VL gone XL

So today, Tuesday, November 29th, Vapor Lock is a bit larger than usual. There's your payoff for not having one on Thanksgiving Day. I know, in reality, that it doesn't look like that much more to YOU, but my aching drawing hand (the one I broke that only KINDA healed) says it is. I'm having fun with this story, to tell the truth, and I think I may actually finish it before the year is out. I lamented to Andria that it wasn't going to happen, but since today's strip is a condensed version of a couple strips I had planned, I may be back on track.

If you look at the strip today, actually, you should notice that this is the first time in a long time a strip has been this large. In the early days, I wasted a lot of space so that the panels could kind of drop down the page, creating a kind of logical flow. Plus, I did all the drawings for the panels separately. Since I'm doing them all on the same sheet, characters on the background and all, it's more work (I mean, I may have to scrap the old apartment set I used for Cal and Trav's place since I can't use it like this). Honestly, I think it's good for me to do things like this now. Hurts a lot more, but at least I'm drawing a lot of things I didn't before.

Hooray for extra effort.

Be Thankful, dangit!

There's a lot to be thankful for, this year. However, a new Vapor Lock today is not one of them. With the shortened week at school, my whole schedule got thrown off and I didn't get the inking done. I'll be sure to have the comic up Tuesday. May even get SOMETHING done as a bonus "Sorry" comic in the meantime. We'll see how the weekend goes. Once again, sorry.

Enjoy the turkey, American people. The rest of you, have a good Thursday.

Pushing Buttons

Those of you who pay attention to details may have noticed that the nav box at the top of the page (ok, underneath the ad-which-ComicGenesis-makes-us-display) contains a new button, marked "VL Archives". This is your handy dandy link to the Vapor Lock site in case you're behind a few strips.

Of course, this should raise the question "But Monkey, you said Cricket was going to get an archive site, too. Where will HIS button go?" And a fine question that would be, but fret not, fair reader. Certain buttons up there will being going the way of the proverbial (or the actual) dodo once Chaos "Chirp Chirp" Cricket gets his site going. I'll be attempting to help him out some, but at the moment I'm unable to do anything in that direction.

This may also raise the question "Monkey, wouldn't this be an excellent time to bust out a new site design?" To which I would answer, "You can shut up now."

Chewing the fat...

I'm sure you've seen this on tv. Hopefully, just in commercials, because, if not, you're watching stupid tv. Says the guy who, though he hates them, watches many a reality show. Anyway, there's been a rash lately of tv's women (read: skinny things with surgically enhanced bodies), donning the "fat suit" to walk around in for a day so they can understand what it's like to be morbidly obese. Invariably, the commercials refer to the heartbreaking mistreatment they face via the stares and rude comments. How sad for them.

Of course, as I discovered, there's at least a small amount of backlash from the Overweight Community. Actually, I don't think its a community so much as a group of people who know each other from the all-you-can-eat bar at Furr's (I kid!), but you get the idea.

That got me to thinking, though. Is this the modern equivalent to white actors putting on "black-face"? Will we look back at the fat suit thing as some sort of minstrel show? I really doubt it. I think that this will pass on before it becomes anything big (ie: the source of a set of reality shows where people are forced to wear a fat suit for x amount of time to win a million dollars or something). In fact, I think its a good thing. Stay with me on this. Who makes fun of fat people most? Fat people? I think not (excluding comedians and bullies). Its skinny people who have no clue what it's like to be mocked because of your shape (though it makes little sense to me that models that look like skeletal 12-year old boys are supposed to be the epitome of beauty). It's the people who don't have to go to special stores to buy clothing (they can just go to the kids' section, if need be). They always say the best way to solve the problem of prejudice is education, don't they?

Then again, at the end of the day, most Americans DON'T get to take off their fat suits...

Because Nobody (but Cricket) Asked for it...

As Cricket mentioned, I've been doing a lot of Zendariel sketches. Here's what I got so far.

Fully Functional Battlestation

I mentioned yesterday that the Vapor Lock archive site was up and running, which is was, but the archives are now fully stocked and ready to roll. I hadn't uploaded the "Death" storyline at the time, but all things in their time, right? Anyway, I'll be getting on that button business for legitimate linkage and when Le Cricket du Chaos gets his up and running all things will be much easier for the reading pleasure. In the meantime, however, enjoy using this link of DOOM* to get to the site.

*link not affiliated with, nor endorsed by id Entertainment or Universal Pictures. I don't think that hurts me much.

A long time coming...

Well, I've been pondering the proper way to do this for the entire two plus years of Dim Bulb's Keenspace/ComicGenesis existence. I'm quitting Dim Bulb Comics.

Just kidding.

Actually, I've set up an archive site here on ComicGenesis so that anytime you want to read the Vapor Lock archives straight through, you can do it with no commercial interuptions, few of the filler days, and, best of all, no confusing clicking patterns to keep the flow uninterrupted. I've encouraged Senor Cricket to do the same, though we haven't spoken of it since I first mentioned I'd signed up for it, but it will be done soon. The site doesn't have anything special on it...in fact, it looks a lot like the Dim Bulb main site. That's because I want it to be an extension of this site, not to funnel traffic away from this. You see, my main fear is that by segregating the archives into a separate site, it'll cut our readership down on this site, making us drop further down on the ComicGenesis guide. Lower rating means lower visability which, in turn, means less new readers. So, check it out if you've been meaning to reread a Vapor Lock storyline through. Or refer a friend to here and then tell them that the archives are separated for ease of reading. I'll get a link up on the nav box in a couple days, just need to make a button for it...

Of Sith Lords and their Vengeance

So I bought Revenge of the Sith back on Tuesday. I employed the "heartbroken-yet-self-denying-put-the-movie-back-on-the-shelf" method of making my wife, who (for all intents and purposes) hates Star Wars, feel bad enough to give in to buying it right away instead of waiting until we had the money to blow on entertainment. Especially entertainment that's only entertaining to me. Of the two discs included in the normal movie set and the bonus Wal-Mart exclusive "Story of Star Wars" DVD, I've seen the outtakes and a couple of the web documentaries. I have not even put in the movie disc.

I am so sad.

However, Andria's studies have precluded me from watching a movie with lots of explosions and such while she attempts to do her homework (as it should...classes are temporary DVDs are for....at least until they come out with something else!). Soon I will watch my movie. Soon the Sith will have their revenge....

Halloween Addendum

By the way, I'm sick of people living up to stereotypes. For once, I'd like someone to step out and NOT do what's expected of them. Is it too much to ask that a gay man NOT dress up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz? I mean, I get it. You're homosexual. I knew that already. The only way it would've been more obvious would be to actually have man-on-man sex IN PUBLIC. Does the fact that you like manlove have to dictate your every action? As a heterosexual male, I can tell you that I don't go around constantly reaffirming that to everyone. I don't have to harrass every girl I see so that they know I'm straight (besides, my wife'd kill me if I did). Is it necessary that just because you like the dudes that every single action has to scream "I'm not straight! Gay man here! I'm not into women! GAAAAY!"? Usually, when a supposedly straight guy does that, they say he's covering insecurities about his sexuality. Doesn't that door swing both ways, so to speak?

Just my thoughts on the subject. That and 99 cents (plus tax) will get you some of those wonderful mozzella sticks. Mmmm....fried cheese....

Empire of Fools

Since my last post about Andria's music professor went over so well...I have another one with her involved. Last night we went to a Halloween concert that professor puts on every year. Usually, she'll do a mixture of typical Halloween music and dark themes from movies and the like, and she did so last night. The high points, for me, were the medley from Lord of the Rings and the songs she did from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. To tell the truth, since I was only able to see Sith in the theaters once (curse you poverty!!!), I wasn't entirely sure that she was playing the Sith songs until the last one (the Imperial March), but it rocked nonetheless. Of course, in spite of a request from the main music guy at the U of O (also a Star Wars fan), there were still several idiots who talked through the whole thing, both to their friends and on their cell phones.

I hate cell phones.

Actually, I hate phones in general, but I think I've mentioned that before.

Anyway, while I was there, I was also doing the inking for today's comic, so any rough spots you see in the drawing of the comic are due in no small part to the fact that it was REALLY dark in there, I'm night blind, and arthritis is apparently going to be a problem with my drawing hand (which I broke this summer...yay!). Of course, some should be expected anyway, since I have a horribly unsteady hand without all that. Crushed my dreams of being on the bomb squad at an early age....so sad...