Check And Mate

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

You know that thing where you try to make fun of a stupid movie premise by assuming the absolute dumbest thing they could possibly do with the source material, and then they ruin all your fun by actually doing that thing? Yeah, that really sucks the life out of a joke.

Just to be clear: in Battleship, which is a REAL board game-based movie that is REALLY coming out next year, the alien spaceship shoots pegs into the battleships. For actual really for real. [click image to embiggen]

Dallas Fancy Bastards! I am going to be at STRIP: The Dallas Webcomic Expo this Saturday [August 6th] from 10-5pm. It’s only $5 to get in. Come get a book or a sketch. It’s a very low key show and I’ll probably be doing a fun times panel with the dude from Cyanide and Happiness.

I am also going to be attending the Marian Call concert tomorrow night (Tuesday the 2nd) at Poor David’s Pub in Dallas. You should come.

Last thing: My AC died today and living without AC in Texas is not an option. The new unit is costing me $3000. SPOILERS: I don’t have 1 thousand of dollars, let alone 3 of them. If you enjoy my ability to make comics without dying of heat stroke, please consider making a donation, buying something from the store or buying something from Sharksplode.

Genius Barred

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 begin shipping soon, now that we are all back from Comic-Con.

Today’s comic is a super special crossover event with one of my favorite webcomics, Not Invented Here. See how the action plays out (or refuses to) in THIS bonus Friday NiH comic. Not Invented Here is the brainsplosion of my friends Bill Barnes and Paul Southworth. You may know Bill from his other comic Unshelved (because libraries are funny?) and his incredibly hurtful foreword to my first book. Paul (who normally draws NiH, but if off this week) is the creator of Ugly Hill (one of the first comics I ever did a guest strip for) and Isaac Splode.

Not Invented Here started out as a comic by an ex-programmer for current programmers, but has since evolved beyond its premise (as good comedies often do) into a character driven gag/story about two friends (one of whom is Owen, shown in my comic above) working in an intensely corporate environment. Bill writes the strip based on 30… 50… at least 75 years of experience in the software development world. If you have ever coded, worked with a coder, had a manager that imposes impossible deadlines/milestones, or spent any time at all sitting at a desk for 10+ hours a day firing mental hate-rays at the clock then you really need to check out this strip. If you want to see how the comic normally appears courtesy of Paul’s expert and enviable art style, check out THIS ONE or THIS ONE. Otherwise you should start reading from the beginning and/or pick up their first book, Runtime Error.

Bill, I believe this completes my contractual obligation. Now please tell me where my family is.

COMMENTERS: What other products are for sale at the “Apple Store”? What other details, defining characteristics or employee behaviors might be a tip off that something is amiss?

The Confluenza

THE HIJINKS ENSUE STORE IS BACK!!!

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.

SDCC 2011 Fancy Sketches

THE HIJINKS ENSUE STORE IS BACK!!!

I am still recovering from San Diego Comic-Con. I have 100 shout outs and thank you’s to dole out over the next week, but for now I will leave you with these (mostly Doctor Who themed) sketches while I continue to deCONpress and process the amazing events of the last week. This week will probably round out with a couple of regular HE comics, a special HE comic of sorts and an SDCC photo comic over the weekend.

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.