Today’s comic is very much an inside joke, so my apologies for those that it excludes. But the punchline is one stolen from my good friend from Joe Loves Crappy Movies. It’s his humorous take on Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars prequels. It comes from this comic, when Anakin finally connects the dots and realizes that Senator Palpatine is actually the Sith Lord, he responds with his signature catchphrase.

Joe’s version of Emperor Palpatine proved to be very popular and became a reoccurring character. He appeared in four other comics.

Why reference something obscure to anyone who wasn’t already a die-hard fan of Joe Loves Crappy Movies?

Well, recognizing the comedic potential of including the line “My God, it’s full of Stars!” from 2001: A Space Odyssey in reference to Hubble IMAX, it made sense to have someone there to point out Tom was stating the obvious and/or being stupid. So why not Palpatine?

You could probably also say I included Palpatine because Joe doesn’t update Joe Loves Crappy Movies much anymore and, well, I miss seeing the character.

I’m not pointing fingers at Joe, mind you. I know he recently got a new job, moved into his first house and has been pouring a lot of effort into his two OTHER comics – Martriculated and Another Videogame Comic. He’s a busy guy. But (for obvious reasons) Joe Loves Crappy Movies speaks to me the most and I miss Joe’s take on what’s new in theaters.

It’s weird, you know – Since we ended The Triple Feature back in January, I really haven’t talked to Joe much at all. I’ve talked to Gordon over at Multiplex a few times through Twitter and Facebook. But that’s about it.

I suppose we could have all used a break from one another. But after 3 years of doing that show every week, it kind of came to an abrupt stop.

C2E2 is coming up in a couple of weeks and all three of us will be there. But in a break from our traditional con set up where we’re either situated next to each other or sharing tables on Artist Alley, the three of us will be spread around the convention floor. Joe and the rest of the Digital Pimp crew are in Artist Alley. Gordon and I will be somewhere in Webcomics Pavilion, but not set up next to each other. So if we see each other, it’ll be after the show. We won’t be hanging out throughout the day like we normally do.

I don’t know why I’m working this out in front of you like I am. Certainly it’s not very funny or entertaining. But I think we’ve come to the point where the three of us were kind of intertwined in terms of the branding of our three comics. Sometimes I’ll get e-mails asking about Gordon and Joe, so I assume there’s some interest there.

Sorry, I’m rambling a little bit.

Let me just say instead that I hope you enjoyed today’s comic and thanks to Joe Dunn for letting me take one of his characters around the block for a little walk.

Cheers and I’ll see you guys here on Friday!