George Comics

And we're BACK on the George Comics Show!

2008-02-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

I sincerely apologize for the downtime over the weekend and for much of this morning. The site's been down for the past 18 hours or so, but it looks like it's back now. The trouble stems from two things: a brand new George site I'd hoped to unveil yesterday, and my web host. I tried switching the domain name george-comics.com to the new server, and everything broke. I fiddled with it for hours before deciding it would be best to switch it back. The problem is that when you're dealing with servers and IPS and domain name servers, every update takes like a minimum of two hours to go through. So I've been agonizing for about 10 hours straight. But hey, we're back, and I fully hope to have the new website unveiled sometime this week without any down time.

Or I am going to flip out and crack some heads.

Buy some original George artwork!

2008-02-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I did it. I've been following through on a lot of my promises lately, and this is one of them. If you visit the George Art page, you can buy original, hand-drawn George character sketches for a measly six bucks each. Talk about your cheap original artwork. I drew up some samples last night, and I'll be posting them on the aforementioned Art page in the very near future.

You know, for three years I didn't draw any cartoons on paper. I used graphics tablets. And while my artwork improved by leaps and bounds, my hand-drawn-on-paper cartoons still leave something to be desired, to me personally. I've been investing a lot of money in different types of papers, pencils, and pens trying to find materials that are comfortable and effective for me. I've got a big order coming from dickblick.com, but in the meantime, any of you artist types out there...what do you use, and why? I'm open to all suggestions regarding tools and techniques to make my artwork better.

Wanna buy some original George artwork?

2008-02-10T21:38:00.001-08:00

Sometime in the near future, I'm going to start offering original George sketches for sale here at George-Comics.com. I've been doing a lot of pencil/pen-on-paper drawing lately, and it's a lot of fun...I think more fun than drawing on a graphics tablet, personally. So anyway, I figured it would be cool to start selling some sketches. The ones I'll be selling are roughly 5" x 8" and I'm thinking they'll cost $6 each, shipping included, payable via PayPal. You get to choose what character(s) you want (I'll probably put a limit of 2 characters per sketch) and then I'll ship them out to you within a few days. So what do you think? Sound like a good deal?

As promised...The George Museum!

2008-02-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

The George Museum.

I delivered on yesterday's promise to scan a bunch of old George comics and assemble them into a place where you can view and laugh with, or at, them. All of the comics posted so far were originally made between February and April 1999. I have some more laying around somewhere, but I'm afraid I may have misplaced them, or, even worse, thrown them away accidentally. I hope that's not the case, but I do have low-quality electronic backups of many of them that I'll resort to if I have to. In the meantime, enjoy these 40 or so classic George comics.

George comic #250 droppin' like a....felon? Is that right?

2008-01-31T22:29:00.000-08:00

Today marks the 250th George comic to ever be published on this website. Slowly but surely, the ol' archive is growing...250 comics is a pittance to guys like Stephen Pastis of Pearls Before Swine fame, guys (and gals) who have to turn out 365 comics every stinkin' year. But hey, my comics are full-color....and...man, what color! And what's more, they are just packed with...pixels. Anyway, to celebrate, I think tomorrow I am going to scan some of the really old George comics in and make a "George museum" where I can post them and talk about how terrible they are. A grand time will be had by all.

And so RSS Feedwagon drives off into the sunset...

2008-01-29T22:27:00.000-08:00

...for now. The RSS Feedwagon story arc was one of my favorites to write and draw, but I must admit I'm happy to finally see it go. I mean, I've been staring at it in one form or another for like, two months now. I'm happy to get the mall storyline going. That being said, it's not the end of RSS Feedwagon. They'll be popping up again in about three weeks or so. So if you want your fix of pop-punk-metal-polka-nerd-synth music, make sure you're there.

Some new George Fan Art!

2008-01-26T22:57:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to Christian A. for this George fan art (click the thumbnail image to see a larger version)!

If I get enough fan art from enough people, I'll go ahead and make a page dedicated to it, and link to the creators. So if you've got any artistic flair, toss me some George fan art or post it in the forum!

Dot Com VS. Dot Net: Round 1, FIGHT

2008-01-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

When I first started this website, I very much wanted the domain name, "georgecomics.com." No hyphen. It was available years and years ago, probably around 2000 or so, but I was still naive about the web domain registration and hosting process so I decided to hold off. In 2005, it was gone, taken by an online comic book store. So, I begrudgingly grabbed george-comics.com instead. So every time someone asks me, "what's the address for your comic site?" I have to respond, "George hyphen comics dot com," head bobbing up and down with each spoken word to hammer in the fact that if you do not type it exactly as I have spoken it, you might not find George, but a photo gallery of Himalayan mountain goats on fire.

I could have registered "georgecomics.net" instead, but I felt, as I still do, that a "dot net" address just doesn't have the same...kick as a "dot com." You know what I mean? It doesn't sound as marketable. It doesn't sound as...Internetty. I can't really think of one very big, successful website that ends in ".net." That being said, I hate that effing hyphen. So I registered www.georgecomics.net anyway. Right now it just forwards you to george-comics.com, but I can't help but wonder if I would benefit from changing the site's address from george-comics.com to georgecomics.net. Or, if I should just leave it as-is and tell people to go to "George Comics Dot Net" when they ask.

What do you think? Would georgecomics.net be easier to market than george-comics.com? If so, is it worth losing what amount of name recognition george-comics.com has already gained? Should I eat this entire can of artichoke hearts for lunch?

A new, slightly different look for George

2008-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

With today's comic debuts the "new" style in which I've recently been making George comics. For starters, it uses my own personalized font, which I made from my very own handwriting. So that's awesome. But it also features artwork done with the Paintbrush tool in Flash--until now I've been using the Pencil tool, which creates smooth, straight lines, but lines with no variation or differing weights. The paintbrush tool is harder to get the hang of, but it looks much nicer to my eyes. It feels much more like really "drawing" with pen on paper because the harder you press the stylus to the Cintiq screen, the thicker the line becomes. This makes for more fluid, dynamic artwork. I think that for the first few strips that I used this technique, the art is a little rough compared to usual, but I've gotten used to it now. Maybe you'll be able to see the difference.

Ventilation

2008-01-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

Today I got a couple of comments on two of my YouTube videos (from the user "lapizmagiko") that got my blood boiling. Though he typed his comments in Spanish, through the magic of this new thing they have called The Internet (I suggest you check it out sometime), I was able to decipher what he said, which I will paraphrase here:

"Why do you need such a nice tablet (referring to my Wacom Cintiq12WX) to make drawings like those? God knows that you are wasting that jewel. Why give food to someone with no teeth to eat it?"

The initial thoughts that raced through my head cannot be posted here, because I keep this site family-friendly, and the words I would type might give your great aunt Flo a coronary. Also, I know that getting angry at someone who offers only blatant negative criticism is simply not worth it. That doesn't change the fact that I pity this person. As I said in my responses to him (responses in which I did not swear once, I'll have you know), not every person with artistic talent chooses to paint the Mona Lisa. My artwork is never going to win any awards for "most realistic" or "most dramatic," but that does not mean that it is easy, that it is trite and meaningless, or that I do not pour my soul into it. And so, yes, my feelings of anger have been diluted into pity, for I can't help but pity someone who allows for such ignorance, elitism and plain jealousy to cause them to insult someone's accomplishments in life, no matter how small they may deem them.

New Chain-link Jefferson Wallpaper!

2007-12-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

Having a lot of free time on my hands what with working at a university that gives lengthy Christmas vacations, I took it upon myself to create a brand new Chain-link Jefferson desktop wallpaper. You didn't think you'd be using that Christmas wallpaper forever, did you?

Bulldog & Cooch: The Tribute

2007-12-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

To those of you not familiar with what's going on in today's strip, let me help explain things a little...Bulldog & Cooch (and Skull, for that matter) are characters created by Scott Kurtz, who runs a little webcomic called Player Vs. Player (just...just to clarify, it's not really a little webcomic, in fact, it's rather massively popular!). Bulldog & Cooch are basically alternate personas of two of the strip's main characters, Cole and Brent, who are a throwback to 70's/80's "buddy-cop" shows. I love Bulldog & Cooch, and that's why I decided to make this strip in tribute to them, and to Scott Kurtz. Originally, I sent him the strip to see if he liked it, but unfortunately I never received a response, which could either mean he was too busy to reply, or that he hated it. Either way, I still didn't want the strip to go unnoticed by anyone at all, seeing how it took so long to make and how much I like it. So anyway, here it is...the Bulldog & Cooch tribute strip, courtesy of George.

Creating a font of your own handwriting

2007-12-21T09:55:00.001-08:00

A couple of days ago, I decided, on a whim, that I was going to create a font based on my very own handwriting. The only problem was that I had no idea how to do this. Fortunately, I figured it out, but I wanted to spare others from having to go through the rigmarole of a learning process I had to go through to do it. That's why I created a tutorial showing exactly how to create a font based on your own handwriting. Maybe you're the type of person who wants to know how to do that sort of thing. If so, happy trails!

Bonus comic today!

2007-12-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well, today's the day for one of those special bonus comics I promised you earlier this week. There will be another one coming on Christmas day! My gift to you. Don't say I don't spoil you.

Wacom Cintiq 12WX Review

2007-12-19T00:19:00.000-08:00

I've noticed that quite a few people are coming here via Google searches for "Wacom Cintiq12WX," and I want to accommodate those visitors with my own Cintiq12WX product review. It includes pictures and links to YouTube videos I've recorded of the Cintiq in action. Hope this provides some of you with the information you need!

A couple of reminders...

2007-12-16T16:00:00.001-08:00

I've noticed that even though traffic has been picking up lately, I haven't had any new e-mail subscribers in a long time! If you're not aware of the e-mail subscription service, it allows you to input your e-mail address and have George e-mailed to you every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It's quite a nifty little service and if you're the type (read: normal) of person who doesn't use the internet 24/7, you might like having comics e-mailed directly to you.

Also, don't forget that you can download the George holiday-themed wallpaper for the low, low price of one click, reduced from 2 clicks. Take advantage of this introductory offer now!

And so it is finished

2007-12-15T16:46:00.001-08:00

Well, it's time to take the Intuos3 off the auction block, pack it up, and ship it to the lucky winner. I honestly didn't get quite as much for it as I'd hoped for, but I also didn't do too badly, either. I'm just glad that I've almost recouped my expenses from my Cintiq. Anyway, I've been sort of short of news to report (+3 RHYME POINTS) and for that I...cannot retort (OH, -1). I would like to say that as my Christmas gift to you, there will be two bonus George strips coming within the next week and a half. One will be on Christmas, and one will be the Thursday before Christmas. I had to wedge that one in because I sort of miscalculated my update schedule and had to finish the current storyline by Christmas eve and was left with little recourse but to give a BONUS UPDATE WOOO! And then, well, the Christmas one is just my way of saying Happy Festivus.

For Sale: One (1) Legendary Item

2007-12-07T23:01:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that my very own Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet is up on the auction block. This thing has created quite a few George comics over the past few months, but it's finally time to let it go. Now that I have a Cintiq12WX, I just don't have any more use for it! But I take care of my possessions, and this thing is as....grey and flat as it was when I first unboxed it. So now's your chance to not only get a nice Intuos3 at a good price, but a chance to get your hands on a piece of George history.

Papa's Got a Brand New Bag....of AWESOME

2007-12-06T22:46:00.000-08:00

Today, the UPS man played the role of Santa for me. He wasn't a very good Santa; he was too tanned, too dark-haired, too clean-shaven. He was kind of pudgy but not very jolly. Most importantly, though, was the great package he carried. After struggling for what felt like an eternity trying to sign my name on those incredibly defective digital calculator/notepads they carry around, I brought my treasure in, sliced the box open, and gazed in awe. I am the proud new owner of a Wacom Cintiq 12WX.

Couple of Things...

2007-12-05T22:32:00.000-08:00

First off, the search page should now be working correctly. It hasn't been working since I re-designed the website a few months ago, and though I wracked my brains then trying to fix it, when I came back to it tonight the problem was incredibly apparent. So incredibly apparent that I must've had an IQ of 37 a few months ago.

Second, Chris sent in this photo of his ASUS EEE proudly displaying the 800x480 version of the George Christmas wallpaper. Thanks Chris!

Holiday Wallpaper!

2007-12-01T23:44:00.000-08:00

I just finished up a brand new holiday-themed George wallpaper, and I really think you should check it out, because it took me a long. Ass. Time. Enjoy!

Headline: George shatters pageview record; creator arrested for public drunkenness

2007-11-29T08:22:00.000-08:00

I'd like to say thank you to all you George readers out there for breaking the site's all-time one-day pageview record. Normally people get reprimanded when they break things, but not you. Instead, I want you to press your hand to the monitor and wait a few seconds; I will give you a high five. With my mind.

There is still some question as to exactly how many pageviews the site had yesterday, as Google Analytics says 2,101 while my server's stats software says 2,917. I say we settle this with a calculator battle between the two numbers. Hang on.

Okay, the two numbers came together and waged an epic battle until they were finally divided by two, somehow leaving only one number as the victor: 2509. 2509 pageviews in a day; modest numbers for many, spectacular numbers for George. I sincerely hope I can look back on the day when 2509 pageviews seems modest, but for now I'll enjoy the victory. Over the Internet.

To everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving Thursday...

2007-11-24T22:25:00.000-08:00

...hope you had a good and safe one. My parents saddled me up with enough leftovers to ensure that I probably won't have to buy any groceries until December. Of 2008.

In other news, there's a little side project I've been working on; a writing project, actually. A friend inspired me to write a short story and enter it in a contest online, so I did. You can read my submission, Axult City, here. So anyway, I wrote that and then I started to get a little itch. A little itch that no cream will cure. I'm talking, of course, about the writing itch. Now I'm preparing to write a longer story about Axult City, though not a full-blown novel...somewhere in between a novel and a short story. A novella I guess?

Ever since I started reading Good Ship Chronicles, I keep picturing the main character of my story, Dr. William Lofeld, as looking like Hap Banning. This, of course, is awesome because Good Ship Chronicles is a great strip. It wouldn't kill you to read a few strips, unless you stumble upon the archived comic which triggers a blast of anti-matter rays from your monitor.

Just in case you're not a NERD like me

2007-11-18T22:14:00.001-08:00

Don't fret if you don't get today's comic. I mean, I really hope it's strong enough to stand on its own without knowledge of what it's referencing, but if not, just chalk it up to bad luck this time. "Tasslehoff Birdfoot" is a play on the name of a popular character from the Dragonlance novels created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Tasslehoff Burrfoot is a kender--that is, a halfling with a penchant for picking locks, "accidentally" picking up items and trinkets that aren't his, and telling long-winded stories. Moreover, most kenders carry long (well, long for THEM) staves with what resembles a slingshot on one end. When I drew this comic I was just getting into the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, and the nerd in me is proud to say that I've now finished not only Chronicles, but the Legends trilogy that followed it as well. Not to mention The Legend of Huma, another great Dragonlance book, this one written by the quite legendary Richard A. Knaak. Hopefully before Thanksgiving I'll have wrapped up the sequel to that book, Kaz the Minotaur.

...Anybody out there still with me?

A Dedication

2007-11-13T22:59:00.001-08:00

Today's comic goes out to my good friend Sharon, who bought a faulty iPod Mini from me around the first part of this year. Well, in all truth and fairness, it was not faulty when she purchased said iPod from me, but it did almost immediately become faulty upon said purchase. I tried to keep it on life support until she moved 1,000 miles away, where my tech support services were rendered unusable. Now I believe the iPod has puttered out completely. And so it is with this that I offer the heartfelt dedication of today's strip to Sharon, She of the Malfunctioning iPod Mini.

Greetings, international visitors.

2007-11-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

I took a look at my site stats this afternoon and was fairly shocked at what I saw. So far this month, the top five cities for George visitors are not in the United States. Mostly, they're in the United Kingdom and southeast Asia. Overall, the United States generates more traffic, but no single city in the United States generates quite as much traffic as these top five international cities. I think this is absolutely wonderful and very cool, because I appreciate the concept of having international appeal, and I believe there's probably no way George could have international appeal without the internet. So anyway, hola, salut, bonjour, ni hao, hafa, barev, god dag, mabuhay, dobri, grüß gott, shwmai, namaste, marhabah, zdravstvuyte, labdien, and howdy to everyone out there.

Technology, how I love and loathe thee

2007-11-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

Comic's up a bit on the early side today, because I'm going to be booked 'til noon tomorrow doing tech support for a business conference downtown, and I gotta get to bed early tonight. This will be the second time I've done tech support for this conference, and even though it's my job to know my way around computers, I'm still so deathly paranoid and worried that something is going to go horribly wrong. Like, someone is going to plug in their USB drive and the laptop is going to erupt in a nuclear explosion, I dunno. Maybe someone is going to double-click the PowerPoint icon and instead of their presentation loading, a hidden trap door swings open and the room and everyone in it tumbles into some other dimension where Apple has the operating system market cornered and pants wear us.

New "Weird Greg" wallpaper!

2007-11-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

In honor of Halloween (ok, that's a lie but it sounds plausible), I made a new wallpaper yesterday evening, featuring Greg in full "Weird Al" costume. There's a version for most screen resolutions, and if yours isn't there, I'm sure all my readers are smart, talented, and attractive enough to manipulate the image into whatever size you need.

Nortoons Dot Com.

2007-10-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

Nortoons.com is almost ready for an official launch. That doesn't mean it's going to happen soon, necessarily, but...well, it could. In fact, the only thing really stopping me from saying it's "officially" launched is the fact that I do not have any terms and conditions for purchasing artwork set up yet, and I've seen from other freelance cartoonists and designers that terms and conditions are not things to be trifled with, sort of like Peruvian Death Beetles. I have to make sure all the copyright stipulations are good and legal, that I don't get stiffed on payment, that I don't accidentally sell a cartoon to the devil in return for my eternal soul (See Paragraph 6, Line 14, "Documents signed in blood shall not be honored"). However, the site is functional and you can totally check the progress. Currently there are only a couple of things in the Portfolio, but I've been drawing madly and should be adding plenty more in the near future.

MyBlogLog.com

2007-10-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

So I'm trying this new thing out. It's MyBlogLog.com, and it's sort of like a social networking site where instead of signing up and filling out a profile and making a page out of it, your own existing website becomes your social networking page. From the name, it must have originally been intended for blogs only, but it's not limited as such anymore. Anyway, the "Recent Readers" box here on the front page is a list of...well, all the recent MyBlogLog.com visitors to this website. If you've got a website or blog of your own I recommend shecking this place out, that is, until people get sick and tired of it and I cancel my membership.

In other news, in the relatively near future I'm going to open up a website where I'll hawk my wares as a commercial cartoonist. True, I'm...not a commercial cartoonist, but hey, we all gotta start somewhere, and my work will be cheap to start out with. More info on that in the coming weeks!

Reverend Mother will fix your wigwam.

2007-10-23T01:47:00.000-07:00

A joint effort between myself and The Paul has brought this world fruitious results: my Blogger blog entries not only show up as news items on George-Comics.com, but you can now comment on the blog posts directly from here. I have to give great thanks to Paul for his help in getting this up and running. I am no programmer, and I am in awe of anyone who can code a program in those arcane languages including, but not limited to, Basic, Visual Basic, Audio Basic, C, C Sharp, C++, C-, Satisfactory, Perl, Squerl, and Herl. ANYHOO. Leave some comments if anything catches your fancy, and let me know if you find any problems that I, in my limited wisdom, have not protected this website against, including, but not limited to, flying nuns.

Might as well JUMP!

2007-10-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Van Halen was one of my favorite bands before they canned Michael Anthony in favor of Eddie's son, Wolfgang. Ugh. And so I couldn't really be any happier that this happened.

Anyway, today's comic, for the most part, hits pretty close to home for me. I truly am a stubborn jackass and I say the same thing George does here. However...well, you'll see in Wednesday's strip how things can go...terribly, terribly wrong.

Or at least a real tiny bit wrong.

I think this is going to work.

2007-10-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

My plan is fully in motion. As of around 11 p.m. last night, I've got it rigged so that my Blogger posts show up on the front page of the main website. Which is, of course, fantastic for a couple of reasons: It allows you, my loving and loyal and attractive readers, to view my rambling thoughts on a regular basis. Moreover, however, it allows me to want to have these rambling thoughts on a regular basis instead of once every few fortnights. Anyway, changes are still coming. I disabled Haloscan comments and reverted back to good old-fashioned Blogger comments, which totally destroys any comments that anyone has left me over the past...um, like two years...but hey! This is a new era for George. George is entering what I like to call "The Internet Age," which is a phrase I just coined just right now and trademarked over the phone via text-message on the way to work this morning so you can't use it. Unless you're talking about George. Then, proceed.

Two Hundred Bones

2007-10-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today marks George comic number 200. I think most people say things like, "Wow, I can't believe I've already made 200 strips! Time has gone by so fast!" Well, not me. Frankly, I can't believe I've only made 200 comics. Doesn't that seem like a small number? Okay, maybe it only seems like a small number because there have been over 10,000 Garfield comic strips, but I like to think that I've been able to squeeze more laughs out of my 200 strips than Jim Davis has from his 10,000+ Garfield strips. Wishful thinking? Maybe. Absolutely wrong? Probably. Do I really care? .....A little. Anyway, happy 200th, George.

In search of the elusive blog post!

2007-09-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm barely able to keep this thing up-to-date lately. There's just not much going on, I'm sad to report. I'm still cranking out comics three times a week, and I think this schedule is going to stick. There's a good balance of uptime and downtime, and since I've pretty much devoted a huge bulk of my free time to the comic, getting new comics done doesn't seem so difficult. Plus, there's the added benefit of working at a job where I can even work on comics here. But shhh. Don't tell anyone.

Awwww yeah!

2007-09-14T21:51:00.001-07:00

That's what I'm talkin' about! I redesigned the George website today. I think it looks so much cooler than it did before. The only downside is that people using 800x600 resolution will have to scroll to the right a bit to see the entire comic. But honestly, people, if you're using 800x600 resolution, I've got a message from 1999 for you. It wants its resolution back; also, it wants to know how that Y2K bug thing is going to pan out.

Fresh George artwork

2007-09-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

I've decided to use the new George forums to post new sketches and artwork from time to time that you won't be able to find anywhere else. You don't have to be a member to view anything there, but you will need to register if you want to start topics or reply to them!

New font!

2007-09-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

I've changed the font for every comic starting September 4 (to coincide with the new style of coloring that debuted that day, you see). I think this new font is a lot cleaner, thicker (without being too heavy), and more readable than the font I've been using for nearly two years. I underwent extensive consultation with a panel of judges to find out what the best font for the comic should have been. Okay, I asked five friends repeatedly over the course of the evening "ok which font do you like better, the first or the second?" It was sort of like when you go to the eye doctor to get fitted for glasses, and he does the ol' A/B switch on you over and over, except this time the letter chart is a comic font, the big machine covering your face is your monitor, and the eye doctor is a very odd and annoying web designer who spends his free time making comics.

Forums are back!

2007-09-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

The George Forums are up and running again. I was not happy with the board system I was using, so I shopped around and found the Web Wiz Forums and, well, so far so good. They look way more professional than what I was using before. Sign up today and give them a spin!

More Big News!

2007-09-06T22:15:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been really immersed in the strip. More than ever before. Which is excellent. I've got a pretty big stockpile of comics going and, unlike two years ago, I see nothing on the horizon preventing me from cranking out more and more. And so after much thought and hesitation, I have decided to once again put George on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. Since January when I started making new strips again, I've basically tried to update the strip about every three days, but didn't want to stick to a set schedule because I tend to become too frazzled when I set deadlines for myself. But...if I really want to make it in the webcomics world, I've got to push myself, and I've learned from my past mistakes. And, although I don't plan on resorting to this, if I find it's all a bit too much for me I'll just scale it back to Monday-Thursday updates like it was when the strip first started. In any case, I think it's time we got George back on the regular update track!

Headline: George breaks its own modest 1-day traffic record

2007-09-06T08:09:00.001-07:00

All the hits have been tallied, and it's official. Yesterday, more people visited George than ever before. The numbers are still modest, though, but about 30% higher than the previous daily record which was set back in January. 105 people visited the site yesterday, and I can only hope that number climbs as the days go on! Thanks to all the new visitors who have stopped by, and all the old ones who continue to drive me to...well, keep making comics!

With today's comic...

2007-09-04T14:05:00.001-07:00

...comes a new era for George! ...Kind of!

Today marks the first release of a George comic done with the "new" style of coloring I've taken to using. Basically, I used to export the line art from Flash to Photoshop in .png format, flatten the file, use the magic eraser to delete the white background, and start adding color to the characters with the paint bucket tool. When all that was done, I'd add a little stroke around the outside of the characters, and also apply a slight bevel/emboss effect to make them look a little bit "3-D," and finally put a dark offset layer over the top of it to add a little shadow effect. Basically, I wasn't taking a very proactive route in making my comic look good; I just blasted it with Photoshop effects to try to make it look good.

I've realized that if I really want to make the strip stand out, I have to put more time into the coloring process. This means taking more care to be sure that all elements of the characters are COMPLETELY colored in (no little gray pixels here where lines meet color), and adding shadows completely by hand instead of just covering all the characters with a smoky gray layer which robs them of their vibrant color. There are other subtle differences I won't completely go into detail with here, but suffice to say the comics take a little longer to make now, but in my opinion, look much better. Also, I'm allowing the comics to be taller...the panels are 20% taller than before, and I'm going to let talk bubbles float up above the tops of the panels a little if necessary. This will lessen the "cramp" factor I sometimes run into when making strips. All this change is forcing me to really put more time and effort into the strip, and you know what? I'm having a lot of fun doing it. Every comic feels like much more of a creative process now, instead of just going through the motions to push out a new product every few days. I hope people notice the difference. And if they don't...um...well, refer them to this blog post, will ya?

Spiffy new website!

2007-08-27T23:39:00.001-07:00

Although you might not notice, the George Comics website is actually entirely new as of...well, right now. You see, it is now (for the most part) styled completely using CSS, which is something I wanted to do about six months ago, but basically I needed to get off my ass and...um, learn CSS. Now I've gotten quite decent at it, so I did it. Truth be told, there were a few parts of the old website that were laid out in such hairy tables that I just shuddered and dropped the content into the CSS template, ugly code and all, but I like to think I kept that kind of stuff on the pages nobody ever visits...like, "Sirloin in the Nude" and "The Archives."

Anyway...give it a spin next time you're there and let me know if you find any problems!

COMPUTRON

2007-08-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm a little late on this one, but I actually want to go back to the comic I posted on August 1. As with most comics I do that draw off some sort of outside inspiration, I'd like to share this inspiration with you now.

Prepare yourself for hilarity before clicking.

That picture was taken by my Canadian buddy Chris, and it's 100% legit. It makes me wonder if the people running the store were too lazy or low on income to have the sign changed, or just have no idea it's spelled wrong. The world may never know.

2007-07-07T00:59:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased, happy, elated, joyous, gleeful and ecstatic to announce the availability of a new George Comics book. Featuring 99 strips from the past year and a half, this book is bigger and better than the first. And rightfully so, as it's also $1.60 more! But trust me, my friends...it's $1.60 well-spent.

Yesterday evening I just got hit by some motivation to make a new book, as I had plenty of new strips and the first book is pretty crusty. I can't even bear to look at half the strips in the old book anymore. The new one is awesome. And most likely there won't be a third book for like another year and a half, so...uh...you better buy this one. I guess.

Oh, ok, fine. If you want to preview the book first, you can check out this lower-quality web version. It looks pretty gnarly compared to the print version and it has no cover, but at least you can see the guts, and that's what counts!

Another flashback!

2007-07-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here's the original comic that today's comic is based on:

http://www.george-comics.com/geocities/com/comic10.gif

I made it...oh, many years ago, and you can see that my skill at coloring comics has come along greatly since then. Still, it's definitely cool to look back on some of the old strips that have become new ones. ...uh, for me, anyway.

Henceforth...slightly different format for all comics!

2007-05-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

In a move that probably should have been done long ago, I've decided that instead of releasing George comics as .gif files, they're going to be .jpg from now on. It's a double-edged sword but I think I've manage to be spared by both edges--the good thing is that with .jpg, the comics will look much "smoother," as they aren't limited to only 256 colors as .gifs are, which sometimes causes a "grainy" look, especially in areas where there are gradient colors.

What kept me from changing, though, was the fact that .gifs support transparency, which allows the webpage beneath the image to show through in some areas, notably the space between each panel of the comic. I thought it would look better if the comic integrated seamlessly into the webpage with the blue background showing through. Now, however, the new .jpg comics will feature a white background with a thin black border around it...and hey, I think it looks pretty good.

The comic file-sizes are bigger now, however...each one is going to be about 100KB, whereas before they were an average of about 70KB. Peanuts to those of you on broadband, but I'm sure it's going to put the squeeze on the dial-up population that's still left. Oh well...maybe this will finally push them to join the rest of the world in upgrading to broadband ;)

150th George Comic!

2007-05-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Huzzah, only 350 to go until Wikipedia will allow me to have a George Comics entry. Funny how Wikipedia is the encyclopedia that "anybody can edit." Anybody who their moderators deem worthy, of course.

I recently made some cash on the side through some website design work, so I plugged a little money into advertising George--so far, traffic numbers are indeed up a bit, so if there are any new folks reading the strip (and....the blog), welcome aboard!

Keeping with the "New [thing]!" theme...

2007-05-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

New George promotion graphic!

In my ongoing endeavors to drive traffic to the website, I've resurrected the Promotion page, albeit minus the three different-sized ever-changing comic graphics. The regular-sized comic is just too unwieldy for most websites and it is a major pain to upload the two smaller graphics every time I update the comic, so...out of pure laze, those are out. But the good news is, there's a brand spanking new image there on the page, and it's animated, too! Woohoo! So if you're a webmaster and you're a George lover--and who among you isn't, consider putting up a George graphic if you haven't already--and to those of you who have, you deserve my undying gratitude, at least, until I die.

New searchable comics!

2007-05-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce the addition of a comic search function for George! Now when you awake at night in a cold sweat, your heart and mind desperately seeking to know all the George strips in which Sirloin has appeared, you can actually do something about it besides cry yourself back to sleep. Let there be much rejoicing!

New stuff!

2007-05-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of new things: There's a new George desktop wallpaper available to download! I think you'll agree that the Dorkmobile is the flyest ride this side of Wonder Woman's invisible jet.

Also, though it's really not a big deal and actually kind of sad that it's taken this long, the main site finally features a favicon. This tiny icon shows up in your browser's address bar and open George tabs, and next to the site name in your bookmarks. I should have done it a long, long time ago, back when it was actually fashionable for a site to have a favicon, but...a combination of laze and apathy prevented me from doing so. Not anymore.

I also want to remind everyone that you can have new George comics emailed to you so you don't have to check the site for updates all the time. It's a great service and I think it works very well, so check it out!

New swag!

2007-04-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post...there's all KINDS of new stuff over at the George Store. Check it out. There are more shirts than you can shake a cat at.

Well....that was pretty quick

2007-04-20T16:14:00.001-07:00

Check out the new George Comics Subscription page. I'm not entirely certain how it's going to work yet, so consider this in beta format right now. I'm pretty certain that if you subscribe, you'll receive the newest comic in your inbox the next midnight after I post it. I'm subscribed, too, so I can check and see if the feed is working like I intend it to. I encourage you to subscribe if for no other reason than to let me know of any bugs that might be in the system so I can work them out. Also, thanks to the people who gave me feedback regarding my last post!

A matter of some importance

2007-04-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

This is just copied and pasted from my MySpace blog, but it's very important that I post this here, as well. If you don't have time to read the entire thing, please at least skip to and read the last paragraph. It's the most important one.

Okay. So I have been doing a spot of thinking lately, and as we all know, that's when bad stuff happens. Anyway, I was thinking about why my comic strip doesn't get much traffic, despite the fact that it's been around for over two years and that most people I meet genuinely like the strip.

I have come to the following conclusion: George has always been intended as a comic that anyone, regardless of age, could theoretically find funny and interesting if they have a quirky enough sense of humor to enjoy it. That sort of mentality flies in the newspaper funny pages (where I initially foresaw George during its inception; it was never truly meant to be a webcomic until relatively recently), but it doesn't transfer to the realm of the internet webcomic very easily. You see, generally, the people who frequent the internet not only on a daily basis, but consistently throughout the day, obviously make up a huge chunk of internet traffic. It takes a special, certain kind of person to sit their asses on a chair in front of a computer for more than half of their waking hours. These people are often jaded, cynical, and sarcastic, though usually witty and desiring their humor intake to have these same traits. That's why comic strips like Penny Arcade, CAD, Megatokyo, and PVP Online are incredibly popular. They are all heavily geek- and gamer-oriented and each display at least a touch of all or most of the traits I mentioned earlier.

However...if you are a casual internet user, which I descry that many readers of my blog are, odds are you've never even heard of those four webcomics. If you are a casual internet user, you probably questioned whether they are really "incredibly popular" or not. The truth is, none of those comics are popular on the same level as something like Dilbert is. But they are far more popular than Dilbert is on the internet. It's all about the medium...Dilbert is in the newspaper, and "normal" people read the newspaper, often daily. Penny Arcade is only found online, and "normal" people don't read geek/gamer comics on a computer screen on a nearly-daily basis. But it could not survive in the standard newspaper funny pages. The population at large wouldn't understand it and wouldn't want to read it. Well...the reverse is what I think I've got going on with George.

I know lots of people personally, and maybe you're one of them, who enjoy reading George on an occasional basis, usually when I force you to, but don't visit the site apart from when I hassle you to do so. And that's fine, because I know that you have lives that are busy and you don't always have time to visit a comic strip site online. But my question is this: What can I do to turn you into a regular reader? I'm not talking about content changes to the strip, I'm talking more in technical terms here. For example: Would you read the strip often if it were somehow sent to your e-mail inbox whenever I update it? Would you subscribe to a newsletter that alerts you when the comic has been updated, so you can check it out at your leisure? I implore you, my internets friends, to give me some ideas I can use to hopefully make George a more widespread indulgence among you, the backbone of the world wide web, the casual internet user.

A special occasion

2007-04-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

Today there's a one-off comic celebrating the birth of my friend Paul and his wife Jamie's twin girls. They were scheduled for delivery yesterday afternoon, and I still have not heard any news, but I'm sure everything's fine. We will return to our regularly scheduled comickery tomorrow.

New George site design!

2007-04-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

I took a little initiative and replaced a lot of stuff on the main George Comics website that's been there for over two years now. I finally think every single image/part of the site has been updated at some point along the road since I started the site. That's your cue to go check out what's new!

Whoopsie daisy.

2007-04-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

Early this morning I accidentally put up the wrong comic. That one's supposed to come out in a few days. ...I doubt anyone noticed. Anyway, if you saved a copy of it locally you could probably plaster it around the internet and say you got an advance copy, and you would be looked upon as a God. Awesome.

Least he still has his guitar

2007-03-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

The Chain-link Jefferson mini-saga comes to a tidy end, and I still got to throw Ed McMahon into the mix!

Work is progressing on the animated George short I mentioned a few days ago...Last night I compiled 25 seconds of audio to which the animation will be set. Once I get off my duff and start the actual animation process, I doubt that it will take TOO long to finish. A week, maybe? Anyway, you loyal viewers, of which there are a few of you, will be the first to see it!

Oh, and I nearly forgot...here's a short snippet of the audio that's going to be featured in the final animation.

George ANIMATRONICS!

2007-03-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

First let me say that I'm planning new George comics in the very near future. First, however, I'm going to dig into my newest project...A 25-second animated George short which I will (hopefully) be creating for a video contest at Fresno State. It's not glamorous, but it affords me a reason to get off my duff and finally learn animation. Take a gander over here to see a quick five-second snippet of Animated George.

Surprisingly, the above clip only took a couple days of work, and I've never animated anything on even this large of a scale, certainly not with sound. It's really been a learning process, but not a difficult one...so far. We'll see how that progresses.

I'll have no shortage of Badabing gags

2007-02-28T20:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the recent lack of George updates, but life's been busy! Most notably, with the addition of my new cat, Abby. I totally would have named her Badabing, but I adopted her from an animal shelter where her name, Abby, was already on record and everything...so I figured what the hey. Anyway, like most people who hated Myspace once upon a time, I have a Myspace page (I felt very dirty about it for the longest time) and if you feel so inclined, you can read my blog posts about Abby or add me as a friend or whatever. Like my flickr page, I'm mainly telling you about it so you can see that I am not being a total lazy bum, even when George updates get thin. If the cat ever dies, then you may all freely call me a complete and utter lazy bum.

The real Chain-Link Jefferson

2007-02-12T23:21:00.000-08:00

My buddy Paul recently told me about an old cat named Mance Lipscomb, who was an old-school blues guitarist who came to "prominence" in the 60's and early 70's, though he never really got incredibly popular. Anyway, the moment I saw and heard him, I thought...you know, if this guy wore big black sunglasses, he would be exactly as I picture Chain-Link Jefferson would be in real life. Take a look at this video.

Anyway, we're starting off on a Chain-Link Jefferson storyline, so hang onto your worn, tattered hats and beat-up vintage acoustic guitars.

Yet another oldie update...

2007-02-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

Today's comic is another update of a comic I first did years ago...This particular example was made about six years ago, I believe, though it may have been a little longer...I can't remember if it was a high school or early college thing. ANYWAY, here it is:

TO THE DORKMOBILE!

Ugh. As far as I'm concerned, if that old comic was a movie, it would be unwatchable. It would be Showgirls, minus the attractive nude females. I'm so glad I'm not that bad anymore.

And so The Paul gets what he deserves.

2007-02-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

...A spotlight on national television and tons of media attention!! Steal your friends' (or enemies') inventions, kids.

Anyway, I got my new furniture all set up, and my apartment (especially my bedroom) still has a ways to go before I am totally happy with it, but now I have more time for George updates. Expect a couple new comics a week until the next catastrophe.

Flickr'd!

2007-02-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have two comics ready and rarin' to go, but neither of them are an ending to the "The Paul Steals Dave's Invention and Goes on National Late-Night Television" storyline we've got going here, and I'd like to neatly wrap this one up before posting those other two. However, I'm having a hard time finishing the storyline because of 1) redecorating my apartment, and 2) my newfound, budding interest in photography.

I recently bought a Canon Powershot a540 for just $150 in-box on eBay and I am having a ball with it despite not really having much to take pictures of. A couple of friends of mine have been teaching me how to manually set the camera to take photos under different conditions without having to resort to the "auto" mode. Hey, I think it's a good hobby to have, and if it does cut into my George time, at least I'm still doing something productive.

I've even set up my own Flickr page so you can check out my "progress" (I use quotes because progress implies I am steadily improving my skill...which I am probably not) and so you can know that, even when George updates are thin, I am still doing something creative and not rotting in a puddle of my own drool wearing nothing but underwear and suspenders the whole weekend.

Re-doing the ol' apartment

2007-01-29T20:46:00.000-08:00

Just FYI, for the next week or two, George updates may be a little sparser than they have been lately because I am pretty much overhauling my apartment. After one of my friends said "It looks like you basically transplanted mom's apartment into a place above ground" I decided it was time for a change. I'm boxing up all my CDs and stuff cluttering my TV area right now, cleaning out my closets to make room for junk, and plan on bringing in some new...well, some actual furniture. Also, I just came to the realization that nobody's used CD towers since like 1998, yet I have four. I just took them all down, too. Thank heavens for MP3, man.

Forgive me for being brief...

2007-01-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

But I just played my guitar more strongly than I have in at least a year, and my fingers are killing me. Each keystroke is like a tiny dagger through my fingertip.

Anyway, yeah, there's David Letterman in today's comic. I had a great deal of fun drawing Letterman and his show, as it were, although...don't look for him to become much of a recurring character!

George Comics Blog Post #100!

2007-01-20T23:24:00.000-08:00

Blogger's dashboard tells me that this is the 100th George blog post. I think it may be lying to me, but I am far, far too lazy to count them. So I will accept this as fact.

Anyway, if you check out the main George website, you might notice that there are lots of shiny new graphics strewn about the site. I'm currently in the process of learning how to design websites using CSS--I know, I am way behind the curve. I didn't do or learn a single thing in 2006. I feel like I'm a year behind everything, and now I have to play catch-up. So anyway, in the coming months, expect to see a new George website, coded using CSS. It's going to look sweeet--I have no idea what it's going to look like, but rest assured I would not go live with it unless it was way cooler than the current site, which, I think is still pretty cool.

I've been trying to buy a good deal of advertising for George in the past couple of weeks. I madly and badly need to establish and surpass the level of readership that the comic attained around the very early part of 2006, before everything went a-crumblin' down. That being said, if you are willing to add a link to George on your own website, every little bit helps and I would certainly appreciate it much!

I am VERY proud to say...

2007-01-14T00:19:00.000-08:00

...that over the past 10 days, there's been just as many new George comics as in the entire 11-month period preceding it. That's how you know we're on a roll, folks.

Big things are planned for Dave's new invention. Can you say, Late-Night Television?

New comic, and changes to the George website!

2007-01-10T21:43:00.000-08:00

Even when you see Dave's invention, you're still going to need at least 50 guesses to figure out what it is.

Anyway, if you head on over to the George Comics website, you might notice a few little changes. For starters, there's a whole new header graphic--bigger, better...uh...uncut. And if you go to the "Meet the Characters" page, all characters have had their "mug shots" updated, said mug shots have a colorful "roll-over" effect, and now The Paul has his own characters page! Also, each character's page features a mini Characters menu so you don't have to keep hitting the back button to see all the character profiles. Before it's all said and done I'd like to make some more changes to the site, and hopefully get the forums back up and running for the first time in at least a year. If there's anything you'd like to see on the site, please feel free to e-mail me at john@george-comics.com!

Ka-BOOM

2007-01-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

Oh, that rascally Dave. I love this comic, I'm not ashamed to say. My buddy told me to add a joke about cranking the oven to ELEVEN, to which I responded, "That joke is SO overused." But I had to use it anyway, because it's way overused. And...ok, if you don't know what it's from, it stems from some dialogue in the movie This Is Spinal Tap where the band's guitarist, Nigel Tufnel, reveals that he has modified his amplifiers to go to 11, instead of 10. The interviewer asks him, "Why don't you just make 10 louder?" Nigel is completely baffled, and after a few moments says, "...But these go to 11." Over the past 20 years, "cranking it up to 11" has been used way too many times, but I still can't help but fondly remember the look on Nigel's face when I hear it.

Vintage George

2007-01-04T22:20:00.000-08:00

The newest comic actually is based on a very old George strip I made back in, like, 10th or 11th grade. It is comparatively awful. But...here it is anyway, for your viewing and comparing pleasure:

http://www.geocities.com/georgecomics/com/comic21.jpg

My apologies if the above link doesn't work...Geocities has a very, very limited amount of bandwidth for their free website hosting, and 9 years ago, free was all I could afford.

These darn cobwebs. I dunno why I keep letting them bother me.

2007-01-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

Sheesh, is it 2007 already?! Man, I knew I shoudln't have turned off the snooze.

But kicking off the year, it's a NEW GEORGE COMIC. I know you haven't seen one of those in about six months, and I sincerely apologize for that. For more than a year now, there have been certain...issues which have prevented me from devoting much time to the strip, or even being very passionate about it. I really hope those issues are gone, because it was really fun making this one and dammit, George deserves better than a few comics every six months. While I still don't think I'm ready to stick to a set schedule of release days, I do wish to come out with at least one new comic a week, maybe more. Thanks to all the loyal George fans who haven't forgotten about me or the strip...I hope I can repay your loyalty with some really funny stuff in 2007.

shakes off the cobwebs

2006-07-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

In the words of Frank Costanza, "I'M BACK, BAYBEE!"

After a very long hiatus that I confess wasn't filled with much soul-searching or travels to Africa, George Comics is back in production. I just needed a break from the strip and it lasted WAY longer than I first intended it to. Anyway, I hope some old readers will come back and check out the strip again. I'm not going to force myself to stick to much of a deadline, instead just releasing new comics as I do them. Less pressure on me, which hopefully will result in a better end product. And rest assured that I'll still be producing them with regularity despite the lack of weekly deadlines. Enjoy!

I ain't dead yet!

2006-02-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about you or George. I'm still around! A friend of mine told me that I should, at the very least, shop George around while I'm on this bit of a hiatus I'm taking. So, I agreed that it's a good idea, and I think I'm gonna submit it to a few syndicates again. If getting syndicated didn't give me a swift kick in the ass towards doing the comic regularly again, then...well, I don't know how to finish this sentence, so I'll take a page out of George Carlin's book and take a small bow. Hope everyone's doing well!

I'm alive!

2006-01-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

I know I've been neglecting the blog for a while, and neglecting to update the comic strip for a little while now as well. I've gotten a lot busier at my job lately, with new assignments falling all over me. It's sort of lead to me not having the time or drive to get new comics done. That being said, George is certainly not going away, but updates may be...a little sparser than they've been for the past year (Yes! George has been live on the web for a full year now, yay!). Of course, I'm sure you all want to know what's going to happen to Dave and Chiwawa, and believe me, it's going to be mind-blowing. Or...somewhat amusing! Hopefully one of the two, right? Keep checking back!

Yes, yes, George Comics have been late...lately!

2005-12-30T15:10:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season is an odd one. I should have more time to get comics done since I get over a week off from my job, and...well, okay, I do have more time to get comics done, but...I haven't been getting them done! It's an anomaly. OK, maybe it's not. I've been so relaxed and comfortable in my cozy den without having to worry about waking up and going to work that I've sort of let all of my responsibilities slide this week. And I have to watch my newly-received Seinfeld DVD box set! But anyway, I'm working on a new comic right now and with any luck I'll have a new one ready to go on Monday afternoon as well. Then my vacation's over and I expect things to be straightened out again with the incoming of 2006. Time for new year's resolutions and a clean slate! ...And a week later, time for broken resolutions and a positively filthy slate.

100th George Comics Arrives without Fanfare, Researchers Say

2005-12-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

If I had timed it better, the 100th George comic would have been an awesome spectacle of epic proportions, rather than the simple end to the "The Paul" storyline. But I couldn't bear to interrupt the storyline when it was so close to being wrapped up. But never you mind, child, because I'm sure George Comic #101 will have some special meaning and message behind it to make up for today's loss. Either that, or a joke at the expense of Sirloin! Har!

When will it all end?!

2005-12-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

Things just keep getting worse and worse for George and "The Gang," as I like to refer to them as...gee, I hope nobody else has ever used that for anything.

George Comic #100 will be here in one mere week, and...quite honestly I don't really have anything planned. Maybe on the day of its release, I'll oven-cook my fish sticks instead of microwaving them. But I dunno, something like that...should be reserved for something more important, like one's wedding day. But what the hey, there's only gonna be one George #100, so I guess I better cook something up besides fish sticks...

I got it. Popcorn shrimp.

Aye carumba!

2005-11-25T11:14:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday being Thanksgiving, I managed to forget to update the comic. But it's there now. I guess I'm sort of lucky it's not a Thanksgiving-themed comic, since I forgot to update it. Instead, you get that rascally The Paul! *shakes fist vigorously*

Told you!

2005-11-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

Blame Warcraft. At least the comics are coming out regularly. Oh, that darned The Paul! I must say he provides a nice "devious" counter to George. I should use him more regularly. Expect to see a characters page of him in the near future!

In other news, I went to see the new Harry Potter movie last night and it was terrific. They just keep getting better and better. I was never into Harry Potter until very recently when a friend told me to catch up on them before the new movie came out so we could go see it together. And she was right, they are enjoyable indeed, overall...I thought the first one was by far the weakest, which is actually kind of odd because usually movies like this get weaker as they go down the line. Not so in the case of Harry Potter. Definitely worth the price of admission.

I'm a bad...blogmaster

2005-11-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

I've only updated the blog like three times in the past three weeks, and for that, I apologize. I blame World of Warcraft. A friend of mine got me playing it, curse his hide! Now I'm enraptured with it. It's grabbed ahold of me like the One Ring and I'm afraid it's not going to let me go anytime soon. Don't worry though, I'll still manage to crank out the comics ;)

Man, what with Coach Demurson trying to sell the team's softball trophy, and Chiwawa put up for bids by none other than George, it makes you wonder nothing is sacred in the town of Perkton, California! Makes me wonder that, anyway. I'm sure, though, that Chiwawa will not be going home with a leather-clad biker. The softball trophy, however...well, it could be going to someone far more dubious, if he has his way.

It's still Thursday!

2005-11-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

I was doing tech support at a business conference in a downtown hotel from very early this morning until the early afternoon, which is why you're treated to this George comic several hours later than usual. For this, I apologize. Actually, my presence wasn't even required at the conference after about 8:00 a.m., but I hung around just in case (and for the free lunch, but whatever). I can totally see Greg getting caught up in doing that sort of thing...perhaps at a cartoonists' convention? Hrrmmm...

For those about to...Trick-or-treat, we salute you!

2005-10-31T07:30:00.000-08:00

Well, Halloween and the first Halloween strip are both upon us like two linebackers after a fumble. It was lots of fun to do this strip. In fact I finished it at least a month ago because I was so anxious to do it. Greg was originally Einstein, but a buddy of mine suggested Colonel Sanders and I knew he was on to something. And Dave is already practically The Dude from The Big Lebowski, so that wasn't much of a leap. And Sirloin? He's already practically Mr. Clean. ...Except he's fat. And very unclean. I wish I could have fit Chain-link in there somewhere. Rest assured he's on his bench on the park, dressed as Janet Jackson or something.

Inspired by real life...yet again

2005-10-27T00:27:00.000-07:00

Today's comic is, until the very last panel (well, even a part of it) almost exactly what went down in our offices some time back. Our resident programmer, Paul, picked up the ringing phone that the secretary wasn't picking up, on account of...well, she just wasn't there. The person on the other line was looking for a company that had a name similar to what we had in the late 90's, and then asked if we accepted credit cards, which came rather out of the blue (I was later told that Paul almost told her, "Sure, send 'em on over."). Then, in an unrelated twist, almost immediately asked for someone who does not work in our office. After the good-byes were said I knew there was a comic strip on my hands. But that was from the silly putty.

I also notice that this blog is the "Featured Blog of the Day" at BlogExplosion! Awesome. ...What better time to plug the First George Comics Book over at lulu.com? :D

Google PageRank GO!

2005-10-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

Well, Google finally publicly updated their PageRank levels, and I'm proud to announce that the main George Comics page has a PageRank of 5. Thanks for reading and linking to the site, everybody! This makes me want to work even harder to promote the site to get it up to 6 by the time the next update rolls around.

Also, today marks the finale of the "Mac Daddy" storyline. It was really fun to write and draw but I'm actually sort of glad it's finally coming to a close here on the site. I've got some stuff lined up that I think is really good.

A cameo for the ages

2005-10-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

Interjecting the creator of a comic strip into the very comic strip in question is not a practice that has not been done before...at least, not in George. Wait...does that make sense? There are too may "nots" in that sentence. I think you get my drift, because we have a communication thing going.

Anyway, the Mac storyline is great fun and I find myself more eager than usual to draw and write the comics for it. I'll be a little disappointed when it comes to an end, but hey, there'll be something good coming after it too. I hope. I am glad I finally got Colleen to show her face in the strip again! Now...where's Chain-link and Coach Demurson?

...Something looks different here.

2005-10-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

That's because I decided to change the font on the comic, starting with today's strip. This new font is narrower without sacrificing readability, so I can fit a little more text onto each strip if necessary. Also, I just really like the look of it. It's cartoony and pretty easy on the eyes. The old font was fine, but sometimes fitting a lot of text into a particular panel was a challenge and I'd have to make some strategic edits. Plus, sometimes the commas and apostrophes would jump up or down to adjacent lines and try to pick fights with the other words, and this font keeps everything on a level playing field. Hopefully everyone else out there likes the new font as much as I do! I'm still sort of tweaking with the size, width, kerning, leading, all that good stuff. I'm going to find the absolutely optimal specifications for easy reading. Man, I got tired just writing that.

Just got my George Comics book in the mail.

2005-09-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

I just received my own copy of George Comics: The First Book from Lulu.com, and I have to say I'm incredibly pleased. It looks great. Like something you'd pick up in an actual bookstore. Like I've mentioned, you can pick one of these books up for less than $15 with shipping and everything. And now that I've finally got my hands on one, I can hereby give it my own personal stamp of approval! That...that's gotta be good for at least a buck fifty, right?

Inspired by real life

2005-09-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Today kicks off a fairly long storyline about Greg's sudden fascination with Macs. It sort of models my own, really, although I don't know yet if Greg is really going to buy a Mac or not. There's going to be a bit of a tug-of-war between two other characters who try to sway Greg either to the Mac completely or back to the PC. It's been a fun storyline to do so far, in fact, I think I've had more fun with this storyline than I have any other so far. Hope it's equally enjoyable to read!

A plethora of changes

2005-09-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Well, one big change for the George Comics website, one fairly big change for me, personally. First, check out the new navigation menu for the George archives. It's mondo improved over the old navigation menu, and was all programmed by Paul over at ThePaul.com. He programmed the previous navigation system as well, but it was just a conceptually bad system to begin with, I think. This new one is so much easier to use. You can browse comics all day long (or for 30 minutes or however long it takes to get through 76 comics), find them easily in the drop-down menu, and see every comic's release date and title right there. Give it a whirl!

Also, recently I purchased a Mac Mini. I didn't really have any reason to purchase it other than the fact that I wanted to give a Mac a whirl. I always hear about how they're so great for graphics and designing. Anyway, it's a great little computer and it amazes me how they can cram so much stuff into it. I recently did the first strip ever on the Mac, and it's a joy to use. It still takes some getting used to because the Mac OS is so much different from Windows, which I've been using exclusively for over a decade now. Sure beats Windows 3.11!

Archives down for maintenance!

2005-09-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that the George archives are going to be down for probably at least a couple of days while I switch the site over to a new server. The archives were written in PHP, which the new server does not support; it supports ASP instead. But with the help of my buddy Paul we're gonna make a new comic archive navigation system from scratch that's gonna be a lot better than the old one.

The George Comics book: Finally for sale!

2005-09-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

I know some people have been asking about a George book for some time now, and until recently I was just "home-brewing" (okay, "work-brewing") a few books here and there but not selling any at high volumes. Then I discovered lulu.com, which has allowed me to make high-quality versions of the first George Comics book available. Check it out:

George Comics: The First Book

George Comics: The First Book features the first 73 George comic strips in glorious full-color print, a foreword from Chris Koehn, Artistic Director of novastudios.ca, a word from me, calligraphy character sketches and a picture of the "Cooler than James Bond" George desktop wallpaper. It retails for $12.39 plus shipping--I know this might seem kind of pricey, but full-color printing is much more expensive than black-and-white printing. Actually I don't make much of a profit off each book, either, but I am just happy to get George books out there with people reading them. Oh, and if you choose standard media shipping as the shipping method, it's only like $2.46 (in America, anyway), so actually you can get the book for less than $15. Eh, not too bad for a book packed with such awesome comics, is it? ;)

Hurricane Relief Telethon

2005-09-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

An exclusive four-panel George comic strip will be appearing on the Webcomic Telethon site sometime during Sept. 13 or 14. The Webcomic Telethon is a hurricane relief effort where visitors to the site read the comics and, hopefully, donate money when they read something they like. It's a very cool idea, so check it out! Eventually a book with many of the comics submitted to the site will be released...hopefully George will make the cut! In the meantime, there is in fact a new Monday comic up to keep you occupied.

Stupid Labor Day

2005-09-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Well, the day in question is not a bad day by any means, as most of us have the day off, but it made me forget to update George. Oh well, it's there now, just about eight hours behind schedule. Sorry about that. I hope this does not dissuade any of you from voting for George over at Webcomic Battle!

A day late, a dollar short

2005-08-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

Monday's comic is up, although I'm posting this entry on Tuesday. Don't concern yourself with these trivial matters of time. All the days run together for me, anyway.

So Dave is exploring the world of online personal ads. I have to admit that I had a brief flirtation with Yahoo! Personals a while back, with hilarious (not hilarious at the time) results. It really is the closest thing to an online wasteland on there in terms of the mental quality of people who register. And...if you're a Yahoo! Personals user, rest assured I'm talking about everyone except you.

George Comics wins!

2005-08-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who helped George vault past Popealien at Webcomic Battle. There's already a new battle up and it can be voted on until 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, Thursday.

In the meantime, Thursday's comic is up. I actually bought the Chihuahua version of Nintendogs and bought a chihuahua in it, then named it Chiwawa. Man I'm a nerd, but maybe it'll give me ideas for things to do with Chiwawa. Badabing too, maybe. Who knows?

Voto para George!

2005-08-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, head on over to Webcomic Battle and vote for George! There's a new strip debuting there today and it'll run there until about 11 p.m. or so Pacific time, so as of right now you've got at least fourteen hours to get those votes in. Badabing!

Here, kitty kitty!

2005-08-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well, today's strip marked the debut of George's cat. Sort of. I mean, George had a cat when I did the comic back in high school, but it was full-grown, was named Babong, and its origins were never fully disclosed. So now he gets a fresh start in the cat business, with the tiny kitten with the much cuter name of...well, you'll just have to tune in Monday to find out what its name is.

Also, I think I forgot to mention this (and if I did already mention this then...well, listen to it again), but there's a full-color PDF version of the first George book, featuring 64 of the comic's first strips. Download it from the Downloads page (where else?). It's not terribly big but is still of decent quality, at least for on-screen viewing. Happy reading.

Back from Ozzfest!

2005-08-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

New Monday comic up, which you might remember debuted over at WebComic Battle about a week ago. It won two battles and succumbed to Popealien the next, but at least it won a couple times. I'll submit another one when I...get around to it.

Ozzfest was pretty fun, but man was it tiring. My right knee still doesn't work quite right. But seeing Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath made up for it! Ozzy still rocks, despite the fact that he's something of a corporate clown nowadays. Tony Iommi has cemented his place among the top rock/metal guitarists of all time, too.

New post goes here!

2005-08-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

New comic up for Thursday. Probably the only time you'll ever see Rob with a mustache. Greg looks pretty cool without one, doesn't he? He almost looks like he could be hip. But, alas, he's not, so the mustache must be rebuilt!

I'm going to Ozzfest this weekend so maybe I'll make a comic about that for next week. Ozzy biting George's head off? Time will only tell.