The Confluenza

The newly relaunched HE Store is up and running over at Blind Ferret. Please go check it out and maybe buy a book or a shirt or something. Shirts will begin shipping soon, now that we are all back from Comic-Con.

My friend Amy has referred to the SDCC/w00tstock experience several times as “transformative.” Rather than going into an in depth play by play of all the incredibly amazing things that happened last week, I will just say that I concur with her assessment.

Guest appearances in this comic by: Stepto, Dammit Liz, Storm, Paul, Wil Wheaton, Ryan Wheaton (who has quickly become one of my favorite people, Adam Savage (who is indeed wearing a custom suit of leather Batman armor), Amy Berg, and Kevin Murphy. Unseen in these panels are a dozen other fantastic people who I shared at least one life altering moment with over the course of the week.

One last thought: if you have never been to a w00tstock show, PLEASE do yourself a favor and rectify that situation at the next available opportunity. I can’t stress enough how amazing and… well, transformative w00tstock is for a geek like me. It’s a solid 4 hours of knowing that you belong, that you are with like-minded people and that you are EXACTLY wear you are supposed to be, which for a geek can often be a feeling severely lacking from your day to day existence. I am so grateful to Adam, Wil, Paul, Storm and Liz for putting w00tstock on and for letting me hangout in their clubhouse.

Live By The Sword

THE HIJINKS ENSUE STORE IS BACK!!!

The newly relaunched HE Store is up and running over at Blind Ferret. Please go check it out and maybe buy a book or a shirt or something. Shirts will be shipping after we all get back from Comic-Con.

I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2 over the weekend with my wife. This is the first Harry Potter movie (maybe the 2nd) we’ve seen together since she finished reading the entire series. We’ve always been super compatible. We never argue, we want the same things, we like the same shows, but now… now that she’s ready Harry Potter… I feel like we finally speak the same language. We finally understand each other. [Some joking may have been involved in that last statement. Some.]

Despite the 4 year old kicking the back of my seat for nearly the entire film (SERIOUSLY?! Who brings a 4 year old to a movie with such nightmare inducing imagery and extreme violence? Way to go awesome parents!), I was completely satisfied with the ending to franchise. As the comic above shows (in stark contrast to my sentiments from this comic), Neville finally came into his own as a character. There has always been this shadow over his head of “I could have totally been the chosen one, if Voldemort had carried the 1 instead of dividing by 2.” He lived through an equally life shattering childhood tragedy and the only real difference between him and Harry was that everyone was constantly telling Harry how great he was and/or trying to kill him. Neville might have made a better chosen one than Mr. Potter had he been given the chance, but that sort of illustrates the point of the entire story, isn’t it? Harry wasn’t all that special until Voldemort made him special. Who we are and who people think we are/expect us to be are rarely the same person. Harry’s entire life was a series of terrible things happening and him somehow trying to find the will to move forward. The only way to know if Neville would have made the choices or “done it in 4 books” instead of 7, would be to go back 18 years and have Voldemort visit his house instead of Harry’s. Weird rant: over.

The thing I love so much about Harry Potter is that it makes me think about things like the previous paragraph. It makes me dwell on character motivations, strengths, flaws, etc. I think the hallmark of a great story is how many questions you ask after finishing it, not out of frustration, but out of a desire to know more about the world you were just visiting. For instance, just 2 days ago I had a conversation on twitter about why Draco is such a miserable piece of shit. Now that the movies are done I feel the same sort of diminished anticipation I did after finishing the books. A sort of “now what?” type of emptiness.

A few things about the movie itself: Every single time Raplh Fiennes opens his mouth, his presence dominates the scene. Ever line he delivers has such gravitas. The way he delivers the killing curse is so guttural and powerful. Kind of like, “AVARDAGHHH KADAAAGHGHGHGHGH!!!!” CG enyoungened Snape is not NEARLY as creepy has CG enyoungened Jeff Bridges. CG/Prosthetically beoldended Harry looked pretty decent. Ginny still looked 12. I know wizards just pretend technology doesn’t exists, but if just one of them picked up a gun I have a feeling the duels wouldn’t last nearly as long. Speaking of duels: the “clashing wands” green and red effect from these movies is one of my favorite special effects of all time. It carries so much more impact that “my light beam and your light beam are stuck together.” It’s like molten rock spilling out of the air. Just perfect. Are there wizarding public schools? These fancy Hogwarts kids only see their family’s for 2 months out of the year for 7 years. That seems insane.

I cried at least 4 times during Deathly Hallow Part 2. I’m so glad they broke this one up rather than leave a ton of essential plot elements out. It was a really fantastic end to the series.

San Diego Comic-Con is this week! I will be with Ryan and Lar and Danielle at the Blind Ferret Booth [Booth 1332] in the Webcomic area. I will have books 1 and 2, prints, sketch cards, stickers and nearly all of my shirts.

If you are going to be at the show, please come by booth 1332 and say hi. I will be the one going on 2 hours of sleep and propping my self up against Lar deSouza.

PROtest & CON

“The Doctor Is In” shirt based off the “You’re The Last of The Time Lords, Charlie Brown” comic is here!

San Diego Comic-Con is in a week! I will be with Ryan and Lar and Danielle at the Blind Ferret Booth in the Webcomic area. Booth 1332. I will have books 1 and 2, prints, sketches and nearly all of my shirts.

I am spending all available time before SDCC getting ready for the con and completing projects that MUST be… completed… to completion. I have NO IDEA what the comic schedule will be like during SDCC. A smart person would place a bet on ERATIC and possibly NONEXISTENT. SDCC is an incredibly stressful week, because it combines all of the normal convention stress (times at least 10 due the size and scope of the show) with the additional stress of wanting to see and hang out with all of the friends and various amazing people that congregate at that shrine of geekdom annually. It’s sort of an “OMG TOO MUCH FUN TO HAVE!!!” stress, which I do not expect you to feel sorry for me about.

Follow me on Twitter if you want to be kept abreast of all the SDCCnannigans. I have also created a Google+ account and I am really enjoying how much it is NOT Facebook. I’ve been doing 10 person video “Hangouts” with readers and other cartoonists for the past couple of nights and it is incredibly enjoyable.

COMMENTERS: Do you have strong feelings either way about the DC Reboot? Is something like this necessary to breathe new life into an aging industry? Is is needed just so fans and creators alike can finally keep the continuity straight? Is is Supersacrilege? Whats with all the extra lines and popped collars on the costumes?

The HijiNKS ENSUE Store is closed for now so I can make some big, exciting changes. It will be reopening VERY soon. In the meantime you can still get shirts from Sharksplode and HE Book 2 from this very site.

Although Nothing Seems Right

“The Doctor Is In” shirt based off the “You’re The Last of The Time Lords, Charlie Brown” comic is here!

San Diego ComiCon is in a week! I will be with Ryan and Lar and Danielle at the Blind Ferret Booth in the Webcomic area. Row 13 I believe. I will have books 1 and 2, prints, sketches and nearly all of my shirts.

Why did I see Cars 2? Was it on a dare? Did a lose a bet? Oh god, am I pregnant? Strange cravings might account for it. Ohhhh, that’s right. I have a young child. Well, guess what? Even she nearly fell asleep halfway through and she hasn’t mentioned the movie again since. Let’s just say, from my kid (she who has watched Toy Story 3 at least 75 times and recounts in near psychotic detail every event of every movie she watched to anyone with or without functional human ears) this is a pretty damning review.

But that’s just it. Cars 2 wasn’t terrible. It was just empty and boring. It lacked ALL of the heart you expect from a Pixar film. Even considering Cars is my least favorite Pixar film, it did have at it’s center a reasonably heartfelt message. I think that message (slow down, experience a simpler life, etc) missed the mark completely, but it was there. This film’s message was “Hey this idiot must be a spy! Let’s do a bunch of spy stuff, blowing things up, then it’s over! Also friendship maybe!”

I feel like this film is not only specifically for kids, but it’s specifically for 6 year old boys. All others needs not apply. Watch WALL-E or TS3 again, instead. Get your cry on.

COMMENTERS: How did the Carsniverse come about? Did K.I.T.T lead the vehicle uprising? How does their society work? Does your make and model determine your occupation and position in life? Are they born or made? Who are their makers? Why do they have bathrooms?!

Emergency Contact

Wil Wheaton and I got excited and made a thing! Check out our University of Gallifrey Fighting Time Lords Shirt over at Sharksplode.

CONVENTION NEWS: Connecticon is right now!!!. Come see me and David and Ryan and Lar and the Explosm quadruplets and much many mores!

NAME PUNS MR. FRODO!!!

I made this entire comic at 30,000 feet using an iPad, a Pengo stylus and an App called Artstudio. Pretty neat.

STORE NEWS: The HijiNKS ENSUE Store is closed for a few weeks so I can make some big, exciting changes. [READ MORE HERE] In the meantime you can still get shirts from Sharksplode and HE Book 2 from this very site.

COMMENTERS: Do you watched Justified? Is it great? People keep telling me it’s great. What about Timothy Olyphant’s smile? Couldn’t you just fall asleep starring at its warm glow?