[14/10/04]

I'm not sure which version of "Heartbeats" I like better -- the original by The Knife, or José Gonzáles' cover version. I like them equally as much, I think. Ya gotta love those Swedes and their music (and hockey players), though.

[13/10/04]

Soooo... I gots me a livejournal. I expect the novelty to wear out in about five minutes or so.

Also, it was Neil's birthday yesterday, and so I drew him this:

[12/10/04]

It's been all over the news lately, but I think Scott Kurtz says it best with his own tribute to Christopher Reeve.

Dang. That Journal Comic Jam thing just keeps growing and growing.

Also, music (for robots) has introduced me to the wonders of Jose Gonzales. Maybe you'd like to give him a listen too.

[11/10/04]

Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada. So a Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, Canadian and non-Canadians alike!

Neil's got a nice little report from SPX. He also promises to be updating more often with his Imitation of Life strips, which is awesome. And Dean has scanned and posted a jam comic that a bunch of us drew during our time at SPX. It's also awesome, but in a different way. I think it has something to do with all the gratuitous nudity.

Also, I am back on the prowl for a job. Know anyone looking to hire a computer engineer and/or illustrator/comic artist? By all means, let me know.

[09/10/04]

The second issue of Exit Music is now available for purchase. It collects One With The Freaks, Passing Afternoon, and One Evening, my print-only story for True Porn 2, so it goes without saying that this minicomic is for mature readers only. I sold out of the first issue of Exit Music at SPX, but I will likely have another small print run of those ready in a couple of days, so feel free to order away.

For those of you in the LA area, don't forget: Nucleus' grand opening is tonight! Fellow Flightsters Chris Appelhans and Catia Chien will have their art on display, but you should seriously go check it out anyway -- it's a fabulous-looking store, with an awesome gallery to boot!

It's been a while, but I've managed to do a little housecleaning around here: I've updated the ever-growing links page (I just know I'm still forgetting people from this thing); ditched the old and craptacular link banners and replaced them with a couple of new ones; and I've put up a new song of the moment (Bright Eyes' "If Winter Ends").

[07/10/04]

Could it be? Susannah Breslin is back on the web with a new website, The Invisible Cowgirl, complete with an excerpt from her forthcoming novel, Porn Happy, and a collection of some of her older short stories, comics, and photography. You don't know how happy I am about this.

[06/10/04]

Yup, it's the SPX 2004 con report! You know you want to read about it. Vera and Dave (congrats on the Ignatz award!) have some pretty exhaustive reports too.

And wow, my first piece of fan art, like, ever! Many thanks to Scott Ritchings... now if only I had an iPod in real life to match the art...

[05/10/04]

Back from SPX, and after a minor emergency of the personal kind yesterday, I'm way behind on everything. Apologies to everyone whose emails I haven't yet repsonded to. I'll hopefully have something for later in the week. Sorry.

[30/09/04]

Okay. I'm off to SPX later today. It should be a fun little trip, and I'll be hanging out at the convention for pretty much all three days, so grab me and say hi if you see me wandering around!

Also at SPX, I will have copies of Exit Music 2 available, which collects three more of my comics, One With The Freaks, Passing Afternoon, and my story (maybe) for True Porn 2, One Evening. For those of you not able to make it out to Bethesda, if I have any copies left of Exit Music 2, I'll set up a little Paypal thingie for internet purchases once I get back from SPX.

See you all next week!

[27/09/04]

Back home from Ottawa and I've finally settled down some. It was a gorgeous weekend -- much of it was spent outside, with a beer in hand and in some great company. And some good films were seen over the past couple of days to boot. The drive back was fairly uneventful, aside from the stop in Kingston to take a few reference photographs for my next comic, and to visit the Sleepless Goat again (it was the only one of my regular haunts that was open at 8 AM).

It looks like I'll be pulling a couple of all-nighters now to get Exit Music #2 finished in time for SPX this coming weekend, so I'm going to drop off the map for a little while. Hopefully next week, I'll be able to sell any leftovers of the minicomic on this here intar-web when I get back.

I've recently been turned on to Mirah, who I think is pretty neat. Anyone who makes songs like Cold Cold Water will always get my vote. Her latest album, C'mon Miracle is really worth a listen or two, at the very least.

[24/09/04]

I'm off to Ottawa for the weekend, mostly to catch the International Animation Festival, but also to meet up with some friends and various other people. A little bird tells me there will be copies of Flight available at the Capilano College booth (booth "J") in the National Arts Centre. I'll probably be wandering around in that general vicinity over the course of the weekend, I think.

Things are motoring along with the next minicomic. Whether I'll have it ready for SPX is another matter. It's gonna be a close finish, that's for sure.

[21/09/04]

So you might have noticed that I finished up One With The Freaks yesterday night. I kinda wish I could take a break, but now I'm off to try and get One Evening finished by the end of this week. Why the sudden spurt in comic-making all of a sudden, you ask? Why, it's so I can get the second print issue of Exit Music ready for SPX, of course!

And as usual, while I was procrastinating, I've roughed out the next short story that I'm going to tackle after SPX. Oh yeah, and maybe I'll get started on my story for Flight 2...

[20/09/04]

Aaah! The nice folk at Magic Pony will be having Kozyndan up to Toronto on the 24th for a gallery show and a book launch for their new colouring book, "Lactaid Dreams." I absolutely love their work, and I would totally go to this show, if I hadn't already made plans to be in Ottawa for Friday night... view the invite and get more details here.

For those of you down in sunny California, the grand opening of Nucleus is just around the corner. It's going to be a cool store, run by even cooler people. Check it out, yo.

And I swear, the conclusion for OWTF will be coming later today, rain or shine, dammit.

[19/09/04]

So many things happening this weekend, where to begin...

I caught Steamboy (Katsuhiro Otomo's (Akira) latest film) yesterday at the Film Festival. It was incredible. The animation was superb, and the amount of detail that was poured into the buildings and backgrounds was simply amazing. The chase sequences in the film are paced perfectly, and the mechanical designs... wow.

The characters were well written -- there weren't really any "bad guys" in the film, as all of them had their own specific and believable motivations in doing what they did (similar to the characters in Princess Mononoke, I noticed). Writing Robert Stephenson into the film was a nice treat for me, especially considering how much of a train nerd I used to be (he was a civil engineer in the early 1800's, and was the man who brought the first railway systems into London) -- even though Steamboy takes place in 1866, and the real Robert Stephenson died only a few years prior to that. But then again, I don't think he ever invented steam tanks, and I'm pretty certain that a giant Steam Tower never barrelled through and destroyed half of London either...

And that unicycle. I so want one of those things. I love, love, love steampunk. I also got my grubby paws on a free beer while hanging out in the Elgin screening room lounge, so all in all, it was an ideal movie-going experience for me.

Yesterday was also Steve and Chihiro's wedding reception in Ottawa. I couldn't make it out there this weekend, but I did manage to make a poster for them that I have absolutely no idea how it actually turned out in print. You can view the web-friendly version here.

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and is also Kate's birthday. Happy Birthday, lass! Aaarrrrr.

I'm a page behind schedule at the moment -- I was hoping to have finished One With The Freaks by this weekend, so that I can finish inking One Evening by the end of next week. Guess it's time to buckle down and crank out those pages!

[17/09/04]

It's Hope's birthday today! The little sketch I did for her was really more of an excuse for me to draw arms in Hope's style. It's fun! She's also redesigned her website, and it looks snazzy. Why not check it out?

The student paper of my alma mater, The Queen's Journal, is running a little piece on Flight and my own personal work on this website. You can read it here.

[16/09/04]

Oh yeah, I completely forgot to mention it yesterday, but Daisy Kutter #2 is now available in comic stores! The amazingly talented Kazu drew the thing, while Jake Parker provided a 14 page backup story featuring Lucy Nova, S.E. I'm mentioning this because I ghosted for Jake on some of the shading and grey tones for his story. It was a pleasure for me to be allowed to play in his sandbox for a little while, and you should all check out the comic -- both stories are absolutely incredible. Wait. Is it considered 'ghosting' if I tell people about it? Crap.

...and the ever-fluctuating One With The Freaks gets more format changes. I'm just going to leave it at this until the story is done. None of this fancy infinite canvas business for me, no sir.

[15/09/04]

I caught Kung Fu Hustle last night, as part of the Toronto Film Festival that's been running for almost a week now. Stephen Chow continues to get better in leaps and bounds as a director -- some of the gags had me on the floor laughing my ass off (watching poor Stephen Chow getting stuck with knives and then bitten by snakes has never been funnier) -- but the film really suffers from the "Kung Fu Comedy" syndrome, where the first half of the film is loaded up with the laughs, and the second half devolves into a straight-up kung fu movie. Which wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't such a heavy reliance on CGI in some of the final fight scenes. I dunno, I guess I'm just old fashioned that way -- I'd much rather prefer watching the physicality and timing of a well choreographed fight sequence than have them try to dazzle me with shiny special effects. But that's just me.

Kung Fu Hustle is still a great, fun movie, it has some great re-interpretations of the traditional kung fu archetypes (the take on the retired masters especially), and there are some absolutely hilarious gags. Well worth checking out whenever it hits theatres (which will be later this year, I'm guessing).

And it was nice to walk out of the theatre and down Yonge Street to the sound of honking car horns and screaming drunk people. In case you haven't been paying attention (or are, you know, not Canadian), Canada won the World Cup of Hockey last night as well. Now I just have to brace myself for the inevitable NHL labour lockout and not having any more hockey to watch for the better part of a year.

Locuna is a collective of musicians based out of the St. Louis area, and most of their music is of the electro/darkwave variety. Some of their stuff is pretty catchy -- torch and Subsurface are worth checking out (Subsurface's "Raven" especially) if you're into that sort of thing.

Apologies for the bizarre layout of the current comic. I'm still tooling around with the web layout to see what works best at the moment.

[14/09/04]

The colours weren't exactly working for the first couple of panels, so I went back and tweaked the palette a little. And the likeness of the other cartoonist in this comic is horribly, horribly wrong, so that'll likely get fixed soon too. Your guesses as to who that is are certainly welcome, though.

Finding out that SMiLE is finally going to be released made me happy. Being able to preview some of those tracks made me ecstatic.

And congrats to Dylan Meconis, whose long running comic Bite Me has finally come to an end, which is a pretty incredible feat considering she's like, barely out of her teens. What have I accomplished? Not a whole damn lot. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go cry in the corner now.

[13/09/04]

Here's what's on my agenda until the start of October:

• Finish a couple of illustrations and commissioned things in the next couple of days.
• Finish One With The Freaks.
• Finish One Evening for True Porn 2.
• Format the two aforementioned comics and Passing Afternoon for the next Exit Music print collection.
• Hit up the Toronto International Film Festival for some movies (namely Kung Fu Hustle and Steamboy -- but I'm still upset about the fact that I couldn't get my hands on any Eros tickets).
• Drive up to Ottawa and meet up with a couple of the Pants Pressers for the Ottawa International Animation Festival (Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher! The Hayao Miyazaki retrospective! Woo!).
• Drive down to the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD with the local gang of crazies.
• Attempt to retain my sanity.

...and September is the month of birthdays, it seems. I think it's going to be a busy three weeks.

[11/09/04]

The pages for the new comic are coming along at a nice pace, so barring any catastrophes, it looks like I'll be able to start posting pages on Monday. I'm actually surprising myself at how well I'm drawing palm trees. Usually they look like spiky balls on sticks, but I suppose spending a week sketching them when I was down in LA paid off.

Mike Maihack's second chapter of Seed is now available through Bitpass. It's really good. His Cow and Buffalo is awesome too, but in a completely different way. I think I just like looking at cartoon cow udders, really.

I've been listening to Goh Nakamura's music after stumbling across it in one of those interview/performance things over on KPFA. I was there to listen to Derek Kirk Kim spread his gospel, and found Goh's music instead. Sample some music here. Anyone that can write a stalker/love song to Natalie Portman is all right in my book.

And all the kids are talking about The Arcade Fire these days. Could their debut LP Funeral be the album of 2004? I dunno, but I do know that it hits record stores next Tuesday, and that I'll be definitely picking up a copy.

[10/09/04]

An update of sorts to the illustration section of this here website. Stuff like pinups for comics more popular than mine, rejected illustrations, and pictures of cute kitties and birdies.

Ben Hatke has started drawing some really cute journal comics for his personal website, and his Zita the Spacegirl site is finally open for business with new Zita comics! Check 'em out, 'cause they're awesome.

And an announcement to all my American brothers and sisters: everyone needs to vote for the American Robocratic Party. America would be a better place for it.

[08/09/04]

I really want to give you all a precise day when the new comic will be posted here, but I'm working on a couple of things all at once, and to be perfectly honest, this story is pretty low on my list of priorities right now... but it'll be ready in a couple of weeks at the latest. Seriously.

[03/09/04]

September already? Where is all the time going? A new month, and a new mix over at Catbirdseat. A big thank you to Ryan for letting me sully his already great-looking website.

[31/08/04]

Howdy. Back from the Toronto Comic Book Expo, which was a ton of fun. You can read all about it here. Maybe even look at the photos too. It was great meeting and talking to some of the people who read this comic -- I didn't know you existed! I promise to get back on the ball and get a couple more comics up here for you all in the near future.

[26/08/04]

I'll be off tomorrow and the rest of the weekend for the Canadian Comic Book Expo. I'll be in the artist's alley, sharing a table with Azad and Johane Matte, great cartoonists both (Vera and Hope will be floating around the convention centre too). We'll have plenty of copies of Flight for sale, so if you're there, keep an eye out for us and the big Flight poster! Also on Friday, beginning at 9 PM, there will be a release party for Bryan O'Malley's latest graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim at The Bordello (603 Markham St., right next to The Beguiling). I hear there's going to be beer, comics, music and everything. Which means I've gotta be there for sure. It's gonna be great!

There's an interesting MP3 and discussion on over Fluxblog about Nickelback and the alarming similarities between two of their songs. It's fascinating and creepy all at the same time. Spurred on by reading about the sad state of mainstream music these days, I decided to change out the MP3 of the week to Matthew Sweet's "I've Been Waiting," from his 1991 album Girlfriend. If more people were making pop music like this right now, the world wouldn't be such a bad place now, would it?

And I know I'm probably a couple of weeks off the curve, but the sound of Homestar crying had me on the floor in tears.

[23/08/04]

Both the Canadian men and women's Olympic beach volleyball teams were knocked out of contention in yesterday's quarter-finals. I am so sad. I also have no real updates to speak of. So I guess if I'm not providing the entertainment around here, I might as well tell you about people who are:

There a great live version of Wilco's "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" over at the Wilco roadcase.

Les McClaine continues to stun and amaze with his sideburns. His new Jonny Crossbones comic ain't bad either.

The latest story arc of Wigu is, how do you say, fucking hilarious.

[18/08/04]

I'm slowly getting back on the horse... I'm trying to finish One Evening, my story for True Porn 2, and actually trying to get started (for the eighteenth time) on my story for Flight 2. Updates will continue to be close to non-existant for possibly another month, but I'll try to throw in snippets of some of my comics and other illustration work just to make sure the cobwebs don't collect on this website for too long.

Speaking of Flight, it's been getting all sorts of press lately. You can read a couple of reviews about it here and here. I'll definitely be hitting up the Canadian Comic Book Expo on August 27-29 with the Canadian chapter of the Flight crew. We'll be there to sell our wares and have some fun. We'd love it if you dropped by and said hello.

In the meantime, here's more music. I've updated the MP3 on this site to reflect the fact that I've taken to listening to Sufjan Steven's Michigan album again, especially The Upper Peninsula. It's just so heartbreakingly good. Chris Appelhans, a fantastic artist in his own right, also has some tasty music worth checking out. He's my hero.

[12/08/04]

For those of you still wondering (all five of you), yes, I'm alive and well. I'm currently putting my comics on hold for a little bit to help out Jake with a couple of things, but once that's done, I'll be getting back on track with my own stuff. Promise.

Flight Volume One hit comic stores yesterday. Do you have your copy yet?

And finally, I've handed over the reins of the Journal Comic Jam to Ed and the fine folks over at Bentcomics. I just don't have the time to maintain the jam any more, but it was a blast to organize and have the opportunity to talk to so many great artists! Go check out the jam for the latest update with a whopping number of new cartoonists!

[28/07/04]

Currently in LA, where I'll remain for the rest of the week. Hope you guys don't mind me not updating for a little while longer. The comic-con was phenomenal. See for yourself. If you want to see more from the Flight side of the con, go check out the Flight website for more con reports and photos!

[20/07/04]

Okay, this is my last update before I bugger off to San Diego for a week. You can entertain yourselves by browsing through some photos I took while at Jason Turner's farewell party yesterday night. Much alcohol was imbibed that evening.

[16/07/04]

Want to find us in San Diego? Since I'm too lazy to make a map of where we'll be, I'll just piggyback on Scott McCloud's hard work. It's the map to the Sexy Lagoon!

[15/07/04]

Canadians can now put their preorders in for Flight. You can order it through Chapters / Indigo, or Amazon.ca. Amazon.ca is currently offering the book at 30% off, but if you walk into your local Chapters and ask them to order a copy of Flight, odds are they'll maybe order one or two extra copies to stock on their own shelves. And that would be awesome for us.

I also keep forgetting to post the link for this, so here we go: Help support the making of a Wrens documentary.

[14/07/04]

Bob Stevenson (of Journey Into History and More Fun fame) was kind enough to say some nice things in his review of this little website over in the latest issue of the Webcomics Examiner. Anyone else notice the high Canadian content of this month's issue?

And here's a nice little story by Mr. Joey Comeau.

[10/07/04]

A new song is up. It's Sia's "Breathe Me." It's not a particularly deep song (some of the lyrics are incredibly trite), but it's been a really long time since a song like that has been able to take me back to a certain time and place, aside from a few other songs & the albums that I listened to incessantly during that period. It's always strange how we draw emotional attachments to particular songs.

At any rate, the next comic is coming along at a steady pace. I won't be posting this story to the web in the near future, as it'll see print in a forthcoming anthology. I might include it with the next batch of Exit Music stories that I'll print up in minicomic form, though. We'll see.

And speaking of minicomics, I had to make a second print run of Exit Music for the San Diego Comic-Con, so thanks again to everyone that bought a copy. I certainly wasn't expecting any kind of demand for them!

[08/07/04]

I'm currently working on a couple of comics at the moment for various publications. I might be gone for a little while, so you might want to check out Scott McCloud's top 20 list in the meantime. I heartily recommend every single one of them.

Canadians can now order Flight online through Amazon.ca. I've also been told that Flight will be available through Chapters, but it might take another month or so before it's even entered into their database.

[06/07/04]

Aaah. The Beat is back. Awesome.

For anyone that's ever stood in line at a comic con for an autograph or sketch by their favourite (or even not-so-favourite) artist might recognize themselves in Stuart Immonen's Fifty Reasons To Stop Doing Sketches. Funny stuff.

I absolutely love the design for Andy Runton and Craig Thompson's websites. Well, that and their comics, of course.

I've also fallen in love with Tara Jane O'Neil's "The Poisoned Mine." It's pretty.

[04/07/04]

Free Comic Book Day at The Beguiling was certainly a lot of fun. Probably the biggest surprise of the day was meeting the "Truth and Beauty Bombs" posse -- Joey of A Softer World (who happened to be in Toronto on his whirlwind tour of the East coast), Ryan of Dinosaur Comics, and Rosemary of Bird and Moon. Nice people, they are. I was also able to meet Frank of chromewaves.net, and now I can finally put a face to the name.

Over the course of the day, I also hung out with some of the usual suspects, and when you throw in some beer and a few free comic books, what more could you possibly ask for?

[02/07/04]

Hope everyone had a good Canada Day. I definitely had no complaints at my end. I did end up losing my iron ring, though.

And just a quick update before I collapse from exhaustion: I'll be at the Beguiling on July 3 from noon to 3pm. I might stick around for awhile longer, but I'll definitely be there for the first three hours or so.

[01/07/04]

Happy Canada Day! To celebrate, here's a comic for you to read. Astute readers may note that this comic is an extended version of an old journal strip.

The Pictures page has been rearranged slightly to reflect my new focus, which is to continue work on the autobiographical short stories that I plan to eventually collect under the Exit Music banner. I certainly have quite a bit of material left to slog through, so hopefully that section will grow over the coming months.

I should also mention that for anyone in the Toronto area, I'll be hanging out at the Beguiling in the late morning/early afternoon of July 3rd, as part of the festivities of Free Comic Book Day. I'll be there along with some artists that are much more talented than I, selling and sketching things and just hanging out, I imagine. Stop by and say hi if you're in the area.

But for now, I'm off to the beach.

[29/06/04]

So I probably should've posted something yesterday about how all you Canadians should've gone out to vote in the federal election, but I'm sure you're all responsible citizens and exercised your right to vote. Right? At any rate, I'm just glad Stephen Harper isn't our new PM. However, I'm sure you're not here for politics, but for the comics! Unfortunately, there are none. So barring a lack of actual comic updates, I give you... links!

A new Fiona Apple song without the angst? I like it.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, so just in case I didn't, I'll mention it again: go read Amy Kim Ganter's Reman Mythology. It's awesome stuff.

This is a cute comic (still in progress): Bird and Moon, by Torontonian Rosemary Mosco.

Chris Bishop (that guy that does Her!) has a new site up called Double Agent, a blog containing "observations and analysis of the state of webcomics." There are some interesting interviews up already, and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing where he takes it. Chris also joins the ranks of autobio comics with his new comic, MCCCXX.

Azad has a con report of last week's Paradise Comic Con. There's a photo of me in there that makes me look like I'm extremely gassy.

I'll be back later in the week to add Happy (the extended story from Exit Music) to the revised archives.

[25/06/04]

I'm a little happier with Passing Afternoon now that I've added this page. Also, I'm presenting the story in two slightly different flavours: the 'vanilla' version, and a variation that includes some of the lyrics from the song. I'm not sure if the latter syncs up properly with the music -- it really depends on how fast you're reading the comic, I suppose. I'm still just playing around, trying to find what works and what doesn't.

I'd certainly like to hear your thoughts on which version you prefer.

[24/06/04]

That extra page for Passing Afternoon is coming, I swear. Expect it either later today, or sometime tomorrow. Here's some music to keep you occupied in the meantime.

Spoon - Sister Jack (demo)
Bishop Allen - Busted Heart
Extra Glenns - Ultra Violet
Rivers Cuomo - Tomorrow

[22/06/04]

Flight Volume One is now available for preorder through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble's website.

Apparently, this site has been nominated as part of the 2004 Cartoonist's Choice Awards. I'm not sure what kind of crack people have been smoking lately, but it must be some pretty good stuff.

[21/06/04]

Well, the Toronto Comicon was a lot of fun. I didn't feel like I had enough time just hanging out there for one day -- I would've gone back for a second day too, if I didn't blow all my money on a copy of The Art of Hellboy. But it was so cheap (relatively speaking)! And it's gorgeous! I couldn't say no!

It was certainly nice talking to some of the artists at the con. I met Azad and picked up a copy of his latest comic, A Very Sammy Day, which is a great, fun read. I hung out with Ben Woo (who I'm absolutely sure I met prior to the con, only I can't remember where) and had a few beers with him later in the evening. Also, I finally picked up a copy of Drawing The Line, an excellent comic anthology whose proceeds go entirely towards cancer research (specifically, to the Princess Margaret and Sick Kids Foundations). It's for a good cause, and the comic itself is definitely worth checking out -- it has stories and art by Stan Sakai, Dave Sim, and Moebius for cryin' out loud.

And of course, it was always fun hanging out with Hope and Mal, even though they probably got sick of me real quick and were likely plotting evil ways of getting rid of me. I'm sure one of those evil plots was to somehow get me involved with some sort of artistic event going on at The Beguiling on Free Comic Book Day (July 3rd). I'm not sure exactly what I said yes to, but I sure hope it doesn't involve anything I might regret later...

Speaking of regrets, I really should be working on my contribution for Flight 2 right now, but I instead spent my time completing the layouts for my True Porn 2 story. I guess this is my bizarre way of procrastinating. I'll be putting the final touches to Passing Afternoon later this week, I think.

[18/06/04]

Just a quick update: I'll be poking around the Toronto Comicon this evening. So if you see a bald Asian dude in glasses wandering around on the floor, don't be afraid to stop him. One of them might actually be me.

[17/06/04]

Here it is: Passing Afternoon. For best results, let the whole thing load before reading. It might take awhile for those of you on slower connections, though.

I've been debating whether I should let you all see this version, mostly because I'm not entirely happy with how it lines up with the music (it doesn't, really). I will be adding a page in the middle of the story to break down the pacing some more, but the story as it's presented now should be able to stand on its own. Thanks for all your patience thus far; I'll try to be a little more organized next time.

[16/06/04]

There'll be another late update today. To tide you over though, go listen to Aimee Mann's cover of The Scientist. I'd pick Aimee Mann's vocals any day of the week over Chris Martin's falsetto.

[15/06/04]

No comics today, but I got a bunch of links and random plugs for you all instead.

There's a new preview comic up on the Flight website, by the disgustingly talented Derek Kirk Kim. Don't wait. Go read The Maiden and The River Spirit right now.

While I'm on the subject of the Flight gang, they've recently turned me on to the work of Sonny Liew. Sonny's linework is amazing, he's done some fantastic comics, and he's Singaporean to boot (I love Singaporean accents. They make me smile). All I can think about now is wanting to go back to Singapore and maybe gorge myself on some nice rojak or satay. Mmmmm. Satay. And apparently, it's getting cheaper to live in Singapore now (although it's still more expensive there than it is in Toronto). Hmmm... oh, I'm sorry. Go take a look at Sonny's site while I mop up this puddle of drool forming on my keyboard.

Michelle Tea has a new book coming out in July, and it's called Rent Girl. With illustrations by Laurenn McCubbin, you just know this is going to rock. Preorder a copy, like, right now.

The fine folk who bring us A Softer World are planning to make the trip down to New York for MOCCA, but they need your support. Go buy a couple of prints from them and help them out. Besides, who wouldn't want comics about zombies or truth and beauty bombs hanging on their very own wall?

[14/06/04]

My skin has been fried to a crispy red over the weekend. I kinda thought that spending only 5 hours on the beach playing volleyball wasn't enough to warrant any kind of application of suntan lotion. You'd think I'd've learned from last year, but apparently my stupidity knows no bounds. Also, I cannot feel my forehead.

I'm still redrawing some panels, so it looks like the next update will be on Wednesday, I'm afraid.

[12/06/04]

Yeah, I missed Friday's update. I told you I would, didn't I? So here are the new panels, only a day late. We're in the home stretch now, so I expect Passing Afternoon to be finished next week for sure. Some of the panels might get shifted around a little in the coming days, as I'm still playing with the web layout (I'm drawing these pages with print in mind, so some things might not read as well as I want them to when they're presented all in one long scroll).

I met Hope for the first time in person a couple of nights ago, which was certainly a lot of fun. Somehow by the end of the night, I ended up walking away with pocketfuls of some amazingly crafted books of hers, and now I feel incredibly guilty. So perhaps you'd like to head on over to thingwithfeathers.com and read some of her comics and maybe purchase something while you're at it? You'd be doing me a favour.

[10/06/04]

I finished reading Poppy Z. Brite's Liquor a couple of nights ago, which went by amazingly fast. It's total fluff fiction, and if you've read Tony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential before, there aren't really all that many surprises thrown at you -- although if you love food as much as I do, you'll likely get a real kick out of the book. I just couldn't put the damn thing down. The life of a restaurateur/chef is probably the most glamourous thing to me as it gets.

I am totally expecting to miss Friday's update, because I am a slacker. Just to let you know.

[09/06/04]

I feel like I should apologize for the glacial-like pacing of this story. It's probably not so much fun to read in tiny little increments, but there's not much I can do about that, really.

Elsewhere, Drew has started documenting the G8 Summit being held in Savannah, Georgia, complete with photos and a brush with the law! The fun just never stops! Oh yeah, he also updated his comic, which was a nice thing for him to do also.

[08/06/04]

Wow. Last night's Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals was simply incredible. It would've been nice to have seen the Flames bring the cup back to Canada, but Tampa really brought their 'A' game last night. It's the first time in recent memory that one (or both) of the teams in the Stanley Cup finals didn't rely completely on the neutral zone trap, and it made for some exciting hockey to watch. Now if only the rest of the NHL took their cue from these two teams...

But enough about hockey. Why not preview another song from Communique's forthcoming LP? It's good poppy stuff, and you can listen to it here.

[07/06/04]

Erika Moen has a lovely new comic called I Like Girls (contains some nudity). It made my bitter, cynical heart smile.

I've found those quiet acoustic guitar numbers that have dominated the MP3s of the week lately have started getting a little old. So here's something in a completely different direction (even though summer is still technically a fortnight away): DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's "Summertime" (Hybrid promo remix).

Note to self: Get more than a week ahead with a comic that I plan to update daily. The pace right now is killing me.

Get your butts on over to Comic Book Resources, where there's a huge 31 page preview of Flight, including three complete stories! Spend your Friday afternoon reading comics instead of working. It's totally worth it.

An interesting article about the psychology behind people who buy SUVs. I really hate SUVs, which is why I like the article so much, I imagine.

Neil points out a new site design over at Matthew Woodson's ghostco. It's pretty.

And the Calgary Flames played an incredible game last night. They're now only one game away from hoisting Lord Stanley's Mug! Go Flames!!

You know, I used to write my comics in such a way that I could avoid drawing certain things that I had difficulty with. I used to be atrocious at drawing hands. My cars used to look like kleenex boxes on wheels. Trees were giant green lollipops. I didn't have the first clue as to how to draw feet in perspective.

So what do I do in my comics now? I force myself to draw the things I'm bad at. Lots of hands. Lots of cars. Lots of trees. And now, half a page of feet. While I'm not going to say that I'm an expert on these things, I certainly feel a little more comfortable with them, even though I'm sure some of my first (and second and third) attempts look pretty terrible. But I'm dumb that way -- the only way I know how to learn is by doing. So I guess what I'm trying to say is... look Ma! Feet!

Gah. Where did that all come from? You'd almost think this is a blog or something. Go check out Gran'ma Evelyn's Old-Fashioned Pudding Treats Wrestling Theatre for some good clean fun for the whole family!

Apologies for the lame one panel update today. I've been working on something else on the side that just popped up yesterday. More on that real soon, I imagine.

Robyn and Kelli are once again looking for submissions for the second volume of True Porn. Autobio sex stories? Can't go wrong with that.

And finally, I'm gearing up for Royal City's soon-to-be-released album (next Tuesday, actually), Little Heart's Ease, by listening to scads of their 2001 album, Alone At The Microphone. Good stuff, that.

Bonus points to you if you know what book she's reading.

Neil B finally returns with a new website, over at neilcomics.com. I am so happy.

Okay, so off we go: Passing Afternoon. It may not look like much now, but I'm aiming to update this every weekday until it's done. Whether I can actually manage that will be another matter. I'm still messing with some of the page layouts at the moment, but I feel like I need more motivating factors (read: an audience) to get these pages done. I likely won't put the MP3 on the same page as the story until it's more or less completed. You can still listen to it here, though.

While I'm on the subject of music, I switched out the weekly MP3 to Feist performing a nice little cover of Ron Sexsmith's Secret Heart (taken from Feist's great new album, Let It Die).

Hmm. What else? Dalton, Jason and I did a little jam comic for this week's Strip Fight. I'm kinda surprised that it makes any kind of sense, as I seem to recall consuming a lot of alcohol the night we drew that, but go check it out anyway.

Expect to see Passing Afternoon begin updating daily on Monday. It's still a little rough in my mind, but if I don't start forcing myself to actually finish the pages, I'll be redrawing stuff until the cows come home. So, yeah.

Everybody needs to go pick up a copy of Duke (check out the cover here), a great jam book featuring the visual stylings of Jason Turner, Dave Lapp, and Dalton Sharp (who is too cool to actually have a website). It's almost like they had some crazy mind-melding action going on between the three of them -- some of their jams are completely seamless. Go hit up one of their websites and ask them how you can get your hands on a copy.

Many thanks to the people that came out for the release party who weren't directly related to the accompanying Comic Jam. All six of you. And thanks for the beers. You guys are awesome (of course, the Jam folk are equally as awesome).

My head hurts like a bitch, but it's back to work now, I suppose.

A new song of the moment is up. It's Carolina, by Ben Gibbard, taken from Gibbard (Death Cab/Postal Service) and Andrew Kenny's (American Analog Set) split EP, Home V.

So as you might have already gathered, the next story will likely be another one of those music/comic hybrid things. I'm not entirely sure yet if the music is going to stick (Elsewhere was supposed to be one as well, but I felt it worked better without any music), so you might as well enjoy it now before I make a final decision. I'm really struggling with some of these pages, so it might take a few more days before I start posting the comic to the web.

I sort of have a vague idea as to where all these stories are starting to go, and with a small stack of stories waiting to be drawn, that might mean the journal will be put on indefinite hiatus.

Update: I am now officially sold out of the Suburbia Hell mini. Thanks again to all the people who have supported the comics!

Thank you very much to everyone who has ordered a copy of Exit Music thus far! I've honestly been overwhelmed by the number of orders that have come in the past couple of days. We've gone well past the first ten online orders, but I'll keep doing sketches in the books for people for as long as I am able -- just be aware that I can't guarantee anything at this point. I will be posting a collection of some of the sketches that I've done for people in the next couple of days.

And I was surprised to learn that I'm down to my last two copies of Suburbia Hell. I don't intend to print a second run of this mini, so if you want one, you better grab 'em quick!

Oh, and there's an interview with me about Flight, over at Diverging Comics, in what is (I believe) the first of a series of interviews with the Flight crew. Props to Sean for setting that up.

Because it's worth mentioning again: the release party for Exit Music will be held at The Cameron House (408 Queen St. W.) on Tuesday, May 25 from 7:30-9:30 PM.

And the Calgary Flames are in the Stanley Cup finals! Woo!

I am very sorry that the updates have been lacking lately. I have a 7 page short story that I have begun work on, which I will begin serializing on this site in the coming days. Honest. After that, I'll be tunnelling underground for a little while to tackle my story for Flight Volume 2.

Speaking of future volumes of Flight, you don't know how happy I was when I found out that Michel Gagné is going to be contributing a story for Flight Volume 2. I really am in love with this man's work. I am literally beside myself with glee.

And Phil Craven has updated his website to include some new previews for some forthcoming comics -- Mongrel: Trixie, Come Home, and Deep Blue. These two stories couldn't be any more different from one another, but they're both awesome. What more can I say?

Today at diepunyhumans.com is Fast Fiction Friday, a collection of short fiction pieces written by some of Mr. Ellis' writerly friends. Some of my favourite writers are spewing forth some fantastic and terrible things (and I mean that in A Good Way) to read on a Friday afternoon. Go now.

Recent plot developments in some webcomics have caught me completely off guard:

- Shelley dies. Again. This time, most spectacularly.
- Les pulls a Lovecraft. He had me fooled for the first week and a half (the entire storyline begins here).

Just putting the finishing touches on Exit Music. You can preview some cover designs over here. Feel free to chime in with your opinions.

After slogging through the rain on Saturday, I was feeling entirely under the weather on Sunday. I spent almost the entire day lying on the couch, drooling in front of the TV, which is a rarity for me these days. This also means very little drawing was done. At least I got to watch Team Canada win the Gold, and Calgary win game one (go Flames go!).

Instead, I posted up one of my favourite Radiohead B-Sides, Gagging Order.

Tell me this isn't the awesomest comic about Modest Mouse ever.

Here's Elsewhere in its entirety. Like I mentioned before, you didn't miss all that much from the splash page.

This latest piece of fan art started out as a small doodle, but then I just couldn't stop adding things to it as it progressed. So I ended up blowing my entire evening on this one thing. Oh well.

Space Girl's comic debut will be in Jake Parker's Agent44 Art Digest, set to be released at the end of May (I think) -- and it looks real pretty like.

The Leafs lost to Philly last night in overtime. This makes Kean very sad.

Apologies for the lack of updates. In the meantime, enjoy this little piece of fan art for Jason Turner & Manien Bothma's comic, True Loves. I promise I'll get round to putting the 'cover' for Elsewhere up as soon as it's finished.

Hey, do you wanna be in a comic? Well, if you answer a few of Kelli Nelson's questions regarding grown children and their relationship with their father, you just might! You'll want to go here and read her news entry for May 2nd for those questions. Go read some of her comics while you're at it. Or maybe just send her some love. It's up to you.

Rockfish. Awesome.

The comic is more or less wrapped up (except for an opening splash page that doesn't really add anything to the story). I also decided to rename it to something that I like a little more. That's what you get with a work in progress, I suppose.

Could it be? An update on a weekend? Why, yes it is. Some assorted odds and ends follow:

Bill Mudron has finished the first chapter of his epic Pan, and holy crap, is it ever beautiful.

Some of the comics from 24 Hour Comic Day have started trickling out on the web. Check out the Teaching Baby Paranoia 24 hour comic while it's still available to Modern Tales non-subscribers (until next Friday, presumably).

I've recently been turned on to the music of The Frames. Most of their back catalogue is available on their site in Real format, and is well worth checking out, especially What Happens When The Heart Just Stops.

Aaaah, the Queen's connection. Takeshi Miyazawa was studying fine arts at Queen's University the same time I had my nose stuck in an engineering textbook. I didn't really know Tak personally, but it was always something else to marvel at the high standard of his art, even back then. And while I graduated at the bottom of my class, bitter and burnt out, he has since moved on to bigger and better comic projects (some of you might remember his work on the excellent Sidekicks).

The latest of these projects is his teaming with local talent Arthur Dela Cruz for a new weekly webcomic, BFX. It's certainly a unique concept, and I'm more than a little interested in seeing it do well. So check it out (thanks to Nelson for the link).

Elsewhere, Rick Cortes (one of the administrators for the Drawing Board that I'm constantly lurking about in) is recovering from a recent stroke, and the outpouring of support has been nothing short of staggering, to say the least. There are several pieces of art currently up for bid on eBay, with all the proceeds going towards covering Rick's medical expenses. There's even an amazing unpublished Hellboy painting that's been donated by Mike Mignola himself. Read more about the HellboyOne fundraiser here.

It boggles my mind sometimes, the tight communities that have been built by people through this internet of ours, and it's something that I'm proud to be a small part of.

I'm trying really hard to keep my eyes open to finish the next update, but it just ain't working. Curse my weak body. Check back later in the evening, after I hopefully get some sleep.

Lately, I've really been digging Music (for Robots), one of the latest MP3 blogs on the block. There are some really great songs to check out -- I especially dug the Outkast mash-up with Axel F (you know, that Beverly Hills Cop theme).

Had another fun night at the Comic Jam yesterday. Not much else to say, really.

If you're a little confused as to what's going on in the story at the moment, don't worry. It will all make sense once all the pages are finished (at least, I hope it will).

Kazu's drawn a new Clive and Cabbage comic. I wanna play on the Happy Jump too!

Speaking of Kazu, there's another interview with him regarding Flight over at Diverging Comics, and the interview also contains a few more preview pages (including a page from my own story).

Think you're man (or woman) enough to handle extreme "realistic" journal comics? From Kenn Minter's journal comic, I'm Not From Here, who's been on a real tear lately.

Phew. 24 Hour Comic Day came and went. I drew and (roughly) coloured eight pages in 24 hours, which is a pretty damn terrible pace. It's not a 24 hour comic by any stretch of the imagination -- especially since I'm editing the comic outside of the 24 hour limits -- but I'm pretty happy with the end result. I'll be touching up the colours and continuing to fiddle with the layout in the coming days, but I'll be posting up the pages as they're finished to my satisfaction. The comic can be viewed here.

I think that's me (and Oliver too!) in Brian's comic for the latest round of Strip Fight. However, while I am indeed a Leafs fan, I would like to state for the record that I don't really own a Leafs jersey.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pass out now.

So I've made a masochistic decision in joining the 24 Hour Comic Day on Saturday. I won't be drawing a true 24 hour comic, but I will instead be working on a comic that I've had sitting in the dusty cobwebs of my brain for the past couple of months now. I'm really just doing this to both motivate myself and lend some support to 24 Hour Comic Day, which I think is a great concept and event. Hopefully I'll get my comic done in the 24 hour span, and I'll post it up here on the Sunday or Monday. If not, you're all more than welcome to send me hateful emails about making promises that I don't know how to keep. You guys keep me honest, after all.

Roger Langridge's Hotel Fred made its debut a couple of days ago, and I've been loving it thus far. Check it out.

And I'm enjoying Songs To Wear Pants To far too much. Basically, it's just one guy turning people's suggestions and requests into musical form. I don't know whether it's the Bjork song, or the zombie coffee love song, or even the celtic techno burrito that did it, but I'm having far too much fun listening to this (link via Fluxblog).

So I might've mentioned that I'll be putting together a print version of some of my comics. Tentatively titled Exit Music, the minicomic will be small collection of short stories, old and new, and should be ready to go sometime next month. You can preview an extended version of one of these stories right now. I'm still trying to decide if I should archive this story on the web or not, because I'm funny that way. So go read it while you can.

And Hellboy Jr. never looked cooler. Just lookit the little guy go! By the incredibly talented Jake Parker.

The Flight preview site is now up and running. At the moment, you can check out one of the two new Copper comics by Kazu, which are fantastic, by the way.

Communique's first single from their debut LP has been posted to the web. I like it. Listen to it here, or visit their website.

The Ottawa Senators play the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight in game 7 of their series. It's do or die time. I'm so excited! Game 7 of the Vancouver/Calgary series was simply amazing. It's a shame both teams couldn't both move on to the next round, but that's hockey for ya, I guess.

Apologies also to you, the reader -- a comic should be on its way later today or early tomorrow.

And this comic pretty much describes what I really need these days.

For those of you keeping score, there's another article and a few new preview pages for Flight over at Comic Book Resources.

If you want to help us promote Flight, Kazu has whipped up some printable promo files that you can print out and hand to your local comic store. Let them know that the book will be available for order in the May issue of Previews!

Updates to the journal may become sporadic again -- I'm working on a couple of stories at the moment, as well as putting together another minicomic. Besides, I'm not doing anything too interesting these days. In the meantime, I updated the links page. Go surf around for a bit.

The one thing I love about keeping this journal is the therapeutic aspect of it. The Mr. Depression comics aren't exactly deep stories, but drawing him always helps to give me a good chuckle or two when I need it.

I just discovered Monster Island, a story about a zombie apocalypse set in New York City. This novel by David Wellington is currently being serialized on the web for free, and is being hosted over at Brokentype. I simply can't get enough of that zombie apocalypse action.

I am so bad at updating the 'song of the week' thing. But there's a different one up now.

And for some reason, I can't stop listening to these Chromeo tracks. Especially Needy Girl.

Neil Babra makes his online return with his new series Cloud Factory, which debuted on serializer.net yesterday. This makes me very happy.

I finally got round to seeing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last night. I loved every single minute of it. Best movie I've seen so far this year, hands down.

And while I'm on the subject of shifty memories, the journal entries are all coming out of order again. Oh well.

A Softer World needs your help! It seems they've had a recent increase in readers over the past couple of months, which of course is always a good thing, but not so much for their wallets. If you haven't yet read A Softer World, you've really been missing out. Head on over there now and donate a couple of bucks to help keep an excellent online comic... well, online.

If you have a Modern Tales subscription, you totally have to read Teen Boat, like, right now. It's about a teenager... who can transform into a boat (a small yacht, to be precise). It's simply awesome.

And finally, Sequential Tart has a great article on why webcomics are so damn great and so damn frustrating at times.

The Flight website has a fresh look to it. You can now read Scott McCloud's introduction to the book.

Also, check out the promo site for Kazu's Daisy Kutter comic. It even has a few preview pages that you really shouldn't miss. Rockin'.

It's been an eventful week. I'm going to try to fill in the past couple of days if I can. You can view a larger version of the Hellboy piece by clicking here.

About that little piece of Daisy Kutter fan art -- you know about that Kazu Kibuishi fella, right? And Daisy Kutter as well? Well, okay then.

Ugh. I am so freakin' tired right now. Wish I had some comicky goodness for you all, but I don't. On the other hand, I do have in my grubby little paws the latest print copy or True Loves, which looks mightily fantastic. Go and bug Jason for a copy of six. Or then again, if you maybe subscribe to serializer.net, you'd be able to read the entire series for just a couple of bucks!

In other news, the Ironman Challenge has been thrown down -- Les, Brian, Ed, and Billis have a little monetary bet on the line to see who can produce a comic on a daily basis. The last man standing will receive a substantial pot from the losers. But then, everybody wins, because we get... daily comics again! Why didn't I join in, you ask? Well, maybe it's because I suck. And knowing that I'd get my ass kicked in the first couple of days didn't help my decision much either.

And while I'm on the subject of Brian and Ed, you might want to check out Strip Fight!, which is a great idea, and things are really starting to shape up over there (including a couple of strips by local Toronto cartoonists, in case you were wondering).

Living in Canada confuses me sometimes. I'd like to say that I love living in a place where same-sex marriages are perfectly legal, but attempting to remove "artistic merit" as a valid legal defence for obscenity cases? It's enough to make me tear my hair out in frustration. That is, if I had any hair to tear out to begin with.

In other news, Flight Volume One has found a publisher, and it is Image Comics. Hopefully we'll get the book on the shelves by the summer/fall of this year.

And I'm finally getting around to updating the pictures page with a couple more illustrations, the latter actually being a composite version of some illustrations that will be appearing in the Moo-Cow Fan Club magazine some time in the near future.

Just coming out of my hole for a few minutes to add a new sketchy thing, and to change up the song of the week to one of the better tracks from Kill Bill Vol. 1, but for some reason was left off the official soundtrack release. It's Nobody But Me, by Human Beinz. And speaking of music...

So how about them [insert your favourite hockey team here], eh? The playoffs are almost here, and here are The Zambonis to get you in the mood. I'm totally digging To Bleed Black and Gold (Boston Bruins Theme Song), and you can always check out their Hockey Monkey video, featuring the vocal stylings of cartoonist James Kochalka. There'll be none of this overplayed Stompin' Tom Connors business around here. No sir.

Les is now taking pre-orders for his new book, Repeat Until Death. Head on over and give him some lovin'.

I made a short comic yesterday, but I don't really know what I'm going to do with it, or where to stick it on this website. I posted it up temporarily to the Flight forums, so you can check it out there.

So I guess I fell short of updating the journal every day this week. I came close, but no banana. Here are some MP3s instead:

Lisa Gerrard - La Bas (demo)
Feist - Mushaboom (Red Demo)
Sufjan Stevens - Sister
Lambchop - Something's Going On
Rachel's - Last Things Last

Yup, that's what my handwriting looks like on a good day. You probably don't want to see how it normally looks...

David's sense of timing has been impeccable in his last two strips. Hilarious.

And I had a friend that used to have a landlord like this.

Okay, I'm almost back on track here. This is the last of the February strips, and I'll (finally) be into the March entries. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to update the strips on a daily basis this week!

Updated the Song of the Week today. It's Modest Mouse's new single, Float On. What can I say? It's catchy.

Matthew Woodson has illustrated a comic that is absolutely stunning. It's so damn good that adjectives fail me.

Here's a little mix of MP3s for a Sunday afternoon:

TV On The Radio - Dreams
Aireline - Winter Song
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Something Bigger, Something Brighter
Spoon - Back To The Life
Robbers on High Street - A Night At Star Castle

Here's an oldie from the ol' sketchbook, but with some new colours. This little doodle might definitely be the start of something interesting... stay tuned.

Brian F. of Bottomless Pop has recorded an acoustic version of the Transformers theme song. It's so awesome, and yet so horribly, horribly nerdy.

And in completely unrelated news, the Leafs have just traded for Brian Leetch. I'm trying not to get too excited about their playoff hopes just yet...

First off, I want to thank all the people who wrote in and let me know what they think about the Bitpass comics. I'm a little busy these days, but I intend to reply to all your emails as soon as I can (there's really not all that many, so I don't really have a good excuse not to).

I know some of you might not agree with charging for online content, but I think I'm going to press on and keep charging for some of the self-contained stories. Perhaps I'm being delusional, but some people believe that this model can actually work, and I want to help push the micropayment model (and perhaps removing the mentality of "all content on the web should be free") forward as far as it can possibly go.

I'm currently working on finishing another short story, and I'll be filling in some journal strips from the last few days of February, so if you'll excuse me, there's more drawing to be done.

You can now purchase the latest issue of Don't Touch Me online. You're probably already sick of me burbling on about how much I like this comic, so I won't bore you any further. Go and check it out for yourself.

Phil Craven has started up a little improv comic called Snip. It's looking good so far, and I'm quietly hoping that it'll fill the void of the insanity that was Choose Your Own Carl (good grief, has it really been six years since that was started?).

I might've mentioned this already, but there are two short stories up for your reading pleasure today. Enjoy.

How the hell did a week slip by without me updating the journal? I feel like things are spiralling rapidly out of my control... At any rate, coming this Monday:

Elsewhere: Drew Weing is back at it again, this time with Little Trees, a new weekly comic; Rose Crowe is also back with more strips of The Girl In Black; And artbomb has a new comic up by Susannah Breslin. It's about bukkake though, so it might not be entirely safe for work.

So the comic jam last night was lots of fun, and the latest issue of Don't Touch Me is kickass good. Go and bug Dave to get Paypal set up on the site for the latest issue, because we want instant gratification now, dammit!

It's still under construction, but go check out Rad Sechrist's site for his great first installment of Beneath The Leaves. And while you're at it, take a look at Chris Appelhans' updated Frank and Frank page, now with more comic goodness.

If comics ain't your thing, you can always enjoy these photos of the Flight gang at APE (there's also a whole bunch more over here). Now I'm definitely kicking myself for not finding a way to get out there...

Real comic content coming soon. I swear. This is not a recording.

Hope has just posted to her site a comic called Sex Rainbow, an experimental Flash comic featuring, well, sex. It requires a Bitpass account to view it, but it's worth every last penny.

Local boys James Schellenberg, Guy Leshinski and Jim Munroe have started up a little site called The Cultural Gutter, which is devoted to the discussion of science-fiction, comics and videogames. Geeky triumvirate indeed.

Things that I've been listening to lately (huzzah for music over the magic of the inter-web):

Kupek - Worry Song
The Mountain Goats - Palmcorder Yajna
Preston School of Industry - Caught In The Rain
Moonbabies - Sun A.M.

...and today is Hockey Day in Canada, so if you'll excuse me, there's something like nine hours of hockey that has to be watched.

Flight posters. You know you want one. And it makes me just a little bit bitter that I can't afford to make the trip down to APE.

If any of you kids happen to be in the Toronto area on the 24th (that's this coming Tuesday), you should really swing by the release party for the latest issue of Don't Touch Me, which is being held at the Cameron House, from 7:30 to 10 PM.

The comic boasts stories by some amazing local talent, including the likes of Jason Turner, Brett Lamb, Dave Lapp, Benjamin Rivers, and many more... oh yeah, and some chump named Kean. Here are the full details on the comic and its release.

Hope to see some of you there. And if you buy me a beer, I'll be your new best friend.

Here's some reading for all y'all before I get back to the drawing table:

How many cartoonists do you think will read this Onion article, and sadly see altogether too much of themselves in it? I certainly do.

And a fine little Scream Talking entry by Mr. Warren Ellis, whose site is currently featuring an assortment of online musical content -- well worth checking out (I've happily discovered a few new tunes for the MP3 player already. I'm especially digging Bitshifter), and it's certainly nice to see Mal getting mentioned somewhere in that mess of people also.

If you're in the San Francisco area and are going to the Alternative Press Expo this coming weekend, be sure to swing by the Flight table and meet some of the talented kids that will be contributing stories to the book. They'll also be hawking some very cool posters and T-shirts and stuff. Tell 'em Kean sent ya, and maybe they won't rough you up too much (or moreso, I can never remember which is which).

As for me, I swear that comics are coming soon. In the meantime, check out Koko Be Good, by one of those aforementioned talented kids, Jen Wang.

"Where has Kean gone?" is what you're probably wondering. It's a good question, but I don't really have any good answers. My brain has completely abandoned me, and I feel utterly defeated. I've been drawing, but it's been pretty directionless. I might try to cobble together a few journal comics out of what's salvagable, but don't hold your breath.

On the upside, I'll probably be posting Bitpass versions of Home and Guardian (two comics I might have mentioned in passing) in early March.

And here's hoping that Les will start updating his site again some day soon. 'Cause you know there aren't nearly enough crazy comic artists writing about their own lives.

Oh yeah, and I've been neglecting that song of the week thing, haven't I? So here's Thea Gilmore's "Rags and Bones."

My apologies, but the next couple of comics will be coming out of chronological order. Mostly because I just really wanted to get today's comic off my chest. If perhaps you want a little more details about The Wrens' show itself, you can always check out pics and a review over at chromewaves.net. We all know I don't write good.

It looks like David Twomey is back updating his comic (daily even!), so go check it out. I find it extraordinarily creepy that he drew a toilet comic on the exact same day that I drew mine. And don't forget to check out his xmas special. Yeah, it's a month late, but dammit -- it has monkeys in it.

Here's an article with some preview pages from Flight up at Comic Book Resources.

The obligatory (and slightly inebriated) birthday update. No comics, but I did have a lot of fun yesterday. Check back soon for some comical goodness. In the meantime, enjoy Pilot, by The Notwist.

No, I am not dead. Yes, my Flight comic is finished. No, I don't have anything for the journal because I'm bloody tired. Yes, I really am enjoying Air's latest album. Yes, it is in fact my birthday tomorrow. Yes, I am finally going to get some sleep.

And I can't believe I haven't mentioned Hope's site on this here front page yet. Check it out, yo.

I'm serious. There's nothing to see here. Why don't you go to more interesting places instead, like checking out Susannah Breslin's latest short story, or maybe play some video games instead?

Work work work. Ach. It's been snowing non-stop here for the past two days now. I was going to pop my head into the Comic Jam for an hour or so, but with this kind of weather... forget it. I'm staying at home, where's it's nice and warm and, well, un-blizzardy.

Kinda wish I had more time to dig through Everyday Matters, a very interesting-looking art blog (which I discovered via The Morning News), but it'll have to wait. Right now there are comics that are clamouring for my attention.

Yeah, I'm afraid so. No new comics for a little while longer. Sorry. I really need to buckle down and finish this damn Flight comic. Or else Kazu will have my head on a pike.

Looking out my window at the endless fields of white, I'm beginning to wonder if it's ever going to stop snowing.

*gasp* Could it be? An update to the Journal Comic Jam?

While we're on the subject of journal comics, did I forget to mention that Erika Moen now has A Super-Girly Top-Secret Comic Diary updating weekly over at girlamatic.com? Well, she does. And it's good.

So it's Chinese New Year today (or Lunar New Year for all you politically correct people out there). Gong Hei Fat Choi and all that. As always, you can click on the image of the monkey for some full-sized monkey business.

I was surfing through the McSweeney's website yesterday, and I came across these two stories that I found to be quite entertaining: My DJ and Popular Children's Fairy Tales Reimagined Using Members of My Family.

...and here's some video too, while I'm at it: a preview of Pixar's latest short, and Hey Ya, Charlie Brown!

So after all my procrastination, I've finally brought this site into the 1990s. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the PHP code for the journal archives, so there won't be any radical design changes around here for a little while longer.

I chucked out some of the horribly bad stuff in the Pictures section, and gave the other pages some much-needed overhauls. I even decided to give my journal a permanent title (even though it's not a very creative one at that). What I found amazing as I was poking through all the old comics was the fact that I could barely draw just over a year ago (did anyone actually see the anatomical mess that was Four Flies?). Just goes to show you that with a little effort, any lobotomized monkey can draw a half-decent comic or two.

There are actually two slightly different versions of today's new comic, bottle up and explode! -- one with lyrics, and one without. I personally prefer the text version, but I'll let you decide.

Don't forget to hit "play" on the plugin when the page loads!

Part two of Scott McCloud's The Right Number is up now. Check it out -- it's damn good.

So, like, there's not going to be a series of music comics. Just one. Mostly because this comic is already 4 pages long and still growing, so I figure I'll just get it done, and then maybe I can get back to working on my Flight comic (yeah, I'm still not done that one either).

I suck. However, these people do not.

Okay, so here's the deal: I've decided to do a couple of journal comics in the vein of some of my previous (and copyright infringing) music comics. The thing is, it's taking a little bit longer than I expected to get everything organized, so please bear with me for a few more days.

I've been really enjoying Teaching Baby Paranoia's recent story arc. Perhaps because it is about a subject that I am particularly interested in?

No updates for the next couple of days. Listen to British Sea Power covering "Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed" instead. It's fun. (found via 6 Music)

As indicated by the latest comic, here's one of my new musical discoveries. Everybody's Changing, by Keane. I have to admit to giving them a listen the first time round for the most obvious reason, but I really do like them for their music. Really.

I know it must be bad luck or something to draw a comic about something that happened last year, but I sure had fun doing it.

Updates will continue to be sporadic for the next couple of weeks as I try to get my act together again.

Happy New Year, everyone.

I woke up far too early this morning, but here are a few photos from today. Probably in the new year, I'll get round to properly archiving some of the photos. And maybe at the same time, I'll actually update the look of this site and dump some of the older (read: crappy) material that's been lurking about.

In the meantime, don't expect too many comics in the coming days... I might add a comic or two as a sort of "year in review" kind of thing, but that's about it for me this year.

Want a preview for Flight? Derek Kirk Kim is serializing his story online right now. Catch it while you can!

Nothing makes me happier when I find new music. This is what I've been listening to for the past little while.

Read A Softer World. Support A Softer World. Because it is beautiful in ways that you are not.

Yup, it's that time of year again.

Looking at the two journal entries that are up today on the main page (Nov. 29 and Dec. 7), I'm beginning to notice a strange connection between the two when they're right on the same page together.

But then again, what do I know? This is coming from someone who has recently beat his brain into submission. Analyzing one's own work is for chumps.

Okay, me no talk now. Back to work.

I like this song. That is all.

Every single thing that I am drawing at the moment looks like utter crap. I must break out of this slump if I'm to get my comic done in time! So instead of reading about my inane life, go look at some pictures instead.

And why not check out a new/old comic by Dan Hernandez while you're at it? I also got around to reading Fleep (by Jason Shiga), and it's a very clever comic, in that geekily math sort of way. I loved it.

Kazu's offering full-colour prints of his Copper comics! I... need... more... money...

All work and no sleep make Kean go something something...

Oooh look, just in time for the holidays!

Sorry, but I won't be drawing any new comics for at least the first half of this week. However, I've almost finished the first of my two short stories, and I seem to be spending the rest of my time on the Flight message boards. Why not drop in and take a look at some of the pretty pictures there?

And I'd like to wish the mantastic John A. a speedy recovery. Concussions suck.

The timing in the latest strip of Bob The Angry Flower is simply perfect.

Yeah, I'm falling behind again with the journal. What else is new? All I got right now is this doodle that I did about a month ago. That's it.

While I was drawing the comic for the 10th, I was hit by sudden Merman flashbacks. I can't believe that that comic is a year old already (look at how crude some of that art is)! Maybe I should get round to finishing it one of these days...

So I should probably mention this comic thing that I've (supposedly) been working on lately -- it's a story for Flight Volume One, which we're shooting for release at next year's Alternative Press Expo in February. It's going to be 150-200 pages in length, and features some outstanding artists that are much much much better than I am (I suspect I'm there to bring the talent level of the anthology down by a notch or six).

So go take a look at the Flight webpage, or come hang out on the Flight message board.

These little comics are just so freakin' adorable. Go check out the rest of Chris Appelhans' art.

I'd just like to thank Kazu for helping me out by temporarily hosting some of my files while I try to sort out my bandwidth issues after getting simply hammered with traffic this week. And while I'm linking to people, why don't you check out a couple of new comics?

- Haiku 5-7-5, a new webcomic by the fantastic Enrico Casarosa.

- Long Tail Kitty: Heaven by Lark Pien is one of the cutest, most moving comics I've read on the web for awhile now (but you'll need a membership with Modern Tales to be able to read it).

And some bad news: Until I get the two comics that I'm currently working on completely finished (which won't be until December), I will not be updating the journal over the weekends.

Oh, I just can't wait to see what people come up with for this.

Spent far too much time shuffling the photos from this comic to a temporary server in an effort to curb the insane amount of traffic that's been flowing through here for the past couple of days...

Two new comics today. Check 'em out. Please?

And news of this made me sad.

I've been boingboinged!

November is upon us, and I decided to go back to the old blue colour scheme; I've certainly been feeling it lately.

Today's entry is a hefty one. It's mostly photos and a couple of sketches from my trip to New York earlier this month. It's also a work in progress -- I might add in a couple of little doodles about the True Porn release party when I find the time for it.

I won't be updating the journal this weekend, but check back on Monday, as I'll be posting some new comics up to this site (and I don't just mean the journal comics either).

Ugh. Home from my first Toronto Comic Jam, and I'm beat. It was lots of fun, and I met all sorts of new and interesting people, which I'm sure I'll babble on about at a later date, but for now, here's a new comic, and I'm now off to my comfy bed.

Received some very bad news yesterday night -- Neil B. has discontinued his website (both NeilComics.com and Imitation of Life) due to personal reasons. His comics were truly something special, and I'll certainly miss having him around. Best of luck to you, Neil.

And today is also the final day of the guest artists (with the exception of a few stragglers that might pop in later on down the road). I'd like to personally thank each and every one of them for taking the time to contribute some outstanding comics and entertaining the hell out of all of us. Why don't you go back and read them again from the beginning, and check out some of their sites while you're at it?

Regular updates will resume tomorrow. I guess that means I'll have to get off my ass and draw something...

Aaaagh. I'm going to push back the guest fortnight by one more day, because I'm supposed to be providing the art for a guest strip as well -- and I haven't finished it yet! Hey, it's my site, I can do whatever I want, right?

But in the meantime, here's a double serving of guest comics!

Is my life imitating art?

(Former?) Reverse Cowgirl Susannah Breslin has just released a collection of short stories in dead tree format. Cool.

And I contributed a panel to Brian F.'s ongoing jam comic, when I really should be trying to catch up on my own comics. But I have a weakness for pirates. It's like my Kryptonite. Uh, just check out the jam.

You wanted it? You got it. A banner for The Journal Comic Jam.

...and a couple more banners for my own site are up on the links page.

Updated the journal archive page so you can see who's up next in the coming days. Hope you're all enjoying the guest strips... and hopefully, you're discovering new comics at the same time.

I'm finally back in Toronto, and tired as all hell. I'm gonna go into full hermit mode for the next couple of days, in order to get caught up on all my emails and job stuff. Luckily, I can hide behind the guest artists for a little while longer...

I also decided to use the full-sized version of Kazu's guest comic, as well as clearing up David's little joke on my behalf.

Back from New York. Currently in Ottawa for (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend. I'm making this update remotely, on a foreign computer, so my apologies for the haphazard nature of the first couple of guest strips -- I'll clean things up as soon as I get back home for sure.

In the meantime, I'm off for some turkey. Enjoy the guest comics in the coming weeks!

An impromptu decision has been made. Road trip! I'll be off to New York for a couple of days. Hopefully, I'll be able to make it to the True Porn release party on the 7th at Toys in Babeland (94 Rivington St., the shindig is on from 7-9 PM). If you're in the area, stop by, say hi, and buy some comics (or maybe some other things, I won't tell).

So I obviously won't be answering my email or updating the site for the next couple of days.

Ciao!

No new comics from me today, but Derek Kirk Kim has been getting back to posting new comics on his site. It's made me all giggly like a schoolgirl.

In case you're thinking to yourself, "who is this M@B fella?" you might want to check out his website. Plenty of good reading there.

Today is election day! Time to cast your vote!

Kean tired. Kean not slept for days. Kean working hard on comicky goodness. Journal comics come soon. Here links to make reader happy:

- A softer world.
- Happy Tree Friends
- the Creatures in my Head

Okay, I think I might be starting to get back on track, comicwise. I even updated the Journal Comic Jam!

Coming in October, there'll be two weeks of guest comics contributing to Melodrama Theatre, featuring some of my favourite writers and artists, so stick around, it's gonna be a blast!

Q: Why no updates, you lazy slackass?

A: Go check out my guest strip for Chris Bishop's webcomic, Her!

I'm currently working on some large comicky projects which are sucking up all my free time. If you're good, I might post up some design sketches and stuff one of these days.

But I gots me a couple of daily strips coming, and something bigger (that'll be regularly updating) coming over that there horizon...

This short story is an evolution of the art style that I've been tinkering with in some of my other short stories. However, you'll need to subscribe to Modern Tales to access the comic. It's only $2.95/month, or $29.95/year, and you'll get full access to their archives, which includes some pretty damn good webcomics.

And don't worry, I'm not going to charge a dime for the journal and the other short stories on this site. But hey, a guy's gotta eat from time to time, ya know?

Ugh. A massive car problem yesterday. Could be a transmission problem. I might be very broke soon.

In other news, some art from a couple of my comics will be featured in an upcoming documentary, Adventures Into Digital Comics. Should be interesting.

Hey you! What are you doing here, reading comics at this lousy website? Go check out Gran'ma Evelyn's Old-Fashioned Pudding Treats® Wrestling Theatre for some good readin' (and evil, other-dimensional Abe Lincolns... oh, and I contributed another strip to it, too).

I decided to get round to changing that MP3 thing. Here's some Spoon for ya.

A big update to the Journal Comic Jam today.

You're probably wondering "why the hell isn't this slack-ass updating his website?" Well, with the power out for most of the weekend, it threw all my plans out of whack (including some most important job-related things), and I'm only now starting to get caught up on everything. What can I say? I'm horribly inefficient with my time.

[15/08/03] - Power outage!

So Ontario and most of the northeast US was without power yesterday. I was about to head downtown in the afternoon, but luckily I checked the radio before I got on the road, and decided to stay at home, thus avoiding the traffic chaos. Things here have been relatively calm -- although, I heard reports of looting going on in my old neighbourhood in Ottawa, which would've made for a few interesting comics...

I managed to finish two more strips before the sun set completely (there really wasn't much else to do to pass the time). Inking by candlelight is a real bitch. We got power back at around 11 PM last night, and here's hoping that the rest of the affected areas come back up quickly and without a hitch. Internet access has been down for a lot longer, though.

Stay safe, kids.

Artists who have sent me images for the JCJ, sit tight -- I'll get round to updating the jam soon.

3 AM, and I'm surfing through my usual internet haunts. Listening to Audio Traffic, an indie band based out of Hong Kong, who I've just discovered. They're quite good. Give some of their stuff a listen (thanks, Yan).

Guh? Apparently, people are writing about me. What's up with that?

...And the next time I get the bright idea to draw an infinite canvas journal entry, someone please slap some sense into me before I start drawing.

Yeah, I'm throwing out comics in non-sequential order. Tough. But the strip for July 30 will be worth the wait, I promise.

Yeah, yeah, I know: I'm really behind on the comics. They're coming. Really they are. I'll be trying to fill in the missing strips from July, so you might see some out-of order comics for a little while.

Lately, I've been reading Dumped, by Andi Watson (you can read an exclusive online comic of his over at artbomb.net), and Glutter -- a blog that really makes me wish I was old enough to fully appreciate the unique culture of Hong Kong as I was growing up there.

Between playing over eight hours of volleyball, and running around town sending off various contracts, agreements, and job applications over the past several days, I haven't had too much time to work on comics, I'm afraid. I kinda feel bad, so here's page 3 of that robot comic I really should have finished by now, but haven't.

I'm also going to the big whoo-ha that The Rolling Stones are throwing in Toronto, so I'll be away from the comic thing even longer than I'd hoped.

Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to collapse in my bed now.

Just when you thought it was safe... New additions to the Journal Comic Jam!

No comics lately, because I've been busy in my attempts to find gainful employment, and it's not very interesting or even remotely funny. So you're not missing much. But for those who have asked, I'm alive and well, thanks. In the meantime, go play with some bubblewrap, or better yet, check out Jason Turner's extremely cool comics, and send the boy an email telling him I said hi!

An update to the now- irregularly updated MP3 thing.

You can now purchase a copy of True Porn online, an anthology that contains a story of mine, amongst some other stories drawn by more talented artists.

I am in a fine mood to get utterly fucking smashed these days. If you ever feel like keeping me company in the bars, just let me know.

Yes, I am a fuck up. And I'm very sorry.

Here are some things I've been listening to lately, and a couple of things that I've read recently.

Broken. Listen.

We're finally movin' servers! Hopefully, this'll be painless for you the reader, but it's really quite a relief for me to be moving on to a (presumably) more stable environment after a rather painful past couple of months.

I also added the guest strips (including an alternate version of Mekka's comic) to the sketchbook section of this site.

Yes, I know I posted two strips for Saturday. Yes, I know I could've tied the two strips into one bigger comic. But I left them separate because (a.) nothing interesting happened on Sunday, and (b.) I couldn't think of a clever segue from the first comic to the second one. So there.

Eric of Mekka Blue will be running guest strips for the next couple of weeks, and I contributed a strip for the July 6th entry. Go here to check out the rest of the guest strips.

Scott McCloud has posted part one of his online graphic novella, The Right Number, featuring his much-talked about micropayments system. It only costs you a quarter, and it's worth your time to give it a read!

Susannah Breslin of The Reverse Cowgirl's Blog is letting her readers write entries for her blog all week long. I've contributed a lengthy comic/blog post about schoolgirl uniform fetishes, and you can check it out by clicking here.

And Happy Canada Day everyone!

Clearing up the backlog of journal strips that were half written or drawn. Entries for the 23rd and 25th are now up in the archives. I also got around to updating the MP3 of the week, thanks to Andrew and Les for turning me on to even more new music.

Sorry about the mess for the past couple of days -- the site and my email have been down again, due to more account problems. What else is new? Until I move over to my new server next month, use this email address.

And there have been a few more new faces added to the comic jam.