UPDATE: Hawk just passed me an index of all the PA cards … they are smoking. Good work, man!

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Just wanted to take a moment to thank Tycho over at Penny Arcade for his kind words regarding our meeting at the Baltimore Comicon. I would be lying if I said there wasn’t some level of intimidation involved with meeting Gabe and Tycho. These are the guys who many of us read on a regular basis, and who serve as the inspiration for many-a-kid’s webcomicking aspirations. That being said, I gotta say - meeting them was a great experience. The awkwardness that can lend itself to such meetings was completely non-present … they were easy-going and terribly friendly. We also got to meet their business manager Rob, who is a terribly sharp fellow. It also provided an illuminating bit of insight as to precisely how important a business manager is when an endeavour such as Penny Arcade reaches a certain critical mass.

I was a little under the weather health-wise this past weekend, but still managed to make the Small Press Expo for a little while. I was accompanied by Shannon, Hawk, Katy, and George, and good times were had by all. I got some of my books signed by two artists who I’ve been big into for years now.

The first is Corey “Rey” Lewis, whose music-inspired frenetic, design-injected fusion of american, japanese, and god knows what other styles of art has consistently blown my mind on a regular basis. His first book is called Sharknife, and he’s got another book on the way called Peng. Without going too into detail, they are hot as hell. Rey’s work is fresh, hip, and just fucking great.

The second is Bryan Lee O’Malley, who has put out a few books to date - Lost at Sea, Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The brushwork is a joy to look at, but the strongest point of these books is definitely that they are sharp, witty, and fucking smart. Scott Pilgrim especially taps a certain sense of humor that tends to get neglected in popular publications. It. Is. Fucking. Hilarious. I give Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life my highest possible recommendation. You don’t have to take my word for it, though … check out the customer reviews on Amazon, or take a look at what the critics are saying! (left side, scroll down) Scott Pilgrim makes me feel the way I did when I’d curl up on the couch for Saturday morning cartoons.

Well, this ended up being a little longer than I intended … I had better get back to work. Over and out!

After months of coloring, I’m finally done with the Penny Arcade CCG art. Now it’s up to Tycho and Gabe to do the rest. I’m not sure when the cards will be out, but once I find out I will post it here.

As for Monday comic, I’m I started to sketch it out but I’m putting it on hold for now. I have an exam tomorrow and Tuesday. You know, education comes first blah blah blah (I’m starting to get tired of college).

Hurricane Rita is heading towards Texas with full force. I really hope the people over there are able to get out safely.

Even though Ananth and I live in Maryland, the Applegeeks site might go down due to the Hurricane because the Applegeeks server is located in Texas. I’m doing a backup of the whole website right now just in case.

So if you can’t access the site over the weekend and after that, our server went down due to Hurricane Rita.

This will be short and clipped, as I’m at work,

Came across this CNN article:

Guide aims to help bloggers beat censors

Quoted: “Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure,” Julien Pain, head of the watchdog’s Internet Freedom desk, writes in the introduction.

So anyone who saw the season premiere of Lost last night will remember the scene where Shannon sees a soaking-wet Walt in the woods, mumbling incoherently as she looks on in terror. I was listening to the radio this morning, and they were talking about that scene … and then they took the audio clip from that scene and played it backwards. Suddenly Walt’s words are clear; he says, “Don’t push the button … the button is bad.” Just a point of interest for the Lost fans out there.

Also, I saw this article yesterday, and Hawk linked me to it again today. I think we all know who is accountable for this. I WON’T POINT FINGERS, BUT YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

Sorry for the lack of color and the terrible job on the sketch clean up. I’m trying to do many things at once, so I’m jumping to one project to another. Issue 215 will be colored when I get the chance.

I also like to mention I don’t do commissions. I’m starting to get more and more emails about commission work. I’m sorry but my plate is already full.

Since today’s comic lack in color, check out a comic called Fantasy Realms. The art is pretty sweet, but what really grabs my attention is how the artist lays down his panels.

Okay, I better get back to work.

Totally random Mario and Luigi Parody, badly translated …

the Saga of Mali Man and Louis