Chapters: HijiNKS ENSUE Classic

The Song Of The Unsuccessful Aquatic Mammal

UPDATE 9/19/09: Thanks to @Alyssa_Milano for sharing this comic with her Tweeps. If you dig the comic and would like to follow me on Twitter, please do.

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… or “The Fail Whale at Tanagra!”

[reddit-me]Ironically, Eli and Denise died in a murder/suicide pact moments before Twitter came back online.

So I guess Twitter got attacked by killbots or something yesterday morning. I was asleep until 10am (having stayed up working until 4am the previous night), so I didn’t notice. [Follow me on Twitter, if you want]

Read up on Darmok and the Tamaraians if panel one is confusing at all.

UPDATE ON THE BOOK PRESALE! As of this posting there are only about 10 Ultimate Fancy Editions left!

Seeing as how the Ultimate Fancies are all but sold out, I can officially announce that the preorders for the 150 UF editions have completely paid for the full print run of 1000 copies of HijiNKS Ensue Vol 1: Godspeed, You Fancy Bastard. Thank you all so much for your constant support.

hijinks-ensue-godspeed-you-fancy-bastard-book

HijiNKS Ensue Volume 1: Godspeed You Fancy Bastard

UPDATE: YOU CAN TOTALLY PREORDER THE BOOK RIGHT NOW!!!

I’ve been working on this book cover for a week straight, so it’s the most I can muster today as far as comics go.

Here’s the deal: Starting Monday, July 27th you will be able to preorder the first HijiNKS Ensue Collection, Volume 1: Godspeed, You Fancy Bastard. I am super excited and crazy terrified about this news. I am also a little dizzy, slightly nauseous and I might be suffering from Braxton Hicks contractions and spontaneous ear wigs.

What’s in the book?

  • All of the HE comics from 2007-2008 in full color
  • “Directors Commentary” on each comic
  • A forward by Bill Barnes of Unshelved (it’s incredibly mean)
  • Early sketches of the HE characters
  • Never before seen comics from my Highschool Newspaper days
  • AND MORE!

If the Preorder goes well, the books should ship in mid to late September. The first books is always the hardest, so please bear with me on the preorder and shipping times.

Many of  you have emailed and twitters to ask me how The Experiment is going. I’m glad I can finally answer with a resounding “Not So Good!”

I’m going to level with you. I am pretty much out of funds to keep doing HE as my full time job. It only brings in about half the income my family needs to make it each month and the freelance gigs and such just aren’t coming fast enough. This book is either going to be the end of The Experiment or the beginning of the next phase. I’m all about beginnings, so that’s what I’m shooting for.

How can you help keep HE alive?
Simple. PLEASE PREORDER THE BOOK IN THE FIRST WEEK!

It’s going to cost me $6000-7000 to have the initial run of the books printed (HELLOOOO VISA!), but those books represent enough potential income to buy me a few months to figure out the next phase of The Experiment.

I’m offering the book in a few flavors for your purchasing enjoyment:

ULTIMATE SPECIAL FANCY EDITION (limited to 150): $50

  • The book, signed and numbered
  • A special limited print of the cover image, also signed and numbered
  • A “Godspeed, You Fancy Bastard” bumper sticker
  • Upgrade to “Artist Edition” for just $10 more and I will sketch in the book, essentially ruining it

This edition of the book is for you Super Fancy Bastards that want to help with the printing costs of the book. The price includes a $10-$15ish donation. No other Vol. 1 books or prints will ever be numbered so these are one of a kind editions. If I can sell all 150 of these I can pay for ALL of the books I am printing (and sleep at night).

Artist Edition: $35

  • I will sign, personalize and sketch in your book. You can specify which character you would like sketched (but don’t get crazy)

Regular Awesome Edition: $20

  • A book, with all that other stuff, minus the fancy stuff

So, there you go. I don’t want to sound desperate, but this is either the end of the most amazing, rewarding job I’ve ever had or the beginning of something even more amazing. If you enjoy HE and want to see it continue, PLEASE preorder the book, make a donation or pick up shirt or print. I love making these comics for you and I don’t want to stop. Now that I’ve done it for 2+ years, I really don’t know how I could go back to a regular 9-5. This is my calling.

Godspeed You Fancy Bastards,

-Joel

The Bravest Little Hobbit Of Them All

I know it’s just a rumor, but do you think Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) would make a good Bilbo Baggins? He already has all that experience being tootled by a gay wizard, which is a definite plus. Personally I think he’s at least 2 feet too tall for the role.

If not Radcliffe, then who would you cast? Do you have high hopes for The Hobbit movies?

The Old Bait And Switch

[NEW TO HE? Check out The Experiment, The Vault and The Store]

I’ve got a really simple solution for anyone upset that Fox may bring Futurama back without Billy West, Katey Segal, John DiMaggio, Tres MacNeille, Phil LaMarr, Maurice LeMarche, Lauren Tom and David Herman.

Just don’t watch it.

Fuck it. Pretend the show was never renewed and go back to however you felt a few months ago before they announced Futurama’s 2nd resurrection. Fox is a tricky nemesis. They lull you into a false sense of confidence by renewing Dollhouse, then BAM! They’ve smashed you in the nuts with a 40 lb. paving stone and fired all the Futurama voice actors.

There’s no point in my enumerating all the ways in which this decision reaches heretofore unknown depths of douchebaggedness and cockery. It’s obvious that this unFuturama will be an utter abortion of entertainment without the original voice cast. Can you imagine how embarrassing the show will be when Fry or Bender open their mouths to deliver a line and the sound of some pathetic imposter comes out?

Wait a second. This worked before, didn’t it? When John K. was fired from Ren and Stimpy! They found a voice actor to take over the part of Ren and the difference was hardly noticeable. Some would say the replacement was better than the original. Who was that? Can they get him? OH RIGHT! It was Billy West. Well eff that plan, I guess. The real problem is that Futurama had the uncanny fortune of featuring ALL OF THE BEST VOICE ACTORS IN HOLLWOOD. They are truly irreplaceable. Futurama is still quite canceled, dead and buried as far as I’m concerned. [unless this is all a publicity stunt]

UPDATE:

UPDATE 2:

Artistic License

I’ve been rushing to get the book done, so I’m posting just the pencils for today’s comic. The final version will be up tonight.

BOOK NEWS!!!
Next week I hope to post information on the book preorder (that is the first HijiNKS Ensue collection which will have all the comics from 2007 and 2008 + new commentary + never before seen early artwork and other neatnesses).

Personally I enjoyed “Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince” but thought the ending fell a little flat. OK, a LOT flat. I could make a list of the things that I think shouldn’t have been left out or altered but if you’ve read the book you probably have a similar if not identical mental list. As for the omissions and alterations, this movie seems to have taken a different approach from the previous ones. It’s like the screenwriter said, “Harry needs to get from point A to point C. In the books point B is 5 chapters long, so let’s just have someone walk up and tell Harry everything he would have learned in those chapters and call it done.” That sounds negative, but I was actually OK with it. I understand they can’t leave everything in, so getting the general gist across the audience makes perfect sense.

If you saw “The Half-Blood Prince” this week, post your thoughts in the comments. [BE NICE!!!]