I had a lot of fun drawing the expression Tom made in the fourth panel of today's comic, so I decided to see if I could push it father in today's Top Web Comics incentive sketch. I believe this is what's called in the comedy world as "pulling a face." Check it out!

Sorry for the delay posting today's comic. There was a bit of a kerfuffle involving the site's server host. Apparently there was a potential security compromise and our host was forcing password resets on an incremental basis. I didn't find out about it until after I tried to upload today's comic! But things are back to normal now.

Considering Theater Hopper's slow descent into oblivion this August, I had the idea that I should recognize certain mile makers along the way. That's why Cecil showed up into today's comic.

I never really took advantage of Cecil. I basically created him to give Jimmy someone to bounce things off of when Tom or Jared weren't around. He didn't say much, he appeared in maybe one or two strips and he will be missed barely - if at all.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, CECIL.

I've been thinking a lot about the larger narrative of this story and realized that I really haven't planned things out very far.

I mean, I have dozens of ideas for strips and I have a general sense of how things are going to go. But I haven't sat down to actually plot things out.

That's kind of a concern. Because, in the past - whenever I wrote a longer storyline - I would use this thumbnail approach and things worked out fine. If things went on a little too long, I'd could end the story with very little impunity before moving on to the next thing.

But now that there is A DEADLINE looming on the horizon, I need to be a little more economical about how things unfold.

There are 28 weeks until August 6. That means only 28 more Theater Hopper comics on the present once-a-week schedule before I wrap things up for good. My concern at this point is that I might take more than 28 comics to finish telling the story I want to tell.

That's good news for you, I hope. I have no problem producing extra comics if it helps me tie things up in a nice little bow. I just need to make sure I time this out right. I'm going to start to have planning in advance, outlining plot points and sticking to them.

Y'see... this is why I announced the comic ending so early. It gives you pleanty of time to iron out pesky little wrinkles like this!

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE STORE

Several of you took my words to heart last week when I blogged about getting rid of my Theater Hopper inventory. Many thanks to those of you who placed orders. I'll be shipping them this week!

I want to keep the store top of mind for everyone, though. I'm sincere about selling this stuff off.

Food for thought: If you buy any two Theater Hopper books, you get the third for free. That's a savings of $15, folks.

Did I mention it includes the Artist Editions? Get a sketch thrown in, while you're at it! I'd be happy to draw whatever you like.

Be sure to spread the good word around. I could really use your help!

That's it for today. Thanks for your patience and I'll see you next week! Or maybe sooner!