February 22nd

Comic. I apologize for the deviation in tone/format from the usual. The Funny will return next week.

–wr

The Press Weighs In

Well, not really. But i did get a nice write-up over at webcomics blog The Floating Lightbulb, which is actually the best and (almost) the only such blog that i read so i was extremely surprised and delighted to see this overly nice article about my verbose picto-fiction. To be  written-up in this manner by a person I respect and admire, well it just kicks the shit out of money and hurls it down the stairs, so valuable is it.  A huge and wonderful surprise from a huge and wonderful blog. And I guess while we’re on the subject, another great webcomics blog is The Webcomics Overlook, who gave me a bad review a while back, but I nevertheless recommend it wholeheartedly as another great source of webcomics articles. Anyone interested in the goings-on of this bizarre, malleable thing that is the evolving state of the comic strip could do no better than to read these two sites.

see you at the weekend,

wr

2nd Anniversary

Okay, some text for you. I swear to god there’s a typo in there that i lost track of between the inking and the photoshopping and can’t goddamn find now, so please point it out if you see it so i can chase it through the park with a flamethrower, cornering it by the ice cream stand and finishing the job. (update: It has been found and eliminated, thanks to one of the Heroes out there)

AND

And that marks the 2nd anniversary of this goddamn comic strip. I celebrated by doing another overly-long comic that i was petrified to publish once i’d finished it, but since i’ve gone through this every week for two years i’m just ignoring my fears at this point. Ah yes, the glories of an anniversary. To look back upon the scorched, barren earth of your life stretching off behind you and ask yourself “what now?” A year ago i moaned in despair that the success of year two would determine whether there would be a year three, but then a year ago i had literally seven readers and could not predict the surprising fact that a bunch of people would show up and say “hey, this sucks less than some other stuff, see you next week.”

THANKS

So, thanks for showing up every week and for reading and for leaving comments and for emailing in to say “believe it or not  i enjoy your comics” and for sending beyond-beyond-generous donations and for just being beautiful in general. And i’ll leave it at that. Just did the 100th comic a couple months ago, so i don’t wanna get into anniversary overkill here.

ANYWAY

Moving on then. As for me, i can be found in a couple other places worth mentioning. Doing an interview exchange with a colleague of mine who does some nice drawings here on the world wide internet. My interview of him, during which i am attacked by a variety of wild animals and hired assassins, can be found here, and then he’ll be asking me some similarly confusing and uninformative questions some time in the future. Also, i’m doing another weekly comic over at Cracked, which is a humor website for those unfamiliar. They were all like “Yo,” and i was all like “S’up,” and then we agreed on some new comics, so now you can read said new comics over at their place. The strip should run every Monday, and, uh, that’s pretty much it. Look, i’m not a salesman, alright! I went to the Bill Watterson School of Marketing, where the only way to graduate is to not show up.

ANYHOW

Stay beautiful, handshakes all around,

WR

Things I hate typing

Sorry, no comic this week. Various factors are precluding the successful completion of any colorful picto-fiction right now, to put it vaguely, but i hope to right the ship in the coming days. I apologize for the 11th hour announcement and of course the lack of a comic.

That ship ain’t right,

WR

February 2nd: “Sketchy Motel Room”

It is this week’s comic, and it is dedicated to anyone who has ever stayed in a sketchy motel or a sketchy anything or has lived on Earth in any capacity. Ah, Earth. In many ways the least habitable of the solar system’s planets. Is it hot on Venus? Sure. But there are no idiots with bad hair who wake you up at 7am by blowing their nose with the force of 300 advanced Area 51 wind tunnels, nor are there any crazy guys with a cigarette behind their ear who cheer you up on the subway by telling you you’re “gonna die.” Great, now i’m gonna die. On Venus, or Neptune, I would not have this problem. Would I have other problems, sure. But they would not involve noise pollution or idiots or shameful bands that start with N*ck*l and end with shit.

As for me, i went to the movies for once. “Doubt” gets four thumbs up, one for each actor in the film, each of whom was individually more interesting to watch than the other movie i saw, “The Reader,” which was the kind of story that would need a Big Talent behind the director’s chair to pull it off. Sadly, it was directed by no such person, and thus had the feeling of a three hour movie rushed through in 120 minutes. One quick scene after another, loping towards the ending, the film marred further by the miscasting of the most important male role. In terms of subject matter I am the target audience for this kind of movie, and i am disappointed that it was not better executed. It was a great story, told badly. Worth seeing, but it could have been a clear Best Picture contender instead of an undeservedly-nominated near-mess. Not that i care about awards, but hey, it’s late and i’m tired and my feet are cold and this planet is sketchy.

stay beautiful,

WR