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Here's a 2-page spread of a finale, which was pretty obvious on the last page. The coupling of the crazy cat loving lady (Demeter) and the waiter (Jeff) seemed a natural choice to me when crafting the story, since she wanted a protector and he needed someone to protect (granted, he does so to an extreme measure). They were just perfect characters for each other, and perhaps they'll make another appearance at some point in the future. ;)

I had a few alternative endings to this that were pretty funny as well, and they may make an appearance in either a printed edition, or as a voting incentive (so vote for the comic with the link above).

Until then, have a great Halloween everyone, and I'll see you all next week with some new @$$hole! pages - and then we'll lead into a story arc that will have everyone on the internet talking. Want a hint...?

;)

Movie Review: Evangelion 01 - You Are (Not) Alone
Director: Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki
Official Website
Plot: In the not-too-distant future, 14 year-old Shinji Ikari has been summoned to Tokyo-3 by his estranged father who he has not seen for many years. Upon arriving, he finds the city under siege by a giant monster called an "Angel." Picked up by a young woman who works for Shinji's father's organization called Nerv, she drives him to their underground base (a giant geo-front) and orders him to pilot a humanoid mechanized unit called Evangelion. When Shinji refuses, realizing that his father only summoned him here because he had a use for him, his father orders another 14 year-old pilot into the cockpit. However, this pilot, Rei, is severely injured from a previous experiment activating a previous Eva Unit, and can barely stand.

As the Angel attacks from above, the base begins to shake and Rei is thrust from her medical bed, blood leaking through her bandages. Shinji agrees to pilot the Eva, and is projected to the surface face to face with the monstrous Angel. However, not having any previous experience with the Evas before, he can't even walk and the Angel attacks without mercy. Breaking his wrist and cracking his helmet armor, Eva Unit 01 is rendered broken and in the silence the human race watches as they are about to be wiped out from all existence by Third Impact.

Suddenly, Eva Unit 01 reactivates and goes berserk. It attacks the Angel with a ferocity and forces the Angel to blow itself up in an attempt to take Shinji with it. However, Shinji walks away with some minor physical wounds...but a whole lot of psychological trauma to deal with.

And this is only the first 20 minutes of the movie....

Those familiar with the popular (and highly controversial) anime series will see this as a rehash of the original footage. Let me put your fears to rest by saying that while there is a lot of footage from the original series and the beginning of the flick is a very sped up version of the first two episodes of the series (re-edited), the footage has been cleaned up to an amazing degree! There's also new footage throughout, and while it's mostly b-roll (stuff happening in the background or during voice overs), they do start to add more and more as the movie progresses. The battle with the 6th Angel is almost completely different, in fact. They've even added digital effects to many of the Eva and Angel sequences, and even some new conversations to help bring the audience up to speed.

For those of you not familiar with the series, you're probably going to be completely lost watching this movie. But, like those of us who experienced the series, that's part of the fun of it. Evangelion is brutal with it's question asking, and not for forgiving with the giving of the answers. But, like modern TV shows like LOST, that's part of the fun of it. For fans of the original series, they introduce some elements earlier on, making me think that later installments of this 4 movie series are going to be much much different. I also question if they're going to follow more to the manga series (which has yet to finish, to my knowledge) which establishes more of the character relationships (specifically between Shinji and Rei), and builds Shinji more as a character instead of diminishing him like the series did.



I won't go into the spoilers from the series, but in the movie they certainly lay the groundwork for a lot of the questions that many fans are still asking themselves after the conclusion of the series and the two movies that "finished it all off." It is not a requirement for you to have seen the series to watch this movie; as I started before the beginning of the flick is the first two episodes in fast forward, and it just builds from there at a steady pace. The theatrical version of the movie that I watched was dubbed, and while I hate dubbed anime, this was tolerable to me because 1) new voice recording, so the voices are slightly less obnoxious, and 2) I was just so damn excited to watch this movie it wasn't even funny.

Walking away from the theater, I just want to pop in the series again and start from the very beginning.

Shinji's journey is a difficult one, as he not only has to deal with being a 14 year-old kid with all of the social skills of a mute, but also because the fate of the human race literally rests on his shoulders. And he's not your regular hero. Shinji is incredibly flawed, and that helps make his journey that much more interesting to watch. At the end of the movie, in fact, the desperation of his struggle is made all the more clear by a speech given to him by an adult about the world that they live in. The audience feels the weight of his burden as they watch the drama unfold, and his last-ditch effort to save humanity from the onslaught of Angels barreling down on Tokyo-3.

If you loved the series, you should totally watch this movie. If you have never heard of Evangelion but enjoy anime, then you HAVE to watch this movie. Then go out and get the series and thank Lilith that you didn't have to wait for them to come out like the rest of us. If you don't like anime and have never heard of Evangelion (but enjoy shows that ask you questions, like LOST) then you could probably get into this series.

From the opening sequence described above to the dramatic conclusion of the final battle against the 6th Angel, this movie is loaded with everything you love (or will love) about this series. And a closing song by Utada Hikaru (who did the theme song to Kingdom Hearts, for those of you unfamiliar with Japanese singers), and this movie is definitely going into my DVD collection. It may be a scam to get more money out of me years after the series has ended, but you know what - it worked, and I don't mind at all. And the promise of things to come in the next installment (stay until after the credits for a teaser), and I'd say that a new generation of anime lovers is going to get hooked - and the previous generation will get hooked again.

I'll leave you now with the closing credits song by Utada Hikaru, entitled "Beautiful World." I have to dust off my DVD box set of Evangelion now and go nerd out....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OGncC04dRI

Video Game Review: Uncharted 2 - Among Thieves
Platform: PS3
Developer: Naughty Dog
Official Website
Plot: The game opens with fortune hunter Nathan Drake (a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, a great explorer) sitting in the chair of a train, blood pouring out of a gunshot wound in his stomach. Looking out the window, he appears to be in the mountains. Upon trying to sit up, he realizes that gravity is playing tricks on him - and that the train car is actually dangling from the side of a mountain cliff. Falls and breaking out of the bottom of the train, Drake watches in horror as the door falls far down into the valley below. Losing blood and moving slowly, Drake begins to climb the train cars to reach a safe area....

...and that's where Uncharted 2 starts you off.



After the events of the first game, Drake is looking for his next score that is going to make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Apparently separated from Elena (the journalist that followed his adventures to find El Dorado in the first game), Drake teams up with new love interest Chloe and her partner to follow the clues left by Marco Polo and find the Cintamani Stone from the lost city of Shambhala. Based on some historical truth but with a measure of fantasy and fiction (think Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider...but a little less fantastic), Uncharted 2 is like the biggest action movie (but with a plot that actually makes sense) where you play the movie hero. Drake is a fun protagonist with a heart of gold and quick with the witty banter, and some sweet moves to get him through the levels against armed soldiers and a madman trying to gain ancient power for himself.

The gameplay is mostly duck and cover mechanics, with very fluid animation and intuitive controls. You also do some platforming and puzzle solving, but if you get stuck the game does give you hints throughout. I will admit to getting stuck in a few rooms because your path doesn't stick out as obviously as in other games of this type. The path you're supposed to take blends into the lush backgrounds like it was actually part of the world. This is not a flaw, but something that I've been looking forward to in gaming for a long time. A level of emersion that completely brings the world to life, instead of pointing out the path you should take. Thankfully, there's not much penalty for dying if you make a wrong jump.

The game is very forgiving in it's platforming, though. Jumps that appear to be impossible are very probable with Drake being one of the most athletic characters in a game (even with a bullet in the gut).

The action sequences are what stick out to me the most in this game. While the first game focused more on the duck-and-cover mechanics, this game enjoys marrying more the gun play with fist-a-cuffs. The ability for Drake to duck behind cover, shoot some guys, grab a dude that's running him to him and pull him over cover and punch him in the face, then run out shooting and get into a fist fight with another enemy is jaw-dropping to watch, and even more fun to play.

I've already reviewed the multiplayer beta for the game, but I'll add here that they have added additional content, play modes, maps, and even extended the maps that were available in the beta! I'm not much of an online game player, but with some friends this game is rather fun - mostly because I can actually hold my own.

If you own a PS3, you need to get this game and the first one. They are fantastic, hours of fun, and with a great story and great play mechanics. If you don't own a PS3, then you should be jealous of me like I'm jealous of you (ie: I want to play Mass Effect). This is the game to own on this system, and probably the best game of the year!

Labels: ps3, uncharted 2, video game review, video games

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A period of time passes between the previous scene and this scene. Originally when I envisioned it while doing the shoot, Trevor was still drunk or under the influence of drugs. But something's not quite right here....and we'll find out on Friday, with the finale!

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A body double, eh? Milikin's a sneaky guy. And what was Malukai doing that he couldn't be there to protect him? Clearly it wasn't attacking a Hikari stronghold, since they don't know where it's located.

The plot thickens, but these are questions for a later story....

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Popped collar. Double guns. Yeah, he's a jerk. And it sounds like his jerkiness isn't over yet, with this latest bill fiasco.

Only two pages remain for this story arc, so the conclusion is coming up next week! Be there!

So I found out that a movie I've been waiting to be released in the US for two years has finally hit our shores in a limited (and unfortunately dubbed) release at a local theater called Music Box.

I guess they play all kinds of classic films, currently playing Wizard of Oz and Rashomon - and it looks like they play The Rock Horror Picture Show around this time of year!

So I want to review this flick, and I'll be watching the flick at some point this week. I'll try to put my bias towards dubbing and love of the original series to the back of my mind when I do the review.

If you don't know anything about this series (and shame on you if you don't), be sure to check out the wikipedia page and catch up on what people have called one of the most controversial anime series of all time (so much so that people are still talking about the series 15 years after it finished...and are now making 4 new movies about it).

###

On a side note, I want to apologize to everyone for the lack of blog updates on Tuesdays and Thursday lately. I pride myself on updating the website blog every day during the week, but haphazards in life and work have prevented me from having the time to do that. My job is somewhat seasonal in it's "busy season," or "planning season" as we call it, and that time is right now. This means that I'm in the office for about 12 hours every day. Add into that the commute time of about 40 minutes one way, and the fact that I need to cook food and clean dishes, and there's barely enough time to sleep, much less go to the movies or pop in a video game and review it.



And currently, I have house guests visiting from Texas and we're working diligently on the next @$$hole! story arc based on the very popular Drunk Duck Awards presentations that we've put together for two years (2008 and 2009) in a row. People have been begging me to do something with this, so Amanda and Jess were kind enough to take a vacation and come visit me for a week so we could take pictures (and they could do some things for my story that they wouldn't normally do).

So be sure to be on the lookout for that.

Until later, I'll hopefully be able to blog some more as planning season starts to slow a bit (but it doesn't often end before February of the next year). I'm working on putting together my con appearances for 2010, though, so it's going to be an exciting year!

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This is the problem with not scripting before you write a story arc (which, again, was an experiment for this story). The problem is that you dig yourself into a hole that you don't have the assets (ie: pictures) to dig yourself out. Originally, Trevor was going to get very drunk and belligerent with the waiter - but I instead decided to play on the "putting drugs in his drink" story thread.

But then again, maybe I should've not done any redemption items with the waiter and just kept him a scum bag.

Anyway, this story arc will be over next week. Then we'll do other things.

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And we know from the original story that Seymour does take her advice, joins with the monks and becomes a chronicler of the pleasures of women. But how did he get to this point? What drove him to blow up the cathedral? And how did he end up joining with Julian and Marielle in their quest to find the lost Keys of Abraham?

All of this will be explored in the next chapter, Assassin. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. This chapter still has a few more pages.

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And we know from the original story that Seymour does take her advice, joins with the monks and becomes a chronicler of the pleasures of women. But how did he get to this point? What drove him to blow up the cathedral? And how did he end up joining with Julian and Marielle in their quest to find the lost Keys of Abraham?

All of this will be explored in the next chapter, Assassin. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. This chapter still has a few more pages.

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Have a great weekend, everyone!

Movie Review: Paranormal Activity (2009)
Director: Oren Peli
Cast: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Plot: Katie and Micah (who play themselves) are young lovers who have just moved into the same house together, and Katie reveals that she's been haunted all of her life by paranormal activity. In an attempt to capture it on tape, Micah begins taping their lives and what happens while they sleep. The flick is basically a documentary-style flick of their lives during a two month period.

I had no idea what I was going to see when I was invited to check out this flick, but after having seen it and forming an opinion I'm noticing all of this hype around the flick. And I have to question why. Sure, the movie was shot for little-to-nothing over seven days, and it's generated all kinds of buzz in the film community. But aside from a few scary moments, the movie is a storytelling nightmare! I respect it for what they were trying to do, but trust me when I say that your life will be no less rewarding without having seen this movie.

From a pure storytelling perspective, the movie suffers from terrible storytelling issues, pacing problems, and plot holes. And if you have motion sickness (like me), then you will get ill during this movie. It's shot in the hand-held style reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield - but has no direction or story to really speak of. The set up is solid and the movie certainly has some scary moments in it, but I can't help but question a lot of the plot holes in a movie like this.


***SPOILERS***
For example, at one point in the movie she talks about how the "spirit" has always just watched her sleep and made bumps in the night, but once the ghost whisperer comes in he says that it's a demon and Katie admits that she's always thought this spirit wanted to do her harm. But if that were the case, then why would it watch you sleep? And why would it wait until this two-month period to gain enough power to do it. And in the end it doesn't even end up doing harm to her....

Another example is when they say that the demon has a specific purpose for it's hauntings, but this spirit has been haunting Katie for years. Long before she met her boyfriend, which is ultimately what we see the demon do damage to: Micah, the boyfriend. Why haunt the girlfriend for years when you're just after the boyfriend? This logic may make sense in demon town, but not in my world....
***END SPOILERS***


The character motivations bothered me a lot in the flick as well. After something scary happens at night, we see the characters during the day saying that they want to leave the house and won't sleep in that bed any more. Granted, the ghost whisperer tells them that moving won't stop the hauntings - but then they keep saying that the demon is in the house, so wouldn't sleeping at a hotel for a night at least give you a night of rest? - but then the next night or three nights later they're back in that bedroom again. Maybe this is an editing flaw, where they filmed all of the scary stuff in the bedroom and then later decided where to fit it into the flick. Perhaps DVD special features would enlighten us - but I'm truly not really interested enough to know more.

When they talk about having a demonologist come in and exercise the demon, they don't do it because Micah "is the man" and this is his house and he will protect her. But he's not really doing a good job of that, and after 2 weeks pass they still haven't called the demonologist. So the audience is supposed to feel bad for them when bad stuff happened? Because, I think they were asking for it at that point. And when they finally get around to it, it's just far too late and the guy's out of the country. There's not another demonologist that you could call? You don't have the internet or a phone book handy? It has to be that specific guy?

The characters make no bloody sense.

Honestly, I think the movie would've been better with the general set up, and then a bunch of shots of the scary stuff that happens at night. Make it a short movie, people will be freaked out, and there's less of a chance that you're going to 1) have poor character set up, plot holes, and contradicting motivations, and 2) that the audience is going to get ill from your sloppy camera work.

I won't hold the camera work against the flick (heck, I liked Cloverfield), but I don't want Hollywood to get confused with hand-held "shaky cams" as a style. This is not a style, this is sloppy. BattleStar Galactica uses a shaky cam as a style for setting tone and putting the audience in the situation. You use it in your motion picture and I just want to yell at you for making a home movie. This movie's success works against my arguments about Hollywood being sapped for ideas and that they should try tapping no-names to make flicks. That budgets ruin movies. You can make a great movie for next-to-nothing (ie: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog), but it requires a good story and people who've gone to film school and know what they're doing. Unfortunately, youtube.com has made us all think that we're talented enough to make movies.

In summary, the movie does not live up to the hype (not even when you haven't heard any hype about it before seeing it, like me), and is a very sloppy presentation with some scattered moments that are frightening - which is what we came to see, and it does deliver in spurts. But honestly, you could skip it and probably be for the better for it.

Labels: movie review, paranormal activity

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I put this together in a stupor of sleeplessness and being mentally drained because I'm full-on in planning mode for a bunch of clients. Work confuses me sometimes. Since planning season is so crazy I should just let it go, but the over-analytical part of my brain won't let me. I won't go into details, since I've become aware of people in the ad industry that occasion my blog, but I'm rather perturbed. I know I have the whole "new guy" thing working against me, and people are creature's of habit and I'm trying to chalk it up to that. But again, the brain starts to work and I can't help but question (because I do that very well) if that's what's actually going on.

...

Fun plans for this weekend, though, as some special guests are coming to stay with me for the week. And take pictures. And it'll be in the comic. Oh yes, it will be! :)

As for this story, it's almost over. Another 5 pages or so. I'm ready to tell another story with these characters. Should be fun.

Until Friday!

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And now we know why I was originally going to call this story "Genocide." I'll explain it all at the beginning of the next book, I think, in a "Previously" section, but here's my synopsis:

Milikin rose to power by assassinating everyone in his path and had been wagging a secret war against the Hikari ever since. His justification is this prophecy that the gods left with Abraham, but Sophia could give two craps about that - she's just sticking up for her people and avenging her sister's death.

But wait, if she just chopped off his hands and he has two hands in the original Temple story....hmmmmmmmmmmm....

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I've been running around trying to get my buffer back up, since I basically haven't been able to work on comics for the last month or so. I have house guests coming to visit soon, and I want to make sure that I have enough to cover the time that they're here so we can hang out and have fun. I won't say who's coming just yet, because I don't want to ruin the surprise...but let's just say that we'll be working on this comic when they do show up, and it's going to be hilarious!

But enough of a teaser. I want to be serious for a moment and wish Lora Innes (The Dreamer) and Bryan Glass (Mice Templar) good luck at the 2009 Harvey Awards, which are going to be announced at Baltimore Comic Con this weekend! I expect a text message or a phone call when you win. I don't need to be the first one you contact, but I'd like to know since I'm unable to be there. They're up against each other in the same category, but Lora also has been nominated in a second category, so it's an exciting time. My best wishes to you both.

Come back next week for more goofiness!

The in-progress shot of the Relay for Life charity piece that all of the web comic artists agreed to do.


From left to right: Myself, Lora Innes (The Dreamer), and Alan Evans (Rival Angels)


In an attempt not to corrupt the youth of America, I decide to sell them my sketch cards of Batman and the Gnome King instead of my very teen-rated book, @$$hole!


Alan Evans (Rival Angels) and I pose at the table in front of his new poster.


This has become tradition. Alan Evans (Rival Angels) hates it when I do this! :P

Video Game Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves multiplayer demo
Platform: PS3
Developer: Naughty Dog
Official Website
Plot: The multiplayer has no plot, but I'm sure the game does. The first Uncharted was a ton of fun to play, and I'm eagerly awaiting this title when it's released on October 13.

The Multiplayer beta for Uncharted 2 came out this week, and I was able to sit down with some of my good web comic friends and blow through several hours of what should have been spent working on our comics, but was instead spent shooting each other's digital avatars. The players were Steve Wallace, Phil Chan, Joe Dun, and myself. We started out in Plunder mode, which has you gathering a treasure and taking it from it's spawn point to a chest on your team's side. Trying to figure out the controls while someone is shooting you in the face gets old quick, but thankfully the level was large enough to be able to run around and figure out what you were doing while dodging bullets all the while.

For those unfamiliar with the Uncharted play mechanic, the bulk of the combat is focused on a duck-and-cover system that allows you to shoot blindly (with some surprising accuracy), or by exposing yourself for better aiming. You are incredibly agile, so you can jump and climb and roll all over the place. Also, your character has the ability to enter into melee combat when up close in the single player game, but in the multiplayer game they replace this with a single swing of your fist (no combos). It's a devastating move, to be sure, and a useful tactic when up close to your enemy. You are only allowed to carry two weapons at a time: a pistol and a rifle of some kind. You also have a supply of grenades, but it appeared that the multiplayer limited you to a single grenade...at least to start out.

After the first round, we chose teams and played a deathmatch. This is a pretty standard run-and-gun situation, but the level designs make for some very interesting play depending on how you want to take out your opponents. We played to 20 kills (total for the team, not individuals), and Phil was an adamant sniper. Steve was a fan of the mini-gun, which is powerful as hell but also slows you down considerably. Joe and I were always at arms to get our hands on the grenade launcher, which is fun for the 6 or so shots that it has.

We then changed things up and went into a temple level and altered the weapons to only be RPGs. This became an interesting battle for higher ground, and really required use of strategy on the lower team's part to gain the upper hand. The RPGs don't require as much accuracy, but they do take time to reload.

The final match that we played was a co-op mode which had characters playing through a scenario from the game. This was incredibly difficult, as bad guys were spawning from all sides and the cover mechanic became somewhat cumbersome to use because you constantly had to flip from one side of cover to another. And some cover is destructible, so when the stronger bad guys came out (or started throwing grenades), you would have to run quickly for new cover.

When one of your friends goes down there's a timer that pops up over their head. When the timer runs out, that character dies. But if you're able to get to them before, you can revive them - but the longer you take to get there, the longer it takes to revive them. This means that your characters should stay relatively close to make sure that no one character is too far away or too deep in the thick of it to be saved.

There were some fun moments where team dynamics came into play. For example, after a round of baddies came in we were prompted to gather around a light post in the street. Once two characters were there, one was able to boost me up onto the sign dangling from the light post. While I was climbing along the sides of buildings trying to figure out how our team could advance, more baddies showed up and the group was forced to continue the firefight sans one more player. My ultimate destination was an open window, which I climbed in and pushed a bookshelf out of the window (which we would later use as a make-shift ladder to climb over a tipped bus). Several team dynamic situations like this followed, until we eventually ran out of time and the demo ended.

Uncharted 2 multiplayer was a lot of fun to play, and I don't consider myself a multiplayer fan. Sure, playing it with your friends instead of against some faceless online opponent helps, and the fact that we were all on the same learning curved helped as well. I'm looking forward to the release of Uncharted 2 (October 13), and being able to play the full online multiplayer with my friends again. Be sure to check out the beta in the meantime, available for free on the Playstation Network (PSN).

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The waiter's true colors have come out. He thinks he's helping here, but clearly he's not entirely selfless in his mission to defeat the bald man. However, Trevor's already drugged....it's only a matter of time before the stuff kicks in.

What will happen next? Find out Friday!

Also, I posted my con report (with pictures) for Mid-Ohio Comic Con, and the fun we had with Lora Innes and Alan Evans! Great time! Check it out on my website.

In anticipation of premiering the first @$$hole! collection, I was looking for local conventions to help promote the book and that could be a good fit with the audience. Enter Mid-Ohio Comic Con (MOCC), held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center Hall E in Columbus, Oh. I knew that I had friends in the area and some friends interested in attending the con, so I booked my table and made some arrangements and headed on down....

FRIDAY:
After work, Alan Evans (Rival Angels) picked me up in his car, and we headed off on the 6 hour drive towards Columbus. Alan and I have been friends for a few years now, having first met on Drunk Duck and eventually hanging out at a Wizard World Chicago. We eventually pulled into the driveway of two of the coolest people on the planet: Lora and Mike Innes. Lora is the Harvey Award nominated creator of The Dreamer from IDW, and her husband Mike designed her website. I first met both of them at the same Wizard World that I first hung out with Alan, but again I've known Lora for a few years from online. They were waiting for us to arrive at 1am local time, and we stayed up a few hours catching up.



SATURDAY:
In the morning we had bagels, and then took off for the convention center. Alan and I went and set up the table, while Lora and Mike went to set up theirs. Alan and I were in Creator's Commons (usually called "Artist Alley") next to many talented individuals. The first day was kind of a slow day for sales for me, but I was able to push Alan's books quite a bit. The show has a lot of family and youth attendees, and @$$hole! is a very teen-rated book. However, I had some sketch cards to tell the kids about, and was doing commission sketches to help make up the difference from the books sales.

At one point Alan offered to watch the table and I wondered around and found some of my friends, writers Paul Storrie (Robin Hood, Gotham Girls) and Bryan Glass (Mice Templar). I also made it around to the Comic Related table, where they were handing out cake!


Mice Templar creator and Harvey Award nominee Bryan Glass poses in his booth (photo by comicrelated.com)


The Dreamer creator and Harvey Award nominee cuts the first piece of cake (photo by comicrelated.com)

The evening wore down with a local musical guest followed by a costume contest, and then the convention ended for the day. After the con, Lora, Mike, Alan, Paul, Bryan, his wife Judy, and myself all went out to dinner at a local micro-brewery. Many laughs were had, and then we called it a night early. We were all still exhausted from the previous late night when Alan and I arrived. The plan was to watch some Firefly and relax.

Upon getting back to the house, we started talking and never got around to watching the TV show. Instead, we watched videos on youtube and laughed our way through the evening well past when we had planned to go to bed. One of the videos Lora pointed out was a hilarious bit about George Washington (not workplace friendly for language):



SUNDAY:
After breakfast, we all piled into the car and headed back to the con. The crowd was heavier that day, and we had a panel at 12pm on Making Webcomics. Several people actually approached the table and asked Alan and I about the panel, where it was located, and what we would be talking about. My buddy Steve Horton (Tierra, Strongarm) made an appearance for the panel, which consisted of Lora Innes, Alan Evans, Wes Molebash (You'll Have That) and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes). The panel went pretty well, but like most of the web comics panels that I'm on we could have used another hour or so to talk.

After the panel, Alan and I went back to the table and started selling like fiends. The last sales of the day really picked up, as everyone was out trying to make deals before they left. Several people commissioned some sketches from me, and I even participated in a charity piece to benefit Relay for Life.

After the con ended, Alan and I went for ice cream with Lora and Mike. After that, it was time for the 6 hour drive home.

Overall, Mid-Ohio was a fun experience and a great time to see old friends and make new friends! Alan and I are already talking about attending next year in November for their 30th anniversary show.

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We're only pages away from the climactic ending to this chapter of the prequels.

Is he bluffing? Is she going to go through with it? Find out next week!

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See, he's not such a bad guy. He adopted her kids! Of course, he didn't know that at the time or that he was even serving their mother until a few pages ago, but perhaps his tone and attitude has changed a bit.

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I've gotten a table at Mid-Ohio Comic Con (October 3-4 in Columbus, OH) with Rival Angels creator Alan Evans. We'll be hanging out with The Dreamer creator Lora Innes, and several other comic creators. Not sure on any speaking schedule while there, but I'm working on it. More to follow.

So many of you have been asking me how to get your hands on the new @$$hole! collection, and I can't say that I blame you. Unfortunately, distribution was a bit of an after-thought when printing this first book. A learning experience, to be sure.



So there are a few options available at the moment, and more will be forthcoming down the road. Currently if you live in or near Ann Arbor, MI, I recommend checking out The Vault of Midnight. In the local section you will find several copies of my book prominently displayed. If you can't find it, ask someone who works there for it. They'll be able to bring you right to it.

I've also been taking the book on the road with me, first to Reactor and then to Mid-Ohio Comic Con. I usually have some extra copies around, so if you're in Chicaog just drop me a line and I'll meet you somewhere. I have not tapped into local Chicago distribution opportunities just yet - I just haven't had the time. Soon, though.

For those of you who are further out, the book will become available on the internet very soon. I don't have a store set up on the website, but I will make it publicly available for purchase somehow. More on that after I've had a chance to review the best options.

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@$$hole!: Laura's 21st Birthday is the story of a slacker who's so lazy, he forgot his girlfriend's 21st birthday. Desperately taking his demonic Japanese roommate in tow, he must over-come his mall-o-phobia and dive into the depths of retail hell to find her the perfect gift. This teen-rated tale has some hilarious humor, and even some of that mushy stuff.

The book is 50 pages and runs for $6. You get:

- an awesome 41 page story
- an afterword by the author (hey, that's me)
- several pages of original content appearing only in this book
- a forward by the fabled "Josh from TokyoPOP" himself, Josh Elder

Please also help spread the word by telling your friends. If they like it, have them buy it - and refer them back to my website.

Thanks, gang!

Labels: asshole comic, comic books, comics, mid-ohio comic con, photo comic, reactor con, web comics