Last Gasp for 2010

Welp, it's New Year's Eve. I've got a Party tonight, and I'm hosting a party in two days. My house is a wreck. I'm in my PJs. I'm heading to Evansville in an hour or two to make reductions and score whatever comics might have come in. I've read a few "Best Comics of the Year" List, so I'm gonna try some new stuff, maybe. I need to diversify a little. Read some new stuff. I'm getting too insulated.

I'm in a very weird place in my life right now. I worked really hard this last year. Really hard. I produced a lot of comics. Some were good, some were excellent. But what came of it? A little bit of pride, I suppose. A body of work to display at conventions. Most importantly, I've got a bunch of ideas out of my head. That's nice. A lot of people don't get this, but if I don't placate my Muse, she'll... I can handle all of the crap that comes with being me. What I can't handle is not creating. Nothing will destroy me faster than being creatively stagnant.

But at the same time. Where the hell am I going? I'm not even a blip on the radar. No one's talking about me. I work the same Cons year after year, and I get those one or two people that have read my stuff and dig it and buy some more and that is awesome and it keeps me going and if you're one of those people and you're reading this run on sentence, I'd like to take a second to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'd have called it good by now if it weren't for you folks, few though you are. And it's not about the Money (although breaking even would be swell) or the Fame (although it wouldn't hurt my feelings, especially pretty ladies) or the Critical Acclaim (although showing up on a Best of the Year List couldn't hurt sales...). It's about making the comics I want to make, the way I want to make them. But when you've got a head like mine, I swirling vortex of nonstop creative ideas, there's only so much you can do. So what do I do? What do I focus on? Do I stick with the current plan, with the semi-monthly books and the web comic and all of that, or do I shelve that stuff and produce something (like an original graphic novel) that might get me noticed. Get me on the radar. Or do I accept that at the end of the day I don't care about some stupid radar, and what drives me is seeing the Clown and Penguin's journey through to the end. Obscurity or Potential Payday? Should be a no-brainer. Should be.

And then there's the work. I work something like 60 to 80 hours a week. I hemorrhage money like it's going out of style. This year is a blur. I've got, like, three or four good memories from the whole year. A couple of nice little road trips. A few good times with friends. A few Wrestling shows. Some good Conventions. I'm 32 years old, and I've been on 2 dates in my life. That's a bummer. I've never left the country. I haven't even been to most of the other States in America. I've only been on a few plane rides. I really isolated myself this year. I didn't go out much. My friends are married, or they've got careers. Or kids. Or both. Or all three. Me? I consider comics my career, but how can you call something a career that doesn't pay the bills? No wife. No girlfriend. No kids.

Or am I just being a fucking pussy? Hell, man, more money more problems. Romance? Pft. The odds of finding some chick that doesn't drive you nuts and screws you over is one in a billion. Kids? My Ma's a teacher. I know how kids are getting stupider and fatter and more rebellious with every passing generation. Even if I had a good kid, that kid would probably end up like I did, tortured until he was an outcast weirdo that can't cope with normal life. Maybe I've just got this one shot to create something really cool. A comic that's many comics. A story about two guys finding their way through the universe. A wild, raucous road trip through the endless horizon of the infinite full of punching and explosions and sex and tacos and bad jokes and Heaven and Hell and all points in-between. Maybe all of this talk about money and fame and loneliness and recognition is just my fear talking. Maybe I'm afraid to do the one thing I really want to do. The only thing I ever wanted to do. I do have a habit of shooting myself in the foot right when I'm on the edge of something good.

Maybe the lesson I really should have learned from School and Church was that, maybe what's out there isn't really worth my time. When Preachers stab you in the back (repeatedly), something has gone dreadfully wrong with humanity. And School? I have spent my entire Adult Life trying to figure out why they hated me. Why they felt the need to drag me down. It was their fault. It was my fault. It was no one's fault. It was the System's fault. We're all animals. Blahblahblah. Who even cares anymore, right? The past is the past. And, yeah, people are fucked up. Always have been. Always will be. Hell, ancient people used to feed their kids to dogs, and the Chinese drown their girl babies, and people in America go off and leave their newborns in the apartment for three days while they're off scoring drugs and the neighbors complain about the smell and the cops show up and there's a dead, bloated baby sitting on the counter. Nothing will kill a man's faith better than Church (Hell, if the Atheists were smart, they would ENCOURAGE people to go to church. That'd kill religion faster than a bunch of rhetoric about Religion being responsible for war or some other bullshit). But it's not all bad. There's cherry pie and warm conversation and yoga class and sharing a good joke with friends. There's holding your baby nephew in your arms. There's the drive from my house to St. Louis in my new car with the "Magical Mystery Tour" in the CD Player. There's hanging out with the gang watching some new HBO show and trading snarky comments. There's HFSAC 7.

And there's my mind. It's bad and it's good too. There's the paranoia and neurosis and the second guessing. There's my stupid ideas about stuff that I don't really know much about. There's the Hate. And not just for everyone that's hurt me, man, but there's this endless well of hate I've got for myself. Every stupid mistake I've ever made echoes through my head, day in and day out. And all of that stuff is bad. No doubt. But there's the good, too. The good memories, the handful of good things I've done. Some things click for me easier than they do for most people. I can make cognitive leaps that most people can't. It makes me look like I'm smart even though I'm not. And my imagination. It's what gets me through, always has, always will. I see things most people don't. And I don't mean in a crazy, delusional, hallucinogenic way. I've got an entire Universe in my brain. That's kinda exciting.

I don't have any answers anymore. I think that was the point of this rambling nonsense. Maybe I'm trying to come to some conclusion. Figure out where I'm going. It's a New Year tomorrow. It's as good a time as any to try something new. So now what? Stay the course? Make more comics? Make less comics? Give up on comics? Start drinking? Search out my soulmate? Go Buddhist? Sell all my possessions and walk the Earth having adventures?

I dunno.

I do know I've got some cool ideas for some new comix...

See you next year.

2010 Year in Review

With a few exceptions this was, by and large, a Rotten Year. A lot of it was the crap that went down with Ma, which I won't go into detail about here, but that pretty much sucked the life out of a good chunk of the year. Dad's luck was pretty rotten, too. I suppose that's the downside of being in a fairly close-knit family, when your family's having a bad run, it affects you as well.

On my end, my year was, quite frankly, kinda empty. If you ignore TORC Press (and don't worry, I'm not), my year basically amounts to a handful of Road Trips, the acquisition of a new car (which I am really happy about. Love the Dangermobile Mk II), I started taking yoga classes late in the year, and I had my usual bout of crazy mood swings. This was also the year I gave up Organized Religion once and for all. That sucked ass and left me with a big, fat whole in my life. I may have worked too hard this year. I spent a lot of time in the studio toiling away, cranking out comics, and isolating myself from the world. In retrospect, maybe I shoulda got out more. I dunno.

The best comic of the year was "One Piece", with honorable mentions going to "Batman and Robin", "Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne", and "Joe the Barbarian". Best Movie was "Inception" (probably won't get to see "True Grit" until next year, if I'm lucky) with honorable mentions for "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" (easily the most underrated film of the year). Best TV Show was "Bored to Death" just because it was no one else's best TV show, and because I loved every second of it. Honorable Mentions go to "Community", "Modern Family", "How I Met Your Mother" (the Street Race was Legen-wait for it-dary), "Psych", "Burn Notice", "Running Wilde" (already Cancelled, of course), and HBO's great new show "Boardwalk Empire" (further proof that Steve Buschemi rules). Oh, and when it was on "Batman the Brave and the Bold" was Awesome-awesome. Also, "Phineas and Ferb".

TORC Press had an interesting year. I think I put out 18 Comics this Year. Take a second to appreciate that, if you would. One Man. 18 Books. One Year. Not bad, right? And none of them were bad. And some of them, namely, "Death Nouveau Ep 2", and issues 3, 6, 7, and 9 of "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club" were among the Best Damn Comix I've Ever Made Ever. Ever. I didn't just fart stuff out this year (well, okay, some of those issues of SDF: Pulp mighta been a little dicey), I worked my ass off and put out some real quality work. Hell, even my legendarily impossible to please Father actually really enjoyed "Walt n' Sped Comix" 1 (that should be a sales point: Approved by David Morris). We worked a lot of conventions this year. Some went good. Some went bad. I still couldn't find a way to make a profit, no matter how hard I tried. This was also the year where I figured out how to make my website work. That was nice, but it still didn't result in an increase in Sales or Exposure, so once again, the internet proves to be horribly overrated. Still, TORC Press was the highlight of my year.

All in all, 2010 coulda been a lot better, and it coulda been a lot worse. As it stands, I'm cautiously optimistic about 2011.

Monday Business

First off, hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Mine was quite nice. Scored lots of swag, including a bunch of TV on DVD I wanted, as well as a bunch of TPBs, including the entire Grant Morrison "Batman" run I skipped out on. Now the whole "Batman & Robin" arc makes a lot more sense. I also finally possess Takashi Miike's "Gozu", which I'm extremely happy about. So, yeah, good Present Run.

In this morning's TORC Press Newsreel, the first Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club Collection is just about ready to go. I've repurposed all of the pages and prepared a new Front and Back Cover. I've also tried to go over Ka-Blam's various FAQs with a fine tooth comb to see if there's anything I'm missing. I'll be sending the book to the printers at the beginning of the New Year, so once again, if you're a regular TORC Press Reader, and you want a copy, please give me a heads up so I can add extras to the Print Run.

Wrapped up Mystery Book 2 over the weekend, as well. Now all I have to do is get reductions made and ship the book off to the Printers before I do something stupid, like killing the project. I really like the book right now, so as long as that continues I should be good.

As soon as the New Year starts I need to start pinning down my Convention Calender for the year. I've got some real good leads, and I'm already signed up for STAPLE and SPACE in March. Gotta book a plane for STAPLE yet.

Once again, the last page of MONSTER KING Issue One is up at the Main Site at www.torcpress.com. On New Year's Day (after I come out of my New Year's Coma), we'll be starting a New Issue of Monster King and dumping all of the current pages, so get it while the getting's good. Although, don't worry, the Print Version of MONSTER KING 1 is on its way in early 2011.

A couple of times this year people on the Convention Circuit compared my work to something called "Skeleton Jelly". I looked up this Skeleton Jelly and saw no resemblance. Like Bro says, people need stuff to compare stuff to.

Merry MONSTER KING Christmas

Merry Christmas Cats and Kittens! We've got a new page of MONSTER KING up over at the main site at www.torcpress.com or go to it directly at torcpress.com/mkex.html. This is the last page of the first issue. After this we'll be reloading with the first page of issue two.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to ramble a little about the whys and hows of Monster King. When I started fixing my website, one of the things I wanted to add to the site was an online comic. I didn't really like the disposable nature of the previous online comic I did, so I wanted to do something a little more... integral. At the time I started tinkering with the webcomic, I was working on an Original Graphic Novel (which I've since trashed... I'm an idiot). The (since aborted) OGN was set pretty far down the road, chronologically, and I got the idea to have MONSTER KING (which was actually originally called "SDF: Dance", by the by), serve as a lead-in to the OGN, slowly introducing many of the characters and concepts that would be found in the OGN later on. The original plan was to do a series of short, sorta Graphic Novels that I would serialize on the web as a webcomic, and then release in TPB form. That way, there would be this trail of Graphic Novels leading into the release of the Big, Fat OGN. Brilliant plan, right?

Have I mentioned I'm an idiot?

I should know by now. NEVER MAKE LONG TERM PLANS. EVER. I can set things up. I can drop hints. I can seed ideas for later. That's fine. But making a plan that will come together over time? Stupid. Never works for me. My head is like a whirlwind, always swirling and changing and rearranging.

So, I wrote the script for the first issue. It was around 40 or so pages. I went to put the first page online...aaaand.... not so surprisingly, the black and white and grey page didn't seem so spiffy. What's the point of an online comic if it doesn't catch the eye, right? So, I colored it up. Bingo. Spiffy. Of course, now I've got a new problem. It's in color, so when I release it in comic form, it's gonna cost me a fortune to print. I could have done the print version in BWG, but that would be lame, wouldn't it? Plus, after awhile, I was specifically drawing the comic for color, which would have made a change in format even worse. Now what? Welp, another format change, obviously. I decided to turn the "first issue" into two 24 page issues. Simple, right? Wrong. I wrote the first issue in a rambling, drifting style, without concern for length. I went through the script looking for a good place to break the issue in half. The best place turned out to be Page 25. Goofy? Sure, but all I had to do was use page 25 on the Inside Back Cover. No problem.

Anyway, like I said, somewhere in the process, the Original Graphic Novel got killed. So, suddenly, Monster King isn't leading anywhere. I liked the first two issues though, and still wanted to see them in print. So, I continued to plug away at Monster King, figuring that I'd kill the Online Strip/Book after Issue Two.

But like I said, my Brain is a swirling tsunami of madcap ideas. And I came up with something new. I don't wanna talk about it much, because, well, again, my plans will change a hundred times before any of this comes to pass. Long story short, I know what I wanna do with Monster King, and it will continue past issue 2, so there's that.

Oh, and don't feel too bad about that lost OGN. A lot of the ideas from it will pop up in other places. It's gonna be cool, baby.

Monday Ramble

Hey. It's Christmas week. Woo. Let's see what we've got today.

Made it up and back from Evansville with time to spare this weekend. That was cool. A lot of the usual suspects showed up for the CQCA Meeting. We've got a new contest going on that I plan on intentionally tanking. Should be fun.

HFSAC 10, HFSAC 11, and Monster King 1 are now currently all at the Printers. HFSAC 10 should be available in early January, while the rest will be available at other times. Mystery Book 1, Issue 1 is finished, but I haven't decided when to scan it and send it to the Printers. Mystery Book 2, Issue 1 is almost completely Pencilled, and a good chunk of the Inks are done. The first HFSAC TPB is almost ready to go. I need to repurpose the pages from issues 5&6 and color the cover. I'll probably put that in the pipeline in early, early January.

Also, once again, the latest pages of MONSTER KING are up on the main site at www.torcpress.com. The MK site reloads at the beginning of the New Year, so keep that in mind.

I'm almost kinda happy to be going back to work today. This being trapped inside thing was starting to get to me a little.

Also, if I don't get a chance to blog it before then, a Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

New Monster King and Other Stuff

"You Get Away from Him!"

Right-o. We're a little early this week, but thanks to the ice, I'm still more or less Cabinbound, so we've got MONSTER KING up a little early. Head on over to the main site at www.torcpress.com or head over to www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html to check out Pages 23-24. The last page of Issue One, Page 25 goes up next weekend. After that, Monster King reloads for Issue Two, and all of the pages that are currently up will go buh-bye, so get em while the getting's good.

In this week's edition, the Clown gets ticked off, and the Giant Spider has a very, very bad day.

While I'm on the subject, I'll be sending the first issue of MONSTER KING to the Printers either today or tomorrow. We'll see how that works out.

Before I forget, I also am working on a collected edition Trade Paperback of Issues 1-6 of the Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club. This TPB will NOT contain any new material (besides the cover, obviously). I will be producing a relatively short print run of the book, primarily for the purpose of selling the book at STAPLE and SPACE in March. If you are a regular TORC Press reader (and this includes my Bro and other pals) and you want a copy of the TPB, please contact me through the usual channels so I can increase the Print Run accordingly. Thank you.

With another day iced in, I'm trying to decide what else to do today. I'm also trying to decide whether I want to risk driving to Evansville for the CQCA Meeting on Saturday. Supposedly, the highways aren't that bad, but it's still a two hour drive in dicey conditions, and I need to be back in time for a Family Christmas Dealie that night. Have I Mentioned I HATE Winter?

Frozen Doom

So, this is gonna one of those kinda Winters. Bitter, hard, and totally out to ruin everything for everyone. The Sawmill really gets it in this kind of Winter. Hydraulics don't like the cold. The conveyors get buried under snow. And ice. Lord, the ice. We lost two days to the snow and the ubercold. It finally cleared up enough to work on Wednesday, although it took us most of the morning just to get things running enough to actually work. So, we got a half of a day in. Now, I don't like my job at the Mill by any stretch of the imagination, but I know that Dad's gotta pay the bills (which includes my paycheck, dur), so losing a bunch of perfectly good work days to snow is no good for any of us.

So, today, I get up, bumble over to the window, look out, and everything looks kosher, so I go about my morning rituals. Around the time that I'm throwing on my pants, I get a call from Dad. Turns out we got SHEET ICE overnight. So, I've probably got the morning off, maybe the day. Which, normally, would be cause celebre around here. But we've already lost two days, plus it's Yoga night in Olney.

Long story short, this is gonna be a long, rotten winter. And it's not even January yet.

Frozen Ramblings

Right-o. Still frozen today, so if we Sawmill it'll be later on. So, I've got some time to ramble it appears.

Everyone wants everything to be one thing, y'know? He's a good guy. He's a bad guy. He's rich. He's poor. There is a God. There is no God. We came from Monkeys. There is Global Warming. There is no Global Warming. The Democrats have the Answer. The Republicans have the Answer. All Politicians are Corrupt. Blahblahblah.

What a load of Crap.

Nothing is One Thing. I mean, I'm never gonna believe in Evolution as the be-all-end-all answer to How Everything Works, because there's too many big, fat holes in the theory. For something based on Chaos it's so...Organized. Like, maybe, there was a Hand involved in it, y'know? At the same time, I never understood, even when I was a Baptist, why we had to sit around and discount or try erase Evolution. For starters, it's the prevailing Scientific Theory, which means it should be taught in schools in Science class (how is that NOT a Duh?), and frankly, a lot of it makes sense.

Oh, but that's too wishy-washy. We gotta Stand for something, don't we? Cripes.

Like I said, it's a Load of Crap. Hell, nothing displays that better than our stupid ass Two Party System. I know the Democrats suck. I know this. Hell, even at the absolute height of Obamamania I knew, deep down, that the Democrats were gonna drop the damn ball the very second they got in office. But what's the alternative? The Republicans? Hahahahaahaahahaha!!!! Democrats are screw ups, but Republicans are the Anti-Christ, soullessly devoted to the collapse of humanity and the rise of the Apocalypse.

(And even then, I'm falling into the Age Old Trap of Oversimplification. After all, I'm sure there are competent Democrats, and Republicans that are decent people. Surely)

We always want everything boiled down to the simplest terms. Have you watched those stupid 24 Hour News Shows? It's all Headlines and the most basic information. When a Sports Team Loses, it's always the fault of one guy. That LeBron Guy didn't work hard enough. The Quarterback had a rough day. The Pitcher sucks. Blahblahblah. Never mind that there's an entire team of people playing the stupid game too.

Even the most simplistic crap is more complex than it appears. Take those horrible "Transformers" movies for example. Stupid action films? Sure. But they're also an ad for a bunch of cars and toys and that one Actress that I used to think was hot until I heard her talk and then I was like, she's not hot anymore (I like how movies can be ads for People now. That's funny. Interestingly, Matthew McConehey pioneered the trend.).

Jack Kirby didn't do simple. People always try to streamline the King down to this or that, but there was no this or that with the King. He did Superhero, Sci-Fi, Horror, Western, Romance (invented that genre, actually), Humor, and just about every other genre in comics. His style evolved over time. There was the stringy, wild, rough and tumble look Kirby's strips had in the 40s. There was the beautifully drawn 50s comics and the dynamic strips of the 60s. The 70s are the most often imitated of Kirby's styles, with their thick, blocky figures and explosive action. Hell, even in the 80s, the end of Kirby's career, there was an experimental approach to Kirby's storytelling. "Thor" wasn't just a superhero action comic. It was a Mythological, Grand Cosmic Epic with elements of Action, Humor (Volstagg cracks me up), and even Romance (man, that whole Jane Foster thing went on forever, didn't it?). The Fantastic Four was barely a superhero comic. It was a Sci-fi comic about Family and Exploration. Fighting bad guys was just kinda incidental. The Fourth World was a Cosmic comic, a War comic, a comic about different forms of familial connections, a Romance comic (from time to time), and one of the most bad ass action comics ever made. It was also one of the first true Megatexts (which is a Rant for another day).

Hell, I read in an Article once, that one of the reasons why the High-and-Mighty Comics Literatti have perpetually turned their collective noses up at Jack Kirby is because he didn't settle into one genre and his work was so hard to pin down. Man, that's one of the things I like about Kirby.

Maybe it's my problem. I think too much. I break things down. I like mashing up genres. I like combining different things. I like when something doesn't have an easy definition. I don't want the easy answers. I like when I don't entirely "get" something. I like being left with questions. But I'm a weirdo.

That's why I'm drawn to the movies I'm drawn to. David Lynch, Takashi Miike, David Cronenberg, all guys who don't create simple, easy to explain, easy to understand films. You can't really explain a David Lynch film in a single sentence (except for maybe "The Straight Story", and even that one is more complex than it appears on the surface).

That's why "SDF" was hard to promote. What was it? There were Action strips, but they were strange affairs with blood and horror and cartoon animals. And then there was a Walt n' Sped strip. Then there was something really odd, like aliceislost or Broken Tea Cup. And none of that is easy to sum up in a thirty second soundbite that you're blathering to a perfect stranger in a crowded convention full of people.

I will say that "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club" is a Lot easier to promote. You start with "It's an Adventure Comic" and right there you've got a bit of a hook. Something simple for the casual passerby to latch onto. Then you can dig under the surface a little bit. Tell them about the odd characters, and the surreal environments. Tell them about the Space Whales and the Giant Monsters and the pointless dance numbers. And if you haven't lost them by then, you might pick up a sale.

Where am I going with this? I dunno. Just rambling I suppose.

I guess that's been my problem for the last few years. What I'm looking for isn't simplistic or easy. I liked the debate that "Inception" provoked. I liked how everyone had different theories. I liked how some people despised the movie because it didn't fit their simple definition of this or that. I liked how I ran the movie through my mind backwards and forwards for days. About the only thing that bothered me was when people would dumb it down by calling it "A Special Effects Extravaganza". Groan. Special Effects were about as far from the point as you could get with that film. At best they were just part of the puzzle. Same old same old.

That's part of what drives me to work the way I work. There's so little out there that interests me (I gotta wait, what, 5 years between Lynch films? There's only two comics by Grant Morrison every month. I do watch a lotta TV, though). I make up for it by making the kinds of comics I wanna make, the way I wanna make em. That way at least there's something I like out there.

HFSAC 9 and Random Ramblings

Welp, this is gonna be a rough winter. It's already stupid cold, and now we've got our first, serious, screw up people's plans snow. On the bright side (sorta), we're not even gonna bother sawmilling until at least noon, so there's that. So, whatta we got today?

As I've obsessively hyped already, we've got a new book for sale over in the online store at www.torcpress.com/store.html. It's the 9th issue of the Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club, and it's the start of an exciting new arc called "The Pyramid". It's also the last book I'll be putting out in 2010. I'm not sure what my overall count for the year has been, but I think I've put out close to 18 books this year. That's nothing to sneeze at, even if several of those books were only 9 pages long. Since comix were pretty much my entire life this year, I'll probably do a year end wrap up in a week or two where I yammer about all the books I've put out this year.

On the production end, HFSAC 10 is currently at the Printers. The interiors of HFSAC 11 are done (which is nice. The last time I did a three issue story arc, "SDF: Honorless Dogs", it didn't come out anywhere near on time). I've got enough MONSTER KING material to get me to February, which is also nice. With the work on the Pyramid arc wrapped up, I'm going to take the rest of December and January off from the Fudgeheads. The plan is to line up the two "Mystery Books" I talked about earlier, get the Spring issue of "Gulatta!" started, and get some more MONSTER KING material together.

What else? Uh, wanna watch "True Grit" when it comes out. Also need to watch "Black Swan", but good luck on me getting out on time to catch that one. I've got a couple of conventions lined up for next year, and I'll start lining up others as soon as the New Year starts. Oh, and my Christmas shopping is done.

New MONSTER KING and HFSAC 9 Hype

Heyo, it's Saturday, so that be MONSTER KING day! Head on over to www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html or just start at Page 21 at www.torcpress.com/mk9.html. This week we've got a Giant Spider. What else do you need? It's a GIANT SPIDER! The world needs more Giant Spiders in it, damnit!

Also, if you didn't know, we've got a brand new book all ready to go in the Online Store. It's the 9th Kickin' Issue of "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club". You can acquire it at www.torcpress.com/store.html or view a Freebie Preview over at www.torcpress.com/hfsacprev.html.

It's Saturday, I'm in my PJs, I've got nowhere to go for a few hours, I've got plenty of time to work on today's pages, so let's talk the new issue of HFSAC, shall we? This is one of those stories that started as something else and evolved into this. That made no sense. Basically, back when I started SDF, I devised a Team Book consisting of a group of characters from SDF. In the first story arc, they fought Dr. Dendull (oh, Dendull, how little I've gotten to use you...), and in the second arc they get whisked off to this bizarre version of Egypt and have an adventure involving a Lost Pyramid. Unfortunately, because SDF was such an uphill battle (48 Page Comics are a lot harder to make than you think they are), my little kick ass JLA wannabe Team Book kept getting pushed back farther and farther and farther, until, eventually, there was no SDF and one of the characters went away and I had a handful of neato little stories that never happened. In the meantime, I had a few of my trademark breakdowns, stuff got shuffled around, blahblahblah, and in the midst of that chaos the incredible awesomeness that is The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club was born. So, I started putting the puzzle pieces of the book together, and I remembered the little Pyramid story, and I was like, hey! That'll work just fine in this new book.

In truth, the Pyramid arc barely starts in this issue. A lot of what I had dreamed up for that arc really starts in Issue 10. In this issue there's a lot of stuff that I needed to wrap up before I could move on to the Pyramid. For starters, after Issue 8 we kinda left poor Agent "?" hanging in the lurch. So we had to reintroduce her right off the bat. Then we had to deal with that whole Cactus Joe/Agent "?" thingie that was gonna go one way and then it went another way because I never know what's gonna happen. Then, there's this thing with El Exclamation Point! that comes out nowhere, and it's kinda pivotal. And Hassan i Phantom (from MONSTER KING, no less) pops up out of nowhere (there's a lot of out of nowhere in this issue, really).

And there's Dolphin Bees.

So, yeah, it's a cool issue, and the start of a new three issue story arc. Tag along. It'll be fun.

Issue 9 of the Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club Now Available

Hey! Let's release another new book! Why not?

Issue 9 of the Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club is now available from TORC Press. Huzzah! I could sit around yammering about it here on the blog till the cows come home, or I could shower you with a bunch of links to the Main Site where you can learn more about it, and save the blog hype for a time when I'm less pressed for time.

First off, we've got a brand new Hype Center specifically dedicated to the Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club at www.torcpress.com/hfsac.html. For Hype specifically related to Issue 9, go to www.torcpress.com/hfsacprev.html, which includes a two page Preview of the book, as well as a write up. We've also added Bios for Los Super Hip Bros to the Cast section at www.torcpress.com/lsb.html. And lastly, if you dig what you see and wanna support the cause, head to our store at www.torcpress.com/store.html. I was a busy little webhead this weekend.

And now it's off to freeze to death at the Sawmill. Huzzah!

New Monster King and My Books in 2011

"Huh. Giant Spider Web Full of People. Of course."

Right-o. It's Saturday, so it's MONSTER KING time. Pages 19 and 20 are up to bat at www.torcpress.com/mk7.html. This week our heroes encounter a Giant Spider Web, and where there's a Giant Spider Web...

Also, don't forget we've got a new book for sale, "Walt n' Sped Comix" #1 is available in the online store at www.torcpress.com/store.html.

We should also have some more new stuff on Monday.

Hey, while I'm sitting around the house watching "The Penguins of Madagascar" and not working, it's time to take a look at what books we'll be running in 2011, okay?

SDF: Pulp- I decided to start with this one, mostly because I'm done with this one. "SDF: Pulp" was an interesting experiment, but at the end of the day, it was a failed experiment. It just didn't work. The four page story format didn't work. Bad Jack and Cosmico Rex didn't work. The $1.50 price point didn't work. It sold okay, but the profit was crap, and a $1.50 isn't gonna go a long way toward covering the cost of a table at a Convention, y'know? I've decided that Issue 5 is as good a place as any to end the book, because it only leaves the Cactus Joe vs. Vlad story dangling, which, hopefully, I'll wrap up later on in another book.

Gulatta!-- My all ages superhero book always does nicely, and I think it has a little following. I plan on doing two books a year. Issue 3 will hopefully come out in Spring, and Issue 4 will maybe hopefully come out in Fall.

Walt n' Sped Comix-- My other all ages book will come out once a year. Maybe in Summer or Fall. Depends on my schedule.

MONSTER KING!-- Right. Two new pages will continue to come out online every week. I'll compile 12 pages at a time, then reload. Once an entire issue has been compiled (which should happen by the end of the year...) I'll send the book off to the Printers to make a hard copy. Maybe people will buy it. Hopefully. That is kinda the point of the whole putting it online thing, is that people will buy the book after reading it online.

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club-- My flagship book. The thing which I've been kicking butt on all year. We'll be rocking this book for quite some time. In fact, we've got a killer three issue story arc coming up very soon. I'm not sure how many issues I'll be putting out next year yet. I'm shooting for a minimum of six, but we'll see if I can crank out a few more. Also, early next year I plan on releasing a trade paperback collection of the first six issues.

Mystery Book 1-- So, I have this bad habit of working very, very hard on certain books, and then never actually publishing the damn things. I'm stupid like that. Anyway, if I actually get around to it, I'm going to be doing a book that will collect those lost issues. Not sure how many issues will come out, or how many I'll release next year.

Mystery Book 2-- If you know anything about me, you know I am always working on some crazy new book (see Mystery Book 1). Anyway, I'm working on a book on the side, right now. If it works like I think it will (crosses fingers), it'll be coming out in early 2011. No guarantees though. I will give you a little hint on the book. Think "Cosmic".

New Web Stuff and Walt n' Sped

Right-o. It's not MONSTER KING day, yet (that's tomorrow), but we've added some new stuff to the main site at www.torcpress.com anyway. Pretty much everything has to do with our new book, "Walt n' Sped Comix" #1. Under the link marked "PREVIEWS" we've added a brand new preview center. Admittedly, the only book we have a preview for right now is Walt n' Sped, but that will change over time. Anyway, make sure to check out the two page preview and plot synopsis of the new book, and if you like what you see, throw us a little love over at our online store at www.torcpress.com/store.html.

Spinning Tornado Kick!