So, here’s the “Big Damn Inside Joke.”  Folks who are big time Browncoats’ll already be aware of the “Bellflower” and “Into the Black” fanfilms currently under way.         

Indie productions are HARD.  Real life has a way of fighting you on them every step of the way, and many projects end up in limbo during post production for any number of reasons.  All I can tell the folks involved (as a fellah who’s been locked in the post production of Magellan for seemingly ever) is to keep at it.  Even if you break down and lose confidence, if you keep plugging away at it, you’ll eventually get through your slump and rediscover the spark that brought you to the project in the first place.  

And remember that even movie shorts take time.  I know we did Mosquito in 5 weeks, but I also know that the chances of things coming together so smoothly on anything else I ever do are so remote they’re barely worth mentioning.

Huzah!  Eveything’s back ahead of schedule.

We watched No Country For Old Men this weekend. With me, the Coen Brothers either SERIOUSLY hit or COMPLETELY miss, but the ratio is about 3:1. This one actually fell in the middle so it throws my whole carefully orchestrated system out of whack. It was certainly a good film and I can understand its acclaim. I get the symbolism and I think all the acting was really freaking good.  When I was a younger kid, that was all I needed. I think the problem is that as I get old and set in my ways, I prefer a good, entertaining story to be at least as important as the imagery it conveys. I don’t know if that means I’m less snooty than I was, or less concerned with intelligence, or what. Just struck me as odd is all.

Here’s “Hazardous Moral Highground” for your viewing pleasure.                                     

I’ve noticed the refresh problem is back.  Sadly, HTML isn’t one of my strong suits.  As a matter of fact, it isn’t even one of my tattered old plaid shirts that I seriously need to throw out.  I’ll have to harass someone to fix it…   Heh. Curt just felt a great disturbance in the Force and has no idea why. So remember – the site’s gone at midnight tonight, but should be back on Monday (with a strip that’s even more of an inside Browncoat joke than the “weak tea” reference in Eps #1).

I got a message from the webhosting company that their service was going to shut down at midnight on Friday for the whole weekend.  I just wanted to let all… I dunno… six of you know that there’ll still be a new comic Friday morning, and another on Monday when the site is (presumably) back up 48 hours later.

I read Raymond E. Feist’s Flight of the Nighthawks and Into a Dark Realm this weekend. His original Riftwar Saga was a huge deal for me. Feist’s earliest books were just as influential to my young creative development as Star Wars (it’s hard not to image a connection between Feist and Lucas if you read Faeire Tale). Even with the bad taste in my mouth left from Feist’s clear borrowing of the Empire of the Petal Throne, his books have helped shape the stories and worlds I create today.   

Anyway, I’ve been signing the last handful of Feist books out of the local library (something I almost never do) because I can’t make myself buy them anymore. The brief glimmers of cool characterization and alluded to echoes of past greatness, surrounded by a sea of disappointment, remind me of watching Ewan McGreggor play Kenobi. I’ve given it some thought, and my son is going to be raised to believe that there were only three Star Wars movies and three (if you count Magician as a single book) Feist novels. If any kid tries to suggest otherwise, I might give Aid the okay to clock them.

Rick Baker suggested today’s strip be called “Unnecesarry Ruffness.”  I can assume anyone would agree that what happened to him then was completely justifiable, and that no one is ever going to find the body. 

Here’s A Wintery Interlude.  Have a good Easter weekend, everyone (except you, Alex, ’cause drawing dogs is hard).

A whole bucket full of thanks to Kevin Bachelder and Edgar Governo for their help in promoting the webcomic.  Kevin’s part of the Signal podcast and has been shaking his head at my promotional skills since Dragoncon ‘05.  Edgar is the ringleader of the Winnipeg Browncoats and part of their famous Browncoat Saloon.

Unfortunately, the comic’s pages weren’t refreshing on all computers.  After I hunted him down, Curt fixed the problem last night.  However, while it’s set up for new visitors, folks who have already been to the site and had trouble are going to have to refresh every page to make sure they have the new script.  You think that’s annoying?  Try being Curt.  I am a huge pain in the ass.

Still, with the comic running smooth, it’ll be nice to give some attention back to the books and Magellan.

I’m putting “And Not a Drop to Drink” up tonight as an extra strip. There’s a couple of site changes I wanted to check (plus I’m a little over-eager to get these out there).  Enjoy.

“Ferreted Out Exposition” is now up. As is suggested in this strip, Mosquito will actually tell a continuing story in very small, bite-sized chunks. I already have the first 60 or so at least outlined (which includes the Muddy Waters Saloon job and the one after that) and my life is more or less in order, so there shouldn’t be any of those pesky hiatus problems so common in webcomics.

As for today’s gag…  I was raised on Star Wars.  What can I say?