I know, no one really cares about this stuff… and I don’t have any great excuse for not getting the strip started up again like I wanted to. I really have been thinking about it though… specifically how I want to do it. Part of the problem is that I’m leaning towards using a blogging platform where everything is sorted by date… which is very incompatible with my desire to rearrange and restructure the archives in a non-date oriented way. Also, as a guy who uses Wordpress 2.3.3 every day to update his busiest site, Wordpress 2.5+ just plain ANNOYS me. I think there are others like me out there, who just can’t stand this clumsy interface. Word on the street is 2.7 will be changing it up again, but honestly my gut is telling me if I’m going to use Wordpress anytime soon here I need to downgrade to something I don’t HATE using.

Again this is all web talk I doubt anyone is actually interested in. Lets get into actual strip stuff…

It might interest you to know that after kicking around some ideas in my head, I’ve come to the consensus that to do a relaunch right, I need to start from the very beginning. I’ve thought about it, and there are so many good reasons to do this. First it solves archive dating issues because the strip would start “from scratch”. Second, I think a restart provides an excellent opportunity for me to improve the overall writing and development of the story, and since it’s been sooooo long since the strip was really rolling no one really remembers what (if anything) was going on when there WAS a story. Ideally I’d like to follow the archives as a pretty strict guide… in some ways the story will return verbatim… in some ways characters and plots may be extremely different. I think doing this might actually be fun for people who actually followed the strip back in the day, people may be surprised at what changes and what stays the same.

Anyway this is what I’ve been thinking… thoughts are always appreciated but honestly I think I’m pretty set on this idea. Honestly I think my biggest hurdle is just getting the website to function the way I want it to, but of course, I have to remember that like Halolz, it’s better to get content flowing than worrying about the site design…

So anyway that’s what’s up with the strip right now. I did get a little artistic last weekend though… I was able to throw this together:

I have New York Anime Fest coming up this weekend, and one goal I’d really like to stick with is doing a new piece of art for each con I attend. I feel like at least that way I’ll be able to force myself to do some more artsy stuff, which I WANT to do, but sometimes it’s hard to get done when you don’t have specific deadlines set.

Anyway I’m really happy with how this one came out and, if you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty in to Castle Crashers at the moment.

Well this post is getting a little long, and it’s friggin’ 5am (yay insomnia), so I’ll cut off my ranting for the night. Oh I did want to mention I FINALLY signed up for Twitter, so feel free to add me if you’re down with the Mircobloggin’. Expect plenty of Sophie related updates! >__>

So just like last week, I hope to see some people stopping by and saying hi!

Oh I guess I should mention, I’ll be in the “B” block of Artists Alley… next to two of my usual cohorts Scott and Matt. And of course I will have all sorts of crap for sale… even secret stuff you don’t know about yet! Aren’t you just dying to find out? I can tell that you are. Well maybe you should get off your butt and drive to Baltimore!

Anyway… I’m in Hartford, CT for ConnectiCon this weekend, representin’ the Halolz and my… one new Staccato strip… >__>

I have to say, I wish I could have gotten farther with bringing Staccato back this month… but with conventions being my primary source of income at the moment (and supporting a family no less) I guess I’ve just been wrapped up with getting ready for the big ConnectiCon/Otakon one two punch. Once I get through those two though, maybe I can finally make some headway around here!

So yeah, sorry things aren’t more exciting with this “relaunch.” I’ll try to get on the ball this August!

And hey, if you’re near Hartford stop by this weekend and say hi! I’ll have lots of new stuff for sale… and you can tell me how I suck at updating! It’s win-win!

With that said… here is the write-up I’ve been posting around some of my regular haunts:

Everyday people come to me saying, “Shawn, you’re pretty cool… is there some way I could give you a portion of my disposable income in exchange for awesome geeky t-shirts that will make me the envy of my uncultured neighborhood?” Well good news! Thanks to a twist of fate, I have a buttload of new shirt designs that are finally available for sale on the fabled “internets!”

These shirts, which were forged in the firey depths of Blackrock Spire, provide the extreme stat boosts you need in today’s fast-paced leveling environment, while keeping the exterior of your body silky smooth to the touch. Couple all that with the wacky designs I’ve slapped on the front, and you’ve got a garment that simply CAN NOT BE BEAT.

Supplies are limited, so order now! My baby needs strained peas!

So I watched the two hour ending to Avatar on Friday… they wrapped the series up really well… but man, one more season would’ve been nice!

I always found it interesting that people were so polarized on their opinion of the show! They either love it to death or hate it beyond reason. I personally loved it, even from the first season there was something about it that drew you in… and then the later seasons were even better. A lot of great character development all around (for a U.S. cartoon anyway) and I think the ending was pretty much perfect for the series.

I’ve heard rumors that there might be some more episodes taking place in the same universe but not directly related to The Avatar. We need to make those happen.

The Dark Knight

Saw it last night… and I dunno, I guess it was pretty good. One of my friends told me it was the best Batman movie ever, but I’m not so sure. I think Batman Begins might have been a little better.

I did like the fact that they took a more interesting spin on The Joker by making him more of a social anarchist than a regular criminal. But man, am I the only person that hates Batman’s voice? It sounds so forced! Couldn’t he talk a little more normal like in the original Batman flicks?

Anyway, decent movie. Certainly doesn’t beat Iron Man though!

My XBox 360

It came back from the shop last week! Microsoft has removed its red ring of death with a nice shiney green ring of life!

It’s funny because when it was delivered, the UPS guy actually said “I’ve got an Xbox for you.” Guess they deliver that style of box quite a bit. >______>

Damn you Microsoft… you made the best system this product cycle, but also the most breakable!

I always enjoy doing badge art for ConnectiCon, and yeah it takes a lot of time for something that gets printed so small, but ConnectiCon is one of my favorite conventions and the folks who run it are just plain awesome… so I try to volunteer my services whenever possible!

And yeah I feel bad I wasn’t able to put the time into a new comic, but doing a piece of art like this… it takes me way longer than doing a Staccato strip! A new comic would’ve been a breeze compared to this! But, I think it’s worth it… and hopefully if the art ends up on a good badge it could be in the hands of quite a few con goers in a few weeks!

Think that’s all I have to report at the moment. Oh but before I call it a night, thanks to everyone for the positive responses about the strip being back! I’m really excited that people are looking forward to reading it again… honestly I just assumed everyone had moved on… but as long as a few folks are planning on reading, that’s all the motivation I need!

Thanks again guys!

Speaking of which, after trying out WordPress 2.5 and ComicPress… I have found a few problems that may cause me headaches as I move forward.

First off the new interface in WordPress 2.5 just flat out drives me nuts. I’ve been using WordPress 2.1-2.3 for the last year or so since I started Halolz… and let me just say, this new interface is a nightmare by comparison. If I had updated the WP software on Halolz to this… well I’d probably be dead by now trying to post images on a daily basis. However word on the street is what 2.6 was just released… but somehow I doubt they went and changed the interface around much.

Secondly, because of the inconsistency of Staccato’s archives, rebuilding them in WordPress is going to be difficult. Basically, everything on WP is ordered by dates. And seeing as Staccato has a long history of story arcs dropping off and picking up at random times, weird filler strips, and all sorts of other nonsense… I’m not quite sure how I can go about cleaning and reordering things without making up lots of false dates for everything. I hope I can come up with a plan, but for now I’m a little worried about how I’ll be rebuilding the archives.

Anyway those are my two biggest problems at the moment. On the positive side, making strips shouldn’t be a huge problem. I spent a good amount of time Sunday night (when I should have been DRAWING the comic) tweaking my old template, and I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it’s working so far. Despite all the my complaints with Flash CS3… it still seems to end up being my best tool for making these strips.

Um, so yeah… I guess that’s all I have to report at the moment. As for comic update schedules I haven’t set anything in stone yet, but I would like to go back to the old M/W/F routine (I’ll do my best). Fortunately with the new RSS feed it will be much easier for people to keep up with the site.

Anyway, feedback is always appreciated… and don’t forget, there are separate comment sections for the comic posts and blog posts!

Thanks for visiting, and I hope people enjoy seeing the strip back in action!