Farewell to Starslip

I just read the final Starslip comic today. Most of you shouldn’t need me to tell you about Starslip (aka Starshift Crisis or Starslip Crisis), the popular sci-fi comedy webcomic which has been running for seven years.

In case you’re not familiar with the comic, Starslip told the story of Memnon Vanderbeam, a foppish art curator turned space captain, and his crew of engineers, ex-pirates, robots, aliens, and giant insects. They traveled the galaxy spreading culture during times of peace or joining space battles in times of war. I did mention that the story takes place in the distant future, didn’t I?
I have a lot of fond memories of Starslip. Like the time I broke down and bought a plush Jinxlet from the Starslip store (Dr. Snuggleton is right here with me as I write this blog).

Or the time Starslip author Kris Straub sent me an autograph from PAX East (I couldn’t go because of work. Stupid gainful employment).

But I think that the time Starslip meant the most to me was in the summer of 2008. Ever since I graduated college, I’ve had a standing summer job teaching art classes for kids and teens. In July, we assemble a gallery of the students work and display it at Duquesne University. It’s always a challenge to put the gallery together while teaching the classes, but in 2008 we had a new obstacle. The university had turned its gallery space into offices. Other suitable spaces were under construction, so they gave our art gallery a temporary place in the second floor lobby. It was a difficult transition. Most of the staff, including myself, put in a lot of extra hours to make the necessary adjustments. As the most senior member, I was also managing the staff, tying up lose ends, getting three-to-five hours of sleep each night, and becoming increasingly irritated with the whole situation.

But I still found time to read Startslip each morning.

As luck would have it, Starslip was telling a story about Memnon Vanderbeam setting up an art exhibition. All of the artwork disappeared over night and Memnon and his crew had to track it down and re-assemble the exhibition in the few hours before the museum opened. I can’t stress how perfect the timing was. We’ve all had occasions when pop culture stories match up with events in our own lives, but they’re usually out of sync with us by a few weeks or months. I was reading this story exactly as these things were happening to me. And I found myself thinking, “If a clown like Vanderbeam can fix his gallery, then clever folks like us can get our gallery put together.” And we did.

In all fairness, we would have fixed our problems without Starslip cheering me on. But I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much.

So today we say goodbye to a saga that has meant so much to so many people. Thanks to Mr. Straub for giving us Starslip. If nothing else, it could be quite a pick-me-up.

And thank goodness I was able to squeeze a Jinxlet into the last Easter Egg Gallery. I would have been disappointed if I had missed my chance to do that.

 -Marj
lepusstudios.com

Mega Projects

Hey, do you like the new main page? I'm trying to make the site a little more friendly for new readers by putting the comics on the front page too. The latest Draconis Wicked will take over the home page on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Urban Underbrush appears on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I've been a lot of places lately, but mostly places on the internet. In the past few months, I've drawn guest comics for Edmund Finney's Quest to Find the Meaning of Life and Bearmageddon.

But my biggest guest appearance is just getting started.

I've been working on a short comic for SuperFogeys Origins. For anyone not familiar with what that arrangement of words means, SuperFogeys is a webcomic about retired super heroes and villains. Their adventures run on Mondays and Wednesdays. On Friday, readers are treated to "origin stories," tales of the heroes back in their heyday. Here's the twist: while the Monday/Wednesday episodes are always written by Brock Heasley and drawn by Marc Lapierre, each origin story is drawn by a different guest artist. It's a nice touch that makes each origin seem like someone's memory, influenced by recollection and point of view.

Now it's my turn. I'm drawing the story of Mega Matt, a powerless "hero" who is a bit of a klutz. I'm working from Brock's script, which has been a bit of a challenge. It's a fun, goofy story, but it may be a bit intense for some of the younger readers.

I'd love to tell you a little bit about my experiences drawing this crazy thing, but I don't want to give anything away just yet. I guess you'll have to come back when the story's over. "SuperFogeys Origins: Mega Matt and the Ballad of the O'Hara Family" will run on Fridays for the next five weeks. It's a crazy ride and I hope you'll take it.

-Marj

Axe Cop Volume Three and the Truth About Box Turtles

Part One: Axe Cop Volume Three
I just got my copy of Axe Cop Volume Three and it is the best Axe Cop book yet.

Axe Cop, as I'm sure you recall, is the story of a hardcore, super-powered police officer. The stories are written / play-acted by a seven-year-old boy (Malachai Nicolle), then distilled and drawn by his adult brother (Ethan Nicolle.)

Volume Three includes some of my favorite stories, including the Dr. McNinja crossover, The Power of Christmas, tons of extras, and an introduction that is worth the price of admission. Also included is a wide variety of short comics and pin-ups from amazing artists like Doug TenNaple, Kris Straub, Jason Brubaker, and Rob Schrab.

And if that wasn't enough I GOT TO DRAW A PAGE OF IT! The guest comic, "Does Axe Cop Play Video Games," was made by me. It's based on various childhood stories that my brother, two sisters and I used to invent and act out. (This is actually the first time I gave credit to my siblings as part of the inspiration for that comic. It's probably one more credit than they would have wanted.)


I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to appear in a book like this. It feels like a greater honor than my silly comics and I deserve.

Part Two: The Truth About Box Turtles
In a very popular Axe Cop interview, Malachai launches into a discussion about how turtles would join in a fight:

" I don’t know how the turtles would help but I think they would get in their shell then tell a guy with a golf club to bang them into the grizzly bears. Wait... how come they call a box turtle a box turtle?  My dad thinks it’s because they are good boxers.  The sea turtles couldn’t really help, but the snapping turtles could snap at them like weapons. (trails off into talking about every kind of turtle...)"

(From MTV's Geek News: http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/03/22/axe-cop-malachai-and-ethan-nicolle-interview/)

Usually, when someone famous asks a question like this, their inbox instantly becomes crammed with hundreds of answers from self-proclaimed experts. The trouble with this (aside from a bursting inbox) is that only one person gets to hear these answers and the rest of us readers are left scratching our heads or doing our own dang research. So, as a thank-you to Malachai for liking my comic, I am going to answer the Box Turtle Question right here for all to see. I will be aided by my lovely assistant and box turtle expert, Noko Noko.

(Here's Noko!)

Box Turtles get their name from the hinge on their plastron (their belly shell.)

(There's that hinge)

That hinge allows part of the shell to fold up over the turtle's head when he withdraws - like the flaps on a box.

(See, he's closing up the opening to protect himself)

Bonus Trivia: Box turtles make great pets, but many of them are endangered animals. Don't collect them from wild. Adopt them from breeders or pet shops instead. But don't release pet turtles either. They can carry diseases that are harmless to pet turtles, but deadly to wild turtles.

Also, box turtles are known for being highly intelligent by reptile standards. (See Figure A.)

(Figure A)

I hope this has answered all of your questions. Now go read Axe Cop.

-Marj
lepusstudios.com

Spring Cleaning 2012

It seems like I feel a need to clean up my website at least once per year. As you can see, I've changed some colors, removed/reduced some patterns, and removed some useless code so the site will load more efficiently (you probably can't see that last part.)

Actually, I've was pretty happy with the old design. Of course, I needed to rearrange some buttons and add a link to my new Deviant ART account. What pushed me over the edge was a something I found in my documents folder. Apparently, I had archived an old version of my site from 2010. It ain't pretty




 (Eep.)

Sure, some of the pieces aren't bad on their own and you can sort of see how this mess evolved into the current version. But the amount of clutter... How did I not notice all the clutter? And if I was blind to the clutter back then, how do I know I'm not blind to terrible amounts of clutter right now? So, with paranoia as my guide, gave the site a little overhaul. It's now leaner and cleaner than ever before.

I may be making some minor tweaks as the new site settles in, but, for the most part, you can just enjoy the new site...at least until next year...Maybe.

-Marj

Urban Underbrush Readers' Poll Results

A few weeks ago, many of you took part in the Urban Underbrush Readers’ Poll to share what you liked (or didn’t like) about the comic. Now, I’m giving you the results. Here are the answers you voted for, ranked by popularity. I’ve also included some commentary.


1. Who’s your favorite character?

First Place: Maxwell (40%)
Second Place: Dynamite & Detonator / Vincent / Scatter (15% each)
Third Place: Leslie (10%)
Fourth Place: Cassidy (5%)

I’m not surprised that Max is the favorite. He’s a nice guy who gets the best pop culture jokes. I’m glad that Dynamite and Detonator made a decent showing since they often carry the stories. Vincent was a surprise. He’s so quiet I was wondering if you even noticed him. The rest of the cast did about as well as I expected.

2. Which settings would you like to see?

First Place: House and Roof Garden (45%)
Second Place: City (40%)
Third Place: Visit other places (15%)

Actually, these results reflect how often I intended to use these settings anyway. About 50% to 60% of the story will take place in the house, 40% in the rest of the city and 15% in some other locations.

3. Explosions?

First Place: There are enough explosions (60%)
Second Place: We need more explosions (40%)

Everyone likes a good explosion, but you guys clearly understand that they probably can’t happen all the time. Urban Underbrush has continuity. It’s not the kind of cartoon where everything falls apart one week, and then it’s inexplicably fine the next week. Plus, the characters make a big deal over how important their home is. So I can’t be blasting pieces off of it every other week. I do promise to blow things up whenever I can get away with it.

Not surprisingly, no one voted for fewer explosions.

4. Human Stories or Animal Stories?

First Place: Mix (90%)
Second Place: humans only/animals only (5% each)

I’ve always liked stories with both animal and human characters interacting. I really don’t see the point in keeping them apart.


5. Romance Stories

First Place: Keep doing what you’re doing. (45%)
Second Place: More stories where Vincent and Leslie do couple things. (25%)
Third Place: Vincent and Leslie are creepy. Make someone else hook up with someone. (20%)
Fourth Place: Keep it to a minimum. (10%)

I kind of screwed up this question. That line about Vincent and Leslie being creepy was based on something a friend of mine had said about my comics many years ago. I thought it would be funny to include it in the survey. But many of you like seeing Vincent and Leslie together but ALSO want to see other characters hook up, so I couldn’t get an honest answer from that line of questioning.

Most of you seem interested in some light romance stories. Not a lot of people flat-out objected to them anyway.

6. Favorite Chapter?

First Place: Ch 5 - Bicycle Ride (42%)
Second Place: Ch 2 - Storage Problems/Ch 4 - Grass Roots History (16% each)
Third Place: Ch 1 - Rabbits Move In (11%)
Fourth Place: Ch 6/ Ch7/ “I haven’t read all the chapters” (5% each)
Fifth Place: Ch 3 - House Warming Party (0%)

I hope to do more wacky stories like Chapter 5. It’s easier to write this kind of story now that we’ve settled in and met everyone.

I’m not surprised that Chapter 3 received the fewest votes. It’s the shortest, most uneventful chapter. Its only real function is to transition into Chapter 4. Some of the individual comic strips are pretty funny, but, as a whole, it can’t compete with the longer stories.


7. How often do you read Urban Underbrush?

First Place: “I check every update” (75%)
Second Place: “I check every few weeks” (25%)

My sponsors should be glad to hear this.

8. Least Favorite Character

First Place: “ I can’t answer this” (40%)
Second Place: Caius / Blair (20% each)
Third Place: Clive (10%)
Fourth Place: Cassidy / Scatter (5% each)

I’m genuinely surprised to learn that people don’t like jerks. That’s not sarcasm. I honestly thought people loved selfish, cynical, mean characters in cartoons.

I’m not planning on making any changes based on these results. The least favorite characters only “won” by a small margin. Not enough of a negative reaction to cut them or change them. Besides, we’d have a pretty boring story with no antagonists.

Oddly, Clayton and Slasher are the only characters who received no votes for “Favorite” or “Least Favorite.” Cassidy and Scatter are the only characters who received votes for both “Favorite” and “Least Favorite.”

So there you have it.  That’s what people think of Urban Underbrush (as much as we can trust an internet survey.) My thanks to everyone who took the time to share their opinions. Maybe next time, I’ll give you a free wallpaper or something.

-Marj

Moving Day

Moving is always a chore. Of course, I wasn't physically moving last week. I was moving my entire website to a new, improved and more affordable web server. Don't get me wrong, it was still a chore. Of course, I may have made the jump more complicated than it needed to be. Perhaps the rest of you can learn from my errors.

My first mistake was doing too much research. The web resources I found always included some worst-case-scenario stories about web hosts who punished customers for leaving. Apparently, in the 90's, hosts would often register a site in their own name (instead of in the customer's name) so if the customer tried to leave he was told that he could not continue using the same domain name and address unless he stayed with his current provider. These days, a grudging host will just bury the transfer directions and/or stall on sending the necessary transfer codes. It turns out that my old host was very accommodating when I asked for transfer codes and instructions. Unfortunately, my research had put me so on edge that when I finally contacted tech support my help requests sounded like I was making demands in a hostage situation. Sorry, tech support.

Time was my other enemy. I had planned on making the move two weeks before my old contract expired. This way, I wouldn't be paying for two hosts at once for very long, but if something went wrong, I'd still have some time to make adjustments. It was almost a perfect plan, but a personal crisis or two made me push the move back for a week. It turns out that, while you can change servers in a few hours, it is currently impossible to transfer a domain name in less than a week, so if your domain expires in less than a week, you need to renew for the year before you are even allowed to begin the transfer process. Sigh.

All's well that ends well. I'm set up on the new server, which has shown little or no signs of disappointing me. You readers probably won't notice the change, but you might find the site a little faster, more reliable and easier to find on search engines. Keep me posted.

-Marj

A Quest for Freedom

As a cartoonist, I’m the kind of person who spends a lot of time stepping in and out of fantasy worlds. So it’s important that I try to keep up with world events as much as I can. It keeps me from becoming too disconnected. Still, I was amazed when I discovered Comic Creators for Freedom last winter (back when they were still “Comic Creators Alliance”). Comic Creators for Freedom [www.comiccreatorsforfreedom.com] unites cartoonists to help raise awareness and support for the fight against human trafficking – the buying and selling of human beings. I wasn’t surprised to learn that such a charity existed. I was surprised to learn how necessary it was. Up until then, I had thought of slavery as something from the past, something that may still exist on a smattering of small countries in distant parts of the world. Wrong. There is an estimated 27 million people being kept as slaves in the world today.* Even in industrialized countries, like here in American, humans are bought and sold. Even children and young girls are being kidnapped off the streets or from school bus stops. They are ripped from their families and abused in every way imaginable.

January 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day (in the United States) and Comic Creators for Freedom is starting their annual donations drive. This year, 127 different cartoonists have contributed a drawing of one of their female characters. These drawings have been assembled into one super drawing. Many popular webcomics have joined in this year, including Girls with Slingshots, The Dreamland Chronicles, Kukuburi, Earthsong Saga, Looking for Group, Love and Capes, The Dreamer, and even Draconis Wicked (look for Flight. I haven’t seen it yet, but I think she’s on the right.)

Anyone who donates to CCF can download the image to use as desktop wallpaper. All profits will be split evenly between Gracehaven [www.gracehavenhouse.org] and Love 146 Round Home [love146.org], two groups that help rehabilitate the rescued victims of slavery.

The donations drive will run from January 9th to January 20th so if you want a wallpaper, don’t wait too long.

Please note that the drawing itself does not include any illusions to slavery or other dark themes. It is safe for work and children.

I am honored to be able to take part in this. My deepest thanks to anyone who donates, or even passes the word along.

-Marjorie Rishel

(*facts and statistics courtesy of Comic Creators for Freedom [www.comiccreatorsforfreedom.com])