My Site and Drunk Duck

And we've reached a milestone: this is page 150!

I hope everyone had a great winter holiday and got lots of gifts and whatnot. I haven't really been wanting lately, so I've mostly just been asking for money so I can take a few trips next year...like to my comic cons!

Although it's not in stone yet, I'm certainly going to be attending the same cons as this previous year (and hopefully a few more on top of it), such as NYCC, ACEN, and WWC. It's going to be a fun time. I may even borrow some booth space from some people, if I have any books or merch to sell.

Well, I'm off to prep for my infamous annual "New Years Party," which draws an international crowd, and then work on my recovery. I hope you all have a great New Year and I'll see you in 2009 (which better be the start of a better time than the last 8 years).

Any fun plans for New Years for you?

My Site and Drunk Duck

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I have a few commenting on the above page (which hopefully didn't insult anyone who enjoys rap music).

This was one of the first pages that I originally wrote when I first started this comic series, and I needed something for Trevor to "give the bird" about. The topic included sports, movies, and dance clubs.

Being in a car was a given, but I needed something that was obscure and silly. Flipping the bird during a movie doesn't make sense, since the lights are dim. I don't really watch any sports, so that doesn't make a lot of sense. Then I went to my club on Mondays (which plays synth-pop and goth industrial music) and I saw a bunch of guys requesting rap music. I mean, it's a goth-industrial club and you're requesting music that doesn't mesh with the theme of the club?!?

The choice was obvious to me in my mind at that time. While I'm not a fan of rap music personally, I don't really have anything against it. I'm also not a big fan of country music. I'm sure a lot of people don't care for the music that I like myself. That's what makes each of us interesting and unique. So please don't take this as an insult if I poke fun at something that you like. Chances are it was inspired by a specific situation - like the above - and I don't mind explaining the origin of the "joke."

Also, I hope you all see the poster in the background promoting my other comic: The Temple of a Thousand Tears: Hikari

I'm off to prep for my annual New Years party, which draws in an international crowd and is always a good (and hilarious) time. Last year I crammed 37 people into my apartment for a Hawaii-themed party that was full of drinking, Guitar Hero, and tons of silly card games. This year's theme is "Slumber Party," so it'll be interesting to see what people do with that.

I'll give you guys a full run-down of how the night unfolds. Until then, be safe, enjoy yourself, and I'll see you all again in 2009!

My Site and Drunk Duck

Sophia (with long hair) argues with the High Priestess of the Hikari. Secrecy is obviously very important to these people - but who are they hiding from, and why are they hiding? Who are the Hikari? We'll find out all of these answers as the story progresses - but be patient with it, because I'm not going to give it away right away. I'm going to make you work for those answers. ;)

Have a great x-mas everyone who celebrates that winter holiday, and I'll see you next week!

My Site and Drunk Duck

The epilogue ending to the Orientation story arc, which explains the character Jo, why the place is named "Joes Coffee and Cyber Cafe," why Jo wants to keep Anthony around, and Jo's relationship to Anthony.

Lots to cover, and I didn't have enough space in the previous page to do it. In fact, I threw this page together in 2 days! I was rather impressed with myself for being able to turn around a page that quickly.

I hope everyone has a great winter holiday, and I'll see you all next Friday for a one-shot page, and then I'll hopefully have started on the Trevor's birthday story arc. Or the holidays will have sapped me, and I'll just keep churning out other things in the mean time. Either way, there will be comics!

My Site and Drunk Duck

Ka-BOOM!

Time for the Valley to live up to its reputation. And to answer any questions off the cuff, no you're not supposed to know what's going on right away in this story - but everything will be explained before the end.

I'm trying to debate with myself whether or not I want this story to just be black and white or if I want to include sparse color like I did in the original storyline. Your thoughts?

My Site and Drunk Duck

The last two panels in this page were an after-thought, so it may not make a tons of sense at the moment. Essentially, it all falls down to blackmail. But why would you want to keep a jerk like Anthony around your business? Well, I'll explore that in the epilogue...which I decided last night that I should make.

And I was finally starting to get a buffer going, too....

Ultimately, I just like having the character around. Also, it's a little over-kill for Susie to get rid of all people who oppose her. Then I have to keep making up new jerk-like characters all the time. I think it's good to have a good jerk-like character on staff. :P

So, I'm going to get myself to work on an epilogue and explain a few things, and push back the other page that I had ready to go for this week to next week. Enjoy!

My Site and Drunk Duck

A nice scenic shot of the Valley. Who would have thought that people once dwelled here, eh? This is mostly a set up for the next page, which jump-starts our story with a furious passion. The ride will be fast, hard, and intense - just the way I like it. ;)

Olivia did an fantastic job on that cathedral in the background, slaving for the better part of 2 weeks on designing it. Many of the designs this time around I wanted to her to be a part of, to help put her fingerprint on the world that I've been crafting for the last...oh goodness...5 to 7 years!

Damn, I'm getting old....

My Site and Drunk Duck

If last week's update wasn't working for you, check it again and let me know if I was able to fix it. Sorry about that. I could see it on every computer that I accessed. However, every computer that I access had PhotoShop, so that might've had something to do with it.

If it's still not working, let me know and I can try one more thing.

Anthony continues to try to "train" the new hires at Joe's Coffee and Cyber Cafe, and Susie continues to torture him. I've enjoyed this character a lot, and was originally going to dispatch him in a most unpleasant way...or have him quit...but now I'm thinking of adding a little twist and keeping him on for more jokes down the road.

Also, it would be bad form for Susie to kill all of her employees that disagree with her. That's what customers are for. ;)

Next week will be the conclusion to this Orientation story arc, and then I'll probably do some one-shot stories to finish off the year before starting Trevor's Birthday story. January will also feature a contest to have yourself appear in a guest role in a page of @$$hole!, so stay tuned for details on that in 2009.

See ya next week!

My Site and Drunk Duck

Thought that I was going to leave you with a cover 2 spot all week, didn't you. Well, since this is the last day that I'm going to be featured, I figured that breaking the update schedule a bit and post an additional page for the week. The first page. Get this story going with a bang, starting with our mysterious ancient-looking narrator.

And also opening with the same first line that appeared in Abraham: "I have a prophecy threatening to spill into words...."

That line is actually from a song that I heard in concert in Ann Arbor by Vienna Teng, who does piano folk music. Very pretty music; amazing voice on that girl. The title of the song is "Between."

As with all of the prequels, I think, this narrator will have an appearance. He plays a significant role in the upcoming sequel, Holy War. He's kind of an important character. ;)

Anyway, enjoy your bonus page for the week, and I'll see you all again on Monday!

My Site and Drunk Duck

Here's the inside cover page for Hikari. If you're not familiar with the Japanese language at all (and let's be honest, I'm not real familiar myself here), "Hikari" means "light." It sort of plays into the concept of the story, as the original story was going to be titled "Genocide," but I liked "Hikari" better.

Next week Monday will be the first page update, and we'll get the ball rolling with our regular prequel narrator (the mysterious old man who seems to know more than any single person should know), who will play a roll in later stories as well.

If you haven't had a chance yet, be sure to check out the archives, as there will be elements from this story that tie directly into events that "will happen in the future," (or, in your case, you're already aware of as a reader).

My Site and Drunk Duck

Part 2 of Susie's orientation at Joe's Coffee and Cyber Cafe. I really enjoyed writing the part of Anthony for these pages, because the guy is really quite a bastard. However, he also displays a phenomenon that I have noticed my entire life about douche bags and hot chicks (or any chick, really). While I know it's not an absolute, it always seems like good looking guys - mostly ass holes - always seem to land any girl that they want. Or even the girls that they don't want. Girls are just magnetically attracted (in their pants) to the good looking guys, especially when they're completely fake people.

This has always perplexed me.

And while I know that there are several arguments for why this happens (and of course, why I'm a sexist pig for even suggesting such a thing is possible), it's just an observation that I blew out of proportion here for entertainment purposes, which hopefully makes it funny.

Also, Susie pours coffee on the guy's junk. Right there is comedy gold!

I hope everyone had a happy Turkey Day, and try to survive Black Friday!

PS:  I've heard from a few people that this page doesn't work on some computers.  If you're having difficulty reading it, please shoot me a message and let me know.  Thanks!