Since I have tomorrow off, and probably won't go anywhere near the internet (thanks to having an extra-ciricular workload that is a little overwhelming, but not unrealistic), so I've opted to post the images for @$$hole #13 early for everyone.  The official page will not go up until 3am tonight, however, so if you click the link to it, you won't get anywhere. 

Finishing off the battle against the girl from the Ring, I had to give her a name.  Since I didn't feel like getting into a legal battle (especially an international legal battle) if I ever got around to selling these stories, I decided that the best way to end it was to give her a name.  I've always thought it strange that they changed the character's name in the American release, since I've seen Sadako referenced in several other Japanese media.  Apparently, she's like Freddy Krugar...only more scarey, and less annoying. 

The character will continue to pop up (in fact, the next several pages feature her), but her story arch is done.  She'll certainly play a major role in later stories, however, as she's becoming Trevor's roommate.  I have a few stand-alone strips for the next month or so, and then we'll get into the next story arch.  Something a little more sophomoric, and I hope a little more funny.

I've been spending a good deal of my time lately writing The Temple of a Thousand Tears: The Legend of Abraham, since my friend Olivia has volunteered to illustrate the 25 page "missing chapter."  It will fill in the gaps about what caused an entire religion to form around this little kid, and the events that lead up to his receiving the Seven Lost Keys of Abraham.  I hope it's interesting for everyone, since it's a tale worth telling, and Olivia's artwork is awesome!

In any case, I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I plan to spend a good deal of it trying to work on a new portfolio, and not playing video games....

Well dear readers, it looks like Trevor wins again. 

After escaping from the TV, the girl from the Ring has finally come to claim Trevor's poor pitiful soul.  However, with some whitty banter, Trevor is able to take away her self-confidence and thus, power her down.  As a compromise, he offers her an alternative to her current (dated) methods, and signs her up for a YouTube account.

Hilarious.

This seems like the start of a beautiful friendship...or is it?  Stay tuned for more in this story arch.

Even though I've been on vacation for the past 2 weeks (seriously, read my blog for details and pictures), @$$hole has been updating on time.  Another new page will go up on Friday, almost completing this story arch about the little girl from the Ring. 

I have a few one-shots planned, and then another story arch that will end this round (or season, if you're a TV kind of person) before a short break for me, and some new awesome guest strips for you - the reader...because I love you...but not in a creepy way.  As planned, I'm going for 20+ straight comics on a regular basis before I have another round of guest strips.  I think I'll be able to meet that goal.

Also, I was talking with my friend Olivia who attends the Savanna College of Art and Design.  She's coming back from school for the summer in July, and is interested in working on the 15-25 pages of the Temple prequel:  The Legend of Abraham.  We're going to make it a little more stylized than the previous story, and it will be more like a children's story (so less gore and violence).  If we enjoy working with each other, we might work on some additional projects down the road (I have stories up the wazoo).  I'm looking forward to it.

Now, here are the pages that I haven't pimped yet:


If you recall from the previous page, Seven Days after I received the phone call from the little girl from the Ring, I turned my TV around so she couldn't come out and kill me.  Point for Trevor!  Seven days later, it appears that she's still stuck behind the TV (because I haven't watched television in over 4 years, just DVDs and TV shows on DVD).  Obviously, this has a bit of an impact on the girl, as this has never happened to her before...it forces her to be a little introspective, and reflect on her life and her deeds.


Apparently, she's able to free herself somehow while I'm on the computer (probably watching a TV show on DVD, but more than likely working on this comic).  Her dress is all glowy, because I thought it would look cooler than making her look like she has bad reception.  This effect won't stay forever, though, as she's lost much of her power being stuck behind the TV for half a month.  I really like the coloring on this page, and it was an experiment for some ideas I have down the road for the Temple sequel:  Holy War. 

In any case, that catches you all up to speed on the pages that I didn't talk about while I was on vacation (but that came out on time...that's important).  Be sure to check out my website this Friday for the new page, and feel free to leave me comments on my MySpace and on the Exile Forums. 

T

ACEN 2007 was the 10th Anniversary of the event, and it was just as uncoordinated (but fun) as ever.  ACEN has always been an exercise in patience and waiting in lines, and this year was no different.  However, I'll only talk a little bit about waiting in lines...as that's not where all of the fun (and pictures) happened. 

Laura and I took off from Ann Arbor around 10:30am, heading for Kalamazoo to meet up with Pat and Sarah (Kim and Levi were unable to attend this year at the last minute).  We had until 2:30pm until Sarah would get out of class, so Laura and I went to my favorite college hot spot - Campus Kitchen.  This place was my favorite because 1) it delivered to the dorms and my apartment, 2) had generous portions of food, and 3) was very inexpensive. 

Around 2:30pm, we loaded up Sarah's car and started out 3+ hour drive (with traffic, more like 5+) to Chicago.  It was hot and uncomfortable, and the traffic sucked when it was moving (and was worse when it wasn't).  Around 8pm Chicago-time, we got on the shuttle and went to the convention center to get our badges.  We waited in a line for 2+ hours for badges that were supposed to be sent to us in the mail.  I've talked about this situation before, and it still irks me considerably.  We did meet some neat people in line though (Dr. Cloudberg), and they nominated me as their negotiator to have the $5 "we fucked up" charge waived.  I must've been the first person who did this, because the conversation went something like this.

Them:  "Okay, that'll be $5."

Me:  "Tracking Number."

Them:  Excuse me?

Me:  The $5 is contingent on the badge actually having been sent to me.  If you even hope to have me honor this illegal breach of contract, you have to provide proof that you sent the badge to me in the first place.  I'll require a tracking number and a current location of the badge before I'll even consider giving you anything.

Them:  Well, we don't have a tracking number....

Me:  That's good, because I didn't bring $5.  This was a blatent breach of contract anyway, and to avoid a federal class-action lawsuit, you should be compensating me for your screw-up.  If this were an airliner, you wouldn't be charging me an extra $5 to pick up my plane ticket that I already paid for...you'd be offering me free frequent flier miles and bump me up to first class. 

Them:  Well, we can have you sign this form instead.  Read it over, and then sign at the bottom.  I know it doesn't have a signature line, but....

Me:  (While Reading) This is an alternative contract.  It states exactly what we just agreed not to do, which is me pay you $5 for a badge that I already paid for. 
Them:  Well, what it's supposed to say is....

Me:  "Supposed to" and "actually says" are two very different things, and I'm not signing this document. 

Them:  (Checking with superiors)  Well, you don;t have to sign it...just take it with you.

Me:  Let me get this straight:  I just spent 2 hours in a line that I tried to avoid by having my badge mailed to me - something that you guys botched up big time - to find out that I don't have to pay your illegal $5 if I take this illegal, non-legally binding document that says I won't sue you, but doesn't require me to comply with it?

Them:  ...ummmm, yes?

Me:  Just checking.  Where's my badge?

After we finally got the badges, I was tempted to go back to the front of the line and (for the service charge of $2 per person), represent them to the organization and have their $5 fee waived.  I would've been rolling in cash!  However, because I'm sure some idiot would eventually try to sue ACEN, I decided to not get involved in litigations by avoiding the situation entirely. 

There was a brief walk around the convention center, and then we went back to the hotel, and ordered some Chicago-style pizza. 



Friday was the first official day of the con, and Pat dressed up as a character from Full Metal Alchemist (don't ask me which one, I've never seen the show).  I was desperate, and put a bandana on my head and said "arg" a lot...I was a pirate.  I was going to haggle the dealer booths so much as to be stealing from them, or so I thought.....



Since this was the day that people who didn't have to pre-register were waiting in line, there was a good-sized crowd at the convention.  If you look at the picture below of Raziel from Soul Reaver, and imagine that the line is about 30-40 yards long, and about 7-10 lines deep...that was the pre-line.  The line just to get in line, as it were.  The actual line was another 2+ hours of waiting on the inside of the convention, where all the action was happening. 



Here's the kicker though:  as soon as we arrived at the convention center, some fool pulled the fire alarm.  The entire building had to be evacuated while the fire fighters and police did a sweep, to make sure it was all clear.  I'm sure that all the people waiting in line wanted to find the person who did it, and hang them upside-down from the elevators....



Eventually, we were allowed back into the building, and we headed straight for Artist's Alley and the dealer booths.  Artist's Alley is a place where I always like to look around, but about half of the people have no real reason to be selling their kid's drawings for money.  They should be putting them on the fridge and showing their friends and family.  However, many people there had some sweet art, and some reasonable prices.  Laura got a few items throughout the weekend, including the plushi sushi I got for her. 



People were dressed up in all types of characters, many of which I did not recognize (which means that I'm out of the loop when it comes to anime, or they're from shows that I have no desire to see because I think they're geared towards a teen or younger audience, and that doesn't interest me in the slightest).  However, many oufits were well done (or done last-minute, and somewhat inventive). 

         
         
         
         

Friday we were done around 5pm or so, and opted to call my friends Adam and Morgan for a dinner get-together.  We drove to Skokie for some Cheesecake Factory, which Pat, Sarah, and Laura had never had before.  We shared meals, since the portions are so large, and were absolutely stuffed by the time we were done.  Since it's Cheesecake Factory (and everyone knows that my weakness is cheesecake), we had to order some dessert and keep our left-overs in a box.  We went back to the new condo briefly, and then departed for some sleep.  It had been a long day, and the last full day of the con was still to come.



We left on Saturday at 11am, and arrived to find that people were still in line to get their badges.  My desire to sell my "legal services" heightened, but I continued to ignore it.  Laura and I hit the dealer booths some more, while Pat and Sarah attended panels with dub voice actors and web comic creators, as well as a few photo-shoots for FMA.  I bought a "martial arts coat" and wore that around the con, and apparently people questioned if I'd made it or what character I was.  I told them that I found it at a booth for $40. 

This is one of the things that both made me feel elated and disappointed at the same time about this con:  decent prices.  I'm used to booths over-charging for goods, so I can haggle them down.  Maybe not enough people were buying stuff, or perhaps people were haggling them down too well...either way, they had movies here for $10 (and not cheap, crappy movies either.  I mean anime DVD series, stuff not released yet, new stuff), 20% off DVDs, special bulk deal discounts, and cheap friggin' CDs (sadly, none of the ones that I was looking for).  I bought Tekkaman Blade 1 and 2 for Shane, Laura bought me Azumi, and that's about it.  Laura got a Japanese dress, cat ears, and I bought her a fan. 



We went home for dinner and a nap around 6pm or so, and then had to head back around 9pm before the shuttle shut down for the night.  We were headed for the Soap Bubble - the biggest dance at ACEN.  This was also an exercise in waiting, as it's always behind schedule.  About 45 minutes after it was supposed to start, we were let into the ballroom.  Two guys were singing live for the dance, but their music wasn't all that great.  Also, they stopped after each song to talk about themselves and promote their music.  After the 3rd or 4th time of this, one of them said, "I don't see a lot of dancing out there," to which I replied, "Well, maybe if you'd play a full set people could get into your music, ass!"  We left soon after to wait in line for the 18+ improve show.



After the improve show (which was awesome - the American voice of Asuka talking about "cock" every time she was on-stage was to die for), we went to the hentai room (the first time they've had this room, I think), which was the best-lit showroom I've ever seen...most likely to discourage people from doing certain unmentionable things.  Bible Blake The New Testiment was playing, and we left during a particularly horrible scene.  I guess they had to play the dubbed version, so it was more funny and less erotic. 

We got back to the hotel room and crashed around 2am, and had to be on the road less than 6 hours later.  The drive home was much quicker, and much less stressful for Sarah (I passed out in the back seat).  We made it home in record time, just to go to Mother's Day celebrations.  Afterwards, I went back to the apartment and tried to get some work done.  All in all, it was a great time.

So, seven days after the phone call, it only goes to show that the girl's coming after you.  However, it would be difficult to attack a guy who doesn't watch TV very often (doesn't even have a cable connection hooked up, because the TV is only used to play video games or DVDs).  Therefore, I could go for a good long while with the TV facing the wall...thus giving her no entry into my apartment to - you know - kill me. 

Some comments have been made about the level of dust coming off my hands.  I was upgrading the ol' cables the other day (doing some wire-management all the while), and had to move a lot of stuff around.  I found that there was a healthy amount of dust UNDER my TV.  I cleaned it out as best I could, but it befuddles the mind a bit about how that much dust could've gotten under something that weighs 1/4 of me, and doesn't ever move.  I understand dust being on top of it, around it, even attracted to it (because static also attracts dust)...but under it? 

In any case, round 1 goes to me in the battle for my life against the girl from The Ring.  I'm going to be spending the weekend getting some more pages done, as I'm going on vacation for the next few weekends (and Saturday is when all of these pages get worked on). 

May 10-13 I'll be at ACEN in Chicago, playing around with the anime girls and trying not to get into any trouble with anyone dressed in a Rei cosplay outfit...because that seems to happen whenever I go to these things.  This is assuming, of course, that they can make good on their end of the deal and mail my badge to me on time (before I leave for Chicago on Thursday morning).  Apparently, they're having some problems with pre-registered people and getting their badges to them on time.  Then they had to post a rather illegal option on their main page, which is (correct if I'm wrong here, tort law people) in violation of the  contract from the original application.  Adding insult to injury, they're making us stand in a line that we were trying to avoid in the first place AND charging us an additional $5 to pick up something that they were unable to get to us on time.  Sounds like a federal class-action lawsuit waiting to happen to me. 

May 18-20, Laura and I will be on vacation with her family at a place called Put-in-Bay.  I've never been before, but they apparently do this every year, so I'm sure it's going to be fun and exciting. 

I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and post them on my MySpace blog. 

So, Scott's been hard at work on the Exile archieves, having posted up the thumb-nails and old strips for Exile 3: Serpentine.  He recently completed the archieves and thumb-nails for Exile 2: Repair Manual.  Exile 1: Broken Wings is up, but there are no thumb-nails just yet. 

I'll summarize the stories below, and link to the first comic:

Exile 1: Broken Wings is the story of Amarao, a mysterious man who must travel to Mars to rescue his love Alexis and battle his nemesis, Exron.  Along the way he meets several companions, none of whom are truely what they seem.  45 pages.

Exile 2: Repair Manual follows the exploits of Napolean, a rich alcoholic who is arrested for treason and pedophilia.  In truth, he's only guilty of one of those crimes.  If it weren't enough that he was being set-up, suddenly people are trying to kill him.  A group of rebels must save his life and try to expose the conspiracy behind while he was framed, and who the enemy among them could be.  42 pages.

Exile 3: Serpentine is about Mobius, an Academic who is trying to change the world.  Along the way he's sucked into a war between two opposing religious factions, both of which are convinced that he's the only person that can help them accomplish their goals.  Incompleted 32 pages.