Cocktail Hour, a webcomic by Scraps

Yes, that’s right, I’ve run away and am floating away in the Gulf of Mexico for 8 days, starting right about now. As such, comment approval may be a little bit slow (but don’t stop leaving them, I promise I’ll check in periodically) and next week’s comics might be creatively delivered. I’ll post something, but the ship’s connection speed might determine whether it’s uploaded per usual or a picture in the blog post. But I’ll post something, I promise.

This vacation is sorely needed and will, hopefully, rejuvenate me (and Todd) for the year ahead–it’s gonna be a busy one! First up, at the end of February is MegaCon and I’ll be there, in Artist Alley at table Yellow #6 (I swear I feel like a food dye everytime I say that). There will hopefully be other convention appearances to announce, but nothing is firm yet so watch this space, as it were. Second, the Year 1 book is very near completion. My hope is to have it for the Con, that’s the goal, but if not, it’ll be available through me or various other spaces. More concrete news when I can give it to you. Oh, and did I mention I’m starting another strip? I am! It’s scheduled to launch after I get back from vacation and will be hosted over at SoulGeek webcomics. More on that when I have a link to share. Finally (or so it would seem), I’ve entered myself into Dimestore Productions Small Press Idol with a project that’s been in my head for about a year and a half. I’ll be sure to post more when the first round goes live and you can see what things come from my head when I start thinking fiction!

So, is that enough? Maybe? Well, that only takes me through the frist half of the year, who knowns what July will bring!

Oh, y’all, I’ve been waiting for months, until I had a copy in my chilly little fingers (cold hands, warm heart… or something like that), and I’m proud to announce my first ever print credit:

Satyr #8 by Main Enterprises features an exclusive 8-page story (no, it’s not online anywhere and no, it won’t be in the Year 1 book, so this is the only place you’ll see it) from yours truly! “of Autos” (aka Racing Cars) offers some insight into my relationships with automobiles. And even though I serious despise drawing vehicles, it was a fun project to do and I look forward to doing more stories for Satyr.

Satyr #8, Cover by Dan Taylor

Now, I have a few copies that I plan to make available for sale at MegaCon and any that are left over I’ll offer here, but if you’re not planning on being at MegaCon or you want your copy sooner, Jim and Main Enterprises will be happy to sell you one (or more!). There’s also some other really fun strips in there but keep in mind it does tend toward the more mature comics reader–there really are naked boobs!

Intrigued? I certainly hope so! I’ve got a new project on the horizon and, frankly, it could use your help.

Kickstarter.com (in case you’re not familiar with it) is a site that allows creators of various sorts to propose a project, set a fundraising goal and accept the pledges of backers for a certain period of time to, hopefully, fund the project so that it can become a reality. If the fund goal isn’t reached, no one pays a thing, but if the fund goal IS reached, the pledges are collected (via Amazon Payments) and transferred to the creator who can begin (or continue) work on their project.Kickstarter is BIG into rewards, so each pledge level comes with some sort of thank-you involved.

What to Feed Your Raiding Party is accepting pledges for the next 2 months. What it is, is half comic book, half cookbook, written with a definite slant towards gamers, geeks and lovers of our particular type of pop-culture. My goal is to raise enough funds to cover a print run of 250 as well as the time and materials involved in creating the 150-page book (50-75 recipes and 60 or so pages of comics). There are more details over on the project page, including a complete list of rewards that span private project updates to copies of the book to getting a recipe named after you to original art and more.

Obviously, backers willing to pledge any amount are needed but if you can’t do that, consider passing around the link to your friends, posting it on any forums that gamers and geeks hang out on and talk up the project as much as possible–that’s just about as important as money as the more people find out about this project the more chance I have of reaching my goal, being able to start work on the project, get it printed (that’s the big thing!) and have it available for folks to use.

Feedback is always welcome & I hope you like this concept as much as I do! Also, while you’re at Kickstarter, check out some of the very awesome projects over there that you might be interested in being a part of.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/randomactscomics/what-to-feed-your-raiding-party-a-comic-book-cook-0

Have you noticed the comics shop button over there on the sidebar? Have you clicked it? No? Well, whether you’ve got just a few more folks on your gift list unaccounted for or you haven’t even started, head on over to my eCrater store at

http://randomactscomics.ecrater.com

and see if there’s just the thing you were looking for right at your fingertips! In addition to the Year 1 book and some book-exclusive original art, there’s also handmade jewelry (all one of a kind) and my mini martini glasses. So go take a look!

Speaking of original art, almost all of the strips from Year 1 (May 1, 2007, to April 29, 2008) are available for sale. Since it’s going to take a bit of time to add buy buttons to each of those first 90-plus pieces of art, if there’s something you’re interested in, just email the date to randomactscomics@gmail.com and I’ll get right back to you with price and availability (average is $20–a steal!).

And, finally, if anyone is wondering what *I* want for Christmas, well, I’d love a fully-funded status for What to Feed Your Raiding Party. If you’ve read about the project and thought ‘hey, that sounds cool’ or even ‘I’d buy it’ please consider making a pledge this month towards it becoming a reality. There are plently of pledge levels and each comes with it’s own reward. The most popular seems to be the $30 level which includes getting a recipe named after you (or one of your gaming characters or even after a friend or relative who’d find it really cool to be in a cookbook!) but it’s certainly not the only way to go; $7 gets you a pdf copy of the book, $12 a physical copy and $22 an Artist’s edition–it’s like a discounted pre-order on steroids (but without all those negative side effects).