Posts Tagged ‘happy’
3 items.
Sep06
Since today’s comic feature Jimmy the theater employee so prominently, I thought it was only fair to dedicate a buzzComix incentive sketch to him. If you’ve been saving your vote for a new sketch, well, now’s the time to cash in! Click here to vote!
Sorry for the delay in todays strip. There were a lot of obstacles standing in the way of a timely delivery. Most notably the Labor Day holiday and doing things with family.
But I also needed to take a step back creatively when I was in the middle of today’s strip and didn’t like the direction it was going. Like I mentioned on Friday, the end of summer is a real sucky time for movies. It makes my job that much more difficult.
So instead of trying to make fun of some B-grade tripe like Paparazzi, I would try to do another storyline. Buckle your seat belts, kids – Because I think this one will be a doozy. I have it plotted out in my head and I can either end it next week or two weeks from Friday. I have a lot of story to tell!
I know taking time out to tell a longer story might distract from some of the more timely aspects of the comic, but truthfully, I haven’t been pleased with the comics since the ones I made making fun of Aliens VS. Predator. It was time to try something else.
I hate to think that the quality of the comics are so closely tied to the quality of films that make it into theaters, but when a movie like The Cookout comes to theaters, it seems redundant to crack wise on it. The movies are so poor to begin with, it’s like placing a turd on a pile of garbage – You’re really not making that much difference.
So anyway… I have a storyline in the bin for the next couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy it.
Onto site news, everyone please visit our two new sponsors, Security’s Finest and ZeStuff. Security’s Finest is a web comic written by David Hinkle. Dave’s done a guest strip for Theater Hopper in the past and he’s a prominent member of the THorum community, going by the name RX King. Most importantly, he’s a good guy, so support his work.
Our second sponsor, ZeStuff was formerly Hyperion Press and home to some great web comic and gamer related merchandise. These guys handle the shirts for 8-Bit Theater and VG Cats, so you know they’re doing something right! They have a few designs of their own that a really good, too. Well worth a visit!
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Last thing I’ll mention is that I have a t-shirt design in competition over at Threadless.com. If you’re not familiar with how Threadless works, it’s pretty simple. Artists like me create t-shirt designs and the community votes on which designs they would like put into production so later they can buy one for themselves.
If you’re not a member of the Threadless community, sign up here. Then you can locate my shirt by clicking here. If you’d like to help me out, please vote a “5” for the shirt and also check the “I’d Buy This” box. Clicking that box doesn’t commit you to anything. It just helps the people who run the site get a better idea of what people want to buy. Leaving positive feedback in the comments area doesn’t hurt either!
Just so you know what you’re voting for, I’ve attached an image of the design here. I’m really proud of it and I want it to do well.
What’s in it for me? Well, aside from people walking around wearing a design I created, I would win $400 cash and $100 in Threadless credit. I’m pretty much telling you that in the interest of full-disclosure. Let’s just say that cash would come in pretty handy right now since we recently had to put Cami’s car in the shop. Darn unplanned expenses!
Of course, if you’d rather circumvent the whole Threadless routine, you can always donate directly to the site. Click here to read about the extra benefits and incentives donators receive. You could always buy a poster or a t-shirt, too!
That’s about it for now. Thanks again for your patience and supporting Theater Hopper! I sincerely appreciate it!
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I realize that today’s comic kind of lays the melodrama on kind of thick. But I thought to myself about how high the stakes were for me personally and for my comic avatar for Iron Man to be a success. Considering the challenges I put him through in order to see the movie, I thought some sort of crecendo – some sort of resolution was in order.
If it helps any to explain it, I was listening to Nine Inch Nails’ “Leaving Hope” a lot while I was drawing this. I don’t know.
I talked about this a little bit during The Triple Feature talkcast on Monday night, but more than anything, I was just happy that Iron Man was a quality film and not some steaming pile like Ghost Rider. I really pinned a lot of my hopes on this movie – which is sort of unlike me.
After doing this comic for nearly 6 years, you kind of become jaded to the process. You do your research and familiarize yourself with upcoming movies. You digest the rumors and the spin… the wild conjecture. You run all of this past your filter for months on end before ever seeing one frame of celluloid. Does anyone remember a time when they walked into a movie blind? Does that even happen anymore unless you’re some kind of hillbilly?
Factoring in all of those distractions, Iron Man still worked exceptionally well for me. It was such a treat. Not only that, but it was a huge weight off of my shoulders. If this movie had been terrible, I would have never heard the end of it. Now only in retrospect do I realize just how far out there I positioned myself.
One of the benefits of being a total nut job is that sometimes you get to meet up with people who share your passions. These were too cool to pass up: Check out the artwork sent to me by a couple of fans who share my love for all things Iron Man.
The first piece comes from a fellow by the name of Nicholas Robert. His Godfather Dan Busha sent it to me. He was a pretty enthusiastic guy! So I would have felt bad ignoring the piece considering the effort Nicholas put into it….
Oh, how I enjoy a delicious pun!
The second piece comes from Locke from the webcomic What Happens Next. I about peed myself when I saw this – I think it’s totally brilliant. Not only did Locke capture the armor design perfectly, but I just love the expression on Tom’s face.
Why can’t reality be more like this drawing?
At any rate, I thought you guys would get a kick out of those. I hope you enjoyed them.
Not much else from me this afternoon. Just kind of plugging away, working on a couple of secret projects. I wish I could tell you about them, but you know how it goes!
Take it easy. Have a great Wednesday
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I’m uploading this comic crazy late on Friday night, but I wanted to get it up there before the weekend.
Yeah, I know that this comic is totally schmaltzy. But I felt since I had been building up the pregnancy question throughout this entire year-long arc, it was important for there to be that confirmation and pause to celebrate.
Frankly, I’m finding it hard to put my sentimentality in my back pocket as we’re rocketing toward the end of the comic on Monday. I can’t believe it’s actually happening.
I had to kind of force myself to do it, you know – end the comic. 2012 is creeping to a close and it just sounded profoundly lame for me to stretch out this conclusion into 2013. But as lame as I found it, I could easily see ways I could have made excuses for myself and keep the comics going.
But facts are facts. I can’t do that to these characters, to you readers or to myself.
This entire year has been about the long, slow process of letting go – both for yours and my benefit. I guess with the crush of the holidays weighing on my shoulders, I haven’t been able to look back and take stock of the last year like I wanted to. I’m feeling a little rushed, to be quite honest. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. In some ways it feels like the tearing off of the bandage that I wanted to avoid all year. I wanted things to be peaceful. Instead I feel like I’m driving a car without brakes.
It will all be over soon – and I’ll be okay with that. It hurts now, but it’s the right thing to do. In the very least, I’m confident that I’ve gone about it the right way.
Thanks for putting up with all of the “flying by the seat of my pants” antics the last few weeks as I bring the comic to a close. I hope you’re not feeling as hurried as I do. I swear I’m not trying to push these characters out the door.
If anything, I feel like I’m clutching their pants cuffs and they’re dragging me out the door with them.
See you Monday.
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