You know you're a geek when you find this fascinating.

Apparently, while I was gone, I not only got Websnarked, but I got Wednesday White's ONLY TASTEY BISCUIT EVER. Do I keep this sealed mint in box? Will it appreciate in value? And most importantly, is it composed of a high enough percentage of sugar to keep it from rotting?

Of course, I'm not sure how many of you will understand what she wrote. She's rather.... cryptic. Some have said that I hate Jeffrey Darlington. This is not true! It is far from true! I love Mr. Darlington like a brother! It's actually kind of like when your family is on a long vacation trip, and you and your brother are sitting in the back seat next to each other, for hours, and you can't help but spontaneously and smack him -- with zero provocation. Why? It's not because you don't love him, goodness knows. It's because he's THERE, dammit. And you're bored. And you're brothers. It's just what you do.

You know?

I've gone through the hundred-odd new J&W! subscribers that have piled up since Monday night and sent out links to everyone. So if you've sent money and didn't get a link, check your trash bin or spam filter. If that turns up nothing, give me an email and I'll go fix it.

Thanks, folks!

Today I have a guest strip up on Scott Kurtz' PVP!

(EDIT: Fixed now to link to the exact strip. Sorry for not signing it or something. Guess it's hard to tell, I tried to copy the style so closely. Figgered there'd be a link or something. D'oh!)

I'll be in California for a week! It's Maggie's birthday, and we're partyin'. I'll be travelling willy-nilly all over the coast, so I made sure I drew enough SP!s and J&W!s to cover my absense. (Which meant starting building up that buffer starting two weeks ago. Oy. SP!s take a while to do.)

See ya next Thursday, folks. I'll try to keep in touch.

Hey, I found Decepticharge and Prowl today! Have a photo of Decepticharge.

Check out that third panel, folks. And that thumb. It's on the wrong side! I CAUGHT YOU, LYNN JOHNSTON! ARE YOU OH SO HIGH AND MIGHTY NOW?! IN YOUR FACE! IN YOUR FACE!!!

Damn Canadians. Every once in a while, they'll screw up, jus' so's we can put them back in their place.

You know the drill. So I got Leobreaker last week. And I'm all "Dude I should write a review on him!" And then the next day I was all "Yeah, I should write about Leobreaker." And the day after that I was all "Huh, yeah, review. I guess."

I need to pump these out while they're fresh.

Graham had found his Leobreaker about a week earlier, and he did not sing his praises. I mean, yeah, I know, Graham rarely sings anybody's praises, but even though Graham hates everything, his one soft spot tends to be Transformers. So I was pretty much set up for disappointment.

We found him at a Media Play, of all places. I spent the car ride home yanking him out of the box, cursing at my lack of fingernail clippers to aid me. These were some tough-ass twist ties. His lion mode is standard enough. He does have jaw articulation, but it's frustratingly narrow and requires tough pressing of the button on his forehead. (Later, after adding batteries, I discovered that the roar sound effects that accompany this are adorable. Possibly his best feature. Um.) His robot mode, though, I do like a lot. He's got enough articulation, and the way his paws convert to hands is interesting. I'm sorta bored with tail-whip weapons, though.

Now, uh, the "Savage Claw mode," where he attaches to Optimus Prime's shoulder as an arm... that's definitely a squint-and-pretend thing. On the show, fingers poof out of nowhere and glow into existence. On the toy, there is no hand to speak of. A random assortment of lion parts assembles a four-thingied claw. ("Four-thingied" versus "four-fingered," because these are in no way fingers.)

Oddly enough, the early pre-production version of Leobreaker, as seen at Comic-Con, DOES have fingers. Hell, check out the thumb sticking out of the hind leg on that prototype. Actually, forget the thumb, check out the truck-chest. Freaky. Anyway, I wonder what happened to all that stuff.

Oh well.

I think I've settled on a new coloring style for Shortpacked! Ever since I left the painted look and tried some It's Walky!ish coloring, I've been sorta experiementing a little. I've decided that I want to emphasize the line-art more (which I want to spend more time on) and so de-emphasize the colors. I sort of miss the black-and-white days. Those could sometimes look pretty sharp. So I've softened the colors, using a less bold palette, and the shadows won't be so overwhelming anymore. Besides, these guys are under retail store lighting all day, not harsh sunlight. I'm pretty happy.

The other day, I sold another page of original strip art. Hurrah! And this one wasn't of Batman or somebody half-dressed. I feel legitimate. The awesome person who bought it also wanted to have a printed copy of the final strip, which I obliged. Which makes me wonder -- is this something other people would want? You know, the printing out of favorite strips for a price? Ugly Hill and a few others do it, so I figger there's a market out there. Just wondering what youse guys thoughts were on the idea.

Also, my super friends Graham and Jenni got engaged. I don't think it's quite sunk in yet. I've known the two for 8 years, which is about 2 months longer than they've been dating. Eight years ago we were all wacky IRC buddies. I remember calling up Jenni (who I had never spoken to before) at the behest of Graham to ask her if she was mad at him. Apparently he wasn't sure. Man, and I had the biggest phobia of phone conversations back then, so that was a big deal. But I believed in these guys, so you gotta do what you gotta do. They're my best pals in the world; they're why I moved to Columbus, after all. So I guess "Congratulations" is kind of a subpar word to use. "Wiigii"? I dunno.

Man, everyone around here's growing up.

If you read the front page, you'll find Blank Label Comics has adopted a new sticker. Yeah, revered Schlock Mercenary has joined forces in our battle against evil, so this time we promise it's not scratch-and-sniff. (Though Ugly Hill's sticker would counteract with potpourri.)

I am super excited. And honored! Howard Taylor is like the super awesomest guy on the planet. (Though I hear he's not bald anymore. That's a bummer. Give me my oldskool Taylor, I say.) True story: At Comic-Con 2002, Josh Phillips and I were stranded hotel-less on that last meandering Sunday night. And he calls up and is all like, "Dude, you should totally come over. Balls." Okay, he didn't say balls, but he did say "Free of charge." Holy crap, this man is unimaginably generous. Now that's a man. If he had invoked balls, I'm certain they would have been manly.

And, sure, he's not just nice. He's one of the smartest, most level-headed nyucks there is. His business acumen is Level 10. His balls, when invoked, are not only manly, but filled with a gooey know-how center. And huge. You could play basketball with them.

Seriously, I totally look up to the guy. If I'm ever half the man he is, I'll be pretty satisfied. And I've never seen his family, but I'll assume for the sake of this post that his wife is hot and his kids are outstanding. Outstanding and filled with genes from, you guessed it, Howard's legendary balls. Ha ha, and we snatched him! Nuts to you, losers!

Just remember, when you talk to him, his face is up there.