Here are two bonuses while we wait for the judges to decide who goes on to the next round of Rumormonger Idol: A sprite strip in which two rumormongers talk about the judges, and a bad translation of today's strip.

And if you can't wait for the polls to get started, there's an updated favorite character poll over on the forum! :)

For the past six months or so, my printer has been telling me it's about to run out of black ink. I've been using it every day to print out the comic borders and text, and it hasn't happened yet! (But I have a feeling it really will start to run out soon - fortunately I have the replacement I bought six months ago...)

In other ink-related news, my fine-point pen has dried out. It always seems to be the first to go, and the store where I usually get them was out of them, unless I felt like buying the whole set, including the ones that haven't dried out yet. So I've been doing the comics with the super-fine and medium-point pens for the past week or so.

Ink from the printer AND the pens was involved in the production of today's new bonus strip showing another Rumormonger Idol tryout - but not in the bonus photo of another potential contestant!

...And that's all I have to say about ink right now. :)

I'm working on giving the site a new look - most of the pages have been updated now, though there are still a few more to go. (And then I'll probably update the sites for Z7 and Ebb's Children too!) If you see anything not working, please let me know.

In other news, Rumormonger Idol continues in today's new voting bonus strips: In the first one, an unsuccessful contestant tries out. The contestant in the second one might be a little more successful. Thanks for voting!

The end of the universe (?) in today's strip won't stop Rumormonger Idol! In today's bonus strip, the host explains one of the changes for Season 2, and in today's bonus photo, a potential contestant considers entering.

In other news, Z7 is back on something resembling a regular schedule, and will update on Tuesdays and/or Saturdays. (And that includes today!)

It's time for the second season of Rumormonger Idol! The tryouts get started (or do they?) in today's bonus strip.

All the voting this year is going to be on the forum - so if you want to vote and don't have a forum account, now is a good time to register!

And if you have no idea at all what I'm talking about, you can see last year's first round here. :)

Today's strip was number 1331 - of which 989 have been transcribed over at Oh No Robot! It's too bad I've updated Z7 twice this month, or it would still have been at 414 and fit the theme, but then this wasn't exactly planned. :)

(And thanks to everyone who's been helping out with the transcriptions, especially Kerinbot!)

In today's picture, Ebb has a Unit 4+2 CD - they're best known for their 1965 hits "Concrete and Clay" and "You've Never Been In Love Like This Before," also had a few other minor hits in the UK ("The Green Fields," "Hark," "You've Got To Be Cruel To Be Kind," "Baby Never Say Goodbye"), and recorded my favorite version of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," which I happened to have on in the car today while stuck in traffic on my way to work. Seemed appropriate, and that's why I thought of posting this.

(And they're also where Unit Six got his name!)

Two new voting bonus sprite strips today: Ebb has a New Year's resolution, and so does the Plant!

(And I've started keeping another one of mine... Z7 updated today!)

Well, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame got it wrong again (big surprise), and the Dave Clark Five didn't get in.

But that doesn't stop Ebb from enjoying their music!

I just got part of my "update the site" bit done - the Bonus Archive has been updated, and now includes all of last year's voting bonuses (bonus strips, sprite strips, bad translations, etc.) and the first three from this year. (So that should be everything except for yesterday's two.) If you want to jump right to the ones that just got added, they start here. Enjoy!

As far as I can tell, the only thing I had resembling a New Year's Resolution for Station V3 last year was to keep things interesting... I hope I did that! There do seem to be more of you reading the strip than there were a year ago, so at least it seems like things are heading in the right direction.

Here are my plans for 2007:

• Keep updating Station V3 every day!
  
• Update Z7 at least 50 times... I may not get it back on a regular schedule just yet, but I think I can keep up an average of a little under one strip per week...
  
• Update Ebb's Children at least 10 times. (See above... and make that "month" instead of "week")
  
• Make a few changes to the site - I did recently update the links page, moving some links for ended (or inactive) comics to the second links page, and adding a few new comic links in. There are a few other pages that also need updating, and I'm going to try to get to them too.
  
• Finish putting together the first Station V3 book.
  
• Keep things interesting!
  

...So we'll see how much of that I actually do. :)

And on the subject of New Year's Resolutions, today's voting incentives are two sprite bonus strips, in which a Rumormonger has a New Year's Resolution, and so does Linton. Thanks for voting, and thanks for reading!

Happy New Year! Ring out the old, ring in the new, let's hope it's a good one, etc.

New bonuses up today: A New Year's-themed sprite strip, a bad translation of today's strip, and a photo of Ebb looking at another Christmas present from my sister. Thanks for voting!

And in a bit of ComicOstrich webcomic news, Tim Volpe's comic Alternate Delusions is four years old today. Congratulations, Tim!