It’s been a little while. Let’s pretend that whole gap never happened. Like all gaps. Except, you know, the ozimaar one. I don’t think anyone is forgiving me about that gap.

And so we see the triumphant entrance of Third, Assistant Lecturer. That comma is important. Consider it a criticism of the literacy of students that they missed that comma, and its importance.

This was great fun to do, which is possibly why I did it. For some reason the image of Third eating a coffee, cup and all, popped into my head as something he might do just because he doesn’t quite understand how one drinks coffee. You might recall one page says he hates the smell, so perhaps there is the innate conflict of thinking that coffee is necessary and at the same time wanting to spend as little time with it as possible. Or maybe I just thought it was funny.

I tried to up my game with the art for this one, with all new backgrounds and I think the design of the students was very well done. I like the design of blue-highlights student I might being her back just so I can draw her again. And while it’s an odd thing to take pride in, I am absurdly pleased with that steam. I tried two ways to draw Third in the final two panels, one where he has line art and one where he does not, and is painted into the background. I am not really happy with the results of either. So I guess that was a wasted experiment.

For anyone completely crazy who cares, the image in the second panel of the hallway is actually one of the Sheffield Student union that I took when I visited it last year on a comedy tour.

I managed to squeeze in lots of jokes this time. Hope you all like it.

Merry Christmas to all!
When I sat down to do this page it was 4pm on Christmas Eve. I had, once again, left the J&C christmas special to the very last minute. I always do. This being the fifth year, it is becoming as much a part of Christmas as Turkey or presents. Christmas Eve finds me sat in my room frantically scribbling.

I was in two minds as to whether to write a script for this year, as I had done before, or whether I should draw another quiet image, like I did last year. I decided on a quiet image, but I am not sure what would have been better. I quite like this image though.

I think next year, though don’t quote me, the J&C cast might be seen preparing/eating their christmas meal. Or opening presents.

I am not sure what the gift in Hannah’s lap is, but I think it is from Smic to Hannah and, well, when Smic gives you a gift it will either be something very expensive, very scientific or very explosive. Possibly this is all three.

I hope all J&C fans out there in Internet land eat until you can eat no more and gain gifts whose value excedes all expectations regardless of faith or lack thereof.

Merry christmas to all!

As you can probably tell, this comic was written quite a while ago. But lets just all pretend that it is up to date.

This is my experiment with animation in the J&C verse. It is not how I wanted to make it… but close enough for rock and roll.

I am sleepy and when I wake up there will be more comics to draw. Woo.

More of a talky than a jokey comic this time.

I will come back and talk more here but right now I am CRAZY busy.

There will be another comic on Friday. Repeat, another comic on Friday.

I was in the local supermarket, walking along, when I saw a girl in one of those panda hats.  I had seen them before, of course. But it was right then and there when I saw that hat on that girl I thought “That hat needs teeth.” and the comic was immediately written.

I have never before had quite such a crystalising moment from inspiration to comic before. It was just BOOM comic idea.

I also had a lot of fun drawing this page. Giving them hats was a fun challange, and for some reason, even though the panda eyes looked dopey when I first drew them, giving them teeth made their eyes turn evil. And as always, writing and drawing Crusader and Kat interacting was great fun. They can just be so… childish somehow. It’s great.

Also apparently the living room has a blue lamp. Did you know that? I didn’t know that.

Oh, hey look, it’s a Jayden and Crusader page.

Now This, Jayden and Crusader fans, is a real paradox. Where did that cup of tea come from? No where. I would quite like to know how this comic could be visualised in real space, as opposed to comic space, but imagining it breaks my brain. I’ve wanted to do a comic where all the panels interact with each other for quite a while and at the moment this is the only one I can come up with. Anything more complicated gets quite tricky to visualise, because each panel follows on from each other as well as being side by side. It has led to some interesting brain-mush thoughts.

Jayden had a hair cut, as the first two panels say. I thought it would be fun to mix things up and change around a few character’s designs. In my sketchbook I have quite a few drawings of Kat with a pony tail or Third with short hair, but in the end drawing Jayden as Haruhi made me go “Yeah, actually, that was quite fun to draw. I want to draw her like that for a little while.” It will make things like the christmas or summer comics have a more distinct flavour if character’s designs can change up a bit more than they usually do.

Although obviously there will be time required to adjust to the new haircut where Jayden’s look won’t be the most consistent in the universe… and I think I will let it grow out naturally. We can probably expect Jayden to have her full head of hair back by… some time in the summer. About a half inch to an inch a month I think is the usual rate of hair growth, and Jayden has lopped off about 7 inches of hair. So yeah, sometime in the summer.

I was unsure of this page artistically when I first drew it, but having inked and coloured it, I think it looks rather nice, though more cartoony than I prefer. Usually Jayden and Crusader characters stand 5-6 heads high (fairly normal for manga/cartoon characters) but in this page they crept down to 4 heads high. It is not as bad as it has been. There are one or two comics where I think they were getting on for 3 heads high, but it is not the style I want. I prefer it if Jayden and Crusader characters look as real as I can draw with the hulking,  hoof like clods that I call hands.

Speaking of hands, the hands in this comic are a bit large. I rely on hands a lot for expression (especially in Crusader’s case, considering he is eyeless) and so they sometimes grow to ridiculous sizes. Oh well.

Comics ho!

Please rate the page and leave a comment. If you don’t you’re a Republican. Not as in anti-monarchist, as in George Bush.

This might be my favourite Halloween page so far. I had great fun drawing the characters in their costumes, but I think this is the most funny the halloween pages have been. Usually they make the odd snide remark, I think this might actually be laugh out loud funny for once.

I can’t believe it took me four years to draw Batman and Joker. I guess it was because my friend Hanishi told me not to do it for the 2008 halloween (because the Dark Knight was at the heigh of popularity) and it kinda bled over to next year too.

As usual Jayden has an anime costume. It’s become kind of her thing. Last years Alice in Wonderland counts as anime because it was animated. Quiet you. I can hear your scoffing and I don’t care for it.
The conversations partnered up unusual groups. Jayden and Hannah talking is fairly common (I have been trying to pass the bechdel test with it for years) but Smic and Kat has never, ever happened before. I honestly think this is their first on panel conversation.

That’d be awkward if it were the first time they’d ever had one.

On that note, I leave you until next week. Adios amigos! And enjoy All Saints Day. Pray hard.

Here is a Jayden and Crusader page.

For the last few weeks I have been ill and I am now playing catch up in all my modules. I hope you will forgive the skipped update.

See you on Halloween.

Two hundred pages.

My God.

You’ll forgive me, I think, a tender moment rather than a punchline on this, my two hundredth page. After all, it’s been almost three years since the last centennial. Speaking of the last centennial, that focussed on Crusader and Kat too. At the movies. Hmm. Sensing a pattern perhaps? I thought it would be fitting that the 200th page was similar to the 100th. Having them both take place in, or around, the cinema was a bit of an accident though.

I like Kat’s angel and devil, I always have and wish that I could include them more. Ultimately they are a bit of a trivialisation of a very real altered mental state so I don’t  use them too often. I’d rather make Kat’s problem rather more representative of real mental illness. Unless I think of another good reason to put them in the comic. Then I’ll probably throw out all my scruples again.

I am fairly proud of the day for night job I did on the photograph in the background. It involved desaturating it, darkening it and adding stars. While the stars look a tad fake (who, in a city, can ever see so many?) I think the effect came off wonderfully.

Artistically it was challenging. The staging was complex (for J&C anyway) and the emotions that Kat needed to show, without appearing to jump between them too swiftly, werecomplex and difficult to ‘act’. But I think it came off well, even though Crusader does look a touch gormless at times.

Catch ya next week!

This is a tiny page compared to everything else. I don’t think I’ve done a one paneller before…

Enjoy the bonus page. Another page on Monday.