Here begins the first real story arch for @$$hole, which was inspired after I watched "Ringu 2" on DVD.  I thought about the comparisons between the original Japanese flick (a good movie, and definately worth watching) and the crappy American sequel (which sucked ass on so many levels as to leave one's posterior purple and blue for weeks on end).  Therefore, I decided that it was high time that I duked it out with the little girl from The Ring (and ultimately, poked fun at Hollywood for being a piece of shit and producing hack stories that don't pay homage to their source material).

In the background of this page, you'll notice a bus with an advertisements of a woman lying on it.  This ad exists in China, and it a picture of my ex-girlfriend's younger sister, Susie.  I just want it to be known that, if I can, I'm not ashamed to promote what my friends (or ex-girlfriend's sisters) are doing.  In fact, I like to think that I encourage people to do what they want to do, and have usually expected the same in return. 

Unfortunately, the word balloons in this page are not positioned as well as I would have liked, and it's difficult to tell the order that was originally intended.  Until I can figure out a good way to create a curved tail for a word balloon in PhotoShop, I don't have another option beyond the straight-line tail.  This is my fault and failure, and I will work to correct this in the near future.

I've been widdling away lately and updating a 3-year old portfolio, so as to apply for a more creative position at my work.  I hear that the creative department is under staffed right now, and would like to help out - even if it doesn't mean a full position change, or a shift to another department.  I just want to get that thing updated, so I can persue more creative opportunities in the future.  However, this weekend will be dedicated to @$$hole comics again so I have a good amount in queue - this will help prevent me from getting behind.  After this first year, if I'm able to maintain my weekly schedule, I plan to start updating another comic on a regular basis too...and maybe, just maybe, update @$$hole twice per week.

We shall see.  In the meantime, enjoy the new page, and I'll see you all next week...in 7 days!

To the few people that actually read (or have read) the G-Man series that I've been restoring, I just did an 18 page update over the weekend.  Granted, I did this series in high school, and it's drawn on lined paper, but I've been cleaning it up (the artwork), and adding new text (so now it's spelling-error free), so it's a whole new batch of enjoyment.  I want to get all of these pages finished so I can do new stories with these characters sometime in the future, and there's a lot of backstory (over 300 pages worth). 

This batch of updates involves some of G-Man's first cross-overs and extended stories, of which many followed afterwards.  He battles alien invaders, clowns with no fear, and even his best friend:  T-Man!

These are the issues that inspired my friend Jeremy Galimberti (who is the G-Man) to make his song called T-Man.  We created quite the franchise back in the day, and were even going to do a live-action movie (which would've looked horrible, but would've been a lot of fun to do).  I took the script and co-opted it into a story for comics, but it was never made...however, some of the final G-Man comics are lead-ins to that story...teasers, if you will.

In any case, check out the updated pages and enjoy.  I'm going to try to start updating this comic on a more regular basis, for anyone who is actually reading it.  I want to update on Tuesdays, 2 pages per week (since they were front and back on lined paper, so why not get the full story that G got to read when I first made them - you know, when I was supposed to be learning during class.  :P

This should have been Laura's first appearance in the comic, as this shows how we really are together.  Lots of cuddling and conversation, and usually there's a movie on the TV in the background somewhere.  This joke is a set up for later jokes down the way, but I needed a way to introduce the poltergeist that lives in my apartment:  Charlie. 

I have a rug in the front of the apartment - similar to a welcome mat, but it doesn't have any text on it.  Obviously, the purpose of this mat is to make sure no one tracks dirt and stuff into the apartment (as shoes in the apartment are a big no-no).  However, the mat will randomly slide when no one's looking, so it's against the closset and the door (and neither can be opened at that point), instead of flush against the wall, like I usually leave it. 

Next week introduces the next story-arch of @$$hole, and I think that it'll be interesting for the people who aren't expecting it...although perhaps a little throw back to something that (I believe) everyone's seen in the past.  Be sure to check it out on Friday.

I mentioned back in the day that Exile 3: Serpentine was finally coming to an end.  Scott, Carl, and myself all sat down and wrote out the final pages, outlined what would happen and who would do what, and then Scott eventually posted a rudimentary script on the forums.  However, nothing's happened since. 

Meanwhile, I have a few creative opportunities at work that require me to submit a portfolio, but none of my stuff is current - I've only been working on comics for the last 3 or so years.  So a thought occurs to me:  why not combine the ad elements that I need in a portfolio and apply my comic skills in design and illustration, and thus make a current portfolio with content that may not necessarily apply to the clients that I would be working on, but that shows off a little more range in my abilities.  Hence, the poster idea was born.

This was originally going to be a stand-alone poster, but then I got it in my head to do a short series of them with the other characters.  One will feature Giddeon and The Reaper, with copy that reads "An Alliance is Forged," while the final will have Clistro and says, "A Hero Will Rise." 

I'd like to rework the copy on that last one to fit the present tense, though.  I have a few ideas, and a little time to put it together.  Expect updates throughout the rest of the week and weekend. 

Friday brings us another funny page from your friendly neighborhood comic creator - ME!  @$$hole is underway, and the strips are starting to take some funny turns.  Much of your feedback and e-mails have been helpful in shaping current and future pages, helping to mold my strips into humorous comics that everyone can enjoy...especially if they have a similar sense of humor to me!


This was actually one of the first comics that I came up with, but I actually had to have several comics before it to make the joke work - as it's not possible to have fan mail when you haven't established yourself, and you don't have fans yet.  Future installments of "fan mail" will actually reflect real fan mail, so feel free to send it to me via the forums or MySpace (e-mail not available at this time).

Updates for the website will be coming as summer gets closer.  I'll have a little more time around then, and Laura will be able to help me with anything that I don't have time to do.  She also said that she'd be updating my MySpace profile soon (hopefully it'll allow IE users to view my page without crashing), but not until her finals are over.  In the meantime, I've been working on restoring more pages of G-Man, and I have a big update planned for sometime in the next week or so (about 10 - 15 pages will be updated).  I'm trying to finish a complete multi-part story so there's no long wait between the conclusion.  Since this comic is already finished, it gets updated irregularly.  I want to get all of them up so I can start making new comics with these characters, so backstory is important to what I want to do - hence, read the comics.  :P

In any case, I hope you enjoy the latest @$$hole page, and I look forward to receiving your feedback and fan mail!  Enjoy!

@$$hole #5 marks the first appearance of Laura, who I spent many weeks designing (mostly because I couldn;t get her hair to look good).  I do fear that she comes off a bit like a bitch in this first appearance, and I hope that people don't start thinking of her that way - those of you who have not met her.  In reality, I should not have made this her first appearance, and instead allowed the reader to get to know her before doing something like this. 

Carl came up with a few suggestions to make this page more funny, and I have to agree that his lines were better.  In panel 2, Laura would say, "No, it's THAT time, when I get my period," and I would reply with, "That's a strange place to end a sentence."

This strip was inspired by Mitch Clem's "San Antonio Rock City," where he and his wife are having this conversation but instead he starts dropping his pants expecting to get something his wife is not really willing to give to him, if you get my meaning.  I've heard similar jokes before and thought, wouldn't it be funny to reverse the roles, where the girl is the one who wants to "go down" and the guy's really kind of clueless about it.  Well, here's my attempt at that joke. 

I hope you enjoy.  Come back next week for more @$$hole!

T