Keeping You Posted

Still working dilligently on the comic, everybody. 11 pages are pencilled, and I should be on target to start updating regularly again just after the new year.

Thanks for your patience. Hopefully I won't have breaks quite this long again.

Out From Under Me, page 46

Okay it's a little late.

This'll be the last update of the regular comic for, like, a month or so, as I play catch-up on the both the comic and some other projects I've been putting off. Until then, I promise to update with blog posts and/or sketches as much as I can.

Out From Under Me, page 45

God Dammit

Well, I kind of knew this would happen, I just wasn't sure how long I'd be able to stave it off. The second job that I've got now is basically eating up a good chunk of the time I have to work on the comic, not to mention basically draining my motivation on the days that I work (I seem to have a really hard time finding the motivation to spend the hour-and-a-half/two hours between jobs working on the comic when I know I'm only going to get a limited amount done).

So, yeah, no comic today. A new one will be ready and posted on Monday. After that... well, I'm kind of hoping I'll have page 46 posted on Friday, but I'm not promising anything. And after that... well, I'm not sure. I kind of don't want my update schedule to get erratic and off-kilter, but I don't want the comic to go on hiatus for, like, a month while I build up a backlog.

And I am so not giving up the good job.

So, what am I going to do? Not sure yet. I'm trying to keep my options open. Any feedback from anybody who's just dropping by or anybody who's been following along would be appreciated.

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Well, glad that's over with.

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Okay, this is incredibly late... but it's still Friday, so I'm calling it a victory! Suck it, self-imposed deadlines!

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George is a good parent.

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Bwow-chicka-bwow-bwow...

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Whoof, almost forgot to load this up... and now I'm gonna be late for work. This is how much I love you: I'm going to get in trouble for you people.

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Sketchblog 5: Now with 70% less shoulderpads!

Not sure why I decided to do a thing with Cable, of all characters. I don't even like the character, really. Maybe I just wanted to prove I'm a better costume designer than Rob Leifeld, which is sort of like proving you're a better swimmer than a Buick.

Also, yes, I made his head a bit big. I figure it was time to compensate for when his head was drawn as really, really tiny.

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It's a little late in the day, I'll grant, but here's the next page in the Epic Saga that is EverydayAbnormal.

Sketchblog 3: Nick Malphas

Sketchblog 2: Bring on the Bad Guys

Another upcoming villain in the comic, to appear in the second story-arc.

Out From Under Me, page 6

Lilith gets her logic on (sort of).

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Totally missed updating yesterday. Will make up for it tomorrow... so until then, have a new page of the comic!

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Sketchblog: Sharp-Dressed Man

A character design for a bad guy quite a ways down the line. Something about villains in Armani suits...

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Who is Sheriff Warring talking to???? DUN-DUN-DUNNNHH!!!

A Very Dorky Wish List

Okay, so everybody on Earth is trying to figure out who's going to be or who should be in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Ultimately, this is sort of a futile exercise... our opinions of who should be in the game are meaningless, particularly a little less than a year out from release, when it's likely too late to be adding more than a few characters and a bigger percentage of the company's time is going to be dedicated to tweaking and adjusting numbers, hit boxes, and model skins. On top of that, the bantering about who should be in or out really comes down to arguments of which characters the online gaming punditry like, with a much smaller fraction of the essayists and talking heads talking about which characters would make a better game. Really, trying to debate or rationalize who's going to be in MvC3 is less than pointless.

But, really, pointless has never stopped me before. Ever.

I mean, what am I supposed to do? Marvel vs Capcom is the only video game series that I still really follow, Dragon Age excepted. I dedicated more hours to Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and MvC2 than can possibly considered healthy by modern science. And, well, I'm a huge dork. So.

Following is a list of 10 characters that I would make sure would be in the game if I were a meddling executive in Capcom's offices. They follow no set order (because the only thing more pointless than making one of these lists is deciding that it's more important for Shin Kazama to be in than the Punisher). And this list is heavily weighted towards personal preference, so expect to say "WTF!?" at least once.

So without further ado...

10 Marvel and Capcom characters that should be included in the Marvel vs Capcom series... preferably right now


Arsenic & Old Lace (Marvel) - The Runaways are a really deep team to be pulling characters from. Indeed, you could make compelling characters out of Victor Mancha, Nico Minoru, or Molly Hayes (and the little one would be awesomesauce). But Ms. Gertrude Yorkes would uniquely add to the chaotic feel of the whole series; her genetically engineered deinonychus hanging around behind her (much like Rush does with Mega Man in the previous games) and coming out for special moves and combos would create a sense that there's yet on more combatant on the field, and that's a good thing. Also, having your pet dinosaur charge your enemy would be the best projectile ever.

Mike Haggar (Final Fight, Saturday Night Slammasters) - How has the mayor of Metro City never made it in yet? Mike was the star of the flagship arcade title of Capcom's until a little number called Street Fighter II dropped, and, frankly, he's cooler than the big Russian. He would end up having basically the same moveset as his formerly Soviet counterpart, but Big Mike himself has a better aesthetic. With his trousers, shin guards, that belt strapped across his chest, and his pornstache, he inhabits the weird space between awesome and absurd that Capcom does better than anyone else, and that exemplifies the whole series.

Emma Frost (Marvel) - She's already confirmed by project director Niitsuma to not be in MvC3, and that's a damned shame. Even if you just stuck with her telepathy, she could do some neat things that haven't really been seen in a fighting game before... I'm thinking moves where your enemy's tag-team partners come out to attack them as a mind-control type thing, or an aura that ever so slowly ate health off of your opponent's lifebar simply for being too close. Add in a "style-shift" move where she transforms into her diamond form, and you've have an incredibly interesting character who would never quite play the same way twice. Now we're not getting that chance... at least, not yet.

Harman Smith (killer7) - Speaking of switching fighting styles... The only problem with using Harman's seven manifested personalities (besides the insane logistics of it), Capcom might not even own the rights needed to get the character into the game (Capcom published killer7, but Suda51 developed it, and I have no idea what their publishing deal entailed. This might be more of a pipe dream than anything else on the list).

Black Panther (Marvel) - It's hard to believe that T'Challa (or Suri, if Marvel were so inclined) hasn't made it in yet, as there's so many ways you could make a satisfying character out of him. Something similar to Strider Hiryu would work, keeping his fighting style focused on hit-and-run tactics and evasion.

Arthur (Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts) - I mentioned above how everybody and their grandmother has been speculating who should be in Marvel vs Capcom 3, and every single one of those lists has had Arthur in. Arthur's most beloved for being in one of the all-time classic "Nintendo Hard" video games of all time, and let's face it, he'd be both entertaining as hell and would end up being a great projectile fighter. He's an iconic face of old-school gaming, and there's no reason he hasn't been in yet.

Doctor Octopus (Marvel) - Spider-Man's got the best rogues' gallery in all of superhero comics, bar none, and it's a little odd that they've gotten some truly, truly obscure cosmic horrors (re: Blackheart, Shuma-Gorath) and H-list losers (Silver Samurai, Omega Red)when the rich well of awesomeness that is Spidey's enemies remains largely untapped. Doc Ock's tentacles would give him a lot of similarities to Omega Red, obviously, but they would also allow something akin to flight (by using the arms as stilts, a favorite trick of the bespectacled one), and would be far more impressive visually. Remember some years back when Ock threw around the Hulk, battering him into walls and floors before tossing him aside? Picture that as a super move.

SonSon (SonSon, Marvel vs Capcom 2) - SonSon needs to be in. Yes, she probably needs a little bit of an overhaul to stay competitive (she was definitely a lower-tier character in MvC2), but she adds a much-needed burst of humor and energy to the series, and just as importantly, she doesn't conflict with the feel that it's clear Capcom's going for in 3. The general feel of the newest iteration, at least what we've seen so far, is one of pure, undiluted badass. SonSon doesn't contradict that any more than Deadpool does, she would look as natural standing next to Dante and Captain America as Chun-Li does, and she's pure fun to play with and annoying as hell to play against. Save her a slot, Capcom.

Doctor Strange (Marvel) - Come on, now both Shuma-Gorath and Dormammu are in the series, but the guy who most regularly stops their incursions into our world has yet to be announced. Here's hoping, because he'd be awesome.

Sigma (Mega Man X series) - The other character that's been begged and pleaded for by basically everybody is Dr. Wily, the man himself. But, here's the thing, he wouldn't actually make that great a fighter. The only real ideas that anybody has put forth for him to actually credibly involve himself in the fighting is to put him in a mech suit similar to MvC2's Tron Bonne, which he never actually used in any game, or his trademark hover-pod, which wouldn't actually be that cool in a side-to-side fighting game. Sigma, however, has an awesome visual that looks like the megalomaniacal love child of one of Mega Man Classic's Robot Masters and Baron von Underbheit from Venture Brothers, and he would make both a credible fighter with his basic moves, specials, and his hyper combos would be boss.

One last point: This list assumes that Frank West, Mega Man, and Spider-Man will be in and announced soon, and smart money says that they're already in.

Realistically, that list seems pretty short, looking at it. I might have to revisit this...

Book One: Out From Under Me, page 1

Alright, here's the very first page of the new webcomic.

Not quite sure I want to say what it's actually about yet, but when all's said and done, it'll have a little humor, a little action, a little romance, a scoop of fantasy, and a dash of hard science. You know, exactly what every good comic should have.

Tomorrow: a very geeky list