About time I got around to this.

According to the rules of last fall's Pledge Drive, the grand prize winner was also entitled to an appearance in a strip. Llywelyn Graeme was to be the security guard that Haley killed, but I decided against it at the last minute, because his face would have been too obscured. So, here he is in panel number one today. Take a bow, Llywelyn!

NERD ALERT!
Woke up at 6:30 am this Sunday morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to drive across town to Heine Bros. coffee and stock up on some whole beans. What do I find there, but an ad for The Comedians of Comedy Tour, which will be at Headliners Music Hall on April 25! Patton Oswalt and Brian Posehn and two other people I've never heard of are coming to town! I drove home as fast as I could and my wife and I got our tickets as the sun was rising. I discovered Patton a couple of years ago, and I'm pretty damn excited about seeing him live. Bonus: Tickets were only $15 (!)

The early bird does indeed get the worm.

Wow!

Glad that I got such a positive response to Monday's strip. I got bogged down at work this week (what else is new?) and I just had a chance to reply to some of the comments people posted in Monday's blog. My responses had some info you guys might miss otherwise, so I'm reposting it here:

Dude, todays strip is EASILY the best work you've ever turned out graphically speaking. EASILY.
Thanks very much, man. I got a lot of similar compliments about Monday's strip.

I just want to say what an awesome story arc this is. This is definitely the comic I look forward to reading every week!! I was so excited to have the whole Haley thing come up again. I love Carol. I was feeling a little indignant about what was happening before the Haley II arc started!

Thank you very much and I'm glad you are enjoying the story. It basically wrote itself when I finished Haley's first story last year.

The stories inbetween the two Haley arcs were meant to show that Carol may have made the wrong choice when she gave up her Haley persona. Is it better to be someone else, who happens to be perfect? Or is better to be your own honest, imperfect self? The problem is, Haley knows the answer to that question, but Carol doesn't.

Also, Carol is reaping what she sowed a long time ago (remember when she was dating Roger?) Look for a story coming in late June/early July that flashes back to college to show how the guys met the girls.

Is that the sword Haley/Carol gave Alan?
Yes it is, and you are the first one to notice!

Obligitory Pop-Culture tidbit:

I'm enjoying the return of The Sopranos as much as anyone (except maybe my wife, who, let's face it, may be enjoying it too much), but... come on. Does anyone really think they will --SPOILER (Click and drag to highlight-- KILL OFF TONY SOPRANO? --END SPOLIER--

I find it somewhat insulting that they think they can tease the audience with this plotline. That said, it is still among the most masterful storytelling in the history of television.

Also, did anyone catch the promo for this coming Sunday's episode? "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility?" What the--? Whose idea was that? It must've been some guy/suit in HBO's marketing department, because I am pretty damn sure that the show's creators are smart enough to know that that line is from Spider-Man and isn't inscribed on the pedastal of Michelangelo's David or something. How corny and out-of-place!

Tangent: Was I the only one who watched Rome and thinks it's taking way too long to come back? Oh, I was? Oh. :(

Up and Running Again!

Sincere thanks for all of the Blogger comments and emails (I'm pretty sure I replied to all of them) which contained condolences for the loss of my Grandmother. You guys are the best, and I appreciate it more than you will know.

I know that I am really overdue for a goofy pop-culture type blog post, but you will have to wait another day or two. It's late, me sleepy, and as you can see above, today's strip took a little longer than usual.

Ahh, it's good to be back!

One-Week Hiatus

Sorry to spring this on you at the last minute, but I will have to leave you guys hanging here for another week.

My grandmother passed away unexpectedly on March 6. She went in for surgery early last Monday morning. It was supposed to be minor surgery that just went very wrong, through no fault of the surgeon. Any Lousville-based readers who eyed the Courier-Journal obituary section last week may have seen the 11-inch column dedicated to her that ran for three days.

I could go on and on about how special this lady was, but there are no words, really. She was 88 years old but if you ever talked to her or had seen her go about her day, you would never know it. She was wise, insightful, sharp as a tack, and much more of a caretaker than she was ever taken care of. Above all, she was interested in everything and absolutely fearless. These things just make her death seem more like a tragic mishap befallen someone my own age rather than the quiet, slow passing of an elder.

Lots of people ask me how I manage to work a full-time IT job and then come home to write and draw this comic. I say I got it from my Grandmother, who would stay up far past midnight several nights a week to practice the piano, organize church functions or index her recipes.

Family obligations last week just happened to fall inbetween the quiet times when I would normally create the comic, so I completed the strips for last week without interruption. However, my bereavement leave from my day job has left me with several deadlines to play catch-up with this week, so I am forced to stop the comic, just for a few days.

I noticed that this week saw a steady increase in regular visitors. I am unable to track down the source of all my new readers, but I ask that you guys who just discovered this strip please trust me when I say that I don't take breaks lightly and that I will be back when I say I will. There are over 650 strips in the archives, so feel free to kill some time with them.

Thanks for the emails I got over this weekend from people saying how "geeked" they were about the Haley vs. Haley standoff. I know how this story ends, and trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Peace!

Well, whaddya know? It's March already!

If you'd like a double-dose of my comics today, click on over to Rocket Surgery Comics, where you'll find I stood in for Tauhid Bondia and Mike S(omething... I couldn't find his last name!).

Thanks to everyone who wrote to me in support of my little dentist rant. I may have come off too harshly. The thing is, I had not been to the dentist for a very. long. time. So long in fact, I'm not going to tell you how long it was and embarrass myself in front of you and ElMacho (whose father is a dentist.) Everything was cool; Zero tooth decay, no problems whatsoever. The dentist was a very pleasant fellow and -- BONUS!-- the hygenist looked a lot like Jessica Simpson (who, let's face it, will probably become a dental hygenist someday.)

I'm gonna break a cardinal rule of webcomics and give an unsolicited plug to Tigerdirect.com. Over the last couple of weeks, I purchased a 19" LCD monitor and a 256mb GeForce 6600 from these guys to replace my 8-year-old 19" CRT and 128mb GeForce 5000. Total price after rebates (which I have already recieved): $320. Yes, you read that correctly. My new monitor makes everything look bright, sharp, bright, colorful and bright. The new video card makes Painter and Photoshop run smooth as silk and I can play World of Warcraft with every video setting cranked up to "11". It's like a whole new game. If you need to upgrade you computer with quality components at deep discounts, I highly recommend TigerDirect.

Finally, a word about the comic: Probably no jokes or punchlines this week as I wrap up act 2 of "Haley Returns" and get ready to end the story before Easter or so. Hope you find it exciting, nonetheless.