Words words words

Yay the website is done! It's really the best I could do for free. Someday when I'm making money I'll pay for someone to make a nice, clean, sleek web design for me, but for now.... Thanks Ben for helping me out with everything.

Last week while I was unemployed I decided to kick my butt into high gear regarding our little comic strip that Ben and I have been talking about for literally 2 years (and he's been writing for like 8?!), and I've been blogging about with very little detail. I posted a tiny sneak peak last week on my Facebook fan page , but got the kibosh on the big peak I wanted to post by the author himself. But I agree, it is pretty spoilery. Looks like we might put out a trailer of sorts before we start updating regularly... mostly I just want to be able to talk about SOMETHING that I've been working so hard on.

So anyway, last week I finished 13 strips, which I know is very small in the scheme of things (I've read ahead, it is a VERY small fraction of this story), but it feels like a big leap to me, especially for one week's work. Looking back at the strips in sequence, I am so thrilled about how they're turning out. I...I think I can call myself...a cartoonist?!

Once we get this trailer thing sorted out, I'll promote it like crazy. Keep your eyes open. It's gonna be raaaaaad!

If you follow me on twitter (of which I changed my name there recently...), you know that my current temp assignment is basically to sit at a desk and read all day (and answer phone calls, some of which end of making me laugh hysterically...after they hang up, of course). In 3 days work I've read a lot. Here's my lowdown:

The Dark Knight Returns is a classic because it's so genius. I bought it from an Amazon employee for $3 while I was there, and it has sat in my car since January. I finally got around to it about a month ago, and to my delight, my fav Karl Kerschl did a tribute a few weeks back. It is written so incredibly well (duh), and although the art style isn't my favorite, there are some larger panels that took my breath away.

Civil War written by Mark Miller with stunning drawings by Steve McNiven is really just fantastic. It shows what happens when the super heroes are torn into two camps over an issue. A total thrill, and I just drank up the illustrations. My goodness. Super beautiful.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman - I'll start out with the fact that I love love love the movie. Really fun movie. The book, however, left me wanting. Gaiman is a writing god (double duh) so it's a fun read, but it felt like an outline of a story he'll get back to...which is kind of what it was. Apparently he fell into writing it as a prequel to a story he really wanted to write, then it took on a life of it's own. It just doesn't feel fully thought out. He literally skips over adventures (describing the events in one sentence and moving on), which is funny, but it'd be funnier if there was more to the rest of the book. The movie fleshed out a lot more events and characters. The only thing I appreciated that was in the book was the explanation of the unicorn. In the movie it just shows up... that part always bugged me. Out of all the Gaiman stuff, I'd say you could skip it and just watch the movie. (The only other book I've felt this way about is Big Fish. My favorite movie of all time...the book is a huge let down.)

Passion and Purity by Elizabeth Elliot - this book is one of those classic Christian dating books. I already hate myself for writing that sentence because it is so much more than that. It's a really beautiful story of the 5 years Elizabeth and Jim Elliot took to get married. (Jim Elliot is the guy who got killed by the tribe he was a missionary to...they made a movie about it a few years ago.) She is so incredibly wise and had a lot that got me thinking. I would seriously suggest every woman, well heck, every person who isn't married yet read this book. Even if you don't agree with some of the things she says, she brings up a lot of good things to think about, and re-evaluate how you view singleness, marriage and the opposite sex. It's the first non-fiction book I've finished in....uh...a very very long time.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman - along with Stardust, I got this book for Christmas. Again, a movie I freaking adore, but unlike Stardust this book TOTALLY DELIVERS. It...is...hilarious. I'm 140 pages (out of 450) into it and it is just a thrill. It is basically how a book that was made into a movie should be - more character background stories. Yay. I'm so excited to keep reading this sucker...although I'll probably finish it tomorrow.

I'm not usually a big reader mainly because I busy myself with art making (same argument as to why I don't game), but since I have nothing else to do during this time at work, it's super fun! I'm there all next week, too, and my half finished book collection (which is ashamedly pretty big) is going to disappear pretty fast at this rate, so if you have any good books or graphic novel ideas let me know in the comments! I have the first collection of Buffy season 8 (The Long Way Home) that I picked up at Half Price Books, How to Make Webcomics has been half finished for a while...Annie Dillard's The Living (about Bellingham!) hasn't been touched in over a year... and I always have my life goal of Les Miserables hanging over my head. But suggest away!