It seems a poor way to celebrate an anniversary with a break, but I’ve decided that’s what I need right now, creatively. I still have a bank of ideas I’ve been adding to, but I’ve reached a point where I need to pause and evaluate direction. Forging ahead just for the sake of forging ahead isn’t wise unless you’re headed in the right direction. So there will be a break in new content here for awhile until I figure out what that direction is. Rest assured there will be a creative, artistic project (or projects) ahead, and I feel they have greater potential to exhibit my own skill, passions and originality. I’ve said it in the past, but “stay tuned;” this past year has at least proved to me that I can tackle something with consistency.

I just realized that today marks exactly one year to the day since this site was officially launched! Huzzah! I knew it was getting close, now I wish I’d had one of my better comics up for the occasion. Ah well, they’ll be in the works and you’ll see them soon! Thanks to everyone who keeps coming back, I hope to keep you entertained and of course I welcome all your friends, family members and coworkers whom I hope know you’re sending this way!

Equals vacation time.  I always think that one day will be enough to produce a new comic, and I’m always wrong.  We were away from home all weekend this past weekend, including Monday.  I put up a valiant effort towards having a new comic for today but it just wasn’t happening; not enough time.  So, I apologize and hope you’ll return a week from today for new material then.

I issued a challenge to my Facebook fans to surpass 25 so that we could secure a username, promising something special when it happened.  Well, we’re currently sitting at 30 Likes (FB did away with Fans), nearly double the previous number!  Thanks everyone!  As promised, I made up something special in addition to tomorrow’s comic: a side-by-side, sketch to finished comic comparison of the recent Biofeedback.  I’ve been wanting to do something like this for awhile now; I think it’s interesting to compare, and I hope you do, too! Click below for the full-sized image.

We interrupt this program for a special news bulletin: my family took an extended holiday weekend to go camping, right over the two days (Monday and Tuesday) when I normally produce comics. I apologize for the lack of a comic this week, as usual I prefer to put the time into doing a good job the following week rather than rush something out just for the sake of having something. One of these days I’ll have to really go against my own grain and work ahead a bit so that I have some extra comics in reserve for just such an occasion.

You’ll notice that the most recent batch of comics have been fairly topical, beginning with Redead Redemption, moving through E3 reactions and then the fairly recent news on the cast of the upcoming Voyage of the Dawn Treader. There are a couple of reasons for this, I think, one is that my idea library has been sampled to the point where I feel that many of my new ideas are just as strong, and a second reason is that my familiarity with Illustrator is now at a point where I can get things out more quickly and easily than was possible earlier on. So, the increased topicality lately stems largely from experience, both in generating ideas and in translating them into visual forms. I like being topical; I feel it adds another layer of relevancy to my work. This isn’t to say that the best comics are topical ones, but it does act as a breath of fresh air for work like mine that makes lots of references to cultural items (which, due to their established nature are also necessarily in the past to varying extents).