A little background information about Abraham, his family, and the Tojin of the time. Remember, Tojin are elf-like in appearance, and in the modern times, are considered a race of assassins. This is a stereotype, however. The Tojin are loosely based on the Abrab community, specifically dealing with the stereotypes that developed post-September 11th. Many Americans started to associate Arabs with being terrorists (and to a degree, many still do that today, almost a decade later). The actions of a few have swayed the opinions of the many - and poorly.

This is also the case here. But more on that in another prequel.

In any case, by learning a bit about Abraham and his family, we glimpse a few of his character motivations - which are important in making a story move forward. Keep in mind, this kid is like 9-10 years old. However, he's already a kick-ass fighter and devoted to his family. Let's see what happens next....

My Site and Drunk Duck

For those of your unfamiliar, an "exit strategy" is something that JMS recommended all writers have, especially when trying to write for a prolonged TV series. Specifically, I'm referencing Babylon 5 here. He actually had to use exit strategies a few times throughout the show, and he pulled it off without a hitch.

This page was obviously brought on by the pain of the situation between Laura and I currently, but I came to a decision during it's inception: I don't want to get rid of her character. I mean, sure, if she asks me to, I can take her character out of the story no problem. However, I've always said that the Trevor and Laura in this comic are fictional characters (granted, losely based on real people), but they act differently and live different lives. I mean, I can't remember the last time I fell into a hole and blinded a gnome king with my bald head....

So the point is, while this page represents a funny "what if?" situation, it's in no way reflective of what I want to do with her character. Mostly, I wanted to poke fun at Bendis "Secret Invasion," and this was a good opportunity to do just that.

As for life updates, I really have nothing new to report here. My attempts to close the gap have either failed miserably or blown up in my face. I've decided to change my attitude about the whole thing, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt still - you don't get over 2 years in just 6 weeks. I'll probably be affected by this for a long time (the last time something like this happened, I didn't get over it for 2 years or so). There's currently no closure, nor does there appear to be an effort towards closure on the other persona's part - and why should there be, when they hold all of the answers and have the ability to close the book on their end and move on? It sucks for me, but I have to think about her. I look at the situation like this: I could be a bastard and post songs like "Rascal Flatts - What Hurts the Most" on my MySpace page and feel sorry for myself and continue to question everything that ever happened during the 2 years that we were together, or I could accept what's happened without explanation and understanding and move forward. I've been reveling in the first one for a while now...maybe it's time to try the second one....

I just hope she's happy and able to move forward from this decision. And I plan to try to do the same...in time.

In any case, until I hear otherwise, expect to see plenty more Laura in the story (I have some damn funny stories planned for her coming up). Also, I'm still working on getting Waffles the kitten - I should know by this weekend if Danny wants to give her to me or not, as a few other people have approached him as well. I'll keep you all posted. Have a great weekend!

My Site and Drunk Duck

Because of Veno's actions (see previous page for details), High Elder has decided to host a vote: shall the gods stay or leave? If every god gets a vote, then a decision can be made. However, the gods have a policy about voting that will come into play in a little bit, and help explain Veno's motivations a bit better.

Don't want to spoil the surprise.

My Site and Drunk Duck

This was also one of the first strips that I wrote for this comic, but obviously couldn't use it until Susie had become an established character. This is totally something she would do, too - since she's only 10, she's not necessarily menstrating yet. However, I had heard about a phenomenon called "sympathy cramps" where women will sometimes take on the symptoms of menstration when other women that they are around often (ie: they live with) - and sometimes, their cycles will actually change to mirror the other person's.

I'm not a woman, so I only know what I hear. Some of my female friends that I read this comic in advance didn't care for the joke...so I hope I don't insult anyone with it. I just thought it was funny to show just how far removed Susie is from everyone else's reality.

Anyway, enjoy the update and I'll see you all next week!

My Site and Drunk Duck

For those of you who have not been subscribing to my regular blog, The Adventures of Trevor, my most recent purchase has been a PS3 - specifically, the PS3 / Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle. I already owned Assassin's Creed and Orange Box (Half-Life 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2, etc), and my friend Carl just let me borrow Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (which has been taking up most of my time, lately). That said, when everyone showed up on Friday for Movie Night #88, they didn't want to watch a movie. They actually asked me to play Portal, since I've never played it before. And man, was it a fun ride - especially when drunk!

"The cake is a lie" is the phrase of the day when playing this very awesome (but very short) game from Valve, the same developers of the much popular Half-Life series. The game consists of a series of physics and spacial puzzles that challenge you to get from one end of a map to the next - and the end reward is cake! There are essentially 19 missions in all, which all come off as a training exercise. However, something's not quite right in the facility, as you exploration comes across hidden rooms with secret messages from previous participants in this experiment.

I don't want to give away the ending, but let's just say that the creators of this game took a page from System Shock 2 and introduced a SHODAN-like character that has a sense of humor - a dark and twisted sense of humor! :P

Overall, this was a very fun and satisfying game to play through - and I'm told that there are additional levels available for download through the Sony Store (forgive me, I'm very new to this whole PS3 thing). I'd like to know more about the character that you play, and the facility that you're in during the game - but in the vein of Half-Life, few answers are actually given. I'm told that there's a bit of a revelation at the end of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 that ties in, but don't spoil it for me...I'm going to make my way through all the Half-Life games again just to get the full experience. This may take some time.

Anyway, no Movie Night at my place on June 27, because I will be attending Wizard World Chicago and no doubt doing a whole lot of drinking with my web comic and industry buddies! After that, we'll be in July...so it'll totally be time to party and drink and possibly BBQ! Fun times!

Sorry for the lack of updates that don't involve notices that my comics updated - I've been dealing with a lot of crap right now. I'll start with ACEN explanations, and then move forward from there.

ACEN hasn't been updated because I only took like 2 pictures (both of Jason David Frank, from Power Rangers) and I was waiting for my friend Kim to upload some pictures to flkr so I had more than just text to update - but that hasn't happened yet. Not to put blame on Kim - I'm the idiot who didn't take pictures of anything. So, my bad. However, it was a blast of a time!

I arrived on Thursday and had my tickets, but my friends Lauren and Scott did not even register yet - something that I learned back in the day was a big mistake for a con like ACEN. They don't have the most reliable systems or people working to make the process smooth. Scott ended up standing in a line for over 9 hours to get his registration on Friday.

Thursday night I spent with my friends Kim and Levi, who were up from Florida. We ordered Chinese food and hung out in the room. Friday I spent at the con, walking around and meeting new people. It was a lot of fun, and they had some great vendors there selling all kinds of stuff, like giant plush animals the size of pillows! They're called "Squishables," and they're 100% polyester (very soft). After hours, I went to the Green Room, which is reserved for industry professionals. Essentially, a room full of anime creators, free booze and free food. It was very nice, and I ended up drinking from 10pm - 5am. Unfortunately, when I woke up the next day, I got sick trying to sober myself up, and spent most of the day feeling like vomit. It was not pleasant.

Sunday I walked around the con and said my goodbyes, and then spent 4+ hours in the car.

Overall, I got to see several of the Power Rangers (Jason David Frank, among them), lots of anime directors and artists, and hang out with good friends that I haven't seen in a while. It was a ton of fun.

As for the life stuff, there's not a lot to report right now. I'm hard-core fighting feelings of depressing steming from my general standins in the world, and whatever Laura and I are going through right now - but we are working through it, and that progress has helped to brighten my day. Wherever we net out in the end, it can't be as bad of a place as where I have been for the past 5 or so weeks. And I've been trying to give her space and time to think things through on her end, and hopefully she's been doing that. We've tentatively agreed to start hanging out and see where we go from there, hopefully leading into a conversation (eventually, I don't expect it to be right away - baby steps) that explains what happened and why.

Hope keeps me going, at the moment. Hope, and the support of good friends. And knowing that they're supporting her as well.

In any case, I'm determined to fight my way through this depressive kick that I've been on lately - but it will be a gradual process, and it will take some time. In the meantime, I'm focusing on what's important to me.

Also, I may be getting a kitten from a friend who's moving away. His family's allergic, and he wants to make sure the thing has a good home. I'm not 100% sure that I'm taking it yet, but I'm more than half way there. It's the cutest little black kitten named Waffles, and it's about the size of my foot. Also, the name Waffles is just hilarious to me! :P

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about cats. Time to bone up on my research, internet. Teach me things both strange and new.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop everyone a heads up as to what's been going on (outside of the comic updates), and let them know that progress is being made. I appreciate all of the love and support that I've received, and any that has been sent Laura's way as well. Please continue to support her and I as we figure out what the heck's going on, and figure out where we want to net out.

I hope all's well with you in your world. Peace!

T

This is information that we already know (because we all read Chapter 2, right?): Some time ago, the gods took a mortal form, but by doing so they became suseptable to mortal ailments. IE: they could now die.

However, it looks like this Veno character has been pissing off the local people, and it has finally reached the ears of the High Elder.

I was worried about this page when I first received it, because Olivia's artwork was so awesome, but I had a lot of text to fit on the page. I think I've done a decent job here of making sure that you get to see her glorious background artwork (love the wooden curtain in panel 2), and not over-crowd the panels. Your thoughts?


My Site and Drunk Duck

Amy from Antcomics remixed one of the pages that I did for Laura's 21st birthday - brilliantly, I might add - and posted it over at Drunk Duck.

For convenience, I will post the original page and the remixed page for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to check them out, and you can also read Laura's 21st Birthday story in it's entirety on both my site and drunk duck.


Original


Remixed

Here's Olivia's final set of designs for the comic. Abraham is sporting the pieces of his "Seven Keys," (or mystical armour, whatever you want to call it), and Artimis is standing there looking pretty.

Sadly, she does not get very developed in this story...I suck as a writer. Anyway, enjoy!

###

You too can contribute to "Fan Art Fridays!" Fan Art will be displayed in the order that they are received, and each person who submits a piece of fan art will receive a mini-review like above. Please include a link to the comic you would like reviewed if you have multiple titles. Please send me fan art and links through a PM (or quack). :D

Fan Art Friday - by Olivia

If you click back, you'll see that a page did in fact update for last week...however, it was a bit tardy. Sorry for that. I've been having a difficult time of things, but have made a mental note to change all that. This is my determined face!

This was one of the first comic strips that I wrote (and it's coming out almost 2 years later!?!), and it requires a knowledge of an anime series called Urotsukid�ji - which is a terrible hentai series about a demon beast that comes to earth to rape and pillage by night, but by day he's a normal dude that gets picked on in high school.

Or something like that. I saw this thing back in middle school.

In any case, I had gone to ACEN back in 2004 and there were these people dressed up in Sailor Moon sailor outfits...and they had neck beards and were usually overweight! I guess there's a term for this kind of anime fan (I saw another one this year, only he was dressed as Sailor Moon's little sister Chibbi-Moon). In any case, I thought it would be hilarious to have that guy enter a costume contest against none other than The Overfiend - the menace of the Urotsukid�ji series with 8+ tenticle penises.

Perhaps I just have a warped sense of humor...?

Anyway, see ya all next week!

My Site and Drunk Duck

Oops! I had updated this on my website, but not on Drunk Duck. My bad.

Sorry about that.

Here's the first page of Abraham, which introduces a new character, which will be our narrator for a good chunk of the prequels (if not all of them). Who is the mysterious all-knowing old man? We shall find out eventually, to be sure.

My Site and Drunk Duck

Sorry it's late...again. I've spent a good chunk of the last month in a depressive daze, unfortunately allowing my buffer to disappear and forcing me to start working my ass off (all the while still depressed) to get pages done. This weekend was especially difficult for me, but I did manage to spend a chunk of it working on new content. I'm trying to get that buffer back, but it's hard to juggle the emotions, the work load (updating this comic, as well as writing / updating many others on top of it), and the social life.

In any case, I'm done making excuses for myself. It's been over a year and a half since I started this comic, and I haven't missed a deadline until just recently...and now it's twice in a row, and that does not sit well with me. Missing deadlines ends here. This is my commitment to you.

That said, some fan art or guest strips wouldn't hurt. :P

But seriously, thank you all for your love and support over this trying time in my life, and I hope that you continue to do so. I have many more stories to tell with these characters, and fully intend to do so. Enjoy!

My Site and Drunk Duck