Don’t forget to rate the page and leave a comment.

Comments are pretty much my cocaine.

Just in case you do not also have long memories

The nature of a webcomic is sometimes a great problem for the story teller. the fact I can really only get out six panels a week means that sometimes I have to condense things down rather more than I’d like.

Because of that I don’t think Jayden’s little breakdown got the screen time it deserved but I did try to get across the range of feelings the cast must be going through. After all one of their friends was just blown up.

The guard thing wasn’t originally intended it came when I was putting the script to the PSD and I realised that it just… worked. It also made the next page a lot easier.

And Cinema Guy is back. I love Cinema Guy. This might have been a little shoehorned in but I felt the comic needed a little light relief. Plus I haven’t had the chance to draw the guy for over a year.

I tell you, much as I love this computer storyline I am going to be much happier when I go back to doing one shot, short storyline things.

The computer arc is the logest thing I’ve attempted since Ozimaar… and we all know how that ended.

This one won’t, I am nearly finished. Another 5, maybe 6 pages should round it off. Script is finished, there’s another 9 pages left.

Also, my god, you have NO IDEA how long I’ve wanted to use the phrase ‘money amount of dollars’. I wrote that line probably all the way back in 2007 and could never fit it into a script.

Now I have. Woo.

I wasn’t sure how to show this scene, in my mind the Land Rover is doing this all in one big swoop of speed but it’s kind of show that in a comic book.

Or at least it’s hard to show it in a comic book and provide exposition and talking.

The airport’s exterior is modelled on O’Hare in Chicago and (when we see it) the interior is modelled on Terminal 5, Heathrow (I have lots of reference pics thanks to a recent holiday).

This page came together very fast by the standards of J&C, probably only took 2 hours. It was very gratifying.

Last week’s guest page from Fes inspired me and got me working again.

And this all wraps up nicely. It’s hard to believe that Kat wouldn’t go after Computer despite her broken ribs and bruising but she’s unlikely to continue to chase after having her tibia and fibula shattered.

Also if you’re crazy, which you might be, you can go looking for this spot which is off a side road by the junction where Jayden, Crusader and Third were last time.

I loved drawing that x-ray panel. It was a fun challenge and I think it worked wonderfully.

Don’t forget to leave a comment and rate a page! I have three more comics already done so you don’t have to worry, updates through to September are done and dusted.

Today we have a guest comic from the illustrious host of the Webcomic Beacon, the one and only Fes!

The Webcomic Beacon is a wonderful piece of internet radio which deals with all kinds of issues relating to webcomics, including even the question of what is a comic anyway? Every week he is joined by his co-hosts Tanya and Mark who inundate your ears with cheerful nerdery on a dreary Sunday afternoon.

If you have even a passing interest in webcomics you should be listening to the webcomic beacon.

What a wonderful job Fes has done, what a wonderful way to repay all the money I’ve spent on the webcomic beacon’s project wonderful account.

Uh oh, too many wonderfuls in that sentence, the whole blog post is going to implode-

*

That is why the current lack of Jayden and Crusader is just as annoying to ME as it is to you.*

And not just the last few weeks the entire year, pretty much from this point last year, has been one of the worst in Jayden and Crusader’s history. Not the storyline, I love that and consider it some of my best work, but I have barely written and drawn twenty comics. That’s abysmal. That’s less than one a fortnight. I am sorry.

The truth is, I don’t know why, I simply do not have the energy to make the comic. I have the story outlined, I have the next few written I have the next one sketched out but I can’t seem to summon the energy to pick up my stylus and work on it. This has happened before and in fact often happens in August, so much so I commented on it last year. It was much easier to ignore in the past when it wasn’t as important to me. When I didn’t draw any comics in October 2007 I didn’t beat myself up about it. It didn’t matter to me, it didn’t define who I was as a person. Even last November I assumed it was just a stumbling block. But this has been going on so long now I can’t keep fooling myself.

Something is wrong in Jayden and Crusader land and I don’t know what it is.

Some people define writers block as an inability to write, that’s not entirely true. I call that ‘Writer’s stuck’ when the thoughts are inside but can’t seem to get out. You get the same with artists. True writer’s block is an emptiness. It’s a hole where there should be drive and energy and thought and a myriad of creative colour. Write now I am suffering from true writers block.

There’s just nothing up here straining to escape to the page. I don’t understand how, or why, the storyline is there, the jokes are there, the important character pieces and awesome one liners are there but some how there is an emptiness of drive.

Jayden and Crusader is not going on hiatus. Jayden and Crusader has never gone on true hiatus and I never want it to. One day perhaps it will end when there are no more stories for Jayden and Crusader to tell. That isn’t now. Right now I am just…. lost. Stuck. Empty.

It’s as if a divine force reached into my head and plucked the energy out of me. I cannot explain it.

I don’t have any answers, I don’t know when you’ll see a new J&C page. Maybe it’ll be next Monday, maybe it’ll be years from now. (I doubt the latter). Right now I don’t have the drive to do anything, I struggle even to sketch. I am not writing, I am not doing anything of any creative output.

As ‘The Writer’ this pisses me off.

I’m sorry.

I don’t want this to sound like I am trying to explain why it’s ending, I want it to explain my absence. I care, I care so much but right now I just… I just can’t do it.

(* possibly more)

Please Vote to see Jayden’s Driving license. I spent a lot of time on it and it’s only 10px across here, it’s a hundred times that size at the link! SO VOTE DAMN YOU!

Another Monday another page.

Crusader barely keeps his eyes on the road for a single panel. He must be a terrible driver.

I enjoyed making this one because it’s in an entirely new area. Kat’s car. It’s actually a different model from before, this one is modelled on a Land Rover, the old one was a toyota… something. I forget. Shading inside a car is really hard, but the car has a sunroof, which makes it easier.

The backgrounds are from google street view and is the real place Computer said in the last comic.

And that’s real Hungarian too. At least I think so, I spent some time trying to learn it, but the Hungarians don’t seem to have the phrase in their language so I translated it as best I could.
Rate and comment please! I simply cannot express how good a comment makes me feel, even if it’s hatemail ^^

Please Vote to see an alternate panel 4

The plot thickens

This page came together really very fast, surprisingly so in fact. It was a little scary.

Those are real co-ordinates by the way, you can look them up on Google Maps and find out exactly where that is

This is the first time Computer has stopped grinning madly since she arrived (well, she had the grin punched off her once or twice, but it always came back for the next panel).

Rate and Comment please

Please do Vote for Jayden and Crusader to see an alternate panel 2!

J&C is moving to a Mondays and Potential Fridays update schedule. What is a potential Friday? It means that you should check on Fridays but don’t be disappointed if there’s not one there.

I have another 7 or so scripts done and I’ve just about finished this storyline. With that streamlined it’ll be easier to work on comics so I can think I can up the schedule to twice a week but I am keeping my reservations.

This page was immensely fun to write and draw and I am not sure quite why. Crusader and Kat always have a fun dynamic to write but something just really clicked with this page.

Artwise there are several technical failures but the page itself I consider a great success, I really love how everything came out. I had the most fun playing with shading. Because of the location and angles I used I got to shade in quite fun and interesting ways that I often don’t get to.

Incidentally I am not falling into the trope of people shrugging off broken ribs as minor wounds. It is serious, but she’s Kat, a genetically engineered assassin born to put up with stuff like that. It’s not as bad as it could be is the point she is making. If she were normal she’d likely be in a coma.

I also timed how long this comic took to make. While there was a bit of prep work with the backgrounds the actual drawing, colouring and inking took the same 3 and a half hours it always had. It’s good to know from my perspective when I can put out great looking pages like this in such a short time.

Rate and Comment please!

Remember only your ratings and comments can keep me making the comics you love and stop me making the ones you hate

Having stolen Independence Day I thought that this year I wouldn’t make fun of the US’s National Icon of Uncle Sam, despite the scripts I had, and opted for this one instead.

It took a lot longer than I thought but practicing those other styles was fun.

Hopefully you realise this is all lies, but the fake history of J&C is much more fun than the real one.

I might get another page up this week, but if not, catch ya Monday.

Later on this year we’ll be celebrating the Third Anniversary. The Anniversary of Third.

This page took a month.

Hours of work have been poured into this time sink.

And I still don’t like it. The art work just refused to play nicely with me.

Sorry.
I will  try and get the next page out sooner and better. The Fourth of July is of course Jayden and Crusader’s 3rd year anniversary, I can’t believe how little time seemed to have passed since the last one.