Strip 23

Good Monday to all of you!  You know, a while back, I talked about securing a Batman cowl for my gargantuan noggin.  Not kidding – I think it is about 26 1/2 inches.  Only one other person in my graduating class in high school had a larger head.  I know, because out graduation caps had to be specially made with the assistance of circus tent manufacturers.

I kid.  About the circus tent part.  The size of our heads is a fact.

Anyway, moving forward in my effort to create an inappropriate costume for a man of my size, I have finally secured a cape.  Yep.  I now have a cowl, a cape, and the basic bodysuit pieces.  I will probably be making a belt, and I have to find some sort of trunks to go over the suit.  I have some boots, nothing fancy, but they will probably work.

It is all coming together.  Soon, I will don this ridiculous garb and be the laughing stock of the neighborhood.  I believe my family has already disowned me, anticipating the need that will arise.

Oh, well!  See you all on Wednesday!

Strip 22

Again, apologies for posting this in the evening.

You ever have those days when you think that the Devil has declared you public enemy #1?  You know, the ones where you go through some major spiritual assault?  Yeah.  I’ve been feeling it lately.

Still, I have to say the yoke is easy and the burden is light.  I honestly don’t know how people that don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus make it through the rough times.  Yeah, some may say that sounds like a crutch… but, don’t folks who are soul sick with sin, those who are being beaten down with every step, don’t we need a crutch?  He is the great physician, after all.  Seems like a “crutch” can help us out on occasion.

See you all Monday!

Strip 21

Welcome back, faithful Crimson Crewmembers!  (That’s right – I just declared a name for you readers, or, dare I say, fans!)

In today’s strip, I’ve introduced just another thing that the Crimson Scarab has that I don’t – a cell phone!  Seriously.  I don’t own one.  Call me old fashioned, but when I’m out and about, I like to be thought of as “unavailable.”  I used to have a cell phone when I worked about 45 minutes from home.  Driving dark country roads in the middle of the night made it necessary.  Now, though, I work about 10 minutes from home.  Not much of a need for wasting the forty bucks a month. 

Even with the land line, I don’t talk on the phone that much.  In an average year, I talk on the phone maybe 20 times.  In a year.  Yep, not a phone guy.  Email?  Wow, I LOVE email.  I can email a lot.  I don’t get much response, but it doesn’t stop me.  The phone, though… not my favorite of inventions.

I’m quirky that way.  Anyway, the cell phone in a strip – yeah, I had to purposefully aim against making it red.  Seemed overkill.  And, when I decided not to go red, it took me much longer than it should have to decide on the final color – blue.  I’m kinda ashamed at the amount of time I wasted on that decision.

Oh, well.

See you all on Friday!

Strip 20

You know, it just isn’t right.  There is no way I should be having as much fun doing this as I am. 

I’m thrilled to be adding more depth to the world of the Scarab.  Part of that is the gradual introduction of the supporting cast.  As much fun as I’ve had playing around with Dave, I’m really looking forward to revealing more about Conrad.  Not that he will necessarily be appearing anytime soon… I just like being able to put in some foreshadowing.

I really am excited about all the things that are coming down the pike.  Characters that I’ve been familiar with for a while will finally be seen by everyone.  I’m amped about it!

Alright, I gotta get some sleep.  I’ll see all of you on Wednesday!

Strip 19

Thank goodness it is Friday! In the immortal words of Loverboy, everybody’s working for the weekend. That is the attitude of a Friday. Monday? Well, that is better expressed in the philosophy of one Huey Lewis, who uttered the all-too-true line, “I’m takin’ what their givin’, ‘cuz I’m workin’ for a livin’.”

At nearly the 20 strip mark, I’m thinking it really is getting to be time for me to put up a real website. The blog is fine, but I keep thinking that it is a cop out now. I just had the less than enjoyable experience of having that blow up in my face right before I started the strip, and, I’ll admit, I’m a bit gunshy.

I’m going to start working toward the actual website. I’m not announcing it going up tomorrow, but eventually it will be time to put the strip into a more dedicated website with a few simple bells… maybe a whistle or two.

Alright, faithful readers, I’ll catch you on Monday!  Have a blessed weekend!

Strip 18

18 strips in. The six week mark. I’m just completely giddy over that!

So, anyway, it looks like Tobey Maguire will be starring in the next two Spider-Man movies.  I wish I could be more excited about that, but Spider-Man 3 really stunk, and I was kinda hoping they’d just move on with a new cast and director.  I do still think that Tobey Maguire was a great choice to play Peter Parker, but the third film felt like the entire cast was pretty much just phoning it in.

The next two movies will be filmed at the same time, which likely means a more cohesive and epic sorta storyline, that will bridge between the two films.  Could be something special in that.  I hope.

Okay, folks, see ya on Friday!

Strip 17

Howdy folks! I gotta tell you – I’m really, really starting to hate drawing that Teirdot Potatoes poster! I may have to start just cutting and pasting it from strip to strip!

Eh, maybe not. I don’t really hate it. It is a simple fact that if I’m going to have a series of strips in the same environment, I’m going to run into this. Its okay. I’ll deal.

I think I’ve finally figured out exactly why I have been blessed with the job of a night auditor at a hotel. I go in, and I’m all by my lonesome – staff-wise, anyway. I have eight hours to complete my duties. Now, I suppose if I didn’t do my job, soon enough, I’d hear about it, but I know what I have to do, and I do it. Without my even realizing it, this job that God has provided for me has given me a skill (or at least honed the skill) of being a self-starter.

As much as I complain about my job at times (and, I do), I have to admit that the resolve I have to complete my duties with no one standing over me throughout the night has come in very handy with this webcomic. Very quickly, the idea of NOT doing the strip each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday has become foreign to me. Less than six weeks in, and I really can’t see myself just blowing off the strip without an amazingly good reason.

So, thank you, Lord, for a blessing I never knew I needed, but You did.

See you all on Wednesday!

Strip 16

Sorry about how late in the evening I ended up posting this strip.  Not being able to get it posted this morning really Just sapped the momentum from me.  It has confirmed in my mind the need to get a little bit ahead in the strip.  Had I already had this strip cleaned up in Photoshop, colored, and saved, I could have just posted it really quick this morning.  I’ve definitely got to work toward that.  It shouldn’t be all that difficult.  I have a plan that I think will work well, so there shouldn’t be a problem due to weather again after this week.

I saw the movie Enchanted this evening.  I didn’t really want to, but I had it on Netflix, thinking my sister would like it.  Well, it sat at the house for two weeks, until finally, tonight, I popped it in.  It was pretty good.  I’m not gushing over it, but if you haven’t seen it, check it out.  There are even some pretty funny parts.  The apartment cleaning scene tops them all.  I won’t go into it any further than that.  If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about.  If you haven’t… you’ll see.

I’ll see you all Monday!

Strip 15

Welcome to Adventures In Word Balloons!!! I never thought I’d do so many connecting word balloons in one strip. I hope it isn’t too confusing to all of you. It reads okay to me, but I know what I was meaning to do, so that skews my view.

I have actually completed re-lettering the first three strips. I did not do it by hand, because trying to fit my hand-lettering into the space I had wasn’t working. I printed out the lettering, then I attached it to the originals. If I have time this coming weekend, I’ll try to get them scanned in and posted. In doing the work, I also noticed that I drew the Battlin’ Batter’s costume incorrectly in several spots, so I adjusted that as well.

Now, I must discuss the end of civilization as we know it.  The architect of this?  The Fox television network.  First, they brought us The Moment of Truth, a show where people revealed the most horrible secrets about themselves in front of their friends, family, and (apparently) millions of viewers, for paltry sums of money.  People ruined their lives, and the viewers tuned in.  That was the end of common sense.  Fox has now followed that up with the end of creativity.

Last night, flipping through the channels, I stopped for an excruciating five minutes and witnessed the death of creativity.  Yes, I speak of Hole in the Wall.  For those of you blessed enough to have missed this travesty, here it is in a nutshell:  there is a moving wall with an odd shaped hole in it, and people stand in front of a pool and try to contortion their bodies to pass through the hole as the wall goes by them.

Yes, people, this made it to network television.

And, there is NOTHING more to the game.  Seriously.  That’s it.  Fit through the hole, or you end up breaking the wall or falling into the pool.  This show was 30 minutes long, in “prime time.”  Like I said – I lasted five minutes.

Fox, in what way will you work to end humanity next?!?

(By the way… if you want to see Hole in the Wall, there is an episode available to watch online.  I’m not linking to it.  I will not further serve to give this show a false sense of popularity.  Find it yourself if you are so inclined.)

I’m whipped, so it is off to bed for me. See you all on Friday!

Strip 14

Before I even started doing the Crimson Scarab webcomic, I had been thinking about it for a long time. It was a good thing, because I know a lot about the “world” of the Scarab than if I was just flying by the seat of my pants. The sad thing is, I don’t know if I’ll ever find a reason to include some of the things I know about that world.

I went to a panel on writing led by Marv Wolfman a few years ago, and he talked about how he knew things about the Teen Titans that people would probably never get to find out about. It is because he had their entire world designed in his head. He knows each of the characters’ secrets. It allowed him to write them better, even if he never got to tell the secrets.

Why do I bring this up? The Teirdot Potatoes. I have an entire story in my head built around this sports franchise, and, try as I might, I can’t imagine I’ll ever have reason to put any of it into this strip. At the same time, I don’t feel like I should share it all right now, just in case. So, I’ll have to be satisfied with just dropping in the occasional reference, content in the fact that I know these things, and that having a deep understanding of this world will help me to write it better.

See you on Wednesday!