02.29.2016 - Isabel Marks:
Hi everyone, a while back I mentioned that I was aiming on having The NDU return from it's hiatus in March, but the more I try to work on it, the more unmotivated I feel. I'm thinking the series is going to go on an indefinite hiatus.
The long and short of it is right now I do not have the right motivation to start a series where it's going to take at least a year before it starts picking up momentum. And considering I've been sick with a cold (and now bronchitis) for the past two months, I do not see that inspiration coming back to me. In the past two months I've gotten three comics written. That's terrible. And only so much of that can be blamed on me being sick and out of it. It takes a lot of me both psychically and emotionally to continue to do comics, so right now I think my best bet is to work on Nicole and Derek to get it to a point where it gives me the energy to work on more series... with the (very) random Wonder Kitten thrown in when I have an idea for them.
If you all want to help, the best thing for the comic is to spread the word about Nicole and Derek and Wonder Kittens. Have conversations in the comments... and have patience with your depressed artist and sometimes- writers. I know it's a lot to ask, and I thank you all.
02.12.2016 - Terrence Marks:
Lolita Nation - Game Theory's masterpiece is back in print after decades. I'm not good at describing music, so I'm just gonig to say that it's 80s indie rock and the points of comparison I keep hearing are Todd Rundgren, REM, and Big Star. It is its own thing and we are on the internet, so here's two songs from it.
The Beginner's Guide - From Davey Wreden, the creator of The Stanley Parable. Our narrator, Davey Wreden has a friend, Coda, who used to make these abstract challenge-free games. Then Coda stopped. And now Davey is showing you these games, in an effort to find Coda and explain why the games meant to much to him. It's about the relationship between creator and audience.
02.09.2016 - Terrence Marks:
We're taking a little break until Isabel feels better. So let me tell you about Anime LA, the con we went to last weekend or so.
We had a fun time. We went as attendees and just hung out and watched people. I realized a few things. Steven Universe is pretty big among the con-going crowd. If anybody cosplayed as the characters from half of my favorite mangas, I wouldn't recognize them. You could stick anyone from Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Cross Game, or Angel Densetsu right in front of me. I'd only recognize Alpha if she had her lute.
It doesn't help that I'm kinda out of touch and most of the stuff I used to watch is now ten to twenty years old. I had to ask Isabel who a lot of people were dressed as.
It's funny. The most recognizable costumes were Ryu (from Street Fighter - white gi with torn sleeves and red headband) and Kiki (from Kiki's delivery service. Shapeless black dress, red bow). The most recognizable costumes were the ones with the fewest accessories. Or the ones where there aren't any other characters who dress like that; if we had gone to some fighting game con and there were a dozen slightly different karate dudes, I'd be just as lost.
One of the cool things they do at Anime LA is ribbons. You can get them for visiting the manga library, singing karaoke, or, well, there are dozens of people giving them out. There's probably a better way to do it than to find someone who's got a handful and ask nicely, but that's kinda the best way I've found. Some people have challenges or questions. I was going to try to answer an Avatar: The Last Airbender trivia challenge for one until Isabel reminded me that I haven't actually watched that show.
Most of the ribbons we got were for the Pokemon tourmanent. You get your starter Pokemon ribbon from a professor. Then you find the other trainers - in cosplay, of course - and if one of your pokemon's types is super-effective against their pokemon's type, you get a new pokemon ribbon. So we spent most of Saturday evening finding people in Pokemon cosplay and collecting ribbons. This was not an official thing. This was just something that a bunch of people got together and did that made our day awesome.
We went to the masquerade - one of the judges was dressed as John Lennon, from The Yellow Submarine. It made me so happy that there was something out there that I recognized (and that the kids there probably didn't).
We picked up some awesome stuff that we might show off later on. Got to meet Christina Major, who does the comic Sombulus and picked up a few books. We're looking forward to next year.
01.28.2016 - Terrence Marks:
New Logo! And official linking buttons!
I'm proud of the job Isabel did on them.
And year in review! It's been a while since we've done one of those. In 2015, Namir Deiter ended its sixteen year run. Isabel started The NDU, which will be coming back in March. And we started Nicole and Derek, which brought Namir Deiter and You Say it First together, like we've been threatening to do for years. Year One of N&D set up the three conflicting factions that dominate the sophomore year of this high school. It's been a year of beginnings over here.
01.04.2016 - Terrence Marks:
Firstly, we've got our first piece of Nicole and Derek fanart! We're sorry about not posting it earlier, but it was hanging out on our card wreath for the holidays.
Please enjoy Nicole, by Alicelights.
Secondly, we're trying to decide what to do with The NDU.
Thirdly, we've got another week of Nicole & Derek Asks! We'll probably be running them between chapters. If you want to send questions in - addressed to individual characters or the entire cast - please do; let us know how you want to be credited if we use yours (like "Terrence asks, 'Avery, what boy do you like?'", or "Mr. Marks asks, 'Derek, what girl do you like?'")
12.12.2015 - Terrence Marks:
And holiday cards are sent out! Thank you to everybody who supported the comic and everybody sent us a card! You should be getting a card soon. We have sent out very nearly all the cards we made and thank you all for your participation.
11.18.2015 - Terrence Marks:
Starting next week, we'll be running Nicole and Derek Monday through Friday. The NDU is going on hiatus through the end of the year.
We've still got some holiday cards available! Sign up if you're interested!