Random Pirate Comics: The Blog

The New Blog

2007-04-18T16:18:00.001-07:00

If you are a person who actually checks this blog from time to time, and was wondering if it is ever going to update again, the answer is no, it probably wont.

Now, I’m a fan of blogging, so the reason this one is dead is because I decided to start a shiny new blog and try out the wordpress software at the same time. The new blog is Space Waffles: The Webcomic: The Blog.

Yes, I’ve also started yet another webcomic, and the blog goes hand-in-hand with that, as well as the usual rants about video games, movies, etc.

So go check it out.

BLOG!

King of Pac-Town

2006-10-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve been feeling like the king of Pac-Town since I finished getting all the achievements for the 360 version of the game I’m obviously referencing. Brittany and I have been pretty addicted to our new gaming box and have been taking turns with a lot of different content provided therein.

We’ve been sharing a gamercard, since logging in and out of two accounts seems inefficient at best, and also makes getting to multiple save games a chore. On that note, the Kameo achievements are all her. I haven’t even played pased the intro level and she is already finished with the game. Not that I don’t like the game, in fact it’s a great throwback to Rare’s days of yore. There have just been other things on my plate…

Enchanted Arms has managed to hold my interest, even with other games in the house with names like Lego Star Wars II, Cloning Clyde and DOA4. It’s a feat that is not easy to achieve, as I’ve found my attention span for RPG’s, while I love the genre, usually does not last past the 15 hour mark.

PAX This Weekend!

2006-08-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that we’ll be PAX this weekend. We’re not going in any official kind of capacity by any means, since it’s not a comic related con and we don’t do a gaming comic, there would be little point. We will, however, be there to hang out, play a bunch of games, check out the awesommatical concerts (the main reason we’re going) and I’m also very interested in the strip Gabe and Tycho are doing on how they make the comic.

Should be a good time. Oh, and we’ll all have our DS’s so we’ll be ready to throw down at a moments notice (where applicable).

Hitchhiking the Galaxy

2006-08-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

In preparation to writing issue 3, I have re-read the entire Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (all 5 finished books and one short story) for the first time since high school. It was one of those series that I was always going to re-read, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it.

I was happy to find that I enjoyed them even more now than I did then, especially once you get to “Life, the Universe, and Everything”, where the storyline really starts to diverge from the radio drama, the show, the movie, etc. I also remember not liking “So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish” the first time around, but after re-reading it, I see that I was an idiot. That actually ended up being one of my favorites this time. I really liked that Arthur Dent finally had something in his life go right for a change after all that time, and it is very frustrating that things go so horribly wrong for him again in “Mostly Harmless”, but I guess the character just has that kind of life.

I’ve had “The Salmon of Doubt” in my possession since it came out, and when I first bought it I read most of the articles in the front of the book, but never got around to reading the final, unfinished Hitchhiker’s book. I decided now is the best time, since the old ones are fresh in mind. I’m interested to see what Adams had been working on. All I really know about the story is that it has Dirk Gently in it, and from what I’ve read about the story, Adams went back and forth several times as to weather or not the new book was going to be a Gently or a Hitchhiker’s book.

But I digress…

For anyone who has been reading “Here There Be Robots”, you have probably noticed that both Jeremy and I have been heavily influenced by Adams’ writing. He was really the epitome of the genre we’re working in, and we have tried to pay him tribute in our comic without lifting anything directly from his books. If you are a person who enjoys things that are well written and witty, you should definitely go pick yourself up this series. You can usually find all the books in one big volume for really cheap or at your local library. They have all kinds of crazy books there.

I'm Evil

2006-08-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it turns out I’m evil. Let me explain…

There is an old SNES (that’s Super Nintendo for the uninitiated) RPC (role playing game) called Earthbound (Mother 2 in Japan) about a young boy named Ness (yes, this is the guy that also apprears in the Smash Bros. series who most people I talked to didn’t know what I was talking about) who has to save the world from an alien invasion with the help of his friends.

The gameplay is a very simple menu based system in the same vein as the old Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest in Japan) games. The story is pretty funny and well done, and that’s what really gets you into the game.

The reason this one is a big deal is that it harkens back to the days of yesteryear before Final Fantasy 7 came out and before RPG’s were popularized in the US. Because of this, many of these games are now rare and usually sell used with just the game (no box or booklet) for upwards of $70+. In fact, $70 was the cheapest I had ever seen the game selling for (usually it was closer to $80-$110) until I found an eBay auction with only 12 hours to go with the game going for a only $40.

What is a net savvy gent such as myself to do?

I sniped the bid and got it for cheap.

Is the practice of sniping evil? Yeah, kind of.

The problem at this point is, in my experience, the only way to win bids these days is to snipe them. The ones that I try to bid the good old fashioned way on always get sniped out from under me. I would prefer if this wasn’t the way things were, and that eBay was used more in line with what the programmers originally had in mind (after the whole trading PEZ era). But unless they make it so you can’t snipe somehow, I’m afraid I’m stuck.

On the plus side, I rarely buy things off eBay.

It's A Secret To Everyone

2006-08-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

I’m working diligently on the script for issue 3. Normally I’m done with the next issue’s script way in advance of us actually finishing the current issue, but sometimes life gets in the way. Things have been a bit crazy lately, and my mind has been elsewhere. This has all compounded in me not being in the mood to write for quite some time.

Then today, inexplicably, I all the little pieces of issue 3 that Jeremy and I have discussed all fell into place. These short little scenes that we wanted to include melded together in my mind in such a way that they make a coherent story, and in a reasonable amount of pages to cover in a single issue. I’m nearly done typing the outline, which once any other ideas have been incorporated will be used to write the actual script.

And of course, to keep the secrets of issue 3 from being leaked through the tubes that make up the interweb, we have to make sure every bit is encrypted. Every one and zero is changed through the power of technology to some other, much more random number. Say a 6 or an 8. If, for some unknown reason, we need to print a page, it is done so on paper so advanced, you can not only not photocopy it, it actually will break your digital copying device in the process. Now that’s what I call progress!

The Store is Back

2006-07-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know the store is back!

We've Moved!

2006-07-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

In case you haven’t noticed, we have recently changed domain names from RandomPirateComics.com, to RandomPirateComics.net

Why would we do that? You may be asking yourself.

Well, here in interweb land there’s a little thing called “cybersquatting” wherein evil companies use bots, or malicious programs, to seek out sites with good page ranks (that is, sites that come up near the top during a search on google, yahoo, etc.) and the instant those names become available, they buy the domain.

Our previous host, doorhost, sold their company and there no longer appears to be anyone at the helm. Despite that I had already paid them to renew our domain and our hosting services, they did not do so, and we lost our domain name.

Now the good news;

There is a man by the name of John Hernandez who runs a webcomics community called the Rampage Network who had contacted us a couple months ago. He was interested in hosting Random Pirate Comics and making it a part of that community. Normally, comics have to apply for membership, but he approached us, which I thought was a pretty good sign.

Well, since things transpired the way they did with our old hosts, our minds were made up and we are now proud to be part of the Rampage Network.

This is a great opportunity for some cross-promotions with the other great comics hosted through the site, and we are looking forward to getting to know the other artists and creators on there.
We also have a new forum, which is part of the main RN forum. So, if you are already signed up because of one of the other comics, you can use your same account to post on our section. Neat, huh?

We have also purchased HereThereBeRobots.com, and Geoffio is working on making that it’s own sexy beast.

Interview on the Gigcast

2006-06-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

On Monday I did an interview with the Gigcast, a webcomics podcast, to talk all about “Here There Be Robots” and the RPC website. It was a lot of fun. The finished gigcast with the interview is now up on their website, so you can check it out:

http://gigcast.nightgig.com/

OtH

2006-06-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

I’m still doing a lot of work on the site. Or, more accurately, I should say there is still a lot of work to be done on the site and I’ve been procrastinating.

Though I did finally decide how I want the new “About” page to work, and have typed up a few things. I’ll put it into action later tonight.

I went and saw “Over the Hedge” on Sunday evening. I usually steer clear of CG movies these days unless they look really amazing, because now that the technology is readily available, there has been a string of mediocre CG movies. Plus, the style of animation in most of them looks cheap and thrown together. But I digress…

OtH was a lot better than I expected. Sure it was predictable in a lot of spots, like the overly generic “lesson” that is learned at the end, but it provides what really matters, some good laughs throughout. There were some very well executed jokes that make it worth watching. I think the best decision they made was steering clear of overused and unfunny pop-culture references which litter this type of movie normally, especially the ones from Dreamworks (I’m looking at you Shrek).

Another thing this movie did right was the voice work. Bad voice work will make me hate your movie even if the writing is the best thing ever written on the face of the planet.

Site Renovation

2006-06-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

I’m once again working on the website, since I never seem to be happy with the design every month or two.

This time I’m trying to give a little more of a professional look, and putting a few more graphics. I keep getting stuck in this black and white mode though. I did add some grayscale for a change, but I might have to go back through and add some color now. I keep looking at it and thinking how dark it looks. Oh, so dark…

I also made a big blunder and forgot to add a “store” button on the navigation bar.

I’ll keep working on it…

I’m also working on customizing the forum, so go sign up and post your suggestions!

I’ve already sketched out what I plan on changing the “new post”, “no new post”, “sticky”, etc. icons into. But I need to scan those in and try to make them look nice. I’m also still planning on customizing the smilies. There’s a thread here going about that right now, so check that out.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I’m hoping to get a lot done, but we’ll wait and see. The best laid plans of mice…

Wanted: Fanstuff

2006-06-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I are about a month away from finishing our second issue of “Here There Be Robots”, and just like the print version of issue 1, we will have 4 pages of “extras” at the end of the comic.

What we would love to do, is fill that with a mix of fanart and letters to the editor that we could answer.

We will try to cram in as much as we can, so if you want to be in print, at least in some small way, send stuff my way!

You can either pm me here or better yet email them to me at thespambot@gmail.com

Thanks a lot!

More Ups and Downs

2006-05-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, we are still having some significant downtimes with the site. Our host is aware of the problem and is working on it. Everyone on the same server as us is having the problem, so it’s not just our site. I tried to post an update on the main page before I left for work, but I couldn’t get into my site’s ftp.

Thank’s for being patient!

I haven’t had a chance to touch base with Jeremy about the new page yet. He was on vacation over the weekend, so it may be a little late. I will post either way tonight (provided the site is up).

Site Outages

2006-05-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

The site has been down since last night. I’m not sure why it’s down, and I’m none too happy about it.

I hope my hosting service fixes it soon. I’ll post when it’s back up.

Changes

2006-05-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

I decided to go with a different template for the blog. The old one was starting to get… well, old.
The sand background look was starting to get a little tiresome, and I’ll most likely update the main site to match. It’s the same color, just without the sand pattern. This should also help save some load time when people go to the site.

I’ve also ordered a Wacom tablet which should be here on Thursday. I had a cheep off brand one awhile back, and I liked it quite a bit. It wasn’t compatible with my laptop, so Jesse has had it ever since. I’ve read nothing but good reviews of the Wacom tablets, so I’m excited to try it out.

Jeremy and I did a guest comic for Theater Hopper which will be up sometime in the next couple of weeks. I’ll post once that is up.

Color Stickguy!

2006-05-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

Jeremy decided to give his new wacom tablet a try and do a special “Sunday” edition of Stickguy. I think it turned out really well.
You can click the image to view the full size, or better yet, view it on the main site.

Feulish Humans

2006-05-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

We finally have a second vehicle!

A friend of my father-in-law was getting rid of a Chevy Blazer and didn’t want to bother selling it. This was great news for Brittany and me, since we’ve been trying to get a second vehicle for awhile now. We just didn’t want to go out and get ourselves into a bunch of debt by buying something we couldn’t pay off quickly.

I’ve actually been taking the bus lately, but it saves me a lot of time before and after work if I can drive myself to the bus station rather than catching a bus to the station and making a transfer.

Our Geo is supposed to be out of the shop today as well. Oh, you may mock the Geo, but I’d like to see your car get over 30 miles to the gallon. Biotch.

Speaking of gas mileage, I watched a recent episode of Myth Busters wherein they busted all the patented enhancement devices being sold online for regular cars. In fact most made the gas mileage worse. One thing I found very interesting was that in a diesel engine, you could power it with used vegetable oil without modifying the engine and it only lost 3 miles to the gallon over diesel gasoline.

They did make an interesting point about it on the show. Currently the used vegetable oil was free and people were just trying to get rid of it, but once companies knew you wanted it, they would start charging you for it.

Slackering

2006-05-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

I realize I have been a huge slacker and haven’t been keeping the blog up to date.

Well, I have an excuse; I’ve been updating the news posts on the main site much more frequently.

I’ve been considering shutting this blog down, but at the same time I do enjoy the interface that it provides. I can also update it when I’m not on my home computer, which is something I can’t say for the RPC news box.

So if you’re looking for the latest news from us, RandomPirateComics.com is definitely the place to check. Things have been a lot busier for us lately since our readership is up 1000%. I’ll bet you think I’m just throwing that number out there, but thems are the facts.

Thanks to everyone for reading, and keep checking back! Oh, and we greatly appreciate all of you that have been spreading the word on forums and in other blogs. Word of mouth is always the best policy in the world of interweb cyber comics like ours.

Con Sketchbook

2006-04-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting to post this, but I finished scanning in all the pictures from my con sketchbook. This was the first year I have done one of these, where you go around and bug other artists to draw in your book, but it went pretty well and I plan on doing it more often at cons.
I scanned and posted them all to the new sketchbook section of my photoblog, but here’s a taste:

(Sad Bunny by Geoffio)

(Bearclaw by Derek Hunter)

(Batman by Matt Wagner)

Open for Business!

2006-04-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

I'm ecstatic to finally be able to announce that the RPC store is open for business!
We currently have all three books available to buy; “Here There Be Robots” Issue 1, “The Map Incident” (HtbR Mini Comic), and “Stupid on A Stick: A Stickguy Collection”.
The skull logo pins sold out at the cons, but we’ll be re-ordering them soon.
We will also start taking pre-orders for the skull logo shirts. They will look like the Cafépress version, except they will be high quality screen printed. We’re looking into our options for that now, and once we decide which company to go with, we will start taking pre-orders. There will also be a Pandorca shirt, which I know a lot of people are stoked about.

What a Con it was

2006-04-03T23:13:00.000-07:00

What an amazing con this past weekend! My hats off to the Emerald City ComiCon staff; you guys put on an amazing show!
They also had pretty much the coolest shirts ever:

Like usual, our little rag-tag group got there a bit earlier than needed, but it always makes it a bit easier to get the table set-up when you're not having to worry about if you're going to make it before the doors open.
Geoffio came along with us and had his cool alien/pirate poster for sale, and also did some origial artwork. Jeremy also spent a lot of time sketching. He finished page 17 of issue 2 and also at least one new Stickguy strip (possibly more). We took turns watching the table so that we would all get a chance to hang out.

(Hard at work?)

I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to blog all this, so I think I’m just going to list off some of the cool things that happened while we were there:
-We had a couple of people who came to the con specifically to see us and get copies of our book. We’re just starting out in this whole comic thingy, and to see that there are already people willing to support the book this way means a lot to us.

-I met Tim Sale, my all-time favorite Batman artist, and he did a Joker sketch in my book. After the show, without us knowing it, Brittany gave him a copy of our first issue. He said after he read it he’d email us and let us know what he thought.

-Our friend’s from Cartoonist’s Northwest were at the con. Many of them thanked us for pointing them to the company that did our buttons. I was happy to hear that they all got their own buttons done in time for the con, since they only found out about them two weeks ahead of time.

-Derek Hunter from Pirate Club came by our table. It seemed like Geoffio already knew him a bit, but he was a really nice guy and does a very awesome pirate themed comic. How can you go wrong with that?
He also drew me a sweet, sweet sketch of Bearclaw, my favorite character from his book. “I’m a bear. I eat salmon.”

-Gabe and Tycho. This was the second con in a row that we’ve been able to hang out with these guys, and I must say the seemed to be having a much more fun time at EC3 than last weekend (other than daylight savings time, that is). Tycho and I had a little Meteos rivalry going on, and I walked away with all but one victory. Tycho is definitely a worthy adversary at this game, and none of my victories were easily achieved. Also, Gabe took it upon himself to taunt Tycho during our later matches by randomly making the loosing sound from the game in Tycho’s ear.
The icing on the cake was that our battle was mentioned in Monday’s PA blog, and since we’ve had more hits than ever before (combined). I extend my gratitude for that.
Oh, and the rematch will be at PAX, unless we run into each other sooner…

(Clash of the Titans)

Emerald City ComiCon this weekend

2006-03-31T16:26:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder:We will be at Emerald City ComiCon this weekend (Saturday & Sunday), and will have copies of all three books, as well as pins, posters, and free promos.

On another note, Brittany and I will also be bringing our Nintendo DS’s, so if you are up for a game of Tetris DS, Mario Kart DS or Meteos, we will be ready and willing to take you on.

Sakuracon Day 3

2006-03-30T12:51:00.000-08:00

First off, I’d like to say that this awesome Godzilla statue was right across from us the whole con, mocking me since I knew I couldn’t afford it:

Day 3 of Sakuracon was the most fun for us.
We sold out of our skull and crossbones pins, and still had people asking for them. Brittany ended up selling her personal set to one of the other artist alley participants since they wanted them so badly.
Not to worry if you still want them though, we’ll have about 30 or so sets with us at Emerald City ComiCon.
A little later in the day, Sarah Gallagher (aka Megatokyo’s Seraphim) came by our table, so I introduced myself. She bought all three of our books, and later in the day brought Fred (Piro) back to our table to meet us. They were both a lot of fun to talk to and were very encouraging for a couple of guys who are just starting out in this whole interweb comic business. To the two of them I’d like to say thanks once again for buying the books, and don’t forget to email us and give us your feedback on them! ^__^

Since we did end up having some down time, Jeremy drew a really cool fan art for Jerry and Mike title “Shilling Arcade”, showing what would have happened had they started the comic 300 years ago.

Jerry and Mike with the fan art.

Sakuracon 2006 was a lot of fun and it made us even more excited to be doing Emerald City Comicon, which is this weekend (April 1st & 2nd).
We’ll see you there!

SakuraCon Day 2

2006-03-26T23:35:00.000-08:00

Saturday was even better than Friday at the con.
The dealer's room where Artist's Alley is located was crazy busy all day long, and we had way more people come by our table.
As always there were some cool costumes, such as these Katamari cosplayers:

We didn't get much of a chance to leave the table at first, but then Jesse, Kijan and Joey stopped by and we suckered them into giving us breaks.

We spent a lot of time wandering the dealers room after that, but didn't really end up buying anything, other than Brittany getting a plushie Kakashi from Naruto, which we recently became fans of.

To our dismay, we found that, just as Mike had warned us, the wifi on our DS's was blocked by the giant power supplies located around the room. Even when we were sitting next to each other, Brittany and I couldn't get a signal for more than a minute at a time.

Jeremy started to do some original artwork and here is a great picture of the Pandorca that he came up with:

SakuraCon Day 1

2006-03-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

We recently got back from our first day of Sakuracon.

Originally we were told that if we couldn't make the Thursday meeting for exhibitors and artist alley participants to come to the 7am meeting at the convention center. So, after a mere 4 hours of sleep, we headed to the con to make sure we were there on time.
No one had any idea what we were talking about and no meeting took place.
However, we were able to get our badges sorted out and start setting up our table by 8am.

The down side to all this of course was that we were pretty much exhausted all day. I even tried to catch a nap before the room officially opened at noon, but I was still all hyped up about the con and couldn't sit still.
The day was a bit slow, but we did get to see our buddy Liriel, which is always fun, and we did sell a couple of issues and some pin sets.

Mike Kruhulik stopped at our table which was pretty cool. He recommended picking up Tetris DS, so I stopped by Target and got a copy.
I'm always weary of new Tetris games. So far, the only versions I've truly loved, and it is love, have been the original NES and GameBoy versions.
I've played Tetris DS a little so far, and one thing I've already noticed is that while it is a fun game, it isn't the same. I'm not saying it's bad, in fact, I'm quite enjoying it. It's just that it has changed into something different, something that is still good in it's own right, but is not the same game that I have come to know and love. While I do enjoy this "new" Tetris, I know in my heart that I will always have old cartridges of my first love stashed somewhere in my house.
Wow... Is it just me or did that last paragraph get weird?

SakuraCon This Weekend

2006-03-20T16:40:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Jeremy and I did our guest speaking majig at Cartoonists Northwest on Saturday night. It seemed to go really well. We had a full house, had a lot of questions ask (which is what we were hoping for) and had a lot of fun. We also met some really cool local artists who are regular attendees. We were even sent some cool fanart:

So this weekend is Sakuracon, and we are nearly ready to go. We still haven’t been told exactly when the pre-show meeting is going to be Friday morning, so I’m stressing a little about that. We’re going to have pin packs for sale, so Brittany and I will be spending time this week getting those put together. They will contain 3 pins (1” diameter), one of each skull from the RPC logo. We’ll also have copies of issue one of “Here There Be Robots” available, as well as the HtbR mini “The Map Incident”. Jeremy will have copies of his book “Stupid on a Stick: A Stickguy Collection” for sale (which I was the editor for :P ). In case you didn’t get a copy of “Promo THIS!”, the first in-print HtbR pages, we have about 200 copies of that which we’ll be giving away free, so get one while they last!

It’s shaping up to look like a cool show. We’ll be in the artist’s alley all weekend, and be hanging out for a little while after words checking out the rest of the con after the dealers room closes each night.

We’ll have the same stuff available (as long as supplies hold out) at Emerald City ComiCon in two weeks (April 1, 2)

I’ve done a bit of work on the website (http://www.randompiratecomics.com/). I gave each comic its own main page now, so if there is a particular comic you enjoy, you can now bookmark that page and not have to go through the main index page. On the main page I’ve also changed it so the icon of each comic is now taken from the current page, so you can tell if it’s new at a glance!

By popular demand, I’ve also added a bit of color to the website. I had a few complaints about the pure black and white scheme that we’ve had in the past. Now there is a nifty sand background, which is a slightly modified version of the one on this blog. I also changed the skull logos at the top of the page a bit, giving them outlines.

I also finally got around to watching “Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”, which was amazingly well done and hysterically funny. If you like the old W&G shorts and haven’t seen this yet, you really should.

Cartoonists Northwest

2006-03-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder in case I forgot to mention it here on the blog:

Jeremy and I will be the guest speakers at the March Cartoonist’s Northwest meeting, which is this Saturday (the 18^th) at 5pm.

Full details can be found on their website à http://www.cartoonists.net

Our presentation will be us talking a little about the comic, our creative process, etc. followed by a Q&A. We will be bringing copies of Issue 1, as well as some cool freebies.

Behind

2006-03-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

I just realized at how behind I am on things. I haven’t updated the newest Stickguy yet, and his mirror site is still way behind. My plans to work on the website haven’t gone anywhere yet, and I just remembered Jeremy and I are the guest speakers at Cartoonist Northwest one week from Saturday! (That’s Saturday March 18, 2006) You can check out their site at http://www.cartoonists.net/

The good news is Geoffio seems to have worked out a forum with help from our good friend Liriel McMahon. Hopefully that will be up and running in the next couple of days.

The trip down

2006-03-08T16:18:00.000-08:00

Here is the first attempt at recapping my week off / road-trip to Disneyland:

It all started Wednesday when our hot water heater stopped working. Things always break down right before you leave for a trip, and since we were leaving Saturday morning, it was right on schedule. We had the plumber come take a look at it, but it turned out it wasn’t the heater at all, it was our breakers. Long story short, we didn’t have hot water when we left, nor when we got back. They are fixed now, thankfully.

We met up with the Bakers at about 10am and were all packed and on the road by 11, which was the plan. Mike and I took shifts on the drive down and other than a scare where we thought Finn was car sick, things were pretty uneventful. We did notice that the farther into the 22+ hour car ride we got, the shorter our shifts became.

(us before the trip)

(all our stuff/everyone getting ready)

About an hour outside of LA we stopped at a McDonald’s to use the restrooms. It was dark in there, so I took off the sunglasses that magnetically attach to my regular glasses. Then, through a bizarre happenstance, they flew out of my pocket just as I was flushing and were never to be seen again. For me, that was the only big bummer of the trip. I just bought these glasses and specifically picked a pair that had the Sunglasses that attach, and I had immediately lost them. I have to check with my optometrist’s office to see if they can order me replacements.

We got to the hotel a few hours early, but they were really cool there and let us check in anyway. We stayed at the La Quinta which was only a 5 minute drive away from Disneyland. I would recommend this hotel if you’re not planning on spending twice as much to stay at the hotel that’s right inside the park. The hotel staff was great, and the continental breakfast was surprisingly good.

Ok, I’ll have more on the trip later!

I'm back!

2006-03-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, I’m back!

We had a great time in Disneyland and I’ll be recapping it soon. For now I just wanted to post so you knew I’m still alive and well and I also wanted to say the site will resume updates later in the week. I still have to update the newest Stickguy and contact Jeremy on the status of the next page of Robots.

I did get pretty sick with the stomach flu on the way home, which is a major factor as to why I’ve waiting so long to post. Fortunately, it didn’t hit me until the ride home so it didn’t directly interfere with any of our vacationing.

I’ve already posted a few pictures on my photoblog but have a ton more to sort through still.

See you next week!

2006-02-24T10:51:00.000-08:00

We’re leaving for Disneyland tomorrow!
I wanted to post and let you know I do have page 12 of “Here There Be Robots” (which would normally go up on Monday), but I will most likely be posting it either tonight or tomorrow morning before we leave. There won’t be a Stickguy update next week because of this, and page 13 might be slightly delayed, but hopefully not.

Jeremy and I have been working on some ideas for the second story arc (which starts with Issue 4) and it’s shaping up very nicely. I think you will all like it, as it only gets crazier from here on out. I mean look at the current page (page 11). Come on, an alien and a robot in a break-dancing competition? What more could you want?

Oh, there is also a new Stickguy to go up later today as well (#56), but in case you can’t wait that long:

"Here There Be Robots: The Map Incident" On Sale Now!

2006-02-21T11:19:00.000-08:00

“Here There Be Robots: The Map Incident” is now on sale through ComiXpress!

Click here to buy the comic.

This is a 12 page mini comic starring Lackey which shows what the robots were up to while Oscar and Rob were trapped on the pirate ship in issue 1.

Our goal is that this is just the first in our series of mini comics. We may be doing about one of these per story arc. These pages are also not available on the website, so you’ll have to either catch them in the mini or in the upcoming Drunk Duck volume 3.

We will also have copies of this book available at the cons!

Train in Vain

2006-02-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

It was a fun weekend. The company I work for sent us on the Spirit of Washington dinner train on Saturday night.

We had a lot of fun, and Brittany was very excited because it gave her an excuse to dress up. They also announced our employee of the year and top sales awards, and even gave out a random gift certificate which Brittany won. It was good times.

We also finally got our new glasses which can be seen in the picture.

Mike and his family are taking Brittany and me to Disneyland for our 1 year anniversary, so I’m not sure if we’ll have any updates next week. Most likely not, so I’m warning you now. We will resume updates once we’re back.

I’m really excited about the trip (only 4 days until we leave!) especially since I’ve never been to Disneyland. The story goes thusly;

I’m the 5^th child out of 6. My parents had a plan wherein my dad would take the oldest three siblings one year, then a year or two later take the second set of three. The first part of the plan went through. My dad and my 3 older brothers went to Disneyland. While there, two of my brothers got sick with strep throat, and had to go to the hospital. It also rained the entire time they were there. It was not as fun of an adventure as my dad had originally hoped for, so my parents decided to wait longer before they came through with the “taking the younger 3 kids” part of the plan.

Time started to seriously pass.

My older sister, being the popular one of us kids, and having lots of friends with cool parents, ended up going with said friends to Disneyland on multiple occasions.

I turned 19 and moved out.

My dad took my younger brother on a trip to Disneyland with just the two of them.

So, here I am, the only one in my family (besides my mom, who never wanted to go) who hasn’t been to the big D.

Brittany, on the other hand, had relatives that lived about an hour away from Anaheim, so growing up they went nearly every year. Even before we were married she has insisted that I must go, which I happen to have no problem with.

So, hopefully I will be able to blog while there. If not, I will when I get back. Either way, be sure to check out my photoblog (http://spambot.buzznet.com/) to see the Disneyland pics.

What the?

2006-02-17T09:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, I don’t know what’ up with the blog. Ever since I posted the last update all posts are appearing way down the page.

I’m hoping posting this will fix it, but if not I’ll have to mess with it later tonight.

New "Stickguy" Strips Start Today

2006-02-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know, I know.
I didn’t get a chance to update the site last night with the new “Stickguy” strip like I said I would. But fear not, here it is:
http://www.randompiratecomics.com/images/stickguy/055.gif

Alrighty, now that’s out of the way.
I'll be updating the main site later tonight.

Site Maintinence (Soon)

2006-02-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

Some ideas for how the RPC site is structured hit me out of nowhere today, so I’m planning on working on those soon. I did some quick sketches on post-it notes so that I wouldn’t forget them.

Basically, I think I’ll be changing the file structure around a bit so that each comic has its own section of the site again. I’ll have to mess around with it and see what I come up with, but it should be good. I had some people asking for a main page that they can favorite for each comic, so that may be the way I go with it. One page would be that comic’s home page (“randompiratecomics/Stickguy” for example) which would always have the most recent strip posted to it, and then the old strips would be available via archive.

I was also thinking some kind of preview of whatever the most recently updated comic is would grace the main page, so that we have something visual (besides just text) that changes there on a regular basis.

Also I’ve had a few complaints about the black and white look. I personally think its cool, but I’ll try out a few things and see if I can find a color scheme that is more appealing.

Hopefully I’ll have some time to mess around with that tonight.

Late Update

2006-02-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

Don’t worry; the new page of “Here There Be Robots” will be up later tonight. Jeremy is in wholesale flower delivery as a driver, and with Valentine’s day tomorrow, he’s been working some crazy long hours. The new page is done and there is also a little surprise to show up later in the week;

New “Stickguy” strips!

That’s right! Jeremy has had ideas piling up for new Stickguy strips for several months, and has finally forced himself to start drawing them. His plan is to do one a week in addition to the new pages of HtbR. This is great news for us, since we will have more new content to update to the site on a regular basis.

We’re also hoping that Geoffio can start up Hammer again soon, but I know he’s been pretty busy lately, so we’ll just have to keep being patient for now.

Clutch Cargo and Supercar

2006-02-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

Brittany and I got home late Wednesday night, having to go do laundry and then stopping by the mall where we ended up talking to Chris at The Comic Stop until well after closing. On the way home the nefarious low battery sign started to come on. This isn’t the first time this has happened and, sadly, it probably won’t be the last.

For some reason the alternator belt was worn down to almost nothing. It looked like gremlins had been chewing on the thing. So, fearing being stranded on my hour long commute to and/or from work, I decided to call in and let them know that I had to fix my car Thursday morning. Fortunately for me, my friends are cool, so Joey and Kijan came to the rescue and drove me around to pick up the part from Shucks. We got back and Joey went to work replacing the belt. Problem was, it was the wrong belt. So, we took it back, only to find they didn’t have of my belt in stock, in the whole state of Washington.

Thankfully, NAPA had the part, though it was listed under a different part number, and the car is once again running and I was able to get to work Thursday after all (although very late)

Next we have to get the brakes and alignment fixed on the thing. This is why I hate cars.

Minibosses rock

2006-01-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

Jesse gave me a copy of the Minibosses’ new Brass LP, their first studio album, and I would recommend this one. If you’ve ever played one of those electronic video styled games, or if you like rockin’ guitar instrumentals, you will be happy with this CD. I can’t wait to see these guys live at PAX. I missed the show last year :’(

This weekend was pretty cool. Jeremy and I got together to do some scripting for issue 2 of “Here There Be Robots”. The process we’re using has evolved a bit over the last couple of weeks, and so far it’s working better than ever.

I come up with an outline for the issue that we’re both happy with, and then write a fairly loose script with dialogue that I then send to Jeremy. He reads through it and always comes up with some great ideas of things to add in and move around within that. Then we get together after he’s had a chance to do some sketch work and go through the pages to make a solid version of the page by page version of the script. I doubt it’s how the pros do it, but it’s working well for us. Issue 2 is shaping up to be even better than I had originally imagined. Good times.

After that the whole gang was in one of those can’t think of anything to do moods, so we played some Naruto 3 fighting game that Jesse and Kijan imported awhile back, which kicks butt once you get used to it (I personally hated it at first, but they kept forcing me to play, and now I like it). I’ve still never seen the show more than a few clips here and there, but I hear it’s all the rage. I’ll try to see some of it before Sakuracon so I’ll know what all the fuss is about.

Brittany and I are also starting to gear up for our Disneyland trip next month. There are still a few things we have to buy, like some warmer weather clothes. I’m told to be prepared for both heat and pouring rain, since it can go either way. Also, both of us are getting new glasses finally! We’re both going in Thursday for our eye exams. We should have our new glasses by the end of next week. I’m pretty stoked about this since I’m about a year and a half overdue for a new prescription and it’s really starting to show. I’m getting eye strain from my current glasses all the time lately and the constant headaches are a bit of a drag.

Penny-Arcade book signing @ The Comic Stop

2006-01-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

I went to the Penny-Arcade book signing last night at The Comic Stop, and got my copy of “Attack of the Bacon Robots” signed. I also picked up a copy of the PAX DVD. As of yet, I haven’t been able to make it to PAX, but this year I’m planning on it, especially after watching the Minibosses concert that’s on the disc.
The signing impressed me in how laid back it was. I came in about half way through and Jerry (Tycho) was playing Mario Kart DS with a group of their fans. I gave them both copies of “Here There Be Robots” issue 1, and they both started flipping through it. The thing that cracked me up was Mike (Gabe) seemed most impressed with that we actually finished a full length comic and told me it was longer than anything he’d ever worked on.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to stick around for very long, since I hadn’t had a chance to eat dinner yet, and was having a major blood sugar low. I was shaking like crazy and had to go find some food. I also forgot to bring my DS, and was kicking myself for that one.

All-in-all it was a good day though. Brittany’s sushi set came, I got my stuff signed, and Geoffio finished creating Atario Bros. (A modded version of Super Mario Bros.)

"Stupid on a Stick" Now Available!

2006-01-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

We are very happy to announce that our first book "Stupid on a Stick: A Stickguy Collection" is now available to buy online through ComiXpress!
This is a 44 page black and white comic, featuring all the original “Stickguy” comic strips originally created in 1992. It also features a brand new introduction by Stickguy himself, as well as other bonus material. You can order it right now from ComiXpress.

We will also have copies available at both Sakuracon and Emerald City ComiCon (in very limited supply).
So, get your copy, read through, and post your review on the ComiXpress website!

Cover Art:

Employed!

2006-01-24T10:06:00.000-08:00

Brittany got a job!

She’s been searching for a couple months now, but the offers she kept getting were for shifts that didn’t work out. This time though, she’s found a regular 8-5 shift as a driver at Bills Blueprints, where both Mike and Jesse work. We are both really excited. J

Return of the Newsbox

2006-01-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

I brought back the newsbox to the main site (http://www.RandomPirateComics.com).

Its absence over the last several months has made the index page of the site seem stagnant, and I figured it was about time I did something about it. I still plan on posting to this blog, though.

I got my copy of “Attack of the Bacon Robots”, which is a collection of the first 2 years of Penny-Arcade comics. The comics are circa 1998-1999, and there are a lot of references that I don’t get to games I’ve never played. However, there is commentary by series writer Jerry Holkins for every strip in there, which is some very interesting and funny stuff. This is a must have for PA fans. As the book itself brings out though, if you’re just jumping into things and have never followed PA or gaming, it might not make a lot of sense.

Geoffio's hiatus to end?

2006-01-17T10:07:00.000-08:00

That’s right folks!

Geoffio has just moved out and is now roommates with fellow Giollanté and the Micronians band member Jesse (aka Main Finger), which means he now lives on the same block as the rest of the RPC crew. This is great news for all of us, since this will make it much easier to get projects coordinated and finished.

Best of all, he will finally have a good internet connection hooked up by the end of the month, and plans on resuming the hit title “Captain Hammer: Undercover Pirate” soon after. Whether or not he actually does remains to be seen, but I for one hope he does, since it’s one of the funniest comics I’ve read in a long while. We also have many more “True Facts about Pirates” written that still need to be drawn up. February just might be when we see both series start up again.

Let’s hope.

Sick (again)

2006-01-13T15:10:00.000-08:00

Being sick at work is no fun.

I’m one of those people who hates to take sick days. Scheduled time off is, of course, the best thing ever, which is what I’d much rather use those days for.

Yesterday, I couldn’t help but stay home. I had a fever, soar throat, achy muscles, etc. and leaving the house just seemed like a bad idea. Today I’m feeling slightly better; fever is gone, throat is a bit less soar. But on the other hand; can’t stop coughing, and my lower back is killing me from sitting at my desk all day.

So, with the three day weekend slowly approaching (only about 2 more hours to go!) I’m planning on sleeping a lot.

I also just found my notes for issue 3 of Here There Be Robots, and it’s about time to start outlining anyway. If I’m feeling up to it I may start on that as well.

"Stupid on a Stick: A Stickguy Collection"

2006-01-13T09:32:00.000-08:00

Our copies of “Stupid on a Stick: A Stickguy Collection” arrived yesterday! We have about 60 copies and they will be available at Sakuracon and Emerald City ComiCon. We had them printed through ComiXpress, so there is a very good possibility they will be available online through them before the cons. I will post a link once that happens.

The book is a 44 page black and white comic that contains all the “Stickguy” comics made in 1992, as well as a brand new introduction and lawnmower safety tips. There is a forward by our good friend Kijan Bernard and a backword by our very own Dr. Geoffio, M.D., a fraudulently licensed physician.

Brittany and I have both been sick the last couple of days, and although I went to work today, I’m still not quite feeling up to par. I spent most of yesterday playing Dragon Quest 8, which I’m now ridiculously farther behind on that either Brittany or Mike. I have a bad habit with video games, especially RPG’s, that even the ones I like a lot I rarely finish. Out of all the ones I’ve played, the only ones that I can think of off the top of my head that I’ve seen through were Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. I got to the main boss on Mario RPG, but that was back when it first came out and I was only renting it. I got to try beating Smithy once, then had to return it to the video store.

So, very slowly but surely, I’m trying to stick with DQ8 and actually finish it. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how that goes.

I should have known

2006-01-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago I picked up a used copy of Meteos for the Nintendo DS. It’s a puzzle game in which different colored blocks are constantly falling, trying to destroy your planet. You can launch them back into space by lining up 3 of the same color either horizontally or vertically. It’s in the same vein as Tetris, but plays very differently. The game makes good use of the touch screen interface, since the blocks are controlled by dragging them up and down the rows. There’s no way you could react fast enough if you were using the d-pad for this game.

After playing off and on the last couple of days, I’m experiencing a strange phenomenon that I rarely ever have. Not since classic puzzle games like Tetris and Dr. Mario have I found myself seeing the game in front of my eyes when I’m not actually playing. It gets in your head and you just can’t stop thinking about it. Your brain spends hours working out different scenarios while you are busy doing other things. It gets worse at night.

Oh, how it gets worse. I actually was having a hard time sleeping because my brain was going a mile a minute playing the game without me. Is this a sign of a puzzle game junkie? Will I forever need to get a fix or face withdrawal symptoms?

Only time will tell. But I can say that I highly recommend Meteos for any and all DS owners.

Next on my list is Puzzle Bobble DS, known in the states as Bust-A-Move. I’ve been a fan of this series for awhile, and I hope the DS version lived up to the franchise.

Can't Keep a Good Duck Down

2006-01-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned earlier, Drunk Duck recently underwent a major crash wherein their entire site was lost. Many thought that would forever be the end of the duck, much to their dismay.

If you’ve been hanging out on their forums at all (which are fully functional) you would know that several people, including myself, have been helping out by beta testing the new version of Drunk Duck. So far things seem to be working smoothly. It is still up in the air how it will function, since the original site was such a huge undertaking, but the main site (http://www.drunkduck.com) will be keeping us posted on their progress and the future of their website.

I for one, hope things work out well for the site. I’ve always thought it was a good place to be an indie comic creator.

Howdy Neighbor

2006-01-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

So it looks like sooner rather than later Geoffio will be my neighbor. This is some pretty exciting news on a lot of levels for me. For one, I’ll get to see one of my best friends and favorite people on a regular basis. For another, our band(s) will be able to practice more than once a month, and as his editor, I will be close enough to pester him into starting up Captain Hammer again. :D

He assures me that he does want to continue creating Captain Hammer, but that he’s been really busy lately, which is understandable. Graduating college, moving, starting a new job, etc. can be quite time consuming. I guess I’ll let it slide since I’m such a nice guy.

Things are getting down to the wire for Convention prep work. Even though both conventions are still 3 months away, now is when I need to get any and all products ordered that we want to sell once we’re there. One nice thing is that Mike helps us out last minute making copies of the promo and flyers, which is a huge help. We’re very much looking forward to the cons this year, since we will be debuting issue 1 of “Here There Be Robots”. If the crazy happens and we actually sell out of the comic at the con, no worries, since we have plans to sell them online in the semi-near future.

I just got Meteos for the Nintendo DS, which is an addictive little puzzle game by the same people that did Lumins for the PSP. I haven’t had much time to play it yet, but I’m a big puzzle junkie. Or maybe that’s “big puzzle geek”…

Let’s just say I’m in what is known as a “Tetris Fight Club” and leave it at that.

I’m not even saying I’m that great at them. I just find them highly addictive and entertaining.

I’m also still slowly working on Dragon Quest VIII. Fun, very old school styled RPG, which also means it’s a bit slow moving and takes a long time to play through. I’m not the only one who’s into that at this point though. Brittany, Jesse, and Mike are all playing as well, and even though we all started at different times, we’re all around the same point in the game as of this post, which I find interesting.

Anyway… 2006, huh?

Some Movie Reviews

2005-12-28T14:34:00.000-08:00

I have updated the site with the Cover art for our mini comic.

With all the crazy days off I’ve been able to go see several movies, so here’s what I thought of them:

King Kong

Peter Jackson once again does some great character development and over the top action sequences. However, the movie is 3 hours long when it could have easily been two. There were a few scenes that didn’t need to be there at all, many important scenes that ran way too long, and character development that was unnecessary and had no payoff.

Over all, I liked it, but I’d like to see a special addition on the DVD that, instead of extending the movie further, cuts it down appropriately. (Yeah, that’ll happen)

Fun With Dick and Jane

Jim Carrey once again mugs for the camera for a feature length picture. Ok, it had its moments, especially since the type of big business scandal that happens in the movie has happened several times in recent years, but the one thing I didn’t like about the movie was the lesson was only half learned by the end. It showed that the characters were happier now that they were spending more time as a family, but it glazed over the “money doesn’t buy happiness” theme that it seemed to have been shooting for.

Memoirs of a Geisha

An interesting look at Japanese culture in the pre-WWII era (and a little bit after). This is a very character driven story, and moves a bit slow in some areas. Overall it held my interest, though the ending was a little predictable. I haven’t read the book, but after seeing this I’m planning on it.

Mini Comic Coming Soon

2005-12-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

I have another thank you to send out, this time to The Comic Stop in the Everett mall. They have put copies of Issue 1 on their shelves. You guys rock!

Our mini comic, “The Map Incident”, is coming along nicely. The pages are done, and now the cover art is as well. I will be posting that on the main site later tonight. It’s a fun little story starring Lackey. I think you’ll like it.

Geoffio has some big changed for the website in the works. We aren’t sure when those will take effect, but the plan is to integrate everything into the site. This way the forum and the newsbox will both be part of the main site (and easy to maintain). We’re also hoping to have a way for people to leave feedback on the comic the way Drunk Duck used to let you (minus giving a “score”, which I always found a bit silly). This should also make updating the site really easy for us, which I’m looking forward to.

In unrelated to RPC news, Giollanté and the Micronians (http://www.Geoffio.com) are now able to practice on a regular basis, and things are progressing along nicely. We have a couple of “live” video’s that we may be putting on the band site soon. They aren’t perfect versions of the songs, but they were fun to do. We’re getting psyched about writing some new songs too, which the when and ifs will be posted as they happen.

Catching Up

2005-12-18T21:51:00.000-08:00

I'm just getting over being sick, so there's a lot of stuff I'm behind on, like updating this news post/blog thing.

First off all:

I'd like to say a big thank you to Everett Comics & Cards for putting "Here There Be Robots" Issue 1 on the shevles.

We got in 150 copies of issue 1 just over a week ago, and we are already going to need to reorder so that we will be sure to have copies for Sakuracon and Emerald City Comicon. Once the cons are over and we take stock of how things are progressing, we will be setting up an online store so people can buy copies of the comic online.

In regards to this weeks update, you probably noticed it's page 4 and 5, since it's one of those nifty two page spreads. Jeremy is also interested in turning it into a poster, which will most likely be digitally colored by our good friend and fellow RPC'r Geoffio (though we haven't quite asked him yet).
You may have also heard that our friends at Drunk Druck have had bad times with their site, in that it died on them. Things are still trying to be situated for a book release, and we have let them know that they can still use our submission if they wish; However, we are planning on publishing those pages ourselves as a mini as well.
Because of these events, we're most likely going to take the copout of that technically this weeks update is 2 pages, since Jeremy is going to work on the cover art for the mini this week.

Good news about "Stupid on A Stick", the Stickguy collection that we were planning on printing a long time ago. Well ComiXpress is finally getting through there giant backlog of orders, so we'll actually have copies of that book in time for the cons as well. Good times.

Issue 2 Begins + Some Junk about the Nintendo DS

2005-11-29T11:27:00.000-08:00

Issue 2 has officially started and we couldn’t be happier to be off “hiatus” status. We had a few readers that thought we had abandoned the project, so let me just assure everyone that it is likely there will always be a few weeks of downtime between Issues while we get the print versions in order, but that both Jeremy and myself plan to see this project all the way through!

People often ask us if we’re going to try to publish through another comic company and the answer is… maybe.

There are some definite advantages to self-publishing at the moment. Foremost being, that we can do the comic at our own pace. Since we are both married men and are working regular day jobs as well, it’s hard to get more than a page a week done. Most places want Issues to come out at least every other month, and we’re not really sure if we can do that pace at this time. We would definitely not have a problem working something out with a publisher though. I mean, who’s going to say no to the distribution provided by going with a bigger company?

Not I.

Brittany and I have been playing a lot of Mario Kart DS with my brother Jesse. As I’ve stated before, I think it’s the best in the series thus far, which is saying something. I’m about ¾ of the way done with the game and am hoping to finish before the next game on my list comes out, which is next week and is Animal Crossing DS.

I played the Gamecube Animal Crossing for a little while, and while I did get into it, I didn’t really have the time then that was required to make the game as fun as it really is. This new version will be much easier for me to get into, since I have 2 hours each day to kill while carpooling to work and back. Brittany has never played the old version, but I’ve assured her that this game will be right up her alley.

Other games I’m looking forward to:

Seiken Densetsu DS: Children of Mana – The remake of Secret of Mana. It’s still a long way off (predicted to come out winter 2006). It’s one of my favorite SNES era games, and I really hope that they follow through with this one and that we see a US release. I think Square/Enix has a habit of shooting themselves in the foot on these kind of projects by underestimating their American fanbase. There are plenty of people out there that will buy a DS just to play this if they do it right.

Bubble Bobble DS – I’ve been playing the original on Mike’s copy of the Taito collection for PS2, and it’s just as fun as I remember it. If they can keep that same level of fast paced addictive gameplay, then I’m sold on the idea.

Metriod Prime Hunters – I think that speaks for itself.

Now Nintendo just needs some king of MMORPG using the wifi and I think they would be set.

Mario Kart DS

2005-11-21T10:08:00.000-08:00

I had been looking forward to Mario Kart DS for awhile. Actually, the timing was great, since this game coming out motivated me to get a DS in the first place. Well, that and the knowledge that they are re-making Secret of Mana for it…but I digress.

Right off the bat I can tell you that if you are a fan of the old Mario Kart games, you will love it, and if you weren’t, well, it’s more of the same. New tracts, a good variety of classic tracts, and the ability to choose which car your character is in have made this my favorite Mario Kart yet. The controls are solid, and power slides work better than ever. They’ve worked out some of the balance Issues with the items, which makes a few new strategies. Where in previous versions dragging a banana or shell behind you would pretty much block any projectiles, now you have to drop them right before you get hit or they won’t help you at all. My one qualm with the items is the same as it’s been with all of them. It’s not truly random when you get an item box. If you are in first you can only hope for bananas, fake boxes and occasionally a green shell.

The game also introduces Nintendo’s audience to online play through the marvels of Wifi. You have your nickname and you can draw your own decal, but beyond that there isn’t really interaction between you and those you race. You connect to the network, which Nintendo has made incredibly easy to do, and search for people to race against. When you’re searching for people outside your friend’s list, it just randomly matches you up with up to 3 other people who also happen to be searching for a game at the time. There are no “rooms” like in most online games where you can meet your buddies and you can’t talk or type to people.
The plus side to this, of course, is that obnoxious morons can’t type or talk to you, so other than if someone has used their decal to draw a very small obscene picture, online play is thankfully idiot free. Well, I’m sure they are there, they just can’t do the old “U suXX0r n00b!!!!!!!!!!11!!1 1m t3h gr4t3st pl4y4r 3v4r!!!!1!!”

I think I’m beginning to like Nintendo’s family friendly approach.

Updates Start Monday! (11/21)

2005-11-18T10:28:00.000-08:00

We will begin updating Issue 2 of “Here There Be Robots” starting Monday the 21^st.

The first update will be a quick recap of Issue 1, then the following week we will go straight into comic bliss once again.

I contacted Blue Line Pro (http://www.bluelinepro.com/) about the prints for Issue 1, and they told me they would be finished and shipped by the end of this week (meaning by today), so we should have them in hand as soon as next week.

Once we have them in hand, we will be enlisting the help of our good friends/hackers/IT guys to help us setup an online store.

Speaking of online store, I did setup a Cafepress shop just for the heck of it. I figured since we wont have the capital to get T-Shirts printed ourselves, this gives us a way to get them to wear to cons etc. to advertise the comic. If you are interested head over to http://www.cafepress.com/RPClogo2 (shirts, coffee cups, etc.).

Our personal online store will start by having copies of Issue 1 of $4 and our button back (one of each of the 3 skulls from our logo), price still yet to be determined.

We also opened up a forum (http://users.boardnation.com/~spambot) which is actually my old forum, but I started it over. Geoffio will be helping me customize it, and once he learns PHP will be starting our own, hosted on the main site (http://www.RandomPirateComics.com)

So, go sign up and start posting!

Geoffio also tells me that he will start updating Hammer again very soon. He’s just trying to finish up his college courses by mid-December so he can move over here.

That’s all from me for now. Have a great weekend everybody J

Site Update/New Forum

2005-11-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

I did a little bit of tweaking to the site. I’m trying to get all the pages uniform, since only the main page had the updated look. At this point I’ve converted all the old pages to the new format except the pages containing actual comics. I think I may just leave them in the old format, since it’s simpler and won’t distract from the pages. I think it looks a lot better.

If you have any thoughts on the site/comic/etc. feel free to shoot me an email (thespambot@gmail.com)

Speaking of google (sorta) I must say I like they’re new personalized front page options. Cool stuff.

I also wanted to let you know we now have a forum for the comic! It can be found at http://users.boardnation.com/~spambot . It’s actually the old forum from my first webcomic, but I’ve erased all the old data and started it fresh. You may notice the old dark blue color scheme. I haven’t gotten far enough along to fix that yet, but you can already sign up and start posting.

I have a few new wallpapers that I still need to add to the site. They are some very cool variations on the skulls from the logo that Jeremy put together.

Book Update!

I was called on Tuesday and the printers have received the files for the book. I should have my preview copy in the next week or so, and the actual books in hand by the end of December! ^__^

I’m getting pretty stoked.

One last bit of news on the funny side.

My band, Giollante and the Micronians (http://www.geoffio.com) just got our first piece of hate mail sent to our myspace site (http://www.myspace.com/giollante) If you want to read it head over to my photoblog (http://spambot.buzznet.com) and check it out in the journal section. I think you will find it quite amusing.

Peace out everyone and have a great weekend! J

Updates?

2005-10-31T16:51:00.000-08:00

I know it seems like there has been a major lack of updates lately, but I want to assure you that it is only because we have so much going on behind the scenes right now.

We just finished our submission for the Drunk Duck book 3, we’re still putting the finishing touches on Issue 1, I’m working on getting some other merchandise printed up (It’s a secret to everyone), and we’re getting everything ready now for the two big cons that are back to back weekends in the first part of next year.

So no worries, we will be starting to update pages from Issue 2 soon. We don’t have an exact date yet, but in the meantime we will try to put alternate stuff up on the site.

Thanks for being patient!

Issue 1 coming in December!

2005-10-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

With the help of our good friend Mike (http://speakingofsegues.com) we were able to make high res scans of the pages for both issue 1 of “Here There Be Robots” and the 12 page mini-comic “The Map Incident” featuring Adam, Steve and Lackey for the upcoming Drunk Duck Book 3 (http://www.drunkduck.com)

The plan is to mail issue 1 for publishing on Saturday (I still have a little re-sizing to do), which means if everything goes to plan, we will have the books in hand by mid-December!

The books will be 32 pages, black and white, with a color cover. The first 28 pages are the comic which you can read on the main site (but buy the book anyway!) and the last few pages will feature some bonus material. This includes a behind the scenes article column by both Jeremy (the artist) and Jonah (the writer, that’s me). There will be pinup guest art featuring the characters, the first of 3 robot family trees.

I haven’t yet heard an official release date for the Drunk Duck book as of yet. The due date for all the artwork is Monday (10/31) and I know personally we’re 90% ready to go. All the art is done and scanned in. Now it’s just up to me to resize them and send the editor’s the files. I’m planning on having that done by Saturday as well.

It’s confirmed that we will be in at the Emerald City ComiCon (http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com) Artist’s Alley. We were there last year and had a blast. http://www.randompiratecomics.com/webpages/comicon.htm

This year we will also be at Sakuracon (http://sakuracon.org) which I have attended several times, and has always been fun to go to. I’m just happy they finally moved it to a bigger building. This year, I’m hoping that it doesn’t feel like your stuck some sort of nerd filled underground cave. We do have a few things to get settled before we’re 100% confirmed, like getting our temporary business license, etc. but it shouldn’t be anything that keeps us from being there, comics in hand.

VS

2005-10-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

Upper Deck knew exactly what they were doing when they put a free foil card from their Superhero “Vs” card game in different comic books.

I opened my new issue of, I think it was Ultimates 2 #8, and there was a foil card of Hawkeye staring back at me.

Now let me say, I’m a sucker for games that force you to collect pieces by opening sealed boosters. There is a certain thrill you get at that moment when you open them, hoping for that super-rare character that otherwise you would have to spend a small fortune on eBay to get. There’s no denying it; it’s addictive. My own personal crack. You don’t have to look far in my photoblog (http://spambot.buzznet.com) to see that there is a section for gaming. I have enough Heroclix and Star Wars Miniatures to choke a camel, though I don’t think that would be very nice to either the camel or my collection.

So needless to say, Mike (http://itninja.buzznet.com) and I have played several rounds of Vs are now thoroughly addicted. It’s fairly easy to learn and is fast paced. It is much better than any of the other CCG’s (customizable card games) I’ve played in the past. Star Trek: TNG was the first, and was a total snooze-fest. Star Wars was better, but still seemed to barely crawl for a good portion of each game. So if you’re looking for something fun to blow your extra spending cash on, I’d recommend the Vs system.

I’m even considering making some custom “Here There Be Robots” cards…

To be a lazy bum....

2005-10-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

Geoffio reporting:

After my long summer of work I am now ready to get to work on things that really matter... Making Jonah happy. :p Yeah so page ten of hammer is up now. And yes my art has gotten worse, BUT I think it will be okay because I will now be working on more pages, So if quality goes down its because quantity is going up. :P What between Hammer, True Facts, and the mysterious "Super" comic, I may never have time to draw well again. But that's okay cause its a joy to have lots to do. I just wish I had the drive to get it all done with speed and percision. Which is one of the many reasons why Here There Be Robots really should get more credit than it gets. Anyways. I am going to be updating again. Probably every Friday and tehn Truefacts on alternate thursdays or something.... Anyways. Keep an EYE out for all the great new things from RPC. Our Fall line really is quite exciting. hehe.

Geoffio Out

Printing/Site Update

2005-10-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

We’re currently looking into printing alternatives, since our first choice is, as far as we can tell, still working through a huge backlog of orders (including our order for “Stupid on a Stick”, the Stickguy comic strip collection). As it stands, it looks like we should be able to get them done cheap enough that we can keep the price of “Here There Be Robot” #1 to about $4. At 28-32 pages (depending on the printer’s page requirements), that’s not a bad price.

If anyone has any suggestions for places to get the comics printed, please email me at thespambot@gmail.com

I’m still scripting Issue 2 and am on track of reaching my goal, which is to finish the first draft by the end of the week (Sunday). Jeremy is finishing up the last 3 pages of “The Map Incident”, which is our 12 page mini-comic to be published in the Drunk Duck collection #3. I can say this of the first 9 pages: Hi-freakin-larious. The art is really top notch on this one, and best of all it stars Lackey-bot!

I’m not sure of the exact release date of the book yet, but last I heard they were trying to get it out by late November. I will let you know as soon as I get a concrete date. Don’t forget we’re just one of many great comics that will be in the book!

The current site design has recently started to annoy me, and now I’m really pumped to get the new one done. We’re just waiting on getting our new logo finalized. It probably won’t look all that different, but if things go according to plan it’ll be easier for me to update.

If you haven’t seen Serenity yet, I would recommend doing so. Ok, so yes, being a fan of Firefly helps, but even if you weren’t, it’s still a good sci-fi flick. As for me, being a fan of the show, I was glad they wrapped up some of the loose ends the show was unable to get to. It was worth the wait. Now I just need to find myself a copy of the Firefly DVD’s, since they seem to have mysteriously vanished from store shelves…

A Bunch of Quick Movie Reviews

2005-09-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve been meaning to write up some reviews on some of the movies I’ve seen over the past couple of months, and (haven’t had the time / keep forgetting / have been too lazy) to do them (pick one).

So, without further ado:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

This isn’t a re-make like some people have thought. This goes back to the source material and stays much more true to it than the so-called classic “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, which by the way is genuinely creepy as hell in some parts.

This new movie is quirky and surprisingly funny. It is, of course, the story of a boy who finds a Golden Ticket in a candy bar and goes on a tour of a chocolate factory (they make more than chocolate, but marketing said “candy factory” did worse with test groups). Charlie, the hero, is the only kid in the group of winners that isn’t a total spoiled brat, so ends up winning. It’s a fun story and unlike most modern movies, doesn’t reward kids for being smart-ass stuck up brats all the time.

Oompa Loompas still give me nightmares, though.

A Sound of Thunder

Sort-of based on the classic Ray Bradbury short story of the same name. I’m one of the ten’s of people who have not only heard of this movie’s existence, but actually saw it… voluntarily.

Have I lost my mind? Maybe. But sometimes you know a movie is going to be so incredibly bad, you can’t help but see just how incredibly horrible it really is.

The basic story is about a company that uses time-travel for profit. Greed = the destruction of the world as we know it because some idiot steps on a butterfly back in 60-kajillion BC. While waves of the present being changed hit the world, the heroes run around for some reason, trying to figure out what happened and how to fix it. Everyone seems well aware that changes are happening, and humans are the only thing that seems to not be affected by the change (at least not until the very end). Most of the movie is spent running from huge baboon-lizards, who’s numbers suggest that there must be millions upon millions of some other creature that we never see which are their food source.

I would only recommend seeing this movie to people who enjoy really campy sci-fi movies, since the only redeeming feature of the movie is its ability to have fun poked at it.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

See it. If you are the kind of person who enjoys things that are cool, then you need to see this.

We’re talking mind blowing visuals. We’re talking fight scenes that make The Matrix look laughable, and I’m not just talking the sequels, which manage to do that on their own.

There is a plot in there as well, but like most action movies, that isn’t really why anyone is watching. You don’t need to have played FF VII to follow it, though it helps. You’ll see familiar characters and locations that will make any fanboy weak in the knees.

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride

Visually very cool, but the plot is very predictable.

Oh, and it’s a musical. Didn’t know that going in.

Last Page of Issue 1

2005-09-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to believe, but we’ve made it to the end of Issue 1! (Click here for page28)
Actually, we do have one more page, but it’s just a teaser.
So here’s the plan of attack for the upcoming weeks;
I’m going to be working on the print version of Issue 1, which will hopefully be out by the end of the year. I’ve also been scripting for Issue 2, and my goal is to have that done by the end of next week. Yes, there will be a gap in new pages between now and the beginning of Issue 2, but we will try to update the site with new content at least once a week.
Jeremy is now working on finishing up the last few pages of our short comic which will appear in the upcoming Drunk Duck book 3. They need them by the middle of October, which really only gives him about 2 ½ weeks to finish up.

We’re also hoping that Geoffio will be starting up Captain Hammer: Undercover Pirate again soon, since he’ll be starting school again and no longer working 12 to 14 to 27 hour days plumbing. It should also give him some time to heal from his many, many wounds from working that job as well. Hopefully, he’ll get off his ass and post an update on here for us.

Talk Like A Pirate Day

2005-09-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

I though it be good ter mention, it be national “Talk Like A Pirate Day”!

Yar!

Ye scurvy dogs kin learn all about er on yon website à www.talklikeapirate.com

Here There Be Robots Page 27

2005-09-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

Page 27 is now up.

Only one page to go for Issue 1.
We'll be printing through Comixpress, which we're also doing the Stickguy book through. They do some really good work, but they got so popular in the indie comic community so fast that they are a bit backed up at the moment.
We're hoping to have the issue out by December at the latest, but we'll have to wait and see how things go.

In other news, Geoffio is going to be back in school soon, so he should be starting up Captain Hammer again in the next couple of weeks.
Geoffio & Jesse might also be starting up Jesse's old iSuperComic! again as well.

3 Grizwood Strips for Friday

2005-09-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, we didn't want there to not be an update all week, so I present to you Grizwood #16, 17, & 18.
Huzzah!
If you don't already know, Grizwood is a comic strip Jeremy did in the late 80's/early 90's for the local Tribune newspapers. Currently, we're using it as filler as we try to finish up the first issue, our submission for the Drunk Duck book 3, re-design the site, etc.

RandomPirateComics.com: The Blog

2005-09-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hello out there in interweb land.
Since our website is going to be redesigned soon (once we get the new logo done) and we still aren't sure how we want to archive our news, I figured this would be a good way to keep things moving and up to date.
So first things first, if you haven't seen the website, go now to http://www.randompiratecomics.com and read up (especially our main comic "Here There Be Robots"). We're about 2 pages away from finishing our first Issue!

Second order of business; this weeks update (or lack thereof)
We were definitely trying to get this done on time, but our sister got married on Saturday, so we were a bit busy. We should be back on schedule for next week.