If you've joined Star Pirates (or you're going to) and now you're looking for a fleet to join, the Rumormongers fleet is the one for you! In addition to being the "official" Station V3 fleet, its abbreviation is "RUM" - and how much more appropriately pirate-y can you get?

For today's new voting bonus, there's a sprite strip in which one of the Rumormongers is considering joining the fleet while he waits for the next round of Rumormonger Idol to start!

And on a completely different note, the fifth episode of The Sequential Artists' Pub is up! I was there again for this one - lots of interesting topics covered, like a cartoonists' public persona, pen names, mirror sites, the use of RSS feeds (Station V3 has one) and blogs on comic sites (like this one you're reading right now).

Labels: other things, podcast, voting bonus

I'm sure it'll come as no surprise to those of you reading this that I'm currently playing Star Pirates - you've probably noticed the ad (featuring the Pirates and the Rumormongers) currently running on the site! (If you haven't, go back to the top of the page and take a look!) It's a browser-based game in a sci-fi future setting, with gangs of Star Pirates flying around the solar system, attacking each other, looting, scavenging, gambling, mining, exploring, and all those fun things you do once the Earth has been destroyed! Apart from the fact that it's online and has other people playing it at the same time, it reminds me (in a good way!) of some of the Commodore 64 games I used to play.

The guys there emailed me last week and asked about the possibility of having me create a custom ad for them featuring some of the V3 characters. So I've been working on that since then - drawing the bits for the ad, animating them, coloring them, etc. Of course it involved a lot of research, too, since I had to make sure any game details I mentioned in the ad were accurate. (And even though the ad's done, I'm still doing that research...)

I'm not quite as far along in the game as the Rumormongers in the ad are, but I'm getting there... My next step will have to be to form a fleet to do battle with the other sci-fi webcomic fleets there!

Oh, and if you do join (which is free!), I certainly wouldn't mind if you used my referral code (which is 9338)!

Labels: other things, sci-fi

Station V3 is today's Featured Comic over at Road Crew, a comic about the guys behind the scenes of a touring rock band. Those of you coming from there (welcome!) will already have seen that, of course... Those of you who haven't can go there and see that - and read the comic!

Labels: comics

Yesterday's Peanuts rerun had Linus posing with his blanket and saying "I am Count Dracula from Transylvania" - I saw that one translated into German, in the book "Linus - oder: Wo ist meine Schmusedecke?" There he says "Ich bin Graf Dracula aus Transylvanien" - I think in that case the translation made it even more effective!

For a translation to German (and then back to English) that's much less effective, there's today's first bonus! And the second one is a sprite strip in which one of the contestants is trying to get the judge to start the second round of Rumormonger Idol. Thanks for voting!

Labels: Rumormonger Idol, voting bonus

Episode 20 of PodWarp 1999 is up - we have Steve Troop of Melonpool on as a guest, and we discuss his new project that's happening, CryptoZooey, and his new project that didn't quite happen (but look for it again next April 1), Zero Worship. And also time travel, alternate universes, and the PodWarp 1999 drinking game.

Labels: comics, podcast

Completely non-comic-related: Another concert report!

My wife and I saw Brian Wilson in concert at the Belleayre Mountain in the Catskills over the weekend. He sang a lot of Beach Boys hits, and some songs from his new album coming out later this year. He sounded great, and so did his band!

(This seems to be a good summer for concerts so far!)

Labels: music

Last night I attended another Sequential Artists' Pub podcast. This week's main topic was books - preparing things for print, where/how to have them printed, where/how to sell them, etc.

In case you're wondering, I save the full-size 300dpi scans of my strips before I resize them and save them for the web, and I used those files when I put the first book (Get Yours Today!) together. I took the print-on-demand route for publishing, with lulu.com, so it's printed (and sold) through them. I'll most likely put out the second book (which I'm currently working on) that way too.

And in unrelated news, today's voting bonuses are the rough drafts for yesterday's strip, today's strip, and tomorrow's, and a bad translation of today's strip. Enjoy!

Labels: books, podcast, voting bonus

Today's strip is one that went through a few changes from the original rough sketch to the final one that actually went online - today's first bonus is the original rough draft. The final panel is the only thing I wound up using from the original idea. I think the changes improved it... but if you disagree, enjoy the rough draft! Or for another take on the strip, try today's second bonus, which is a sprite version of the strip. Thanks for voting!

Labels: voting bonus

A few of you may already know this - I have a ComicSpace page, which I rarely checked, and updated even less often. But I logged in tonight, and finally got around to making a few changes, including adding a gallery of sample strips for Station V3, Z7, Ebb's Children, and Silence in the Darkness on Q16. Check it out, especially if you're also on ComicSpace and think you might like to add a gallery like that to your favorites (and/or me as a friend) - and if you have a favorite V3 (or Z7, Ebb's Children, Q16) strip you think should definitely be in that gallery, let me know!

Labels: comics, other things

TopWebcomics was having problems for the past day or so, but it's back up now - so for today's first bonus, there's a bad translation of today's strip. And for the second bonus, there's another look ahead, with a rough draft of tomorrow's strip. Of course, I am putting them up a little late, so by the time you see them, they may be yesterday's strip and today's strip. But enjoy them anyway - Thanks for voting!

Labels: voting bonus

Today's new bonus is a sprite strip in which Ebb wants to know when the next round of Rumormonger Idol is going to start.

(But don't worry... The answer is most likely not the one the judge gives!)

Labels: Rumormonger Idol, voting bonus

This month in the comic: V3's crew and the rumormongers get settled in their new universe (more or less), and contact is (re-)established (sort of) with the Station Authority.

This month on the site: A new site design should be appearing some time this month. (I'd say "will be," but I think I'm safer with "should be!")

For another look into the future (but not very far), today's first bonus is a "rough draft" of tomorrow's strip. (For "rough draft," substitute "idea scribbled on a scrap of computer paper so I wouldn't forget it.") The second one (by request) is a look at the cover of the "What's Wrong with the Universe?" book that's been the topic of this week's strips. Thanks for voting, and if you have a bonus request, feel free to post it here!

Labels: comics, site stuff, voting bonus