Breaking Radio Silence

Haven't flapped my yapper here in almost a week. What could I talk about? Hmm.

ITEM! I picked up issues 1 and 0 of Dynamite Entertainment's new Red Sonja series at the comic shop this weekend. I was very pleasantly surprised. Written by Bendis collaborator Michael Oeming, with pencils that are rendered with distinct homage to the late, great John Buscema and sporting digitally painted colors by Richard Isanove, both of these issues were well-crafted and had lots of those little character moments I love so much. Another title goes on my pull list. It was also slick enough to get me thinking about my incubating fantasy comic I want to do someday...

ITEM! Tried to watch "Constantine" Saturday. Managed to make it about 2/3 of the way through. Ah, well.

ITEM! Speaking of movies, if I hear one more word about Hollywood's Box Office "slump", I'm gonna puke in the nearest trash can. Are the 24-hour news networks that starved for content that the fact that Hollywood is only making billions of dollars instead of billions and billions of dollars is news-worthy? Listen up, you suits; Here is why people, myself included, don't go to the theater as often as they used to:
1) The quality of the movies are declining becuase the stories/scripts range from mediocre to non-existant. Pick one, perhaps two, writers to script a movie, maybe allowing for input from the director and then leave them alone, you no-talent bean counters! Does it surprise you that many (most?) successful movies are adapted from novels, comics or other works created by one individual? (Amadeus, Sideways, Wonder Boys, The Harry Potter series, LOTR, Batman Begins, etc.) It really shouldn't.
2) The goddamn commercials. Yeah, you heard me. Those goddamn commercials, you motherless sons-of-bitches.
3)People in the audience will. Not. Shut. Up. I don't know of one theater that actually enforces the "No Talking" rule. People just talk to themselves, the screen, the person next to them or whoever's on the cell phone as if they were sitting at home watching the movie on their couch. For the love of god, put an usher in the theater while the movie is playing, and empower them to throw out anyone who raises their voice above a whisper. If a cell phone goes off, that idiot is gone, too. Hell, I would eject anyone that illuminates their cell-phone screen just to check the time. They're annoying as hell, too.
4) Concession Prices. I sneak food into the theater all the time. Do I feel guilty? No, no, hell no. True story: Cost of a "Wonka" bar and a small coke for my 9-year-old nephew: $7.95. That's about $2 less than a new paperback of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at Barnes & Noble.

ITEM! I read through Harry Potter 6 in about one week. One of the stronger books of the series, nice to see things finally start to wrap up after book 5 meandered about somwhat. Not really surprised by who died. Can't believe that there are so many people that angry about it.

ITEM! The Haley print is coming along much faster and nicer than I thought it would. Look for it on sale early next week.

Okay, off to the day job and then to see Bruce Springsteen tonight.

Wednesday's Strip (7-27) Will Be Late

Had some family things to take care of. Wednesday's strip will be up late afternoon/early evening. It's written, I just have to draw it.

Every So Often, I Get A Hard Reminder Of What Comics Are Really About:

Subversion and Rebellion.

My wife was "let go" from her job today, along with a friend and co-worker of hers who is a die-hard fan and reader of this site. He's practically a Suburban Tribe Evangelist.

I remember when I was let go from Yesman & Puckerup's real world counterpart 3 1/2 years ago. It wasn't exactly a sad occasion, seeing as how management's behavior and personnel interactions had sunk so low you'd need a bathysphere to find them. Nine months later, I finally found a stopgap job that was much worse and paid 70% of what I made at Y&P. During that timeframe, this comic strip was born out of my hatred and indignation for shitty corporate behavior and the sad realization that commercial art, at least in some circles, is an oxymoron.

About a year ago, I finally landed my current day job, where the owners treat the employees like human beings. I consider myself quite lucky.

Folks, listen up. Especially those of you in college. What I am about to say is worth your tuition cost right here: Do what you want to do in this life. Don't listen to the TV when it tells you that have to have some high-powered, sexy office job and work it 16 hours a day so that you matter in this country. Don't let someone convince you that you need Donald Trump as a boss, an expensive car or two, a boat, an HDTV and a house 3 times bigger than you would ever need in order to be happy and "secure." I don't care who you are or who you work for, happiness can not be bought and job security does not exist anymore. Maybe our parents had it, but it's gone now. The only ones who are secure are the guys above you, and they're secure at your expense.

Corporate America has enough yesmen, enough cogs in the machine. It needs dreamers, daydreamers, artists and true creators to throw a wrench in the works at least once a day.

I know a lot of you who have yet to step into the adult workforce have seen "Office Space" and consider it this cool little cult film that the guy who created Beavis and Butthead made. Well guys, that is bullshit. "Office Space" is 200% non-fiction. It's not a comedy, it's a docu-drama-cum-tragedy.

If that wasn't enough piss and vinegar about for you, just wait until the next story arc.

I Don't Believe It

Today's strip concludes "Carol Returns." Holy F-as-in-Frank, I can't believe that I finally made it to the end of this story. Which really started back in August, almost exactly eleven months ago. I pretty much had the whole thing written out then, with the exception of the "Shaggy McWhiskey" episode; I had to write a story that brought Alan to rock bottom in order to get him ready for Haley's appearance, so I threw that one together during my Christmas break.

This year-long story arc is dedcated to all of the readers -- those whom I know personally and those who I do not -- who have been here from the very beginning; You know who you are. Thank you.

The ongoing story will continue, of course, but I need to take a break from the longform story arcs (and all of the 8-16 panel strips) for a few weeks. Therefore, I'm going to publish some sketches Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, and starting this Friday, I'll be doing standalone/"gag" strips for a while. I'll announce when the next story arc (Working title: "Lightning Always Strikes Twice") begins here in the blog. If you would like to see your name in "Ask a Suburban Tribe Cast Member," now is an excellent time to email me your questions.

Some notes & tidbits from the past year's storylines:
1. Haley will return
Haley turned out to be more popular than I expected, with me as well as you guys. Haley had a few top-secret adventures during Carol's abscence, and you can expect at least one of these to show up as a flashback story. Haley will also return in a "present day" story someday as well... and that's all I'm gonna say about that ;)

2. I do know how Caesar escaped the government and came to be Tiffany's pet
That story was to be told in "Carol Returns," but there was just no room, so I had to cut it. Look for it somewhere down the line, but probably not this year.

3. Shaggy McWhiskey will return
I like that little dude. Don't be surprised if his little harem of butt-nekkid faeries show up too; those chicks were fun to draw.

4. Jessica is here to stay
Yes, I know a lot of you hate the way she treats Alan and hate that she's such a flake, but she makes my job as a writer so much easier.

Okay, I'm going to get to work on the Haley print and try to put a dent in Harry Potter 6. Peace.

If You Clicked Over Here From Blank Label Comics...

Thanks and Welcome. I just wanted those of you who are new to Suburban Tribe to know that it usually is funny. Really. I'm just in the middle of trying to wrap something up here.

This little 10-strip story is one of my personal favorites. I recommend reading it to get an idea of what our typical shenannigans are like.

All The Cool Kids Are In San Diego This Week For Comic Con '05.

Me? I'm here in good ol' Louisville, KY (It's not "The 'Ville", I don't care what anyone else tells you) working the day job and watching all of the grass dry up and blow away after 7 weeks of 95+ degree weather and no rain:

It's not just no rain, either; The sun has been out every single day during that time, too. By the time I take the car from my house five miles down the road, two inches of dust and pollen in the air collects on my windshield that's just thick enough to diffuse the laser-like direct sunlight into an eye-obscuring haze, yet it's too thin to actually shield my eyes from the glare. Summer blows goats.

In other news, holy crap on a stick, did anyone else know that a new Frank Miller Batman comic is coming out this Wednesday? I had no idea! I had to stumble across this interview to find out about it! This will be the first DC comic I've bought in almost ten years. Looking forward to it.

Here are a couple of other cool blogs I check out regularly: Confessions of A Southern Literary Queen. A recent college grad headed to Berkely who majored in Lit. I like the cut of her jib. Mike Manley's Draw! Manley is a comics pro. He drew Batman while I was in college, and I always loved his stuff, especially his inks. This was during the big Image comics era, and I loved Manley's work because he never tried to be another Lee/Liefeld/McFarlane "Flavor of the Month" artist. Just, good, rock-solid drawing, draftsmanship and linework.

More cool links to share later in the week.

DRAMA!

Sorry for two strips in a row with no funny, everyone. God knows the last thing I want is for this strip to turn into "Apartment 3-G" or "Funky Winkerbean." It's just that in a way, I'm wrapping up a year-long story and I need to tie everything into a little bow before we dive back into the usual caustic, sarcastic shenannigans with the new cast arrangement.

I hope at least that most of you are enjoying the story (and from what I can tell, I think you are.) I calculate 3-4 more strips before this little magnum opus wraps up, and then I'll post a kind of "debriefing" post where I'll answer your questions. (And you will have questions ;)

PS: Kind of sad to write out my first "British" character after what just happened in London. Our thoughts go out to all of you over there.

Dusting Off The Blog

Sorry that the blog has been so slow lately, but as I keep parroting around here, work, personal schedules, etc. have been chaotic to say the least. I didn't know it when I did it, but pushing the strip back to 3 days a week at the beginning of the year probably saved my sanity, maybe my health, and definitely the comic itself.

I am working on a handful of projects for the site. Here's a sneak peek:

1) The New Character portraits are almost done.
In fact, they may be up on the site before this weekend is over. I'm pretty pleased with how they are turning out. They reflect the evolution of my drawing ability and show that my coloring/painting skills are improving. Not only will these portraits feature the new cast arrangement (!) they will also be used in advertising on other websites which I hope will be effective.

2) The first piece of official Suburban Tribe merchandise is on my drawing board.
I am talking about an 8 x 10 full-color matte-finish print of Haley Bhairavi. This is a mock "promotional photo" of Haley for her 2005 concert tour, and will feature "Haley's" autograph in silver ink. I managed to find a printer who can run these prints on demand for an incredible rate. I've done a couple of test runs, and I can tell you that the quality is spectacular. You will be able to purchase it from this site via Paypal for a very fair price. Look for it before August.

3) The first bi-annual Suburban Tribe pledge drive is coming.
I have always been uncomfortable with the idea of posting a donation link on the site. I thought I would wait and implement BitPass tech instead, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, either. So I've taken a page from NPR's book and come up with what I think is a happy medium. Starting in late August/early September, I will have a donation link on the site for two weeks only. During that time, anyone who donates above a certain amount will receive a free print that will only be available during the two-week pledge drive. This print will feature original Suburban Tribe art and will not be for sale after the two-week period. Ever! If the response to the first pledge drive goes well, I'll do it again six months later, offering yet another unique print.

More blog later, I have some artsy-fartsy links I want to share.

All Caught Up

Friday's Strip is here (it's a stand-alone, alas.) I'll be back with more blog stuff late Monday. Happy 4th to all of you readers in the States!