@$$hole! updated today on both my site and Drunk Duck. Alright, so it comes to the forground that Susie doesn't own anything beyond that damp night gown, and let's be honest - it's time to put her in something else.

I've had Laura in a few outfits, and Trevor in the work suit and in the regular (or "casual") outfit, so it's long overdue to put Susie into something new.

Which segues into the next big story arc, but it comes with a few conditions that I hope you'll all accept. I want to try an experiment with this comic and test my prowess at updating not once, but three times per week. The trade off on this is that that the updates will be in black and white. The have this all make sense and not stand out too much, I will do a few exposition pages, and then go into a 38 page story arc that will last from February - March.

Again, this story will update 3 times per week, but will be in black and white. Would anyone have any problems with that? Anyone have any suggestions or think this could hamper the readership and "comic love," as it were? Let me know. Give me some hard core in-my-face feedback. :P

This story arc would start sometime in February (probably about 2 weeks from now), and would center about a special story involving Laura's 21st birthday (that's right, she's a youngin'). However, I spent a crap-ton of money on her for x-mas and can't really afford to get her anything else...so I'm going to MAKE her something. And you all get to enjoy it too!

So comment back, let me know what you think.

The end of chapter 4 and some fan art. New chapter starts on Monday. The story's almost over!

From the Hagakure:

A certain swordsman in his declining years said the following:

"In one's life, there are levels in the pursuit of study. In the lowest level, a person studies but nothing comes of it and he feels that both he and others are unskillful. At this point he is worthless. In the middle level he is still useless but is aware of his own insufficiences and can also see the insufficiences of others. In a higher level he has pride concerning his own ability, rejoices in praise from others, and laments the lack of ability in his fellows. This man has worth. In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing.

"These are the levels in general. But there is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished. He truly knows his own insufficiences and never in his whole life thinks that he has succeeded. He has no thoughts of pride but with self-abasement knows the Way to the end. It is said that Mast Yagyu once remarked, 'I do not know the way to defeat others, but the wayto defeat myself.'

"Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillfull than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending."

I had a picture in my head of this very well dressed character for the interviewer, with highlights in his hair, and a pink shirt. Very metro-sexual. The office would be all brown (to reflect the coffee), and I would kill the bastard right off!

Originally, this was going to be significantly more graphic. I figured that if I had the guy puking his guts out of his mouth, the grotesque nature of it would be funny - but then I remembered, I was aiming for a T+ rating, so I had to take out the gross bits and just make it an awful lot of vomit. Add some bloodshot eyes and veins popping out of his face, and I had myself a death scene.

It's probably a little extreme for what some people thought might happen, but Susie's character is a killer. She did it in the movies, and she's still doing it - although she's kind of powered down at the moment. Which may change in the near future....

I hope you enjoy the comic! Despite how gross it is. Remember, it was originally going to be a lot more gross.

I had been battling for months trying to figure out what job I wanted Susie to have (yes, I'm that far ahead in my writing, just not in my art), and I had it down to two options: a video store so I could make fun of movies, or a coffee shop. I started bouncing ideas off from friends, and ultimately we agreed that Susie is the ultimate emo kids - she BELONGS in a coffee place. But I didn't just want to limit her to coffee, so I made it a coffee shop and cyber cafe.

Then I had another hurtle to overcome: did I even want to show the interview?

I mean, I already went through the interview questions with Trevor, and Susie failed them...how would she react to this situation, get the job, AND be funny about it.

Then it hit me...and you have it here before you! Part two next week!

PS: Having gotten feedback from many readers about how difficult it is to read viner hand MT, I decided to have Susie give a little cough and switch her font to the same that everyone else uses. I hope it's easier to read now.

Movie Night #74: Baseketball (1992)
Director: David Zucker
Cast: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Yasmine Bleeth, Robert Vaughn
Plot: Sports fanatics / slackers Joe Cooper (Parker) and Doug Reemer (Stone) create their own sporting event that anyone can play, and it turns into a world-class regular sports event. However, when the team manager and co-owner of the game dies, it's up to Reemer and Cooper to keep the sport out of the hands of greedy managers who want to turn it into every other sport, and maximize their profits. Hilarity ensues!

Movie Night 73: Blade Runner (1982)
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Edward James Olmos, Daryl Hannah
Plot: Rick Decker (Ford) is a Blade Runner - a detective that specializes in hunting down and "retiring" replicants (which are basically synthetic robots with a 4 year life span). He's recently become aware of 4 replicants that have arrived on Earth and have started killing their way to the top of the Tyrell Corp - the people who manufacture replicants for soldiers and slave labor.

However, when Decker becomes involved with Tyrell's assistant, he discovers that all is not as it seems. She is also a replicant, implanted with the memories of Tyrell's neice. As Decker's journey to track down the rogue replicants continues, he begins to question the decisions he's made and the job he performs - and if he's not a replicant himself!

Temple turned 50 on Wednesday with a revelation about what's in the parcel that the swordsman carries around with him. Although many readers believed it to be metaphor, this is actually from the Hagakure - which is one of the books that I bought with x-mas money, and translates to "In the Shadow of Leaves." It's a series of 300 quotes from a 1700s retired samurai who became a Buddhist monk. It helped me better understand what a samurai is and how they think, and this is one of their perceptions - that their swords are their souls.

Check out the pages, and enjoy!

Chapter 4.10

I'm finally starting to get better about announcing my updates, since work is a little more managed at the moment...not sure how long that will last, however. I expect to be very busy during the month of January, and hopefully it'll slow down a bit after that. We shall see.

Anyway, we're about half-way into Chapter 4 on Drunk Duck, and I've introduced a new mini-mystery that will be finished before the end of the chapter. Also, many secrets about the swordsman will be revealed. Enjoy the pages!