'K, a couple big things happened last week, not least of which was a hard drive crash on my laptop.

Between that and the blizzard that hit the midwest, it essentially wiped out another work week.

Fortunately, it seems (fingers crossed) as if all of my data was backed up. But getting everything back on the machine’s new hard drive has been a bit – shall we say “entertaining.” Not least because the new hard drive came loaded with a new operating system, and many of my old discs are still in boxes somewhere from the move.

I *hope* to have new strips up and running by this coming Friday, Dec. 18, Monday, December 21 at the latest.

On the plus side, there’ll be some news about something that’ll soon make sure DorkTower.com web site problems, etc., etc., are – if not a thing of the past – at least far more infrequent. There’ll be other big news as well. I’ll probably pst that this coming Thursday.

For the moment, it’s been incredibly frustrating, and I’d like to apologize for the ups and downs (mostly downs) of the web site this month. In 2010, I hope that the thrice-weekly schedule of comic strips will be hit, and hit regularly and well.

On the other hand, I’m not a kid in Darfur, so I really can’t complain too much about anything…

Also at the start of the year, some more big news, about what’s going on with everything: the Dork Tower comic strips; Dr. Blink comics and more; the Dork Tower comic books; My Little Cthulhu; Mythos Buddies; Munchkin; Out of the Box Games; the Dork Tower puppet project; where my mind’s at; and so on. Kind of a State of the Cartoonist address. I’m working that up now to post New Year’s Day. It may need to be broken into a few parts.

In the meantime, thank you SO much for your patience these last few weeks. Please check back in lter in the week, when I hope things will be starting to run a bit more smoothly. I’m working on making everything sharper, smoother, faster and better at DorkTower.com.

John

PS – please excuse any typos. I’ve got to run off for a plane, and don’t have time to proof this in my usual haphazard way…

The zippy new DEDICATED DORKTOWER.COM SERVER says "come visit me! Bask in my spiffiness. Amaze your friends by actually being able to read the damn comics again! Spread the word!"

New Dork Towers up this week:

WEDNESDAY -



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.


FRIDAY -



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

The zippy new DEDICATED DORKTOWER.COM SERVER says "come visit me! Bask in my spiffiness. Amaze your friends by actually being able to read the damn comics again! Spread the word!"

New Dork Towers up this week:

MONDAY -



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.


WEDNESDAY -



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.


FRIDAY -




Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Towers up this week:

MONDAY -



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.


WEDNESDAY -



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.


FRIDAY -




Click here, there or anywhere to see it.


****

So, I was hypnotized for the first time in my life.

OR WAS IT?

Cue ominous music.

Du-du-du-DAAAAAH!

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

I'm trying to get back to three strips a week. While I'm still pushed for time, I've been really unhappy with the flow of the strip while I pulled it back to twice a week (even if that was only intended as a temporary thing during Louisa's first year). We'll see.

In some bad news, Comics Buyers' Guide has had to cut back on expenses due to the economy, and alas, alack, one of those expenses was Dork Tower. The editor says this is hopefully just a temporary thing, and given the feedback I get from the CBG staff and editors, I'm hoping so as well. Yet, for the first time in ten years, Dork Tower is exclusively a web-only strip.

This is a paradigm I've yet to get used to.

This is also a business model I need to figure out. While I'm notoriously unmotivated by money, the fact that there is now a Daughter involved and a College Fund to be funded puts a spin on things that wasn't there five years ago.

On the plus side, while there are still massive slowdowns on the Gamespy server, at least the move to the new server is expected to be VERY soon.So hopefully the site should be super-fast and super-spiffy super soon.

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Sorry about reusing panels from old strips, but honestly, if I hadn't, there'd be no cartoon today, with my schedule this week...I try and be upfront about this. Pride is involved. Even if it's a "Wall" strip, I *enjoy* the drawing part of this job: plus, it's the only way you get better at it.

It frustrates the heck out of me when there's a massive time crunch like this, and a dozen deadlines seem to loom.

****

On the plus side, I spent the morning with Louisa, and saw her pull herself up, and stand up for the very first time!

An ecstatic and terrifying moment! My baby girl is eight and a half months old, and crawling like nobody's business. It's moments like these why I'm staying away from conventions until she's at least a year old.

I'm thinking about all my pals at the AAEC convention, and at CONvergence this weekend. But in all honesty, seeing Louisa stand for the first time is worth a thousand conventions, to me.

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

It's a very silly joke - one I've had in the back of my mind for a while. Just never had the right set-up. Also needed a solid after-line from Matt. So, yay.

Apologies to Arby's, but (a) You lobbed the softball with the slogan, and (b) well, honestly, your food's just not that good...

I did used to love Arby's when I was a kid, and a teenager. Then I gave up red meat for 25 years. Coming back to your roast beef sandwiches wasn't QUITE as disappointing as trying a Big Mac again, but it was close...

****

The site seems zippity-fast, right now. At lest compared to the molasses-like speed it's had the last couple of months or so.

The folks at Gamespy have been working like fiends trying to fix it. Let's hope it sticks...

John

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up yesterday morning.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

Um...errr...Also: forgot to post Tuesday's cartoon here:



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

I think I broke the internets this week. Sorry about that.

****

Want to know what happens when, say, Neil Gaiman himself twitters that he likes "My Little Cthulhu," and likes the fact that there is a free papercraft version on the web site to download?

More than 11,000 folks go to download papercraft My Little Cthulhus.

Yeah. Wow. Feeling VERY humble, right now. :-)

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up this morning.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

Seriously. Heard that almost exact, word for word, on the Weather Channel the other night.

Almost.

****

Grinning like an idiot, here. I've been listed amongst Wired's "100 Geeks You Should Be Following On Twitter." Goes to show where Drunk Twittering will get you, in life.

"Twitter has of late been inundated by, shall we say, “normals.” What was once our little playground has become rather more populated. But that doesn’t make it any less effective a tool for communication. It just means we have to stick together, and keep the geek community thriving.

To this end, GeekDad has assembled the following: a list of 100 awesomely geeky-geeks. These are great, creative gamers and chiptune artists, astronomers and LEGO builders."

The list doesn't look like there's any kind of order to it. Save for Everybody's Pal Wil at #1, of course. Were it sorted by Relative Obscurity, I'd most likely be #100. Still, seriously, it IS really sorta cool, and I can't believe the company I'm in.

HEY! Yes, I'd act like I've been there before - IF I'D EVER BEEN THERE BEFORE!

Which I haven't.

Hence: grinning like a dolt.

****

Um...prolly should note here:

I'm muskrat_john on Twitter.

****

JUDITH (listening to "Wonderful Tonight" on the radio): There's nothing wrong with liking Eric Clapton, is there?

JOHN: No. No. Of course not.

(Pause)

JOHN: Unless you're George Harrison's wife...

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

Also: very cool -

This Summer: an all-star team presents the Descent: Quest Compendium

This Summer, some of Descent's biggest fans in hobby gaming have met at the latest milepost on the road to adventure and have assembled the Descent: Journeys in the Dark Quest Compendium.

Edited by Will Hindmarch (Gameplaywright Press), the Descent: Quest Compendium presents in one 96-page hardbound volume sixteen of Descent's most cunning, deadly, and puzzling scenarios for your gaming table, brought to you by a team of acclaimed and award-winning game designers and authors.

• Monte Cook (D&D 3rd Edition) sounds an angel's plea for help to save the world from being pulled across a dimensional divide and permanently warping reality.

• Keith Baker (Eberron (D&D), Gloom) leads heroes directly into the middle of a deadly blood feud between two restless spirits of hatred embodied. Caught in the epic battle, choosing a side will be the hardest decision to make.

• Kenneth Hite (Where the Deep Ones Are) adapts a classic film to the fantastic setting of Descent and finds an unlikely ally only too happy to help uncover a precious treasure, but for a price...

• Mike Selinker (Yetisburg) entraps the heroes within a demonic puzzle that threatens to destroy the world we know in a whirl of chaos.

• John Kovalic (Dork Tower) takes you back to an old haunt on an unexpected mission on behalf of a former enemy, featuring some of John Kovalic's trademark wit and commentary.

Slightly terrifying to be in such esteemed company. But I'm a huge Descent fan. So, here's hoping I don't let the team down...

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you. How's it goin'?

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. New Dork Tower cartoon up yesterday.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Sorry. Forgot to mention it yesterday. Busy.

There's also now an RSS feed you can get at DorkTower.com, which should notify you when updates occur. Yup, DorkTower.com joins the 21st century. 2002, to be precise...

Also added: Atom feed. Is that something I should have known about?

Oh. Hey. New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

Holy CRAP - Spinal Tap is coming to Milwaukee!

http://riversidetheater.org/spinaltapunwigged

Is anyone able to clue me in on a pre-sale code for tix?

****

I am torn between whether Jonathan Coulton's music creates more earworms than Yo Gabba Gabba, or vice-versa. Both are amazingly addictive: one for good, the other for evil.

Either way, the last 48 hours has seen "Still Alive" and "There's A Party in My Tummy" alternating bouncing around my mind like a freaky mental/aural pinball.

Even the usually reliable "Come on Eileen" and "The Laws Have Changed" have done little to get rid of them...

Today's Dork Tower is up.



Clich Here, There or Anywhere to see it.

I got some snarky e-mails about today’s cartoon being a cut-n-paste Photoshop job.

It’s not. Look closely. Every frame is individually drawn.

I wanted the frame-by-frame LOOK of cut-n-paste, for the pacing of the strip, but the honesty of hand-drawn. So I drew a “master frame,” used a light table (aka “technology from the last century”), and did each new frame individually.

Because I care. That’s why.

Dammit (sniff) I CARE!

****

This is not one of the big announcements I've been hinting at. However, this is a cool announcement, and I'm glad I can finally make it.



Mythos Buddies have been announced by Dreamland Toyworks.

They're 2.75" tall, there are twelve of them in the first release, and I had a blast designing them. Tom Meier sculpted them, making them even that much cooler. I believe they're being solicited next month.

The two images above are of Buddy Cthulhu and Cthulhu for President. The latter is a unique body mold. There are three uniques, while the other nine colorforms are based on the body mold of Buddy Cthulhu.

****

Warpcon was great, thanks for asking!

They also gave me a lovely award, which I had to leave over there, as it was so fragile.

I do, however, have photos, which I'll try and get up soon.

****

I got out of London just before the snow hit. Otherwise I'd probably still be there.

Only regret: not being able to help my mom build this snowman, something one's not often able to do in Southwark.



Way to go, mom!

Today's Dork Tower is up.



Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Feel free to re-post. This is one I'd like to get widely circulated. It contains a werra, werra important message. :-)

****

Speaking of which, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GAMES STORES! Most operate on razor-thin margins. The economy's going to hell in a hand-basket, and the hand-basket was probably made in China.

I know money's tight all around, but if you can possibly afford to, give the gift of gaming this year - even to non-gamers. Most non-gamers are just gamers who don't KNOW that they're gamers, yet!

So hit your local games store, if you're lucky enough to have one, and finish off your holiday shopping there. Heck, treat yourself to something, while you're at it, for helping to keep gaming going in your community.

I, myself, picked up Red November and the Talisman update pack. You should, too!

****

I've a couple of extra WizKids Santa's Holiday Flier ornaments that I was sent, a few years ago.



I was thinking of running a Holiday competition, or quiz, or something, to determine whom to send them to.

But I can't think of one.

So the person who comes up with the BEST Dork Tower Holiday Giveaway Contest Idea gets the first one. The person who WINS said contest gets the second. And yes, signed Munchkin Christmas Cards from me will come with each!

Suggest away!

****

Lookie what is at Warehouse 23, exclusively, now!



It's a limited edition, so I'd suggest ordering soon, if you want one.