it's still awesome that I get to do something I love to do that also supplements my income. It could be a step to something even bigger and greater. Doing the comic consistently was the first big step. Putting together the first book was the second big step. Now this project is the next one, and I'm really excited to see what comes after that!

Now, how will this affect Mike and the Ninja, you ask? It shouldn't! With my day planner in tow and me keeping a close eye on my schedule, I'm going to continue to designate the same amount of time to Mike and the Ninja as I always have. It's already a part of my life, so anything new that comes in will have to be worked around it.

My work here is done. I have to do some writing yet tonight, but other than that, I'm taking it easy. See you on Tuesday with a new comic strip (barring thunderstorms and further illness).

His Fears Confirmed

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 - 6:45 PM
[Update by Brian]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I finally got the comic strip up, but not without overcoming some obstacles, first.

Last night a powerful thunderstorm ripped through the area, featuring strong winds and some of the loudest and brightest thunder and lightning, respectively, that I've ever encountered. Because I don't want to risk losing everything on my computer (despite my surge protector), I will usually turn it off and unplug everything when that kind of storm is in the area. I did that, and then when the storm passed, I resumed work on the comic. However, several more strong cells built up beyond the initial storm and it ended up storming the rest of the night. To be safe, I elected to finish the comic today.

Unfortunately, I woke up not feeling so well. I went out and jogged, thinking maybe I just needed to work out the morning kinks. When I still felt bad after returning from my jog and showering, I came to the conclusion that something was wrong. My throat had been scratchy for a few days, but I figured it was just the start of allergy season, as it is about that time of year for me. But it turns out I have strep throat, and have since been to the doctor and have been resting most of the day. I feel a little bit better now, but still mostly out of sorts.

But what's important is that the comic is up, and I hope you enjoy it. I have a pretty cool announcement to make, but I'll wait until my regular Thursday blog tomorrow to tell you about it. Until then.

Yogurt

Thursday, July 30, 2009 - 8:59 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Somewhere along the line, I got into the habit of packing a pudding snack in my lunch every day. My favorites are the Hunt's Snack Packs, of course. This was a great thing--I love pudding. It's sweet and creamy and doesn't pack as many calories or saturated fat as the cinnamon rolls, Big Texas cinnamon rolls, or Hostess chocolate fudge pies in the vending machine at work. (It also costs a lot less.) The only problem was that pudding was starting to get a little stale. While I always looked forward to my pudding, a couple of disadvantages of pudding brought themselves to light over time:

1) Limited flavors. You've got chocolate, vanilla, chocolate and vanilla, and pistacchio (which is disgusting and thus doesn't even count). I think there might be some more flavors, or maybe more combinations (I think there might be one with two kinds of chocolate), but I've never really paid that much attention. Despite cycling through these flavors so as not to get sick of any of them in particular, they still started to get old.

2) While not that bad, it's still not that good for me. Even though it would take four times as much pudding to kill me as any of the aforementioned vending machine snacks, it's still not the best. I've also been taking a lot of measures to lose weight and get in better shape this year, so if I can find places to cut fat and/or calories out of my diet (without cutting all of it out, because that's not healthy, either), I'll consider it (even though I initially told Amanda I would never give up my pudding).

I was recently introduced to fat free yogurt as an alternative to my daily pudding cup. I scoffed at the idea of yogurt. I may have said some nasty things about yogurt being "for chumps" and "a load of crap." But when I daintily worked a small spoonful into my protesting maw, I found the yogurt to be rather delightful. Now, a few weeks later, I'm hopelessly addicted to yogurt.

Yogurt?! Seriously? What is wrong with me? How could this happen?!

I never thought it could be so good, and I'm not even an old man! It doesn't make any sense. On top of that, yogurt effectively counters both of the disadvantages of pudding I mentioned above:

1) One million flavors. Not only do you have pretty much every fruit flavor available, there are also flavors of combinations of fruits, cakes and pies, and other sweets. I've been having yogurt for a few weeks now, and even though I have repeated a few flavors because I like them, I could have had a different flavor for every day so far. Unbelievable!

2) Much better for me than pudding. Less calories, fat free, and a good source of calcium, protein, and some vitamins or something like that. How can something this good not collect in my arteries?!

So anyway, I'm hooked, and I thought you should know. I'll of course indulge myself with a pudding every now and then (I really would be a chump if I didn't), but right now, I'm hoping this yogurt addiction lasts a long time.

Worst Case Scenario

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - 8:45 PM
[Update by Brian]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you're like me, you're always terrified a situation is going to be much worse than it actually turns out to be. Mike, being the irrational individual he is, seems to share this trait with me. Although I usually don't take it this far.

This strip was a lot of fun to draw. It was a little bit out of the ordinary in that I got to put our heroes in a lot of unorthodox situations. On top of that, there's a giant spider, with which I have something of a fascination. I love them as bad guys in any fantasy setting and frequently make jokes about them living in my closets (especially at my last apartment, where there actually were some that I had to take the broom to). Stu also has some battle damage in some of the panels--cuts and scrapes and torn clothing. For some reason, dating back to when I was a kid first drawing comics, I've always really enjoyed drawing battle damage on my characters. I guess it was just exciting to see them all beaten up because it meant they were seeing some major action.

In case you missed it, on Thursday I made a long, passionate blog post about re-focusing on making good comics. I feel like this comic embodies that focus. I just had fun drawing it instead of thinking, "Oh man, gotta finish this thing in time" and worrying about angering you if it wasn't up in time or if it was sub-par or something like that. And while it is important to be prompt with updates and to make sure the work is quality, it's also important to have fun while I'm doing this so it remains my hobby and doesn't feel like work. Anyway, the blog post is the next one down, if you'd like to read it.

I'm done here for the night. I'll probably be back on Thursday. Enjoy the comic, thanks for reading, and I'll see you then!

Re-focusing on making a good comic.

Thursday, July 23, 2009 - 9:27 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I frequently get caught up in the idea of creating a super-successful webcomic. It's natural for me to want to be like Scott Kurtz or the Penny Arcade guys or any of the other successful webcartoonists I follow. It would be a dream come true to make a living at doing what I love to do, interacting with fans, traveling across the country to attend big conventions, and that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, because of this, I sometimes lose focus on why I make comics in the first place. Instead of putting all of my effort into creating a good product, I worry about not having as many readers as I would like to have, or not doing enough to promote the comic, or that the comic isn't good enough and could never compete with "the big ones" out there.

This came up again not too long ago. I came to the realization that since Cape Comic Con, the strip feels like it has lost a lot of steam. I was so pumped after Comic Con--I got to showcase Mike and the Ninja to a ton of people, sold some books, and otherwise got the comic "out there" to a degree that I never had before. I felt great! I was sure that Comic Con would be a momentous day in the history of Mike and the Ninja, that it would propel the comic to new, unthinkable popularity and glory.

Of course, that hasn't happened. It's not anything I did wrong; things just don't work that way. Cape Comic Con was still a great and momentous point in the history of the comic, and as I think back on it, I'm still really happy that I went, and I still consider it to be a big and important step in the right direction as far as my future as a cartoonist goes. But the fact is that I've been disappointed that the comic's readership hasn't grown more than it has since Comic Con, and that is not at all the attitude to have. Even though I want to get my work out there to as many people as possible, I need to get it in my head that it's not something that happens overnight.

Even though I've technically been doing this comic since 2000, I've only really been doing it since 2008. So it hasn't even been two years yet, and I'm worried about not having thousands of readers. I find myself feeling like a failure because every person in America isn't checking out my comic.

You mean I haven't become an overnight sensation? Huh, well, guess I blew it. Time to pack up and try my hand at something else.

Here's where the re-focusing comes in.

I like making comics. I'd like to make comics for a living someday. But even if I never do, I still like making comics and I probably always will like making comics. And the fact that I'm not beloved and not at San Diego Comic Con greeting the masses right now shouldn't be weighing so heavily on me. It's very easy to forget that 99% of cartoonists will never make a product that can match a Penny Arcade or a PvP. And that shouldn't be a big deal to me because I'm making these comics because I love to do it. I've put together a whole book of comics and sold it at a convention (and hope to sell it on this site sometime soon, as well). It's something I should be proud of, not something that should disappoint me because it hasn't earned me legions of fans.

On top of all that, since I've only been doing this for a year and a half and have made 119 strips altogether, Mike and the Ninja is still really only in its infancy. Compared to the best comics out there, it's still pretty rough. My characters haven't had years of stories to allow them to develop, and my artwork is still improving consistently. If I make it to strip #300 one day and compare it to strip #119, there probably won't be any comparison as to which is the better strip.

I like Mike and the Ninja. People like Mike and the Ninja. People I don't know have told me they like Mike and the Ninja. I know I've made a good product. I shouldn't allow myself to get pre-occupied with the notion that it's inferior or that because the comic doesn't have a huge readership, it's not any good. Things are not gonna just come to me--it's going to take a lot of hard work and dedication and sacrifice to make the comic into what I want it to be. I think I've done a lot of great things with it, but there's a lot more work to be done.

Promoting the comic is good. Growing the readership is good. But the most important thing for me to do right now is to make an undeniably good comic strip and to have fun doing it.

Those Little Misunderstandings

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 - 10:21 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I don't know about you, but this sort of thing happens to me all the time. I'll start laughing out of nowhere because I remembered something funny from a TV show or movie or whatever (possibly something I haven't seen in years), and the people around me either think that I'm crazy or, worse, laughing at them. I tell them I'm not, but they usually don't believe me. Fortunately, I am rarely attacked as a result of these little misunderstandings.

Also, I suddenly realized that Stu seems to be in a really bad mood in this strip. I guess being cooped up in a jail cell for even a few hours will do that to you, not to mention being attacked for laughing about an episode of Night Court.

I was afraid of how the cell bars would affect this strip, but I think I incorporated them well enough. I was pretty lazy on perspective on the bars, but I'm not too worried about it--they still look okay.

I think this week I'm going to practice my hand-lettering abilities. This is something I'd really like to incorporate into the comic because I'm not very good at planning my panels out, and a lot of times important things will get covered up by a word balloon because I didn't leave enough space for it. If I hand-letter my strips, I can put the word bubbles and lettering in first and not have to worry about them covering anything up. But before I put it in the comic, I need to figure out how big my hand lettering needs to be (since I draw the comics larger than they appear on the screen or in a book) and practice so it looks good when it actually appears in the comic.

That's all I have for now. It looks like I should be back on Thursday with a blog entry. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you then!

I bought a day planner -OR- Hell has frozen over

Sunday, July 19, 2009 - 12:08 AM
[Update by Brian]
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Time management has never really been my thing. Usually my week consists of six days of me not doing anything, and then on the seventh day, I make a huge to-do list and end up getting no more than three of those items done, electing instead to play Pac-Man all day (which is usually what I also did the other six days of the week). Because of this, things never get done, and it feels like I don't have any free time because I spend all of my free time dreading the fact that I have so much stuff I need to get done. Doing the comic strip consistently for a year and a half now has helped me learn time management a little bit better, but there's still a ton of stuff I either want to do or need to do, and never do it because I forget about it.

Enter: the day planner. They used to give these to us back in college, and I'd use it for about two weeks and then bury it under all the homework I was coincidentally supposed to be scheduling in the day planner. I haven't had one since, but Amanda re-introduced me to this handy $5.99 device earlier this week. With it, I am able to plan out not only my days, but also entire weeks, and even months if I wanted to! I can write down times I'm supposed to be working on the comic, times I'm supposed to be exercising, times I'm supposed to be writing, times I'm supposed to be drawing things other than the comic, times I'm...well, you get the idea.

The great news is that in the four days I've had the planner, it has actually worked. On Thursday night I got a lot more done than I ever would have without the planner, and on Saturday--usually the day I plan a thousand things to do and then only do three of them--I actually got a lot done, as well. I've always disregarded planners, believing I can function solely on memory and writing makeshift to-do lists, despite always forgetting to do the things I've mentally filed as needing to do.

Anyway, if you find yourself never having the time to get the things you want or need to do done, a day planner might be for you. I already feel like I'm accomplishing a lot more than I was a week ago.

See you Tuesday with a new comic strip!

And now, a blog entry!

Thursday, July 16, 2009 - 8:18 PM
[Update by Brian]
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We rearranged my apartment Sunday night. My "studio" was moved into my living room where the airflow is quite a bit better. The previous studio was a small room in the middle of the apartment that contained my computer desk, drawing desk, and my other office stuff. This was a great setup--I could roll back and forth between desks, pull up references on Google Images and not even have to move to draw off of them, and I could listen to baseball games and Pandora Radio on my computer while drawing. It was a big improvement from my old apartment, where the computer and the drawing desk were in different rooms.

The only problem? It was too freakin' hot. In my younger years, I swore never to just sit around the house without a shirt on. Shirtlessness, very much to my chagrin, became a pre-requisite for working in this room. It was too small and the airflow was too poor to accomodate my PC, which doubles as an adequate emergency heater in the event of the real heater breaking in the dead of winter. With no way for that heat to escape, my work conditions were pretty miserable within a half an hour or so of the computer being turned on.

We ended up moving my computer desk and my drawing desk into the living room, which, even with these additions, is still very spacious. There's plenty of room for the waves of heat generated by the computer to disperse, and there's a big box fan in the window no more than five feet away. I do have an air conditioner, but I seem to be getting poorer, so I try to use it sparingly to save money. [And for my green chum(p)s out there, consider it part of my contribution to energy conservation. I jest about the whole chumps thing, of course.] It sucked at first, but unless it's a really hot day, I've adjusted to living without A/C.

However, rearranging the apartment bore an unexpected consequence--the internet stopped working. I love my cable internet, but man, you so much as look at the modem or the router the wrong way, and that thing's not gonna work anymore. In this case, simply moving it across the room did it in. The good news was that without internet, I didn't have anything to distract me, which allowed me to work on this week's comic Sunday night and have it done before the MLB All-Star Game Tuesday night (which was as disappointing as ever), and I didn't even have to rush. As a result, I'm pleased with how it turned out--I got to take my time on the drawing and inking for once. I'm also enjoying Bob because everything about him is quite a bit different from how I draw most of my other characters. His head is a different shape, his body type is not what I'm used to, and he has a cigar, which is a nice little prop.

I also set a goal for myself to write two blog entries a week. I've said that before, but this time I wrote it down, so it counts. See you Saturday.

Familiar Faces

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - 7:05 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Can't talk now--All-Star Game. Will blog later.

Have a good night!

Return to Stumpville

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - 1:55 AM
[Update by Brian]
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I just realized that this was the first time I've drawn Bob in nine years. Man, that's crazy to consider. And look--Mike and Stu finally made it back to Stumpville, coincidentally 100 strips after leaving. I was beginning to think that would never happen, although the welcome sign seems to believe otherwise.

My apologies for the comic coming a little late again this week, although the degree of lateness this time is far less egregious than it was last time. Monday was mine and Amanda's 1-year anniversary, so comic-making took a backseat to spending the evening together. It's been a really wonderful year, and I'm looking forward to many more. And to the few people out there who tried to tell me how she's not right for me and how she would ruin my life...well, all I can say is I'm glad you were wrong.

And now, it is very late and I should be getting to bed. Thank you for your patience, and I am anticipating a regular schedule for the next few weeks, hopefully. Enjoy the comic, and I will see you next time!

Behind the Scenes 4

Thursday, July 2, 2009 - 10:31 PM
[Update by Brian]
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When I had to get Craig to put the game in for me, I not only felt really dumb, but I was also reminded of when we first got our Nintendo, and how I didn't know how to put the games in it, so I had to get somebody else to do it for me. Here we were, 20 years later, still doing the same sorts of things together. At first I wondered where the time had gone, but that thought was quickly dwarfed by an overwhelming sense of happiness which very nearly brought a tear to my eye. Me asking him to put the game in for me made it feel like we had come full circle, and it was great.

For the record, the reason I couldn't get the game in was because Craig had just replaced the 72-pin connector on his NES, and it was a really tight fit that I wasn't accustomed to, and I didn't want to break his console.

Anyway, that's where I got the idea for this week's comic.

I apologize for how late this strip is coming to you. Upon returning from vacation, I had to catch up on exercise and some needs around the house, not to mention spend some time with my amazing girlfriend. It seems like any time I had the chance to sit down to work on it, I was only able to do so for an hour or so before falling asleep at the drawing table and drooling all over my materials. Normally I would not allow myself this much lack of discipline in completing a comic strip, but all of my other tasks that needed to be accomplished were not things I could put off. As for the things I have been able to put off, I will be tackling those with the completion of this blog post. So I'm sorry about that, and the next time I go on vacation, I'll try to get things taken care of before I leave so you don't have to put up with this kind of delay again.

On the plus side, my vacation was really nice!

I've gotta take care of a few more things before bedtime, so I'm outta here. Take care, and I'll try to be on time next week! Have a happy 4th of July!

Trouble with a Capital "Bee"

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 - 8:30 PM
[Update by Brian]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This could bee trouble.

All right, I gotta stop with the bee puns before things get out of hand.

I have made NO progress on writing ahead or practicing drawing since last week's update. However, I was out of town over the weekend and work last week was completely out of control. I'm hoping to get some real work done soon.

However, first things first--I'll be out of the country for the next five days toppling an unauthorized dictatorship. In between beating the crap out of evil henchmen and savoring rich foreign nightlife, I might write or draw a little.

Okay, so the fate of mankind isn't really at stake--I'm actually just going on vacation. But I'm not gonna lie--with everything that has been going on so far this year, I've never looked forward to a vacation so much in my life, and if I don't feel like doing any work, believe me, I'm not gonna. I'm desperately hoping to have a good time and to come back refreshed and eager to finally overcome some of these creative and business roadblocks that keep popping up.

So anyway, until next time, enjoy the comic and bee well. (Sorry, I had to.) I hope to bee back (Argh!) next Tuesday with a new strip.

Bee Comic

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - 9:15 PM
[Update by Brian]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A pretty good inking job saved a really lousy penciling job on this comic. Which is funny, because usually my penciling is a lot better than my inking and it goes the other way around. Not that I'm complaining--I didn't feel good about this one when the penciling was done, and now I really like it.

I need to get ahead on writing. Right now I have a rough idea of what's going to happen and I'm working week to week, but I need to get the whole thing written out so I know for sure what's coming next. Working from a point at which I don't have it all planned out makes me really uncomfortable, so I'd like to remedy that as soon as possible.

My big plan to draw something other than the comic every day has totally bombed so far, with a total of one (1) drawings done so far since I decided to draw more often. Fortunately, a friend of mine may have a job for me to do soon, and I'm hoping things have calmed down enough in my life to where I'll have some more time and motivation to hit my sketchbook.

And for those who might still be interested, I'm still working on getting the book available for sale online, but it seems like each time I clear a roadblock, there's another one right behind it. I thought I had an option all worked out, but it turns out it won't work, so now I'm looking at some other ideas for how to get it online. Sorry about the continuing delay.

I gotta get going. Enjoy the comic, and I'll see you soon!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: No New Comic Strip This Week!

Monday, June 8, 2009 - 10:49 PM
[Update by Brian]
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The only reason I'm allowing myself to do this is because I hadn't missed an update this calendar year, which I believe is my longest streak ever.

I hate to do this, but I need to take a week off. Everything that has either been bad or stressful over the last couple of months (real job, moving, a few personal problems, and that frost giant invasion last Thursday) is really catching up to me, and I can't focus. I want to draw, but when I sit down to do it, almost nothing comes. If drawing comics was my real job, I would never allow myself a break like this. However, even though I wish it was my real job, it's still just a hobby, and every now and then my hobbies have to take a back seat to real life and/or personal well being, and I'm going to take that opportunity this week. This should give me a brief opportunity to recharge and return fresh and ready to go next week.

I apologize for the short notice, and I hope you understand. In the meantime, feel free to wander the Archive or enjoy another quality webcomic available on the Links page. I may be back later this week with a blog entry, but if not, I'll see you next Tuesday with a new comic strip!

Dirty Job

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 - 12:30 AM
[Update by Brian]
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Well, my first comic in my new apartment didn't go quite as well as I was hoping, mostly due to the fact that it took entirely too long to make this one. Instead of taking one night and a couple of hours the next evening, it pretty much took two whole nights, as you can see by the time stamp on this blog entry. Part of it was because I intended to ink the comic over my lunch break, but then I didn't get a lunch break. And then I also worked later than usual, which also threw things off. Ultimately I think the comic turned out well in the end--it has the effect I was looking for, although it is a tad wordy. Oh well.

I need to start taking the time to practice drawing when I'm not drawing comics. Even if it's only like 20 minutes a day or something, I need to train myself to sit down and get some work in. I'm pretty sure my artwork is gradually evolving and improving on its own as I draw, but it takes me forever to draw anything. There will always be that one frame where I can't get Mike's hair right, or that one frame where Stu is holding a weapon at a certain angle and I can't get his hand quite right, or that one background element that I don't know how to draw, so I have to waste time looking for a model on Google Images. I love drawing, but it would really make my process a lot less tedious if I could draw faster or not get stuck on that one trouble panel. Luckily, I've found myself wanting to draw superheroes lately, and this would give me a good excuse to do so.

Has anybody ever played Adventure Island 2 on the NES? This video game seems cute and innocent, but is deceptively difficult. I'm getting progressively better at the game, but I can still only get halfway through. Does anybody know any dirty tricks that might help me out?

Goooooodnight!

Back Online.

Thursday, May 28, 2009 - 10:23 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I think the internet finally works at my new apartment. Actually, the internet itself has worked since yesterday, but we just got the router working today. Apparently I have Linksys's most notorious model of wireless router, notorious enough that if you call tech support, my router has its own option. Amanda spent 23 minutes on the phone with tech support to get it to work. I, on the other hand, hate telephones and never would have even considered doing that.

The apartment itself is fantastic. I guess I'll have to update the photos of my studio to reflect my change of venue. I have more room than I need for cheap, and this is my first very own apartment--I've always had roommates prior to this. It's not centrally located like my old apartment, but it is within walking distance of my day job, so it all works out.

I had a pretty good day today because a lot of stuff fell into place that had been stressing me out. Internet works (I guess I'm addicted, after all), I got my car back from the body shop (where it's been for like three weeks since the accident I had earlier this month), I returned the rental car (don't buy a Chevy HHR), and generally approached the day with a new found confidence and desire to excel at everything I do.

I don't have much else to say; I mostly just wanted to let you know I was back online.

Now, the next order of business is to make the book available for sale online.

Trucker Versus Ninja Revisited, Part 3

Monday, May 25, 2009 - 2:55 AM
[Update by Brian]
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Woo! Early comic this week! I managed to get it done before my move, so I'm posting it now because I'll be without internet for a couple of days until it gets set up.

I really like this one. The big negotiation panel at the top turned out better than I expected, I think the picketing ninjas are a nice bit, and the last panel was sort of a spur-of-the-moment replacement for a more boring last panel. I hope you like this one as much as I do. I really like doing these flashback stories, so now I'm finding myself having to not over-do them.

If you missed it, check out the update below regarding my interview with KRCU about the strip.

That's all I have to say, and I desperately need to get to bed. I will be coming to you live from my new apartment the next time we speak. Until then, have a wonderful Memorial Day, and thanks so much for reading.

My Interview With KRCU Radio is Online!

Saturday, May 23, 2009 - 5:07 PM
[Update by Brian]
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As you may recall from a couple of weeks ago, KRCU 90.9 FM (the local NPR affiliate) at Southeast Missouri State University interviewed me about Mike and the Ninja. The interview is now available in podcast form here. Like I said, I'm not the best guy on the mic in the universe, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and I'm very grateful that they were interested in interviewing me--that's really awesome. I'll be sure to add a link to the interview on the Extras page in case you might want to go back and listen to it again somewhere down the line.

Also, if you want to listen live on the radio, I believe the interview will be airing on the program Going Public on Sunday, May 24 at 3:00 PM central time. Adjust your dial accordingly and listen up!

Special thanks to Jason Brown of KRCU for interviewing me and Thomas Marrone for giving him the lead. Very much appreciated, gentlemen.

I'm still in the process of moving, and I hope to have the next strip up early, before my internet is transferred to my new address, which will leave me without internet for a day or so. But if I don't have it up early, it will be up a day late. Either way, there will be a comic this week. But I wanted to give you an update on what was going on so you know what the deal is if the next strip isn't up on Tuesday.

Trucker Versus Ninja Revisited, Part 2

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - 8:15 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I even started early on this one and it's still coming to you late. But a lot has been going on.

You may remember rumblings of the rivalry between truckers and ninjas starting at around this point, and now we finally get to revisit what happened between them. I kinda like these "war stories" that Stu tells every now and then--it's becoming a part of his character that I hadn't really considered as an actual trait until I kept finding reasons for Stu to tell them. That and I just like having the opportunity to build a history and a world around the characters. And I do hope you recognize the silhouetted evil-doers in panel five.

I made a lot of progress on some other stuff this week. I found a new apartment, so I'll be moving over the course of the rest of the month. I needed to find a place preferably by the end of the month, so that worked out well.

I also had the day off of work yesterday, so I spent the morning running around to various offices around town finishing up the final details on turning my hobby of making comics into a small business of making comics. This is good news for you because it means the book will soon be available for purchase online. I'll keep you up to date on the details as they become available. I'd like to have it ready this week, but we'll see.

That's all I have right now. Thanks for reading, and I'll be back with another update soon!

Trucker Versus Ninja Revisited

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 - 8:25 PM
[Update by Brian]
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These comics are taking longer and longer to make. I need to try harder to get these things done by Tuesday morning instead of Tuesday night. I do really like how this one turned out, although I am quite aware that the perspective and geometry on some of those bus seats is maybe just slightly awry. However, I do hope the hilarity distracted you from this.

I did a radio interview with KRCU 90.9 FM here in Cape Girardeau today--they're the local NPR affiliate. I think it went pretty well considering I'm not known for giving the best interviews you'll ever hear. When I have more information on when it will air, I'll be sure to let you know.

I actually don't have too much else to say right now, but please check out the update below from Monday regarding the book and a few other things.

Thanks so much for reading, and I'll be back soon.

Book update and a couple other things

Monday, May 11, 2009 - 1:18 AM
[Update by Brian]
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Wow...I am up way too late. But that's all right--I don't mind doing that every once in awhile to get some stuff done.

I regret to inform you that the book won't be available online right away like I'd hoped. There is some small business, tax-related information that needs to be figured out before I can start selling books online. I knew it needed to be done, but I didn't know distributors were going to need that information right away. I guess it makes sense now that I think about it, but hey, I'm new to this whole small business thing. So cut me some slack! :P Anyway, I'll throw updates on this matter your way when I get all this stuff figured out and taken care of.

If you're interested in linking to Mike and the Ninja and you want to do it in style by using sleek looking banners or buttons, I have some available now at the bottom of the Links page. Please feel free to use them, but all I ask is that you download them and put them on your own webspace rather than linking directly to them. If you do link directly to them, you'll leave me no choice but to face you in battle. I also added a few new links to the Links page, so now you have even more incentive to check out the new banners!

Lastly...I started working on a little bit of comic promotion tonight and submitted Mike and the Ninja to some webcomics lists to start things off. One of these is TopWebComics, which has a voting system that allows you to vote for your favorite webcomics. I'm just not the kind of guy who is going to slap a bunch of flashy and irritating "Vote for me!" banners on the site, or otherwise constantly prod and hound you to go and vote for my comic. As such, this is the only time I'm gonna be able to bring myself to say anything about it. I've put a button at the bottom of the sidebar on the right-hand side of your screen that will let you vote for Mike and the Ninja on TopWebComics. If you ever feel like voting for the strip, or maybe if you're bored and just like clicking on buttons, you can give it a click, and I would appreciate it very much. If you don't want to, that's also okay. Either way, thanks so much for your support.

All right--now to send some quick emails and hit the sack. Goodnight!

Abridged Combat

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - 8:38 PM
[Update by Brian]
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This comic took forever to finish, and I wasn't really very pleased with it until tonight. When I finished the pencils and inking last night, I thought it was one of the worst comics I've done in a long time. It's still not the best, but it turned out better than I thought it would. There was just so much anatomy and action shots that I couldn't get right. Fortunately, it all turned out okay, and I'm reasonably pleased with it. I do hope the next one doesn't take as long, though.

I had my first automobile accident ever today. I was rear-ended at an intersection. I'm fine, and so is the other driver, but my car has seen better days. Right now I'm in the middle of resolving the millions and millions of claims, reports, and phone calls that apparently go along with this sort of thing, and I'll be really glad when it's all over.

I'm hoping to have the book available for purchase online within the next week or so, if all goes well. There are still a few things I have to arrange that I didn't get around to last week.

I'm gonna call it a night--there's some chicken-fried rice waiting for me in the kitchen. If you missed my Cape Comic Con recap posted on Saturday (right below this post), make sure to check it out.

I'm out. Thanks for reading!

It Never Ends

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 7:15 PM
[Update by Brian]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Stu couldn't even get out of the first comic strip of our next story without getting into a tiff. If that's any indication of how much trouble Mike and Stu are going to get into down the line, it's gonna be rough.

The art in this strip ended up being pretty simple, mostly because I needed to get back into the groove of drawing a comic strip. I had built up almost a 2-month buffer in order to have everything for Cape Comic Con done in time, and I've only done a little bit of drawing in the last 2 months--art for the book cover and just a few other things. However, I have a feeling the next strip is going to involve some more...interesting artwork....

If there are any new readers out there who were introduced to the strip at Comic Con, welcome! I'm glad you found the site and hope you come back regularly. As for Comic Con, it was an amazing experience, and I intend to post an official recap blog entry later this week with my thoughts on this past weekend.

As far as the book goes, if you weren't able to get a copy at Comic Con, I'm hoping to have it available for sale here on the site within the next week or two. I just need to wrap up some final details before that can happen.

But for now, I'm gonna go find some food. I'll be speaking with you again soon, and as always, thank you so much for reading. It really means a lot to me.

New Name! New Website! Same Great Taste!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 - 10:36 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I thought about a new name for the strip for a really long time. Like, probably almost a year, to be honest. I thought there were a lot of good options, but "Mike and the Ninja" was the only one I truly felt comfortable with. I'll admit it ain't the most creative title in the world, but it gets the job done, and that's really all I wanted. It's simple, gets to the point, and isn't unnecessarily zany.

The new URL is http://www.mikeandtheninja.com. Make sure you update your bookmarks--chewyninjamonkeybars.com will redirect you here for awhile, but when it's gone, it's gone!

As far as the new site goes, it's pretty much the same as the old one, except with a new layout. I have started using a new archiving system--the one my friend Rick coded for me served us well, but I wanted to switch to something I can easily fix or re-implement should something go terribly wrong, or if I decide to change websites again. You may also notice the forum is currently disabled. I think I'm going to go without a forum for now, at least until people start clamoring for one. In the meantime, you are free to email me at my new email address. Make sure you update that, too. If you catch something on the site that's not working, please let me know, and I'll get it worked out as soon as possible.

What I'm really happy about is now that I've finally thought of the strip's new name, I can start doing more serious promotion. Previously I was hesitant to do any advertising or anything of the sort because I didn't want to bring new people in, then change names and confuse people (and have to re-advertise under the new name).

But anyway, this is it! Next up is Cape Comic Con (more info below). All of a sudden it feels like the comic strip is taking big strides. I like that.

The End...For Now

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - 7:42 AM
[Update by Brian]
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I can't believe I'm saying this, but that wraps this adventure up! It only took nine years, but we made it!

However, there's no need to worry--there are a number of unresolved issues that need to be revisited. On top of that, what really happened to Pratt? Did he get away? Did the goons catch him? Eh...it's hard to say. And believe me, when you're dealing with characters like Mike and Stu, trouble is gonna happen. Which means I'll be back next week with the start of something new! Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me since the bitter beginnings and everyone who has climbed aboard since. When I've actually been working on the comic, it's been a lot of fun.

Don't forget--the 2009 Cape Girardeau Comic Con is this weekend!

Where: West Park Mall, Old Steve & Barry's location, Cape Girardeau, MO

When: Saturday, April 25 10:00am-6:00pm and Sunday, April 26 10:00am-5:00pm

Cost: $5 for a 2-day pass

Why: Lots of comics, vendors, artists, celebs, and it's your first chance to get your paws on a copy of Mike and the Ninja: San Francisco Fracas! (Mike and the Ninja is the new name for the comic, which will be official sometime in the next couple of days.) This is a 116-page affair with a full-color, glossy cover that collects the entire first story arc that just wrapped up today! Available at the introductory convention price of $12, plus you'll get two free Hired Goon Association stickers with the purchase of a book! What an offer! I'll be there shilling the book, handing out flyers, and maybe sketching (so long as I'm capable of sketching your requests). Drop by and say hello if you get a chance!

I'm out. Check back soon for some interesting changes to the site....

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 40

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - 7:44 AM
[Update by Brian]
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When I decided to have this entire strip take place behind a big hedge, I didn't realize what a fortuitous decision it would end up being--it turns out hedge-drawing is quick and easy! That's why I have decided the new name for the strip will be "Hedge Adventures," and every installment from this day forward will take place behind a big hedge.

Or maybe not. No, probably not.

I've started on the new site design set to debut sometime within the next two weeks. I'm doing the whole thing through Wordpress/Comicpress, and I'm hoping I'm not too dumb to be able to figure these things out. I've never used them before, and what I've seen of them so far is a little intimidating. However, the fact that there are about 12 billion other webcomics out there that use it leads me to believe that I am capable enough to put it all together.

The books for Comic Con look great! You will want to get your hands on one of these babies as quickly as possible--I was impressed with how well they turned out. Con-goers will be able to get the book at the cool introductory price of $12, plus you'll get 2 free stickers! If you can't make it to the con, the book will be available through Lulu.com a day or two later. I'll get some more details (and a picture!) up soon.

Time to go to work. Thanks so much for reading. Make sure to check in next week for the final installment of Volume 1!

And now, the news!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - 7:37 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Well, after work yesterday, I ended up not really getting home until 11:30 or so, at which point I had a terrible headache and was already suffering from an immense lack of sleep. So I didn't get to the news update as I intended.

I'm gonna take care of that now.

The last panel of this week's strip was a lot of fun to put together. A great deal of Photoshop work went into it and I think I came up with something pretty good, because I think it's an interesting frame to look at--watching the little silhouetted goons in the distance, that is. Not super artistic or anything, but fun. It sort of gives you a different perspective of the Hired Goon Association. Thus far, we've mostly seen them as a bunch of lumbering oafs, or super-powered villains (in the case of the Hypergoon Elite). But this demonstrates an organization that is also swift, saavy, and deadly, conducting an operation involving stealth and precision. You also get a taste of this here, and these sorts of actions are a grim reminder of the skill and ruthlessness of the Hired Goon Association, even though some of them are more burly and thuggish and--let's face it--comical.

My Cape Comic Con appearance continues to solidify nicely. Yesterday I ordered flyers, stickers, and business cards for the con, and my stock of books arrived today. I should be able to take a look at those tomorrow to make sure they weren't printed upside down or anything like that. I also made contact with the con promoter to make sure everything was cool. There are only a few things left I need to do--a couple of boring small business details, and some signage for my booth.

The biggest thing I still need to do, however, is put together a new website design.

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 39

Tuesday, April 7, 2009 - 7:49 AM
[Update by Brian]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the comic! News post to come later today--I gotta get to work!

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 38

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 7:45 AM
[Update by Brian]
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Wow...the details on those bookshelves took forever to draw and then fill with various shades of gray later on. However, the silhouetted Goonish High Council members in the last couple of frames took mere seconds to draw, so I guess it probably all evened out in the end.

Apologies for not having any additional blog entries besides the ones that accompany the comic strip here over the last month or so. In most of my free time, I have been hard at work getting the book done. I finished the cover last night, and it looks great! I'm really proud of it and I hope you'll like it, too. On top of that, I had a major workload at my real job last week and ended up working early, late, or both pretty much every day of the week. It wasn't much fun and it did play a part in delaying the book-making process, but I believe all the extra jobs we were working on are behind us now. Believe me, it was great to see so much work going through our department in the midst of what has thus far been a very slow year, what with the whole economic downturn thing and all. But I can't deny that I was more stressed out on the job than I have been in a pretty long time.

Time for me to get going. Enjoy the comic, and hopefully I'll be talking to you again soon. Thanks for reading!

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 37 - Plus, a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 - 7:45 AM
[Update by Brian]
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You have no idea how long I waited to draw a strip in which Stu just absolutely obliterates somebody. I guess it's only fitting that Robert Pratt is the first one to be obliterated in such a way. Ouch.

And now, for the big announcement. There are some who already know this, either because they've been helping me plan, or simply because I can't keep my big mouth shut when I get excited about something, but here it is...

The comic strip and I will be appearing at the 2009 Cape Girardeau Comic Con on April 25 and 26 at West Park Mall (at the old Steve and Barry's location) in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. This is obviously my first convention appearance, and I am out-of-this-world excited to have the opportunity to do this. I'll have a booth (which is actually a table, but we'll dress it up nicely) next to D.L. Moore of Night of the Dragon fame, and I'll be greeting convention goers, sketching, and selling stickers and the first CNMB graphic novel, although the strip will have a new name by then (that will be another major announcement in the coming weeks). The book will collect the first 107 comic strips in the series plus a few extras and it'll have a full-color glossy cover.

I have to go to work right now, but I'll have more information on these exciting developments soon! See you then!

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 36

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 6:28 PM
[Update by Brian]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Happy St. Patrick's Day, if you're into that sort of thing. I walked into the office today and saw the breakroom full of green and/or Irish-themed foods, and panicked for a brief moment upon realizing that I'd forgotten to wear any green. In order to avoid a potential pinching onslaught, I borrowed a highlighter from a co-worker and drew big green blobs on my right arm and hand. It worked like a charm, but in hindsight, I'm glad I didn't have any important meetings--I may have had to sacrifice my green for professionalism, then been pinched to death.

In the meantime, here is a new comic strip. You'd think that I'd have the hang of drawing corridors by now, but I definitely do not--perspective is apparently a pretty difficult thing to master. Also, I guess fans of cheesecake out there will appreciate the return of Tiffany Partridge in all of her tight spandex, hench-womany glory.

With the posting of this comic strip, I am officially working out of a buffer--I'm a handful of strips ahead. As a result, strips should be posted much earlier in the day (and preferably Monday night before I go to bed). That is, until the buffer runs out, anyway. I hope it doesn't anytime soon, but we'll see.

Also, I've got my new name for the strip. So that should be coming soon.

I better get going. I'll return soon enough! Thanks for reading!

Forum topic needs your attention!

Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 11:xx PM
[Update by Brian]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There is a poll on the forum that requires your attention. It concerns the future name of this comic strip. Check it out and let me know what you think--it may or may not impact my decisioin, but I'd very much appreciate your input all the same. Thank you!

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 35

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - 7:52 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Man, the tension is getting thick. At this rate, there's no way you're not coming back to check out next week's strip. The building tension alone made this strip a lot of fun to draw. That and I coyly avoided having to draw City Hall again. As a result, this strip went pretty quickly.

I turned 25 years old yesterday. It feels pretty much exactly like age 24, only with even more optimism than 24 had, and 24 had a lot of optimism. I'm kinda hoping that holds up. This whole webcomics thing makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something, which is good. Don't get me wrong--I wish I had more time to play video games, but I've trained myself to put the comic and other creative projects first.

In celebration of my turning a quarter of a century old, my friends and I went out to eat and saw Watchmen, which I thought was a pretty good movie. It's not perfect, but considering that Alan Moore said the story was unfilmable, I think they did a decent job. The soundtrack and the opening montage were the highlights of the movie--I'd see it again just for the intro. Although, the thing about Watchmen is that it's a very uncomfortable story, whether you read it or watch it. It's a downer, all in all, and you see superheroes doing things you're probably not really used to seeing superheroes do. Oh, and Dr. Manhattan is naked most of the time.

That's all I've got for now. I'll be back to talk at you again sometime soon.

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 34

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - 7:14 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Well, we did it.

We finally made it to 100 comic strips. And I assure you, it's no coincidence that this particular strip is pretty tense and dynamic--I told myself awhile ago that when it finally comes time to make a 100th comic strip, something cool better be happening in it. I hope I've delivered appropriately.

I've been counting down to 100 for awhile. While it's not a big deal in the long run, it's another personal milestone for me. I remember when I drew the 50th comic strip, I thought to myself, Well, I've done 50 strips. Now let's see if I can do another 50. I have, and it took drastically less time to draw the last 50 than it did to draw the first 50. However, now that I've pulled that off and have 100 in the can, I'm curious to see if I can do another hundred. I guess it's time to get to it.

I thought this strip was going to be really easy to draw. And it was...until I got to the last panel. That dome was kind of a nightmare. The whole time I draw something with that many details in it, I struggle between whether I want to try to get as many of those details as possible in there, or if I really want to stress that this is a cartoon and that I'm a cartoonist and simplify, simplify, simplify! I think I ended up somewhere in between. But I do like how it ultimately turned out.

That about wraps things up here. Hope you like the comic, and I'll be back sometime soon!

February: The Month Time Forgot

Thursday, February 26, 2009 - 10:36 PM
[Update by Brian]
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February is and always will be my most-hated month of the year.

It's cold and miserable, frequently icy (not snowy...icy) and if it does warm up some, it's usually only for the purpose of a gloomy all-day rain. Then it gets cold again.

There's Valentine's Day, which was very good this year. But it can also destroy you if you let it, which I have foolishly done a couple of times in the past.

There are no holidays because once you're out of K-12, they don't let you off for President's Day anymore.

Besides the Super Bowl at the beginning of the month and regular-season college basketball, which I only half-heartedly pay attention to, there are no sports worth watching.

For no reason at all, February seems to be a very busy month for most people. Never much contact with friends. Maybe they're not busy...maybe they all have the February blues, too.

Despite being the shortest month of the year, February drags on and on...and on. By the last few days, my skin crawls at the thought that we've been in this month forever, and it's still not over!

Because of all of these things, it's always great to see February finally come to an end. We're almost there, people. Just hang in there for a couple more days. Also, this year, I ended up working on a lot of comics, which also helped to pass the time and kept my mind off of how horrible February is.

But now that I've got you feeling all lousy and pessimistic, I'll redeem this entry by saying that March is usually one of my favorite months of the year, and this one is looking pretty good, too. Spring begins, there's March Madness, spring training in baseball is in full swing (what a delightful pun!), my birthday is in there somewhere, and the general malaise of February is quickly burnt off by the hope and optimism of entering a month that isn't February. March should also be a big month for the comic strip in which I expect a lot of progress to be made.

Two more days to go, folks. We can do this!

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 33

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - 6:14 PM
[Update by Brian]
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All right! This comic is being posted during the 6:00 PM hour. My update times are getting progressively earlier, which is good because it makes me seem like that much less of a bum!

Actually, with all of the working ahead I've been doing lately, you should be getting your comic strips earlier all the time, which satisfies you earlier and takes a lot of pressure off me. It's win-win! If you haven't figured out why I'm working ahead, I'll be sure to let you know in due time. But not just yet.

The backgrounds in this strip are pretty simple, but I'm proud of them because they're clean and they have that shiny, metallic sort of look. Also, I was thinking about it, and I'm not at all surprised a power core managed to work its way into the strip--seems that in a lot of the sci-fi stories I like, a power core is always involved in some way. It was only a matter of time here.

I don't have much else to say now, but I may be back with a blog entry later this week. It'll be tomorrow or Thursday if it happens; I'm gonna be out of town this weekend.

Thanks for your support, as always!

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 32

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - 7:06 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Hooray! Today's comic was posted a little bit earlier than the last few! Drawing this one took a lot less time than the last one, which I like. To be honest, I don't care too much for the penciling portion of making comics, even though my penciling usually ends up looking better than my inking. Inking is what I actually like best, which is why I'd like to learn to do that part really well. I think it's getting better, but I still can't capture the level of detail I'd like. But hey, that's part of why I do a comic every week.

Not much else to report this week, except that I'm putting forth genuine effort to work ahead, and it's kind of important that I do that. We'll see how it goes. If you missed my Friday blog entry, you can catch up below.

I'm gonna go eat. Enjoy the comic, and I'll talk to you soon!

Inspiration from Coworkers

Friday, February 13, 2009 - 9:46 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I work with two immensely talented individuals who inspire me more and more all the time. Not only are they great graphic designers, they're also great friends, great human beings, and side-splittingly funny, as well. I've been working closely with them for maybe eight months or so now, and I've learned so much from them about work ethic and etiquette, life, art, design, fart jokes, and any number of subjects.

Their talent is extraordinary. One of them could be a top graphic designer at pretty much any design firm or studio in existence. The other is a digital animator and has previously worked as an artist for a major animation studio. I can't help but feel a little awkward in showing them the comic strip or anything I design at work--it just seems so paltry compared to what I know they're capable of. But I guess I also have to understand both of these guys are twenty years older than me and just have a lot more experience at this sort of thing.

These guys also share something else: they're discontent...restless. And I've recently heard both of them talking about sending portfolios out to prospective employers. I've gotta tell you--that's terrifying. The idea of losing both of them is pretty hard for me to think about. From a work perspective, the department would lose two very talented people. From a personal perspective, I would lose a couple of mentors. Whether or not they do move on is obviously up in the air at this point, but it has become a distinct possibility.

But it's also pretty inspiring because they're not settling for a job that's not satisfying. I decided a long time ago I'm not going to keep my current job forever, and this serves as a reminder to always be working towards something and to never settle for something just because I'm comfortable with it. This relates to the comic strip, as well, because there are plenty of times when I'm discontent about the comic (whether it's art or story or exposure or what), but I'm also complacent and don't try to change or improve things. Their willingness to dig themselves free from something they don't necessarily enjoy to the fullest serves as a reminder to me to get things done if I'm not satisfied.

I don't think they read the strip regularly, but when it comes up in conversation, they always tell me to keep going with it. Keep drawing, maintain a creative outlet. If you like doing it, never stop. If you have a picture to paint or a story to tell, get it out there, or it'll eat you up inside. You know, that sort of thing.

I intend to.

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 31

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 7:55 PM
[Update by Brian]
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This is one of those strips where I could not draw anything correctly the first time around. I'm lucky I started the strip on Sunday or I probably never would have gotten it done today.

I also tried something a little different today--I took the strip to work and inked during my lunch break. I'd intended to get up early and work on it before going to work, but apparently the only thing I'm capable of getting up early for is either running or scraping nine inches of ice off my car (and then getting yelled at by the neighbor for doing so). Anyway, I took it to work and received compliments on the artwork, so my little experiment proved to be a nice ego booster, as well.

Note to self: I get a lot more done working on the strip during my lunch break at work than I do trying to go home at lunch and working on it there--the transit time is a killer.

I have a little bit of a writing buffer going for me at the moment--I have the next four strips written already. Now if I could just get a drawing buffer going, as well--that would be awesome for you and for me.

I didn't have time to do an extra blog entry last week, but I should probably be able to fit one in this week. So be on the lookout for that in two or three days.

That's all I've got. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 30

Tuesday, February 3, 2009 - 8:10 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Those ornery villains certainly do love to talk, don't they?

No, seriously. I actually had to cut a crapload of dialogue from this strip to prevent characters from having their faces covered up by word bubbles. But at least I'm learning important lessons in editing and am becoming more willing to make cuts when I need to!

I had a dentist appointment that ran a little long, which is why this strip is a tad later than I had planned. Fortunately, I feel really good about how the strip turned out, so I'm not too worried. I tried a little bit of dynamic, villainous inking there towards the end on Pratt, and I like how that turned out, too.

I don't have too much else to say right now, and I really need to go to the bathroom, so I'll wrap this up. If you missed it, check out the update below regarding the tour of my "studio."

Thanks a lot for reading, and I'll be speaking with you again soon, I'm sure!

A Tour of the "Studio"

Thursday, January 29, 2009 - 10:17 PM
[Update by Brian]
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As promised, I have posted some pictures and details of my workspace! You can take the tour by clicking not so much here, but instead right here. And for future reference, the tour can be found on the Extras page.

Not much else to report tonight--hoping to write the next strip sometime in the next couple of days, and then I intend to start drawing after the Super Bowl on Sunday. Which, for the record, I am picking Pittsburgh to win 26-24. However, I'm pulling for the Arizona Cardinals all the way.

Thanks for your support, and goodnight! :)

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 29

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 - 10:34 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Greetings from our icy tomb here in Cape Girardeau.

Things are nuts around here. We are currently experiencing our second major ice storm in as many years, the last one coming in early February of 2008. This one seems to be approximately as bad as the last one, with more sleet and freezing rain falling tonight and eventually changing over to snow. Eventually.

I went to work this morning, and we got everything done as quickly as possible and I was out the door and heading for home by 11:30 AM or so. Only a skeleton crew managed to make it in, and I figure that will be the case again tomorrow. Although the way things are going now, *I* may not even make it in tomorrow. My plan is to just wake up really early and see how things are, and decide what to do from there. This morning's commute went without incident, but it was still terrifying and probably not the smartest thing I've ever done.

Meanwhile, a new comic strip has been posted, as you probably saw. And let me tell you, getting this thing done was taxing. It seemed to take about twice as long as usual--I worked on it Monday evening and from this afternoon until now. I know some of it was due to the weather because I tend to get pretty distracted and stressed out when ice storms or flooding are in progress. The drawing went slowly, the Photoshopping went slowly, I kept forgetting to add details, and certain things I forgot to draw altogether! But the important thing is that it's done, and it was worth it in the end because I'm happy with how it turned out.

Also, if you missed my Twitter update on Sunday, I finally wrote an outline of the rest of the current story arc. I've had it fully fleshed out in my head for awhile now, but it helps me out a lot to write things out--helps me fill in the details and weed out plotholes and that sort of thing. So now I just have to write scripts for the rest of the strips and go from there. Exciting!

I'm gonna get to bed so I can wake up early enough to dig myself out of the ice in the event that I'm capable of going to work in the morning. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Quick update.

Thursday, January 22, 2009 - 10:05 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Not a whole lot to say at the moment. But I do have a rather simple sketch for you:

I mostly just did it to try out a new pen, although I guess it's always a good idea to draw here and there when I'm not drawing the actual comic strip. I saw a video of Dave Kellett, the artist of Sheldon, inking a strip using a Faber-Castell Pitt brush pen and had to try one out. I really like Mr. Kellett's line work and thought it might be worth giving one of his tools a try. I thought I did okay--it was my first time using it, so I find the result to be a little rough. But I did like the feel of the pen and I think with a little practice, it could end up being a lot of fun. And don't worry--I'm not one of these guys who thinks that buying certain tools is going to make me a more talented artist. I do, however, like to try out new instruments every now and then to see if they work better for me than what I've been using.

Also, It was suggested a couple of weeks ago that I create a new little update avatar because my old one didn't have facial hair, and because it looked too forlorn. When I realized that my old avatar is going on four years old now, I figured maybe it was about time. So, there's that.

That's all I've got for now. Goodnight!

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 28

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - 7:09 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I'm really happy with how this strip turned out. I was kind of hesitant about it once I'd had it written--wasn't sure if I could pull it off. But it all turned out okay. I was also sick to my stomach all day, so that didn't help. That started yesterday afternoon, and when I got home from work, I went to bed and stayed there until 7:00 this morning. I called in sick because I still felt really awful, but it all worked out in the end because that ended up giving me time to finish the comic. At first I was afraid I wouldn't get it done in time, but I made it.

I used the Wacom tablet on this one a little bit, just for some touch-ups and little details. I'm getting the hang of it and can definitely see myself using it more and more often as time progresses. I never really gave Wacoms the time of day, usually saying things like, "Bah! I can do the same things with a mouse that I can do with a Wacom!" It turns out this is not true--there is a little more control with the Wacom, and I found myself getting some things done with greater ease than I would have with the mouse.

My new desk made the use of the Wacom possible. Like I said in the last blog entry, I intend to post pictures of my new desk and my drawing area probably sometime later this week (if you're curious about that sort of thing). It's working out really well, and I haven't spilled anything on it yet!

I don't have much else to report at the moment, so I'm gonna go eat some soup. Enjoy the comic, and I'll talk to you again soon!

"Here's a worthy foe. Look at him, Smithers--exercising away!"

Thursday, January 15, 2009 - 11:56 PM
[Update by Brian]
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A few days before the new year, I committed myself to regular exercise again. Exercise is something I did pretty regularly for about a 30-month period, save for some time off here and there if I was sick or had an injury or had to work a lot. And I was in pretty good shape, too! Still a little lumpier than I would like, but I'm confident I would have been able to outrun zombies without falling down or running out of breath if the need arose.

Unfortunately, as time progressed, my dedication to the strip and to my sports blog, other projects and responsibilities, getting a promotion at work and working a lot of extra hours for a few months as a result, and adjusting to life with a girlfriend sort of pushed exercise into a dark, forgotten corner. Every now and then I'd have a couple of spare hours in which I could do something, but for the most part, I just didn't have time for it anymore.

Around October or so, I was starting to have stomach problems. I always had heartburn or indigestion, and pretty much everything I ate made me feel awful. This led to a few bouts with nausea and severe stomach cramps (and the other gross stuff that goes along with it). I saw a couple of doctors and decided some changes to the diet and lifestyle were probably going to be necessary. And while I was doing that, I figured I might as well get totally healthy while I was at it.

And thus, a re-dedication to exercise was established. But this time, I've been doing my running at around 5:45 in the morning instead of around 5:45 in the evening when I get off work. And let me tell you, running in the morning is working out so much better than I ever thought it would. At the cost of going to bed a little earlier than usual, I get my exercise out of the way first thing, which leaves me the entire evening to do whatever I need to do. It's cold as crap that early, but I think that just makes me go faster because I want to get back inside as quickly as possible.

If you've been keeping up with my Twitter posts at all, you may have seen some observations I've made about running early in the morning. First, there are a surprisingly large number of people out and about that early--lots of cars driving around, and on any given morning, I've never seen less than two other people on the trail I take. They're very friendly and say "good morning" to you and everything. It's like stepping into an alternate reality. Also, I've smelled a skunk a couple of times while running, and that has me terrified that I'm going to encounter a skunk on the trail and not see it in time. Or that I'm going to step in some dog poop that I also won't see in time. At least it'll be frozen...until warmer weather gets here, anyway.

I'm not running tomorrow morning because it's supposed to be less than zero outside, so my exercise will be making a brief return to the evening. But on Monday I'll be back out there, dark and early.

Other than that, I'd say the exercising is going really well. I don't have a lot of endurance right now, but it's slowly building up again. I also don't do my push-ups and sit-ups and other weight-training stuff often enough, so that is still a habit I need to work on. But I'm getting there. I have gained some weight since I started, but I figure that is from the muscles building themselves up again after six or so months of atrophy.

My new computer desk has been assembled and is pretty much all set up. I'm gonna put some pictures of it and my drawing area on here soon as part of a little feature of some sort. So be on the lookout for that. Until then, goodnight.

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 27

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - 8:21 PM
[Update by Brian]
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I was dreading this strip. I knew it was coming up, and I had no idea how to do it. I wanted to convey the idea of two fights going on simultaneously, but I wasn't really sure how to go about doing that. I first considered just doing two separate strips and running one this week and the other next week, but I want to keep the fighting at as quick of a pace as possible and was afraid that doing two separate strips would bog it down too much. So instead, I decided to go with a mash-up collage sorta thing of both fights going on at once. Now that I see it completed, it seems pretty messy, but that's basically what I was going for--a lot of confusion and mish-mashing. I hope it turned out okay and makes sense. I guess it's up to you to either follow each fight individually, or read the whole thing in one big clump. Drawing it was a lot of fun, and it went a lot quicker than I thought it would, considering there are 18 panels. Inking and Photoshopping took a pretty long time, though.

I got a new computer desk that I'm going to be putting together tomorrow, and I'm really excited about it! You can tell I'm a big nerd because I get excited about things like desks and office supplies and efficient use of space. With the new desk, I should have room to put my Wacom tablet and other drawing materials and notepads and stuff on the desk with my keyboard, mouse, and Hawaiian punch, and will hopefully be a little more productive.

The strip was a little later than I anticipated because it was brought to my attention that the heater in my apartment is broken and I had to investigate. It's true--it really is broken. And just in time for the coldest nights of the year! This will be interesting....

That's all I've got at the moment. I should be back soon with a new blog post. Until then, enjoy the strip, and thanks for reading!

Stu Versus San Francisco, Part 26

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - 8:20 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Hooray! First new comic of the year! I can already feel good about myself because I've already made more comics in 2009 than I did in 2007. I really like the inks in this one--everything looks very bold and clear. Also, check out panel 5--I used some of those cartoon physics that allow Mike and Renee to conceal their bodies in a space that is impossibly small to fit them. I try to throw a little something like that in every now and then. It's also easy to draw. :)

The Webcomics Weekly guys were talking about their New Year's resolutions on their first podcast of the year. I hadn't really thought about anything like that, but I guess if I were to make one, I would like to greatly increase my efforts to promote the comic and grow an audience and community. Oh, and I need to change the name of the comic. I actually thought of some ideas the other day, but they were too generic and have already been taken by other things.

Also, my goal for this year is to top the number of comics I made last year, so I need to make 47. Right now, that sounds really easy, but you never know--something may come up, or I might fall into a sophomore slump and slack off. But hopefully that won't happen.

I don't have anything else to add right now, but if you missed it, check below and you'll see I made a blog post on Saturday. I guess you can add that to my list of resolutions, as well--more frequent blog posts. Hey, anything to keep you coming back here on days when the comic isn't being updated.

Thanks for making 2008 a roaring success, and here's to a great 2009! See you next time!

A Reasonably Productive New Year!

Saturday, January 3, 2009 - 4:25 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Three days into the new year, and I still don't feel like a lazy bum. That is a new record! However, I spilled some applesauce today, so that means I couldn't even get 72 hours into the new year without making a mess...probably a new personal worst. But that's okay! Because otherwise, I feel like I've already accomplished a lot.

As you may recall from a blog entry WAY back in September, I learned that my website email was broken because I could receive, but could not send. I tried numerous ways to fix this, followed my server's troubleshooting to the T, consulted three wise elders from three different continents, and came up with nothing. Finally resolving to fix this lingering issue once and for all, I re-setup my email through Gmail, and immediately regained the ability to send! I was very excited by this development, as well as by the fact that I can now use Gmail to manage my site email instead of my archaic version of Microsoft Outlook, which isn't very good, anyway. I don't get much email as it is (except junk, which is now filtered much, much better, by the way), but now when I do, you can bet you'll probably get a response.

I have some other plans for the site, as well. Nothing major, and there probably won't be any big changes to the layout, but I may attempt to implement Comicpress to make things a little easier on me. The only problem is that I'll have to expand my knowledge of web design beyond basic HTML, but I need to do that, anyway.

I also did some work on another website I maintain that hadn't been touched since November mostly due to the holidays and stuff associated with the holidays. Another accomplishment I feel pretty good about!

I also finally finished Stephen King's On Writing, which I have been reading since October or November--I don't know why it took me so long to get through it, because I enjoyed it a lot. I think maybe it was because I get most of my reading done on my lunch breaks at work, and I didn't get many of those lately because I've either been eating out with friends and/or girlfriend, not taking a lunch break due to work overload, or coming home for lunch on Mondays and/or Tuesdays to sneak in some extra work on the strip. I'm sure I lost about 50% of you as soon as you heard me say "Stephen King," but regardless of what others may think of the man, I think he's a great storyteller, and I learned a lot about writing from his book and how I might be able to alter my approach for the better. That goes for comic strips and any other kind of story. A friend from work loaned me a couple of Stephen King books--The Talisman and Dreamcatcher--so I guess I'll tackle those next so I get get them back to her as quickly as possible.

And on top of all that, I finished the bag of Christmas cookies my mom sent with me. Aw yeah.