Wheaton Comic Dare: We Have To Go Back!

CRUISE FUNDRAISER: 85/100 prints are sold and it would be great to sell that last few remaining prints before the end of the year. I am also going to leave up the additional prints and print packs for sale until probably February in case you want to get in on that action.

Hey Sci-Fancy Bastards! Syfy Tv Movie Title Generator Shirts are almost gone from the HE store for good and they’re CRAZY CHEAP! Men’s are down to Sm and Med. Ladies sizes are more abundant.

You guys know the Weaton Comic Dare drill by now. He dared, Stepto jumped in, I responded and did my cartoonistly duty. Everybody wins. This comic hits a little too close to home. The home which I never leave. The home in which I rarely change out of my pajamas. The very same home where I go to bed at 7am and start my day around 3m. This is a weird job. Freelancers know what I’m talking about. Putting on pants just causes problems. Like having to know where pants are, or how to clean them. Serious problems.

Bid on an auction to APPEAR IN A HIJINKS ENSUE COMIC! It’s for charity! Only 4 days left!
And only 1 day left to bid on this sweet Webcomics Jam Poster.

My desire to prevent my friends from being dissappointed by LOST is the same as Lord Elrond’s desire to save his daughter Arwen from toiling in a mortal life only to die, when eternal paradise is only a boat ride away. The irony is he WANTED her to go the island. I’m trying to keep as many people off the Island as possible. It’s not that there was NOTHING to enjoy about LOST. In fact the first 3.5 seasons are some of the finest TV that’s every been TV’d. The problem is the steeeeeeeep drop in quality halfway through the 3rd season that just continually plummets to a dismal and unsatisfying conclusion. If you have the willpower (and most don’t) to watch the first 3.5 seasons then pretend it was cancelled, you might end up being the happiest geek alive. All of your questions will still never be answered, but at least you don’t have to experience the half-hearted nonsense of the back half of the show.

COMMENTERS: When I found out my friend Stepto was going to crash his plane into the island, I tried to sum up what was about to happen to him via Twitter. Turns out it only took 4 tweets. Have you ever tried to stop a friend from delving into disappointing geekery? Did they do it anyway? Did they love it, despite you? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUR FRIEND!?

I Wanna Be High, So High

CRUISE FUNDRAISER: 83/100 prints are sold and and thanks to a couple of VERY generous donations from Fancy Bastard Sea Monkeys I am definitely going to be on the boat! Still, it would be great to sell that last few remaining prints before the end of the year. I am also going to leave up the additional prints and print packs for sale until probably February in case you want to get in on that action.

Hey, lady Hobbit fans! How about a SUPER CHEAP ladies Gimli “And My Axe” shirt for having while they are still around to be haved… had?

This comic features Fancy Bastard Luke T. who won an auction to appear in an HE comic in last year’s Desert Bus charity fundraiser. If you are super jealous of Luke and enjoy supporting worthwhile charities (it’s a write off you know), GOOD NEWS! There is another charity auction going on RIGHT NOW for Worldbuilders and one of the items up for grabs is YOU drawn by ME in an HE COMIC! Here’s a link to the auction, and here’s a blog post from author Pat Rothfuss with more details. There’s a TON of webcomicy goodies that we collected at Dragon’s Lair Webcomics Rampage (including more prints and whatnot from me) last week in Austin. Check out this fantastic webcomic artist jam poster!

I have a SO MANY opinions about seeing The Hobbit: Just Around The River Bend in 48 fps 3D. I posted them in a flurry of tweets a couple of nights ago. Here they are for your perusal:

Short version: 48fps 3D is an amazing tech breakthrough and a horrible way to watch a movie. Skip the gimmicks and you’ll enjoy it more.
The MoCap advances however are staggering. Most believable CG characters ever. So many opinions about The Hobbit. Long version to come.
Dark scenes with little movement looked unbelievable. As soon as the sun came out or the action started it was a cheap PBS documentary.
Never felt like I was immersed in Middle Earth. Constantly aware that what I was watching was fake. No opportunity to get lost in the world.
Never felt the epic grandeur that I got from LoTR. Didn’t feel much actually. Always too distracted by the frame rate to get emotional.
The 3D was barely noticeable and added nothing but additional distraction.
[Most of the movie felt like] a cross between a play and a PS3 cut scene.
[48 FPS is] more than ahead of its time. It might be a shift that is never appropriate if art is your goal.
I admit I am moved to tears during every LoTR movie. Sometimes just at the scale and grandeur. 48fps made that completely impossible.
Need to see 2D 24fps now. I feel like I haven’t even seen the movie. Just some weird tech demo.
[Martin Freeman’s] casting was inspired. As good as Elijah or Sean Astin.

COMMENTERS: Did you see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Surplus Of Frames? What did you think? What flavor did you partake in? Did your chosen viewing options impact your perception of the movie, as it did mine?

[Blog posted on 12/17/12 in order to include my review of the film and the charity auction info]

This Is The Beginning Of The End

CRUISE FUNDRAISER UPDATE: 77/100 limited prints are sold and 86 total orders have been made! As of this moment I have nearly enough to cover the cruise, the flights, the hotel, transportation, food, etc. I don’t quite have enough to cover all of that AND actually producing the prints and shipping them out. So while the cruise fundraiser is technically already a success, I am going to leave the FUNDRAISER PRINTS up for sale until all 100 are spoken for. All of my thanks and gratitude to everyone who has contributed so far, especially this close to Santaween Gift Buying Obligation Holiday.

Thus begins our final storyline of the year, and perhaps of all time. No, I don’t mean I’m going to give up continuity in HijiNKS ENSUE. Rather, I expect many if not all of us will simply give up existence once the gravitational shift causes the Earth to split in half on Dec. 21, 2o12 as was foretold by some ancient idiots who weren’t precognizant enough to foretell their own demise. Either that or they got while the getting was good. “So long and thanks for all the maize,” if you get my drift. Regardless, after 12/21/12 the HijiNKS Ensuniverse will be forever changed. Of that much I am sure…

COMMENTERS: 12/12/12 is the last date of its kind for nearly 100 years. This seems to matter to number nerds for some reason. (SPOILERS: It does not actually matter). Are there any funny numbered dates that have a special meaning to you? 9/9/99 was the day the Sega Dreamcast launched. 9/19/99 was my wife and I’s first date. I won’t say which one of those days I remember more vividly, but here’s a hint: small mammals in track shoes were definitely involved.

UPDATE: There’s a new LoFi comic about Joss Whedon’s S.H.I.E.L.D. I hope you’re enjoying the more frequent LoFi’s. I’m really digging the “every other day” HE/LoFi situation from a creative standpoint.

Into Dorkness

AUSTIN, TX FANCY BASTARDS: Webcomics Rampage is THIS WEEKEND!

CRUISE FUNDRAISER: 66/100 prints are sold and I only have until Dec 15th (8 days left!) to meet my goal of selling all 100. Help me get on a nerd boat and get some neat art for yourself in the process!

ME AND WIL MADE A NEW SHIRT HOLY CRAP I LOVE IT!
UPDATE!!! WE ALSO MADE HOODIES!

We now live in a world that has a Star Trek: Into Darkness trailer and Benedict Cumberbatch just oozes cheekboney sex all over it. There’s a lot of speculation that he’s playing Khan. He is not. He is playing Gary Mitchell, or a at least a character based on Gary Mitchell. It wouldn’t bother me if they changed the name. The wrath of Gary is not a wrath I could see myself particularly fearing.

J.J. Abrams first Star Trek is a perfect movie. That’s just a fact. A SPACE fact, which is the realest kind of fact. Even the parts that don’t make sense make me exceedingly happy. I was never a doubter as to the potential quality of the sequel. The little 1 min snippet has gotten me ever more not… being… a doubter. I have a giant Trekboner is what I’m saying, and this trailer did nothing to diminish it.

My friend Sam is the one that originally suggested to me that Tumblr, which it’s excess infestation of Cumberkin (people that were born into a human body, but know at heart they were supposed to be born clinging to Benedict Cumberbatch’s torso like a baby marsupial) might have had a hand in the crafting of the trailer. It basically leaves out most of the actual Star Trek in favor of the Sherlock star’s soothing yet wicked voice over and asskicking leapery (or leaping asskickery). I can’t say that he’s wrong, in that this movie appears to have been crafted by and specifically for nerds. SPOILERS: It was. I love it when Hollywood panders to us and gets it totally right.

COMMENTERS: Are you as excited as me for STiD? Check your Trekboner. Hmmm… that’s PRETTY excited, but I might still have you beat. If you want a little extra POTENTIALLY SPOILERY GOODTIMES, you can watch the Japanese version of the trailer.

Don’t forget to check the thumbnail to the right of the main HE comics to see if there’s a new LoFi. I’m updating them more often now.

Walker, Infectious Danger

CRUISE FUNDRAISER: About 55/100 prints are sold and I only have until Dec 15th (10 days left!) to meet my goal of selling all 100. Help me get on a nerd boat and get some neat art for yourself in the process!

ME AND WIL MADE A NEW SHIRT HOLY CRAP I LOVE IT!

How is Zamby formed? How does girl get infacted?

Sweet decapitated, yet still teeth gnashing Father Christmas I am SOOOO pleased with The Walking Dead‘s return to form this season. I consider it a television tragedy of the highest regard that they basically took an entire season off, but with season 3 the show has done such a fierce and rewarding 180 as to almost allow forgiveness for wasting our time for 13 Farm-tastic episodes.

In all honesty, season 2 had maybe 4 episodes worth of compelling story and content, but they decided to spread it out over 13 hours with nearly an hour of it jammed in the finale. It made for an uneven and uninteresting season and prompted many fan (including myself) to mark the show as dead in the water. I know it had a lot to do with the budget cuts, increased show order and crew departures, all of which make it even more shocking that Season 3 has been so enjoyable. Enjoyable is the thing where you’re so tense it feels like your temples are being crushed under a forklift and you bleed uncontrollably from your ears and scalp, right?

COMMENTERS: What do you think about The Walking Dead’s comeback and the midseason cliffhanger? There are 8 episodes left in this season. Can they spend all 8 killing Merl and The Governor over and over and over and over? Alternately: Please continue the fan in panel 3’s review of Season 2 of The Walking Dead or any other terrible season of an otherwise great show.

I made you a LoFi comic about Jack Reacher. Don’t forget to check the thumbnail to the right of the comics to see if there’s a new LoFi. I’m updating them more often now.

AUSTIN, TX FANCY BASTARDS: Webcomics Rampage is THIS WEEKEND!