We will return you to your regularly-scheduled comics drama soon. In the meantime, I wanted a break to try something a little different. Whether or not it looks like it, I actually spent a pretty solid chunk of time and effort trying to get this one right.




The cat images my computer is flashing in the first couple rows are from the following comics (in order of appearance)

http://catrackham.com
http://heypais.com
http://harkavagrant.com

And, if you're looking for further research into the phenomena of Cat Comics, I highly recommend this:
http://nedroid.com/2009/09/bartholomew/

Hourly Comic Day was actually yesterday, so this is post is a bit on the tardy side. But, for all ye who found yourself wistfully thinking at any point yesterday, "Huh! I so wish I could see something that Melanie has done in the past hour," look no further! I have laid my February 1st, 2010 out for you in excruciating two-dimensional detail!

( Click it, you stalkers )

Poll #1518554 CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE TIME
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

What will happen on the next page?!

This vote will probably affect less than 1% of the following page. I just thought it might be time for some Democracy around here.

Every story I draw seems to have a Page Where Everything Goes Wrong -- this one was it. Grahhrg.

I think (?) we're coming close to the end here. Or, at least, we're past the half-way point. Glad you're still stickin' with this.

Also note: I finally gave in to The Man, bought a paid account, and put up some Adsense ads. I hope this doesn't ruin anyone's reading experience; if it bugs you, I think there's ways to set up ad-blockers on your browser (especially if you're using Firefox.) I'm not convinced I'm ever going to actually make any money off of this program, but I figure, hey, it's worth a shot.

Man oh MAN, I feel like my Boulder Comics Club has started on its way to becoming a complete comics beast in the past month. We published our first anthology -- seven stories strong -- and spread it all over town, we started seeing a ton of new members, we're talking about doing a regular podcast with the owner of the local comics store, and now we're trying to put together a table and an art show and maybe even a panel for our first-ever convention in April. It's astounding to me because, when we formed 6 months ago, so many people in the group were raw beginners -- people who'd never made a minicomic before, who were still figuring out how crazy, unintuitive things like "thumbnails" and "technical pens" worked, or who only had a mild interest in drawing or storytelling. Now it seems like we're claiming a territory for ourselves: paving the way for what might even become a comics scene in Boulder, like what Denver has centered around the Squidworks collective.

The downside to all this is that I'm worried a lot of this has happened simply because I've kind of unexpectedly taken on a lot of leadership duties for the group -- in large part, the anthology happened and the convention will happen because I've been putting a lot of work and time into these things, and by proxy facilitating my group's participation in the Denver-area comics community at large. This isn't necessarily a bad thing -- I love doing these things, and wish I had the time to do more -- but it is a little worrisome given that I'll be moving away in 6 or 7 months. I'm not sure what'll happen to the group after I leave -- I'm hoping that it has enough dynamic energy of its own now that it'll continue to do things like anthologies and conventions and such without me being there to work on them, but that's up to the rest of the group, and what they want to do.

If nothing else, being a part of this group has been awesome because it's allowed me to watch something of a comics community be formed in a place where there really wasn't one before; it gives me hope that it's possible to start movements, and to make comics an artistic presence in places where it wasn't before. I'm excited about CCS because it'll introduce me to a much wider network of comic artists and comics communities; but I also really hope I'll be able to keep in touch with the Denver and Boulder artists I've met, and am really excited to see what my little Boulder group is gonna prove itself capable of in upcoming years.

Also, it's really cool to see some crazy talent forming in the group, and to know that that has absolutely nothing to do with me. Keep an eye on this http://bouldercomics.wordpress.com , folks.

One fun part about drawing this story is that, almost without exception, I think that each page has ended up looking nicer than all the ones that came before it.

Today was my Official Last First Day at CU; updates might start getting a little sparser as the semester rolls on, but I'm gonna do my best to keep up with this thing.

I think this might be a good time to say that, as far as this comic goes, both stories these two girls are telling are true -- both were related to me by two girls in a class I took last semester. I've changed enough details (names, locations, appearances, etc.) to keep the original tellers invisible, but the stories themselves I've tried to preserve from their original tellings as best as I can.

Another contest entry (and the last one for quite a while, I promise!) -- this one for hopelarson, who asked for drawings or stories about your life, if you lived in 1859.

Given that I live so close to the Rockies, it seemed like consumption would likely be among my top activities.



On a not-unrelated side note, I love my mighty little beast of a tablet like nobody's business. I love it so much I could eat it, except then I wouldn't be able to use it. This is a problem.

Still pluggin' away at this thing!



CAN YOU FEEL THE TENSION RISING??

I promise it's gonna start getting more interesting (read: uncomfortable) after this page.

...will you ever find a compelling reason to draw a picture of a chubby Elvis riding Mothra.



This is my response to binsybaby's challenge to draw someone undesirable riding a mythical creature. For those interested, the rest of the entries can be seen here: http://binsybaby.livejournal.com/660716.html