Spike's Cartoons and Whinging

Incoming junkie junk!

I'm really pleased with how this page turned out. All those hours spent watching lurid documentaries about skid row have finally paid off! Now, I can finally enjoy my birthday.

Yup. My birthday. I'm 30, today. Horrible.

Naw, really, I'm not at all bothered. Even with working on the comic, it's been a lovely day. Among my presents was a book straight off of my Amazon Wishlist, The Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square. It arrived anonymously, but whoever you are, I'd like you to know I basically died when I saw what it was. I have a ton of Jan Bondeson's books already and they're uniformly excellent reads; this really made my day. Thank you.

And I wanna thank everyone who's wished me a happy birthday on Twitter and Facebook. You guys are great.

Also, KC is gross.

Two pages of 'em since I last posted, too.

Remember these guys? Hope so.

Also, the cartoonist cameos continue! Kris Straub, who in real life is as sweet as pie and a stand-up kinda dude and is never ever ever seen carrying half-conscious gals around, volunteered for this unflattering depiction. Good for him.

Kris does a whole lot of comics, but my personal favorite this very second is chainsawsuit. Go read it, it's fun.

Also, in case you hadn't noticed: Templar is now a member of Love Shack Comics. If you're into long-format, page-style drama and comedy...And what are you doing here if you're not... You might wanna give its newsbox a quick click-around.

Later!

Toot toot!

Willing victims for this page include KC Green asleep in his own vomit, Scott Bieser with the second panel stink-eye, And Ben Riley, Reiley, and Magnolia Pearl commiseratin' in panel three. More to come!

The comic will be taking a backseat this week, though. Starting tomorrow, I'll be down in Tempe, Arizona for the UAT Tech Forum, where I will be yammering ceaselessly about comics. Come watch me screw up horribly!

And the nice part is, whatever he's telling them, they know he isn't lying!

By the way, a "wet house" is a hostel for the homeless that permits its alcoholic residents to drink on the premises. There was a documentary made about one in 2002 for BBC 4, and you can watch it online here. They're not a popular concept, especially with the kind of people who consider any attempt to ease or relieve the squalor and suffering of chemical dependency explicit societal approval of it. But they prevent emergency room trips, arrests, and beatings/murders. Help to attain sobriety is offered, but not insisted on. It's pretty pragmatic, all things considered.

There are a few in the US, but not many. Understandably, they like to stay under the radar.

PS: had to post this. It's almost over! I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel!

It's almost like a VH1 special, except it didn't take you a decade to forget about 'em!

...

Jackie sort of creeps me out.

So does that storefront. I dunno, maybe it's just me.

But probably not.

Enjoy the new page, guys, and if y'can, come see me tomorrow at the inaugural Windy City Comic Convention! I'll be on the 3:00 - 4:00 panel about HOW TO BE A WEBCOMIC BIGSHOT. I'll be there with John Campbell (Pictures for Sad Children), Justin Pierce (The Nonadventures of Wonderella) and Tony Breed (Finn and Charlie are Hitched). Should be fun!

Chapter four is go.

And suffice to say that part of the reason it's so late in coming ha assured that I will never, ever, ever use IE again.

Ever.

Just a little.

And with that, the third intermission ends. I hope we all learned sumthin'.Mostly about Jakes, Egyptians, and drunks. I'm sure there's a moral in there, somewhere.

Things are startin' t'get just a little bit crazy. Hope you're cool with that.

Next up: Chapter 4. Hold on!

Seriously.

Feeling pretty crappy, guys. I don't think I'll be updating this week.

New comic Monday.

This oughta tide y'over until I get back Monday. If you're going, I'll see ya there! I'll be sharing a table with Dirk Tiede, of "Paradigm Shift." Come say hi!

When I get back, this Intermission wraps up, and Chapter Four BEGINS. Crazy.