A Slight Change of Plans and Weeping Pines

Okay. So I wasn't able to get a page of Heckbringers together for today. I am sorry. I have no excuse, other than an unhealthy obsession with watching Twin Peaks with the wife and playing Blue Stinger. More on both of those later.

However! I had often mentioned my desire to add a third comic into the rotation here, and though I had actually been a little conflicted about posting what I had come up with, I think this would be an excellent time to test the waters for another new feature. As I said in the past, this next comic would be of  a completely different format than anything else I've done. I hope you like it.

That's it. Heckbingers again very soon. I promise.

Saturday Morning Anime for Grown Up Kids: JA-JA-JA-JANKEN! CONCLUDES!

Well, I said I was gonna wrap up JANKEN!, so here it is. Just in case you can't remember the complex narrative so far, here's chapter 248 and 249. Some talking afterward, but for now, enjoy!

Oh, suspense! If Twin Peaks taught me anything, it was to never resolve anything! To be honest, I already know exactly what the next chapter would be, but I planned this as a three chapter series, so that's how I'm gonna keep it for now.

This has been a pretty fun experiment, and it's hard to believe it has taken as long as it has. I first posted JANKEN! On here back in September, and it's already almost April. That's an awfully long time for 18 pages to happen, but I suppose  that's just the nature of doing this stuff in your spare time. I'm happy that this last chapter managed to come out only two months or so after the last one, which is considerably better than the five months it took to get the second chapter out. The idea of putting out something like this monthly isn't COMPLETELY inconceivable to me at this point, though I don't know if that will be happening any time soon.

Of course, since I spent extra time prepping this, I neglected to have a page of Heckbringers ready. I know that's a bummer, as I haven't exactly been plotting that comic at a breakneck pace, but I do promise that it is going somewhere. I have a lot of plans for the world of Heckbringers, and once I get it off the ground a little bit, I think that will start to show. For now though, we wait until next week.

In terms of what's next for JANKEN!? I'm not totally sure. I do really like the characters and premise. My plan is to, in the near future, compile the 18 pages I have already completed, toss in some bonus material like character profiles and summaries of the 247 chapters leading up to the arbitrary starting point I chose, and a fancy color cover illustration for a little mini collected edition through Amazon. Might even toss in an exclusive chapter. We'll see if I have time.

Moving forward, I think that will probably be the plan in terms of ongoing comics. That is to say, I might use DokiDoki Arcade as a place to accumulate content for personal compilations. If I keep up a weekly schedule on Heckbringers, by this time next year I'll have a pretty sizable amount of pages, so being able to get all that collected in one place might be a compelling proposition, if it all turns out good of course.

In the mean time, though, I hope anybody reading enjoyed the ride on JANKEN! while it lasted. It was a fun experiment for me personally, and I'm very satisfied to have, for the first time in many years, carried an idea out to completion,at least as far as my vision is concerned, since JANKEN! could theoretically go on forever. It has been quite some time since I actually finished a comic of my own creation, so I feel very accomplished, as silly as that may sound.

That's it for now! I might have a write up on what seems to be a game nobody I have talked to knows about but that I am very much enjoying, so look forward to another sloppy article posted from my Wii U! Hint hint: the game is Lone Survivor.

HECKBRINGERS PAGE 004! TECHNICALLY ON SCHEDULE!

Okay. So I got real real sick this weekend. Had this page inked LAST Sunday, but that didn't stop me from ALMOST being late with this one. It is late. But it's technically still Tuesday, and here it is. Four weeks in a row! That's practically a big deal. I think at this point, I might even start actually scripting these! Wouldn't that be fun!

It's a lot of fun to draw Gubba. He's like, part frog, part dragon, part Bowser, and he really is a satisfying figure. I hope this color scheme isn't getting too old just yet. I'm trying to slowly add some little nuances here and there, and at some point maybe the entire city won't be red. But probably not.

JA-JA-JA-JANKEN!! is for real almost done. I think I have two pages left. After that, I think Nova Phase will be the main focus for me, although I'll definitely keep doing a weekly Heckbringers. Hopefully I'll post something else this week, maybe an article about something. We shall see!

HECKBRINGERS AGAIN! Three Weeks in a Row!

So on the plus side, I have actually managed to keep up a solid weekly schedule for three consecutive weeks. If you are someone that has followed my work in the past, I think you will agree that is something of a shock. On the other hand, I haven't posted much else in between, and the whole point was to be delivering more smaller chunks of content. I guess technically I'm still doing that, and one post a week is still better than one every few months, but I want to do better.

That said, I have a fair amount of material in the pipeline, so to speak, including another new comic in an entirely different format, designed to be a serialized micro-comic, of sorts, and of course the next chapter of JANKEN!, which I have slacked off on a little bit. I will do better.

As far as HECKBRINGERS goes, I am pleased with the product so far. I'm experimenting with a different process, which I think will be my go to procedure for works done in color, which I think everyone tends to enjoy a bit more. The story is moving a long nicely, and it's refreshing to work in a weekly format again.

Speaking of, I have plans to leverage my somewhat sizable  body of previous work, most of which is no longer available anywhere, to help fill in content around here when I am busy. Be excited!

MORE HECKBRINGERS: A Second Page!

I bet you thought I wasn't gonna post another page of this! I bet you figured I NEVER follow up when I say I'm gonna post more of something. Well, normally you'd be right, but I'm turning over a new leaf around here. Thus, I present, the next page of Heckbringers!

I'd also like to point out that this even came in a timely fashion! I think I can probably swing one page a week of this comic. Should also have JANKEN! done for next week, which would be cool. After that, in addition to trying to rotate one more comic in (as a substitute while JANKEN! goes on a hiatus) I'm also going to be trying to finish the next issue of Nova Phase, which some might remember is the comic that I illustrate, published by Slave Labor Graphics. The 4th issue came out online a month ago, and the second paperback edition, collecting issues 3 and 4, just became available on Amazon recently! I'll post an official promo thing tomorrow, but for now feel free to go look for it!

Of course, what that next comic is going to be is still up in the air. There are a lot of choices, even if I only look at ides that I've already mentioned here, but for all I know I might feel like doing something totally new. Who knows!? Either way, it will follow a similar format to JANKEN!, in that it will be six pages and black and white. I'm also contemplating adding one more format into the rotation, perhaps an even smaller one, Bazooka Joe style or something. If I could somehow give you guys gum through the internet, I would.

I still have another big announcement waiting in the wings, but I'm so busy I haven't really had a chance to make the most of it. It involves games and is exciting, maybe. 

BIRD FORCE STICKERS!

I know at this point it seems like forever that I have been promising these, but I finally sat myself down to get these little guys done! I wanted these to be as fun a a bunch of stickers possibly could be, so I hope they turned out good! Without further ado, here is the first set of BIRD FORCE STICKERS!

Collect'em all! #teambirds

Here we have the starting roster of pilots, complete with their own unique signature ships. Everybody here has already been featured in the past, but this is the first time that they've been  rendered in anything other than pixel art, which was an interesting challenge, as I never even drew concept art of these guys. In the future, there'll be some new characters debuting, including enemies! I think they will be pretty awesome.

Now then, instructions. Just print this image on to sticker paper, available at Staples or whatever office related store you frequent. I'd buy it online, because it's probably cheaper, but whatever. I imagine these would look best a little smaller, so try printing them 4 up! I don't know. Experiment, and let me know what works for you.

Enjoy!