Once a month for five months, God finds time to bless our planet with his holy ejaculate.  This is month four, and so today the latest issue of Last Stand of the Wreckers is now splashed warmly across our faces.

Sure, the immediate highlight of the issue is a single panel (spoilers) that packs more fanwankery into itself than should be physically possible.  But something more subtle I'd like to bring up, nospoilery-like, is this: Transformers are robots.  They lose arms, they lose heads, they suffer all sorts of damage.  I'm kinda numb to the idea.  But, man, in Last Stand of the Wreckers, when physical damage happens, I wince.  It's gross.  It looks painful.  It takes an emotional toll.

This is probably due to both the writing and the art.  I think of the characters as real beings, not only due to the strong characterization, but also in the way in which they are drawn.  They don't look like a pile of boxes being maneuvered around by the artist like a marionette.  They're singular entities.  And, man, if they get an ouchie, you can tell by the look on their faces.

I really like that.

And, man, Last Stand of the Wreckers really is an orgy of violence.  It's crude and dark and terrible.  Many Transformers stories attempt this, but most feel hollow.   This does not.  That's a feat in itself, above and beyond the easy geeky cameos.

So, like, the old FTP is still kickin' me out and not letting me login, so here's last Saturday's Joyce and Walky!, presented as a blog post for you, easy-as-you-please.



I'm always overjoyed when folks tell me at conventions that they've been reading since Roomies! or It's Walky!.  Those characters are all still very dear to me, and I always enjoy revisiting them when you come to me and ask me to draw them.  I had a few long-time readers again at C2E2 last weekend, and I thank you for not forgetting them.

And here's the last of my (published) pictures.  That's right!   There are photos worse than the ones from yesterday with all the mouth-pooping.

(They were blurry or boring.)

Argh.  Well, first, let me address everyone's missing weekend comics.  I had a Joyce & Walky! done days ago, but for some reason the old FTP wasn't working (J&W! is still at the old server) and I couldn't get that fixed before I left.  And I planned to draw TNI's strip at C2E2, but then I forgot about it.  D'oh.  Anyway, I'm a loser, and you'll have your comics when I get home and things are resolved and/or drawn.

Some of these images are kind of gross.  Three of them, in fact.  They are mere links, because, you know. (You may recall that Jeph Jacques and I have a "feud."  In fact, you obviously do recall, because you guys keep asking us to act on it in ways such as this.)   I recommend not clicking on the links that sound Not Safe For Work, because they undoubtedly are.

I'm asked to draw myself pooping in Jeph Jacques mouth.  Of course I'll draw that.

Same person got another book.  So this is Batman pooping in Commissioner Gordon's mouth, because why the hell not.

And Jeph responds.

Yay, I remembered to bring my camera cord back with me.  And my camera!  (That also helps.)  So have some pix.

Saturday's stuff I'll put up tomorrow!  Think of today as Friday night, but 24 hours later because I was stupid.

Sneak preview: KFC Double Down.  Mouth-pooping.

...is gonna be a crappy-ass blog post.  I left my camera cord at the booth.  It will do me no good there, while my camera and laptop are here!  Damn.

Regardless, it's been a super start to what promises to be a super show.  Thanks from me to everyone who's stopped by so far!

The BotCon 2010 brochure is up! Preregistration will go up later, so we can have a chance to look this thing over.  I haven't really read anything other than the names of the toys in the set, but oh my god yes.

Autobots: Spark (Pyro) and Streetwise

Decepticons: Clench and Breakdown

Predacon: Skybyte!

SKYBYYYYYTE

So, hey, I was reminded by an email this afternoon that I should tell everyone, uh, I guess if you have a certain original art page in mind that you'd like to pick up at C2E2 this weekend, email me with the strip's URL.  If it's available I'll try to find it tomorrow morning before I head to Chicago and I'll aim to have it at the booth for you.  Undialoged, obviously.  It'll be virgin.

No promises, of course.  This is totally a last-minute thing.  I have a huuuuge stack of pages you wouldn't believe!  It's monstrous!  And a few pages are important enough to me that I plan to dialog them and auction them online later at my discretion.

I can't wait to see you guys this weekend!  I am so stoked.  Everyone's always so awesome.

Have I mentioned often enough that I'm going to be at C2E2 in Chicago this weekend?  Have I?  Have I Have I Have I?

Well, I am.

Going to be at C2E2, that is.

Here's a fun guide of all the sweet swag I'm gonna bring that you can bring home with you:

1) Shortpacked! Book 2 and Roomies! Book 1, of course.  Shortpacked! Book 1, as you recall, is sold out, and Shortpacked! Book 3 is currently in production in Hong Kong.  I will have preorder slips available at the show, but the two books I will have will absolutely not disappoint.

2) The Shortpacked! Book 1 reprint cover poster!  You know, with the Ultra Car and the Ethan and the Ronnie and the Back to the Future?  Yeah.  Gonna have just 25 with me at the show.  Get one before they're gone!  (They're convention-exclusive, so I won't have any in the online store.)

3) "I'm Gardening Man" t-shirts.  All sizes, while they last.   Oh yeah.  You want one.

4) Shortpacked! magnets.  Use this 4"x6" magnet to hold up the pizza coupons on your fridge.

5) "If you see me, I'm toy hunting" bumper sticker.  Let all of traffic know you're hunting in vain for that elusive Transformers Animated Arcee.  These bumper stickers are beautiful.

6) And then there's the usual art prints, the original art pages, and I'm available for commissions, as always.

7) I am selling my boothmate, Chris Hallbeck.  He doesn't know yet.  He's $50.

So hit up Chris and I at C2E2, booth WC E.  That's WC for "WebComics," y'see.  There's a whole Webcomics MECCA.  We'll be in the back nestled in between the Moens and the Milhollands.  Seriously, have you seen the roster for this show?  Everyone's gonna be there!  It's crazy.

So as we were debuting the new site this weekend, Frumph says to me, hey, guess what, this is awesome.  See all those folks with no avatars?  Well, what if I told you that if you uploaded your own avatars to a certain directory and did some Comicpress magic, they'd be randomly assigned to unavatared users?

So I says, holy balls!

And so after crankin' out a handful every day since then, there are now a total of 24 avatars in the pool.  If you don't have an avatar and you post, you'll get randomly assigned, say, Sodomuffin.  And then every time you post, you'll keep that Sodomuffin avatar.  (... at least until I upload a new image into the pool, which restarts the math and they all get switched around again)

Since I have so many, and I put so much work into them despite being tiny 64x64 things, I thought I'd show them to you big as a wallpaper.  You are also free to crop them out and make your own avatars on other boards, so long as you give me credit.  I am also wondering if maybe I should try to do this a print or a poster or something in the meager number of hours I have remaining before C2E2, but we'll see.

Enjoy!