I have several upcoming appearances between now and the end of October. These will be my first real reader interaction experiences, and I would appreciate your help in making them fantastic.

Baltimore Comic-Con – Baltimore Maryland

October 10-11
I will be in the Artist’s Alley at table 129
I will have books, buttons, stickers, prints and will be doing sketches
This is my first real con, so if you are in the area please attend and show your support
[Read more on their site]

Book Signing and Reader Meetup at Rogue’s Gallery Comics & Games – Austin TX

October 24th [1:00pm - 3:00pm]
The idea here is to do a book signing and a reader meetup at the same time. The success of this endeavor depends entirely on YOU. If you are in the Austin area and think you can make it out, please leave a comment. I’m open to ideas. We can go get coffee afterward or whatever.
[check out their site for info and directions]

UPDATE: More info HERE.

Ka-Baam!! Improv Comicbook Adventure Comedy Show – Austin TX

Friday October 23rd and Saturday October 24th
What is Ka-Baam!!?
Based on audience suggestion, every performance of Ka-Baam!! premieres the origins and adventures of three never-before-seen, never-to-be-seen-again, heroes. It is the Golden Age of comics revisited with the greatest of villains, most ridiculous of brawls and special guest comic book artists every week (in this case ME) to help capture the action in pencil and ink. It¹s every fanboy¹s four-color fantasy writ large… Ka-Baam!!
Details:
KA-BAAM!!: Improvised Comic Book Adventures runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm at the Hideout Theater, 617 Congress Avenue (between 6th & 7th Sts.) from September 11th thru October 24th (no show on Saturday, September 26th).
Tickets are $10 each and can be obtained at www.hideouttheatre.com or calling 512-HIDE-OUT.
[More details at Austin360]

AWESOMENESS NOTE: While the performers create their characters based on audience suggestions, I create whatever villain or disaster for them to face that I want. If you have an idea for a new super villain or disastrous comicbook danger, post a comment and I might use it during the show.

Dallas Fancy Bastards…

November 14th a few local Dallas artists are putting on a small event called “The Dallas Webcomics Expo.”

UPDATE:
I will be attending the Dallas Webcomics Expo on Nov. 14th. Dallas Fancy Bastards come out and say hi!

I have been contemplating attending, but I’m still on the fence. It’s $5 to get in and you will get to see Randal Milholland – Something*Positive and Rob DenBleyker – Cyanide & Happiness and a lot of local Dallas Webcomics artists (plus me if I decide to go). We could probably turn this into a Dallas Reader Meetup if you guys are interested. If you are, please post a comment as that will help me decide whether or not to go.

I hope to see ridicu-tons of Fancy Bastards at these events, so please come check them out!

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My wife and I have spent the last 72 hours furiously editing, correcting, rewriting and redrawing text and images for The Book (AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER NOW!). We’ve gotten an average of 3 hours of sleep a night for the past 3 nights, and are each completely out of brain juice. Owning a 2 year old human that demands constant entertainment has further exacerbated this issue. The good news is the book files will leave my hard drive tonight and travel deep into the Canadian wilderness where enchanted moose and elk will gnaw the pages out of oak trees.

What I’m trying to say is THE BOOK IS FINALLY DONE! I am sending TransCon the files in a few hours, and it is such a freaking relief.

If all goes to plan (and it won’t), the books will be in my hands just before I leave for Baltimore Comic-Con on October, 8th (so hopefully I will have them at the con). They should start shipping as soon as I get back.

The stress of completing the book, coupled with my recent crippling back pain has made comic updates rather spotty for the past 2 weeks. For that I apologize and want to extend my deepest thanks to all of you for not giving me a hard time about it. This is my first book, and it’s been an incredibly difficult project. Now that it’s done I feel like things in the HEniverse can get back to normal.

There will be a new comic on Wednesday (9.9-09), and the normal M-W-F schedule will resume there after.

I can’t wait for you guys to see this book. I’m extraordinarily proud of it and I think you’re all really going to enjoy it.

~GYFB, Joel

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HijiNKS Ensue Volume 1: Godspeed You Fancy Bastard is up for preorder in The HE Store NOW!

What’s in the book?

• All of the HE comics from 2007-2008 in full color
• 116 Pages of geeky goodness
  
• “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.

It is available in several tastey flavors:

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” 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 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

Regular Awesome Edition: $20

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

Any long time FB’s who are familiar with The Experiment know how important this book preorder is to the continuation of HijiNKS Ensue. You can read more of the dire details of the situation HERE. The bottom line is (and yes, this is basically me begging) if you enjoy HE and want it to continue PLEASE PREORDER THE BOOK. The next month or so is going to determine the future of HijiNKS Ensue.

Godspeed, You Fancy Bastards

-Joel

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I totally forgot (until @justchristine) reminded me that Hijinks Ensue Turned 2 years old earlier this month. May 11, 2007 was the first comic.

P (another) P (and then) S

In case you missed it, the HE Podcast moved and lives HERE now. We’re back to a 90 min format, so if you were turned off by the length (TWSS) in the past, maybe you want to consider giving it another go.

P (and then) Something Else

I want to apologize for missing that last two Friday updates. Anyone that follows me on Twitter has heard about the giant commission project that was keeping me over-occupied for the last few weeks. It’s over now and things can get back to normal. I am struggling to pay the bills right now, so unfortunately the real paying gigs take precedent at the moment. Thanks for being patient. Not a single one of you Fancy Bastards gave me any grief for missing the comics or even brought it up. That’s how I know I have the best readers in the tubes.

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Holy effin’ crap, guys! It’s been 1 year to the day since I started The Experiment (read the original announcement here)! For new readers or old school Fancy Bastard who may have forgotten, The Experiment is my attempt to make a living from my webcomic. Originally I gave myself 4-6 months to try this out after I lost my day job. Since it’s been 12 months, you might think The Experiment has been a success. Success is a relative term. This is certainly the most rewarding job I have ever had, and I wouldn’t trade these last 12 months for anything, but as of today HijiNKS Ensue only provides a little less than half the income my family needs to meet our basic responsibilities. This income comes from your DONATIONS and store purchases. A tiny tiny tiny tiny sliver comes from advertising (almost enough to pay the car note!), and the rest comes from my personal savings. The savings well has dried up several times in the last year, but has been occasionally replenished by tax refunds and other such unexpected allocations of cash.

So now it’s “do or die” time. Phase 1 of The Experiment was all about “make the best comic you can and see what happens money-wise.” Phase 2 (this is Phase 2) is all about “The comic is pretty good, let’s get serious about the money part!”

A big part of the new money seriousness is that the fine folks at Topatoco will now be selling HijiNKS Ensue Shirts along with the shirts they already offer from all of your other favorite webcomics.

Check them out HERE!

This is a pretty big deal for me and it’s great news for you. Topatoco is a top notch operation and all they do is sell webcomics merchandise. The shirts are cheaper than they were before, the are professionally screenprinted and you can save on shipping when you buy multiple shirts from me or any other artist. I’m extremely excited. I really want the Topatoco guys to see they made the right choice in adding HijiNKS Ensue to their roster and a great way to show them would be to pick up one (or all) of the new shirts (hint cough hint).

What about the old store? It’s still there… for now. It’s run through Yahoo Stores and I have ALWAYS hated their back end and every other aspect of using them, so I will be shutting this store down in the next couple of weeks. You can still purchase any of the shirts or prints available in the old store as long as it’s still there. I will be moving to a different store front service (same URL for your convenience) shortly. You will still be able to buy prints there and eventually it will have the first HE book. Seriously. I’m watching my wife lay it out right now. It’s happening. I will probably still offer some of the non-Topatoco shirts in the store but not many. If there’s one you want I would suggest getting it now.

What about the Donation Drive? Your monthly donations currently total a little over $700. I am so freaking grateful for this, I can barely express it. The original idea was to reach a goal of $1500 in monthly donation subscriptions. Then the economy went to shit and the donations dried up. Anyone who has donated any amount, especially those of you that have stuck it out and continued your subscriptions have my heartfelt thanks. I’m not going to be shooting for a specific goal any more with the donations. Instead I’m just going to post the monthly totals in the sidebar of the site. I don’t want you guys to feel like “we are never going to get there” in terms of donations. What you are doing now is already more generous than I could have ever imagined.

What about The Vault? The Vault is the “premium content” site that all donators and subscribers get access to. I have big plans for it in this phase of The Experiment, but you can already get Post Shows for the HE Podcast, Destop Wallpapers, iPhone Wallpapers, unfinished art, behind the scenes/making of type stuff, and much more when you donate or subscrbe.

So that’s the current “State of The Experiment.” Treading water but hopeful. The new shirts, the book, and a few other things I have planned for this year are really going to decide the fate of HijiNKS Ensue. If you want to help (with money) you can buy a shirt, buy a print or subscribe to The Vault. If you want to help (without money) you can tell a friend about the site, post a comic on your blog, or send me an encouraging email. Every little bit helps.

Thank you all so much for making the last 12 months so geektastically amazing.

-Joel

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I spent the last few days in Austin with family, so I haven’t had any free time to draw. I’ll be on the road today and home this evening so I’ll start the comic tonight and get it posted tomorrow. Sorry for the delay but life intervenes occasionally.

Big HE announcement coming in a week or two (a good one).

-Joel

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I am very happy to announce that I will be attending the New England Webcomics Weekend in Easthampton, MA from March 20-22. If you haven’t already heard, Webcomics Weekend is a gathering of the webcomic minds so to speak. It’s not really supposed to be a con, but it will feature signings, open studio tours and the chance to hang out with more than 30 of your favorite webcartoonists. Also, it’s completely free to attend.

I will be there to hang out with my fellow cartoonists and Fancy Bastards alike for all 3 days. I want to give very special thanks to FB JustChristine who, after hearing how badly I wanted to attend this event, donated a plane ticket. Without her generosity, this trip certainly wouldn’t have been possible.

I still need to raise a little cash to pay for hotel, transportation and food. If you’d like to help you can make a Donation and put “Webcomics Weekend” in the comment box. I will make sure that money goes to funding my trip and in no way provides food or shelter for my family.

I will also be auctioning off/ selling some original art this week. Check back for an update on that in a day or two.

If you plan to attend, leave a comment. I already know a short list of FB’s that will be there. I think this thing is going to be pretty effing awesome and I would love to share it with you guys.

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I’ve been drawing it all day but there’s no way I’m going to finish by tonight. I was a little too ambitious with this one. Look for it tomorrow mid-morning. There will still be a Friday comic.

Here’s a preview:

Thanks for being patient Fancy Bastards.

-Joel

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Since I posted a comic on Tuesday instead of Monday, I want to give it a chance to breathe before moving on. A new HE comic will be up on Thursday. I haven’t decided if Friday’s should be on Friday or during the weekend. We’ll see.

Why not use today as an opportunity to check out the Fancy Bastard Forum. Here’s what’s been going on this week:

• Favourite underrated video games
• Help name the HE Book Club
• My first macbook
• How did you find HE?
• Wolverine and the X-Men
• NY Comicon 09! Fancy Bastard Meet Up
• Battlestar Galactica Discussion

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I’m posting Monday’s comic on Tuesday since it’s inauguration day and the comic deals with such things. In the mean time, check out these follow up links to some of the recent HE comics:

• How many AAAAAs in Khaaaaaaaan? update to The Grieving Process

• Psystar continues to be stubborn update to I keep calling them “Pie Star”

• Heath Ledger kicks some more alive people ass at Golden Globes update to Why So Posthumous?

• Is the Zune About To Become Extinct? update to MACaveli (more…)

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