26 January 2012 - Benign Kingdom

ust launched the Kickstarter project for another big project I'm involved in: Benign Kingdom. Yuko Ota, Becky Dreistadt, KC Green, and myself are printing four art books, one hardcover collection of the set, and laying the foundation for a legitimate publishing company with Plans For The Future. We're working with George on this project, and wouldn't be able to do it without him... The very same George without whom the current Rice Boy book and the future Order of Tales one-volume book would not be realities. The Kickstarter has gone EXCEPTIONALLY WELL in the first day, but it'll be open for pledges for a full 30 days! We appreciate your help and support!

Nailed down a few more plans for 2012 appearances! I'll be at TCAF in Toronto, ON on May 5 and 6. If you listen to much of what I and other independent comic people say, you have heard that this is one of the best conventions that there is, and that there possibly could be: well-run, full of great artists, right in the middle of downtown Toronto, and free to attend. The guest list this year is pretty exciting too... The rest of the exhibitors are listed here.

After Yuko and Ananth's super-crowded and successful book release party at Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn a couple weeks back, we've nailed down a book release party for the one-volume Order of Tales book at that same location. I am VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS and will TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT SOON.

5 January 2012 - 2012 Projects!

his week, The Exquisite Beast, a new project by Yuko Ota and myself, launched! There's a description of the game plan on that site, and it'll be updating twice a week. Evolutionary theory is something that is really important and fascinating to me, so this will be a really great way to deal with that idea visually. I'm also using it as an excuse to get good at ink washes!

Other things by other people are on the horizon also: Yuko and Ananth of Johnny Wander are having a book release party in Brooklyn on January 13th! Becky and Frank just launched Capture Creatures! I will take Literally Any Excuse to see more of Becky's art, and this happens to be a Very Cool Excuse! Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales is almost funded: an anthology book featuring many webcomics artists you may have heard of. I'm involved in that book in an as-yet-unannounced capacity. And ONE OTHER THING that I have been trying real hard not to blurt out for a while now. You'll be hearing about that soon.

Page 225 of Vattu up today. Our characters in Vattu's new status quo are all in play; let's see what happens now...

15 December 2011 - Almost done with the Kickstarter!

ive days left on the Order of Tales book Kickstarter as of this writing, and we have gone Significantly Over Goal. Thanks to all of your support, the full adjusted cost of the book run ($14,200) is covered, even taking into account the percentage Kickstarter itself takes. Thank you all so so much. I am looking forward to seeing these books, and will keep you up to date on that.

Another wrench in 2012's convention itinerary for me: NYCC and APE coincide. I'd like to work out a way to go to APE, even though NYCC has no travel expense: APE is a show that's much more interested in independent creators, and generally attracts more of my readers. Also I might be spreading myself thin over NYC next year, with a book release and at least two convention appearances. So I'm thinking on that. I'll probably need to do at least a couple of shows I've never done next year, if I can.

Part 3 of the Thinker should be done and up by the end of the year. Book 2 of Vattu inches along... Also I was recently interviewed!

22 November 2011 - The Order of Tales Book

arlier this week I started a Kickstarter project to fund the one-volume Order of Tales book! Similar game plan to the Rice Boy book Kickstarter from earlier this year; if everything goes according to plan here I'll have two thousand 800-page Order of Tales books in April 2012. You can watch the embarassingly awkward video at the link for more information. I'd love it if you'd help me spread the word on this, so we can make this book happen! Thanks so much for your support!

In other news, the third part of the Thinker is basically paid for, and I am woefully behind on drawing it, Vattu has entered a new setting, I've been doodling monsters and stuff, et cetera. And a Secret Group Project is in the works.

Happy Thanksgiving Americans.

8 November 2011 - 200 Pages of Vattu!!

attu is 200 pages long, making it a not-insignificant fraction of the length as my other big projects. I think these are 200 of the best pages I have drawn, and I am thrilled that people are reading and enjoying it. It is (still) basically Just Starting, and with exactly page 200 we begin a very different part of this story: different from the first 199 pages, and different from anything I've written before. Vattu has arrived in the city called Sahta, which currently has around 2 years of preliminary work behind it, and which is a large part of what this comic is About. Not saying anything else if I can help it, but I am pretty excited here. Thanks for reading.

25 October 2011 - Montage, Order of Tales book plans

his big violence-montage marks the rough halfway-point of Book 2 of Vattu. Shortly getting into more territory that I am super excited for and have been holding my tongue about for over a year. Thanks for reading!

Moving forward on the Order of Tales one-volume book, which will be printed in an edition of 2000 like the latest Rice Boy edition. First quotes are coming in and it's Looking Good. I'll be starting a Kickstarter project for the Order of Tales book soon! This will pay for the print run, and will be a way to preorder the book and get some extra incentive stuff if you're into that. I will keep everyone updated on that!!

Preorder books and items from the Rice Boy Kickstarter are almost all sent out!! This has taken longer than it was supposed to and I thank everybody for your patience! The hardcovers are the last to go out, and I should have it all out the door next week. I'll put up a special post on the Kickstarter project when that is done.

Finally I neglected to mention that the first Order of Tales book is in the store again, finally. But conventions have run me dry of the second book, so I'm sorry for that frustration. I am looking forward to having the whole thing in one book...

12 October 2011 - NYCC

he New York Comic Con is this weekend! I'll be at table P9 in Artists' Alley, in the vicinity of Lin, Kel, Becky, Frank, Yuko, Ananth, and Magnolia. We would all love to see YOU! This is my last show until my whirlwind tour of the west coast next Spring... And I hope it isn't too optimistic of me to hope to have the one volume Order of Tales book printed by then.

Some few indulgent landscapes going on in this and future Vattu pages. We are Getting Somewhere with this story; Vattu might even be on the verge of finally arriving somewhere important...

ALSO I got interviewed recently.

29 September 2011 - San Francisco!

'm flying to San Francisco Friday morning with a ton of books for APE! I hope you can make it if you're in the area; it is a charming whirlwind of excited people doing exciting independent comics work. I love San Francisco, and I intend to spend at some of my tragically brief time in the city experiencing some of our nation's finest tiki bars and comic book lounges.

Two pages go up today, because we're skipping Monday's update. I think they are two pretty intense pages (also two pretty 'in-tents' pages, but I'm sure I've made that joke before).

19 September 2011 - Thinker part 2, APE, etc.

irst of all, the second part of The Thinker, my current longish-shortish side story about, I guess, T-O-E and a giant mysterious wooden thing, went online this weekend. The whole thing is 20 pages now! The third and final part will go up when the next donation goal is met, which should put the full story at 33 to 36 pages in length by current estimation. Thanks everyone for the donations and I hope you're enjoying the story! You can read it from the beginning here, or start the second part here.

APE is coming up soon, at the end of the month in San Francisco. Come say hello if you are there! I'm tabling with Kory Bing and Kel McDonald.

Sending out another huge stack of Rice Boy book preorders tomorrow. I am pleased to have a bunch of people asking me when they'll be available in the store again, and I regret that my answer is a non-specific 'as soon as I get all of these preorders sent out!' Thank you all very much for your patience and your support; I would not be able to do this stuff without you.

13 September 2011 - APE, ETC

PX was this past weekend, and was successful and extremely fun as usual. Good comic shows with good people remind me how great it is that I have this job. I love making comics and having so many people care about them. Thank you so much, all of you! Put up a few pictures on tumblr.

In a couple of weeks I'll be on the other side of the country for APE in San Francisco, another show I really enjoy.

Current projects include getting out all of the Rice Boy preorders and incentives from Kickstarter mailed out, and getting everything together to start a Kickstarter for the one volume Order of Tales book sometime in October. I figure as long as I'm paying for this storage unit I should work to have at least 4 tons of books in it.

Part 2 of 3 of the Thinker should be up on Friday, finally. Thanks everyone for reading!

1 September 2011 - On the new Rice Boy books

ecently received 4,300 pounds of Rice Boy books. Starting this Friday I'll be sending out all of the preorders and incentives to all of the lovely and generous supporters of my Kickstarter campaign, and after that I'll have a bunch of the books (including the new hardcover versions) at SPX in Maryland on September 10 and 11. And after that, they'll finally be available in the online store again. Thanks everybody for your patience; getting 2,000 big color books printed is a time-consuming process.

I will be at TABLE D11 AT SPX NEXT WEEKEND! I will have books and things, and a new little book of the first part of Vattu! I will be tabling with Lela who will have copious gorgeous hand-made books! This is one of my favorite comics shows and I hope to see you there!

3 August 2011 - SPX is soon!

ugust is upon us already, and SPX, in Bethesda, MD, is coming up in about a month! I'll be debuting the new edition of the Rice Boy book, including the hardcovers, there. A couple of other new things are probable too. One of my favorite shows around!

Making slow progress on the second part of the Thinker! Lining up storage for 2,000 Rice Boy books arriving at the end of the month! Thanks for reading, buddies.

22 July 2011 - Some books

put up a video for everybody to see the new edition of the Rice Boy book, including the hardcover! I just got these proofs and they look Compeletely Perfect. I'll have the whole run in time for SPX this year, and I am looking forward to it...

Also had a guest strip for Questionable Content go up yesterday!

16 June 2011 - Hardcovers, links, etc.

ook 2 is in full swing, and Vattu's on her way north in this strange company, as the warm season approaches its end... Years in the Flutelands are divided into warm season and cool season in the minds of the Fluters, and each is defined by a color scheme... one is warm, and one is cool. This is the sort of background thing that I think too hard about, and have no idea if it's picked up on by most readers.

Speaking of making places, there's been a lot of interesting stuff going up on Making Places, the blog I run on worldbuilding for narrative media. Making slow strides towards making it more of a community effort...

The new edition of the Rice Boy book is in production; I've just gotten a handsome proof of the cloth and board covers (without image) for the hardcover edition. The book is not available on the site because I've run out, and there won't be more until these arrive, probably in August.

Some cool things are going on on the internet, and I usually neglect to mention them: my friend Magnolia recently started an exciting new story called Monster Pulse, which is very different from her previous Bobwhite, which is excellent, but I think she can top it!! Aaron is in the thick of a gorgeous and ambitious story at Dresden Codak, which is more up my alley than anything he's done yet. Yuko and Ananth recently finished a beautiful new short story, which begins here. Cucumber Quest is the most fun and adorable thing I've ever seen. MBMBAM is my new favorite podcast, and Das Racist is my new favorite rap group.

19 May 2011 - Book 2 and The Thinker!

oday is the start of Book 2 of Vattu, with page 126. I hope you like it!! I am loving working on this story, and rest assured that it is JUST BEGINNING.

The new short story, part one of a three-part story called The Thinker, went up this week! I'm pleased with this one and am working on part two as quick as I can. It's gotten a very positive response so far (seems better than for the previous short stories??), so give it a read if you haven't!

I'll be going to Charlotte, NC for Heroes Con in early June, if that's in your area!

Thank you for reading!

11 May 2011 - Book 2 starting soon...

aking a brief break from updates to work on a few things. First of all, the next Short Story, which is part 1 of 'The Thinker,' is nearing completion, and will be online next week! Hopefully Monday the 16th. And! I am working on getting an insane amount of Rice Boy books printed, and getting together all of the incentive stuff for contributors to the Kickstarter. Updates on that are forthcoming. Finally! I have a few small issues of planning and visual development left to resolve in Book 2 of Vattu... And I want to focus more on quality in this comic than on sheer speed and quality, as I have in the past. BUT ANYWAY! Book 2 of Vattu will begin on May 20, 2011. Thanks for your patience.

OH did you see the guest comic I drew for Bobwhite? A little bird called Magnolia Porter's latest news post tells me that this comic will be ending soon, so I heartily recommend you give it a read. Great characters, great cartooning, and lots to relate to if you have a history in art, education, or art education.

TCAF was great; one of the most fun weekends in recent memory. Thanks everybody for coming. Thanks so much to Chris Butcher and everyone else for putting together one of the best comic conventions around.

5 May 2011 - TCAF! Book 1 of Vattu!

ey look! Page 125 of Vattu went online today, which means BOOK 1 IS FINISHED! This is a Small Step towards finishing this Very Big Thing. Thanks everyone for reading; I'm delighted at the response to this story so far. Things are finally starting to get interesting...

TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, is THIS WEEKEND! It is one of my favorite shows, and will be a densely-populated mass of independent cartoonists like myself. If you are in the are of Toronto, I highly suggest that you check it out. Admission is free. I will give you a high five, or whatever it is Canadians do instead of high fives.

Leaving for Toronto super soon! Kel and I are sitting around talking about sexy Pokemon. We are against it.

22 April 2011 - Kickstarted!

s I write this, we're almost up to 16,000 dollars on the Rice Boy book kickstarter, with 40 hours left to go. This has gone incredibly well and I can't thank all of you enough! I am super excited to get this thing reprinted, and I'm glad the hardcover edition has had such a positive response already. I will be printing 3,000 copies of the paperback, instead of 2,000 as was originally planned. Awesome!! You are all the best!! Getting the printer started with the book and working on the other incentive items is what I'm working on now...

I am back from Portland and back from being incapacitated by allergies for several days. If you'd like to hear the terrible frog voice I have had, you can listen to this excellent recording of the Comics and Worldbuilding panel that I moderated! Which of course reminds me that there is new stuff up at Making Places, and more to come.

Now that I am back here and productive again, the update schedule will be less flaky. Also it doesn't hurt that I have been really really excited about this part of Vattu for a while...

13 April 2011 - Stumptown!

he Stumptown Comics Fest is coming up this weekend, in Portland, OR. If you can make it you should! I'll have tons of books and posters, and I'm moderating a panel on Sunday at 2! Come say hello.

Apologies for the spotty update schedules these past few days; my website has been down at great length through no fault of my own, and I have been busy and traveling in and out of internet connectivity. As soon as I get back from Portland I am gonna sit down and draw a million pages.

5 April 2011 - Making Places

his weekend is MoCCA Fest, in New York city! I'll be there at table K7 with Frank and Becky. This will be my first time at that show, and I am pretty excited! I'll have all of my books, and some prints and originals. Come say hello if you can!

After that is Stumptown Comics Fest on April 16 and 17 in Portland, OR, at which I'll be running, for the third time, my Comics and Worldbuilding panel! Very excited about the folks that will be on it this time; more on that sooooon. I hope you can make it, Portland!

I've started a new website called Making Places, where I'll be posting my articles on worldbuilding, and it'll be accepting submissions, too! I have some big plans for this thing, so give it a look!

Page 114 is up today, and I'm working hard on building up a buffer, and making progress in the short story. Comics comics comics!!

23 March 2011 - Books, conventions...

ust back and recovered from C2E2 in Chicago; a good time was had. I did better than last year and I think it was a better show than last year, so it will continue to be my excuse for annual visits to Chicago. Thanks very much to everyone who came by the table! My next show is MoCCA right here in New York City on April 9 and 10. I'll be tabling with the charming and talented Becky and Frank. Hope to see some of you folks! Working on a bit of new merchandise I hope to have in time for the show.

The Kickstarter project I started earlier this month has already reached its goal and almost doubled it, meaning the Rice Boy book will be reprinted, and the limited edition hardcover version, too!! I am very excited and very relieved and very very thankful to everyone who is helping this happen. You are literally the best.

9 March 2011 - Kickstarter!!

N IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY!! I need to raise a good bit of money to reprint the Rice Boy book, so I've started a Kickstarter project to do it! There are some special limited-edition things I'll have available through this fundraiser: a series of 12 really handsome little portrait-posters of characters in Rice Boy (some of whom I hadn't drawn in 3 years, which was cool!), and the first ever HARDCOVER EDITION OF RICE BOY.

So please watch my awkward little video where I try to explain this fundraiser, and please consider helping to keep this book in print! The Rice Boy book, paperback or softcover, is currently not for sale online, so if you'd like to buy it you can do so through the Kickstarter.

ALSO, today's page of Vattu is A BIG ONE, and I've been super excited to show it to all of you for a while. Things are changing, and I've gotten to one of those points in the story that I've been excited about since the start. It is 4 in the morning, I am doing my sleep schedule no favors in recovering from my recent west coast trip. So I am going to bed. Thank you very much for reading.

4 March 2011 - I'm in Seattle!

ust a quick update for today! I'm in Seattle, and excited for Emerald City Comic Con tomorrow! I'm at table L-06 with Magnolia Porter.

100 pages of Vattu up today, how about that!!

20 February 2011 - Conventions are coming up!

view from a hill in today's page. What could this portend?

SEATTLE, are you aware that I will be inside you soon?? There is a comic convention called the Emerald City Comic Con on March 4, 5, and 6, and I'll be in Artist Alley sharing a table with Magnolia who you may know as the maker of Bobwhite. You should be there! On Saturday we are all going to wear fancy clothes. Future conventions and appearances are listed here

17 February 2011 - 2 pages! Originals for sale!

ou get two pages with Friday's update, for the first time in a while!! We're in another decompressed dialogue-free sequence, so hopefully this is a bit more substantial for those of you reading update-to-update. On Monday there will be an IMPORTANT REVEAL. Thank you for reading.

I've started an etsy page where I'll be putting original pages up for sale for the forseeable future. For now there's only a few from Vattu, but I will be putting up a few pages from Rice Boy and Order of Tales shortly. I am hoping to raise money for a new run of Rice Boy books! More on that later.

Next short story, the first of a three-parter, is well under way. And I've been pretty active on my Art Blog lately! And I have comic conventions coming up soon in SEATTLE and CHICAGO! And my girlfriend Lela is moving here soon! Things are good and busy busy.

31 January 2011 - Settling Down

he new short story is finally finished and online. It is called Settling Down, and serves as a prequel to Rice Boy. I think it makes more sense in light of what happens in Rice Boy, but maybe it would read well chronologically too? Kind of weird to return to the characters and settings in this story for the first time in like three years.

The next short story will be called The Thinker. I haven't figured out its length or the donation goal for it, but that will happen soon!

85 pages of Vattu! OoT book 3 print out in a week or so I think!

24 January 2011 - 82 pages

p to 82 pages of Vattu, and a conversation of some gravity is going on. It occurred to me recently that most of the story so far has been about a conflict between a traditional, dogmatic worldview and a progressive, adaptable one. It is really weird to see that in my own comic because I did not really explicitly intend for it to be there. But anyway. Changes are afoot and we're en route to the end of 'Book 1' of this huge huge story.

Somebody asked me on Formspring recently about the differences between the genders of the Fluters. This has been kind of ambiguous for a lot of people so far, which has kind of been my intent, but if you're interested, I answered the question in detail.

Order of Tales book 3 still open for preorder; I should receive them and send out the preorders within a couple weeks. It's been kind of a low-key comics-focused life for me since the holidays. I have been playing Mass Effect like everyone in this house, and I have been drawing comics and other stuff, and looking at penguins in sweaters.

31 December 2010 - This year is over!

age 72 of Vattu is the last one to go up in 2010, and it's incidentally something of a significant punctuation in the progress of the story so far. If you haven't been following it update-for-update, now might be a good point at which to catch up?

Here are some plans I have for the coming year:

- More conventions in more places; convention-time all the time. I was recently confirmed for TCAF, and will be keeping a list of upcoming appearances I'll be making on the About page... If everything goes according to plan I'll be going to 13 shows in 2011, which is kind of mind-boggling.

- More content ancillary to Vattu. This News thing on the front page needs more consisten updates, first of all. And I've obviously underestimated the amount of work it takes to keep Vattu going at three pages a week, so it will be tricky, but I need to keep at the Short Stories and get started on some non-Overside stuff that I've been doing preliminary work on. I'll stay active as much as I can on my art blog as well.

- Books books books. In the immediate future reprinting the one-volume Rice Boy will be the biggest and most urgent item of business for me (and for which I might have to do a bit of a fundraiser for), but in addition of course there's the third Order of Tales book on the way for January, and the one-volume Order of Tales book on the way... sometime in 2011, depending upon when I can get it paid for, and when I receive a bit of content for it from a third party. And Vattu will have its first book out sometime later in 2011, I think!!

- More New York stuff. For a few months I've been living in this city, and I'm constantly surprised at how huge and full of interesting things and people it is. There are so many people doing incredible work here, even in a field as miniscule as independent comics. I want to be more involved in The Comics World in physical reality, instead of entirely on the internet. So I'd like to do some book release events and things like that!!

- Less talk more rock!!!!!

10 December 2010 - Order of Tales 3 preorders

he third book of Order of Tales, called The Tower of Smoke, is available for preorder. Preorders will be shipped out in January. This book, like the previous 2 parts of the story, includes an illustrated appendix and a map of the relevant area. A one-volume edition will be available (I estimate) in March, and I hope for that to be the long-term incarnation of the story because it will be easier to deal with than three separate books. A new run of Book 1 will arrive shortly; it's been unavailable last few days.

Lately I've put up some miscellaneous art and things on my blog, and I've added a few more confirmed 2011 conventions to my schedule. Seattle is a place I've never been! Hope to see you.

I hope everyone is having a good end-of-the-year! It is getting cold up here but I am drinking a lot of coffee so it's ok.