You wouldn't know it from the amount I've been posting on the blog here lately, but the past few months have been the busiest in terms of visitors/site traffic/etc. since the comic started! So I'd like to say hello to all the new readers, and thank everyone for reading! (Hello! Thank you!)

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day (or today, depending on when you read this) - In previous years I'd sometimes bring a photocopied and stapled Station V3 mini-comic to Comics on the Green and Unknown Comics, and they'd be nice enough to let me put it out on the table with the other free comics. However, since a good number of you don't happen to live in Northeast Pennsylvania, this year instead you can download the PDF version of An Experimental Space Pod Visits Station V3 for free!

In other news, coming up on May 6, Station V3 turns 7! In addition to the (virtual) cake and ice cream, the annual guest strip week will be coming up the following Sunday to celebrate!

And finally, there's a new bonus strip up to see when you vote for Station V3 at TopWebcomics - by request, the station's original Plant is back for revenge!

Labels: comics, milestone, voting bonus

The Cameo: A Rumormonger recently put in a brief appearance in AA Vrooman's comic a2alien (along with a few aliens from some other comics)!

The Wallpaper: Kent Paul Dolan recently sent some very nice desktop wallpaper he made from this Sunday strip:



(Click to see the full-size version!)

The Bonus: I recently found a page of strips sketched out for the Escape Pods in the Swamp storyline from last year - some used, some not. One of the sketches is now up as the new bonus at TopWebcomics - vote and see!

Labels: comics, fan art, voting bonus

There's a milestone reached in the Station V3 universe today - Silence in the Darkness on Q16 had its 1,000th strip go up today!

(Most of them are dark, and many are also silent - but there are 1,000 of them!)

Labels: comics, milestone

I took part in a Web Comic Secret Santa exchange this year, and got a very nice comic from Jessica Perrie of Lusus Naturae - see the rest of it here! I sent a strip to Alice Otter, which you can currently see at the Secret Santa site.

Labels: comics, holiday

In a flashback scene in today's strip at The Mansion of E, it's revealed that the space pirates once visited there. Take a look, if you haven't seen it already! (Or even if you have - the Mansion of E is always worth visiting!)

Labels: comics

Here's something that hasn't happened in a while... Station V3 and all three spinoffs have new strips up today! (Ebb's Children updated for the second time this year... I really should update that a little more often.)

And if four new strips in the V3 universe isn't enough for you, vote for Station V3 today at TopWebcomics and see today's fifth strip - a visit to the Floyd Dimension!

Labels: comics, voting bonus

The Xcentrikz website, in addition to having the comic, has a lot of interesting interviews with other webcomic creators, and one of the ones they did recently was with me - take a look!

Labels: comics, other things

I did a guest strip recently for David Reddick's comic Legend Of Bill, and it's up now - take a look!

(And read through the rest of the archives too while you're there, if you haven't already - A file clerk turned barbarian and his friend the dragon set out for adventure. Good stuff!)

Labels: comics, guest art

The pirates aren't doing so well at the moment in the Station V3 universe - one of them was last seen with his cousin Linton, running from the trees - but take a look at Gilbert and the Grim Rabbit and see what they're up to there!

In other news - there's a new sprite strip voting bonus up today!

Labels: comics, voting bonus

Six years ago, Floyd thought a plant might cheer the station up, and Ebb listened to him make that observation. Now Floyd's been rebuilt as a rumorbot, Ebb has been replaced with Neap, the original Plant is off in an alternate universe, and the station is apparently at the bottom of a swamp on a planet known as "The Celestial Orb With Soil On It" - and who knows what's going to happen next?

(Well, of course I do, but I'm not saying yet!)

I hope everyone's enjoying this year's guest week, with contributions (so far) from Aaron Lewis, Robert Cook, and Wendy Wood!

In other news, Ebb's Children actually updated today, and there's a new episode of PodWarp 1999 up!

Labels: comics, milestone, podcast

In yesterday's strip (3/20), a rumormonger added two and two to get 4,376. I had considered several other numbers - like 22, for example - before deciding on a number that included the answer and the phone exchange of somewhere I used to live. Coincidentally, as pointed out by a reader, the asteroid 4376 Shigemori was discovered on 3/20/1987 - 22 years ago. Maybe I meant to do that?

In other site news, I've updated the links page, and added another page with links to fellow Palace in the Sky comics.

And in other non-Station V3 webcomic news:

Robert Cook's comic The Mansion of E recently hit the 2,000 strip mark. Congratulations, Robert!

While there haven't been any new episodes of PodWarp 1999 uploaded since January, it's not dead yet! There are more episodes on the way. If you have any suggestions for a future episode, you can post them on the PodWarp forum. Meanwhile, Mark Mekkes and I were among the people on the latest live episode of The Gigcast.

And speaking of PodWarp, fellow PodWarper Ben Paddon has put out a Jump Leads book! Fun stuff.

Labels: comics, other things, podcast, site update

After drawing the first version of today's strip, I decided the four panels could be condensed into three, and a new last panel added - so I drew the version you see above. But the original version won't go to waste... It's today's first voting bonus! The second one is a bad translation of today's strip. Thanks for voting!

Labels: comics, voting bonus

To help celebrate the 7th birthday of Zeera the Space Pirate, I sent over a guest strip - or at least an alternate universe version of one!

Happy Birthday Zeera!

Labels: comics, guest art

Take a look at the latest page up at Gilbert and the Grim Rabbit, and see what happens when the Grim Rabbit enters a mysterious vortex!

(Hint: It involves the station!)

Labels: comics

Some exciting webcomic news from Mark Mekkes today! It's been almost three months now since Zortic, Zoie, Splink and Co. disappeared... But Zortic's back now with Z2! (And Mark assures us other familiar faces will soon follow.)

If you haven't seen it already, take a look!

Labels: comics

I've been a little quiet here so far this month - mainly because most of the time I have to work on the comic has been spent on the actual comic! (Not all, I'll admit - but most!) But I'm still here. PodWarp 1999 has also been a little quiet, but we've got a couple new episodes that'll go up as soon as they're done being edited. In the meantime, you can listen to some other webcomic podcasts, such as the Sequential Artists' Pub (you can hear me contribute a bit to some episodes there), the Gigcast, the Webcomic Beacon, Webcomics Weekly, and Digital Strips. (And of course any others you find! But check back in with Podwarp 1999 soon.)

In other news, Ben Gordon mentioned in a recent post on The Floating Lightbulb that he wouldn't be surprised if Station V3 is a "break out" comic in the coming year, "as more people discover the great color choices, wild cartoony art and reliable humor." Sounds good to me! If you've got a website and want to link to Station V3 to help out with that, I've got a page with some banners and buttons you can use.

I'm always working on that sort of thing too, of course, and one way is by advertising on other sites through Project Wonderful. I've had some nice comments on some of the ads I've been using recently with sample comic bits in them. If you haven't seen the ads (or even if you have), I've got two versions of a comic I drew for them up as today's bonuses, here and here. And of course, voting for the comic is another way to help promote Station V3! While the effectiveness of voting lists has been the subject of some debate, I will say they do bring at least a few people here. So thank you to everyone who's been voting - and thanks for reading!

Labels: comics, podcast, voting bonus

Happy Labor Day!

It's time for some new bonuses - the first one is an alternate version of today's strip, with the seemingly-required Labor Day comic theme of exploding barbecues. (Also tripe.) The second one is a Rumormonger Idol sprite strip, with a rumor going around about a new judge.

On a different note, Station V3 has been invited to join the sci-fi section of the Palace in the Sky comic group - and so it has!

Labels: comics, holiday, voting bonus

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

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

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

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

Since there seem to be a lot of people reading at the moment, I thought I'd take the opportunity to welcome any of you who happen to be new readers coming in from StumbleUpon, what appears to be the most successful ad campaign I've run on Project Wonderful, and of course anywhere else, too...

Welcome!

Make yourself at home, check out the three spinoffs, tell a friend about Station V3, say hello on the forum, get a copy of the book... Or (most importantly) just enjoy reading!

And for anyone who isn't a new reader (and has read this blog post this far anyway), thank YOU for reading, too!

In other news, the 'official' version of the latest episode of PodWarp 1999 ("Dial F for Frankenstein" - the call-in show episode) is up on the site now. I was using the same headset as on the past few episodes, but on a different computer, and that seems to have worked much better. (So now you get to hear what I actually sound like!)

Finally, in voting bonus news, I finally closed the Rumormonger Idol round 1 poll - the results are up as today's first bonus, and some parting words from the loser are up as the second one.

Labels: comics, other things, podcast, voting bonus

Zortic creator (and fellow Podwarper) Mark Mekkes has a new comic making its official debut today - ETI-PI (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence - Private Investigators), about two UFO investigators trying to find out if anyone is out there, and currently living in a van down by the river.



It's off to a great start - Check it out!

Labels: comics

Following the discussion of Station V3 in Episode 13 of PodWarp 1999, I'm planning on making some changes - some to the site, some to the comic. I'm not planning anything too drastic, but next time Emmit appears in the comic (whenever that turns out to be), he will most likely not have his hands in his pockets. That'll probably be after they get out of the time loop. (So yes, they will be getting out of it - but what then? Keep reading and see!)

Following up on Episode 12, where Dino Andrade was on as a guest, one of the SoulGeek webcomics he mentioned has launched - Legend of Bill by David Reddick. Only a few strips up at the moment, but it looks good so far!

And in other (unrelated) news, Contestant 5 and Contestant 6 finish up Round 1 of Rumormonger Idol for today's voting bonuses!

Labels: comics, podcast, site update, voting bonus

Two more contestants try out for Rumormonger Idol in today's bonuses (here and here - thanks for voting, and if you have a bonus request, you can post it here!

Ebb's Children updated today. (First time this year!)

And the latest installment of PodWarp 1999 is now online for your listening pleasure! In this episode, we discuss sci-fi sub-genres, the Deus ex Machina, parody/homage/plagiarism, and continuity.

Labels: comics, podcast, voting bonus

A year ago, I put up the first strip for the latest Station V3 spinoff, Silence in the Darkness on Q16. And we all know how that turned out, right? Strip #366 went up today.

In other news, there are two new voting bonuses up today - Today's strip translated into Violet's language, and a new style of sprite strip for people who think the old style had too many words and sprites with too much detail.

And if you're looking for the "green fuzzy thing crawling on your shoulder" joke, try today's Z7!

Labels: comics, voting bonus

Last January I made some comic-related New Year's Resolutions. I think for the most part I managed to keep them:

• Update Station V3 every day - yep, did that.
  
• Update Z7 at least 50 times - I wound up putting up 98 new strips and getting it back on a regular schedule.
  
• Update Ebb's Children at least 10 times - Update 13 times.
  
• Make a few changes to the site - Yep, made a few. Maybe not as many as I planned, but a few!
  
• Finish putting together the first Station V3 book - Did that! (And you can buy it here.)
  
• Keep things interesting - I certainly hope I did that!
  

...And I also did a few things I hadn't planned to do! For example, starting Silence in the Darkness on Q16, the third Station V3 spinoff. It actually had the most visitors of the four comics last month, thanks to visitors from StumbleUpon, and various German web sites, such as this one. (Though Station V3 still had the Pac-Man share of the site bandwidth pie chart, and is back in the lead this month.)

Plans for 2008 include hoping the comics will earn enough through Project Wonderful ads and book sales to pay for their hosting, doing more guest strips for other comics, and generally doing pretty much the same thing I did in 2007! (Except for putting together the first book - I'll have to work on a second one instead.)

...So keep checking this year and see how I do, and I'll have a followup post on the subject this time next year. :)

Labels: books, comics, new year's resolutions, site status

Be sure to visit Zeera the Space Pirate today (if you haven't already) and see the guest strip I sent in for the 6th birthday festivities there!

Labels: comics, guest art

Today's voting bonuses: A bad translation of today's strip, and a sprite strip in which Ebb has a rumor to share.

And in other news, Silence in the Darkness on Q16 has its first guest strip today!

Labels: comics, guest art, voting bonus

There's a new social bookmarking site, Comicsby.us, which, unlike the social bookmarking sites I've already got buttons for, is dedicated to bookmarking comic strips. If you'd like to try it out, I've started adding the button for it to the archives here.

In other news, there are two new sprite strips up as today's voting bonuses - in the first one, Round 4 of the simulation tournament finally ends. In the second one, they try to figure out who won. Thanks for voting!

Labels: comics, site update, voting bonus

In addition to all their recent extended V3 universe appearances, some rumormongers have popped up in a strip over on the forum for The Mansion Of E, with one of them demonstrating his knowledge of Mansion-style profanity. (So - Warning: Language, I suppose!)

Labels: comics, guest art

Not only are the rumormongers in today's Station V3 strip, they're also in today's strips at Z7, Ebb's Children, and Silence in the Darkness on Q16.

And if that's not enough, they're also in both of today's voting bonuses: A sprite strip in which they discuss the simulation tournament, and a bad translation of today's strip.

Pretty busy day for them!

Labels: comics, voting bonus

Since a new strip goes up every day here, I try to work ahead to make sure I don't wind up doing each day's strip the night before. I don't work quite as far ahead as some people do, but I do at least have strips done into next week at this point. But sometimes I decide to completely redo a strip instead of putting the one I have done up, and today's strip was one of those. So I wound up doing it the night before.

The original version of today's strip won't go to waste - it's up here now as today's first bonus! And there's a sprite strip with another unlikely rumormonger up as the second one. Thanks for voting!

Labels: comics, voting bonus

On my way back from Frackville on Saturday, I saw a sign for a comic book convention at the Clarion Hotel here in Scranton on Sunday - I did a quick search and found some messages about it on DrunkDuck and ComicSpace, and it seemed like it'd be worth going.

And it was - it was a small show (not that I've been to any others to compare it to), but there were a bunch of dealers and several creators with tables there. I wound up talking to a few of them, including James Nguyen (who posted the message on DrunkDuck - he has his comics Inhabit and Jonas of the Sword up there), Chris Ring (who posted the message on ComicSpace - among other things, he's the creator of Carbon Knight, a four book comic series about a superhero originating in the Centralia PA mine fire), and Dan Parent (a freelance artist who - among other things - has done a lot of work for Archie Comics).

And of course I brought a bunch of copies of this year's photocopied-and-stapled Station V3 "Free Comic Book Day" mini-comic with me. So hello to anyone who met me there or picked up a copy of the book!

Labels: comics, conventions

Today's Silence in the Darkness on Q16 strip was the 100th one.

...That's 99 more than I originally planned to do!

Labels: comics, milestone

Three sevens in today's date.

Four strips I updated today - this one (obviously!), Z7, Ebb's Children, and Silence in the Darkness on Q16.

Two new sprite voting bonus strips today - here and here. (Thanks for voting!)

1400+ strips up at Robert Cook's fantastic comic The Mansion of E! (Congratulations, Robert!)

Five items in this list!

Labels: comics, other things, voting bonus