Welcome to another new Gene Gardens page. Wednesday comes so freak’n fast, it’s a race anymore to get a new page up.

This week I’ve been reading Rick Remender’s FEAR AGENT series. I love Tony Moore’s art, and the other artists on this series are great too.

I was pointed to Fear Agent from a reviewer of my series Mr. Phelps Space Detective.
. Mr. Phelps is set in the Gene Gardens universe and may show up in future stories. The reviewer said that there are a lot of similarities between the two series. Since Phelps is out I think it’s safe to read Fear Agent now. It is definitely a great series. I’m not sure a lot of people would see the similarities but the world of Fear Agent is definitely similar to the world of Mr. Phelps. In fact, it’s got a lot of the same themes. There are aliens, spaceships, robots, spaghetti westerns/samurai, clones, humor, and great stories. I absolutely love this series and hope I can strive to bring the Phelps series to such a high standard.

I definitely recommend Fear Agent.

I hope you’re having fun.
-Shawn

Today is the second appearance of the beautiful Samantha Chase, the daughter of Asian Proper’s Director. But the first page where we introduce her proper. If you can’t remember Samantha’s earlier entrance just go back to the beginning. She was the girl in the tub on page 2 and 3. Samantha’s the dream of many but holds a special place in the heart of Connor Truffaut.

If you’re hopping rooftops at night or getting ready for Armageddon then you should do yourself a favor and get a new flashlight. The new LED flashlights are actually brighter than the traditional bulb and last a lot longer. Recently picked up a Fenix myself.

The Fenix E21 is a great choice. It’s waterproof to IPX-8 Standard, uses AA batteries, has a few settings, and LED outputs 150 lumens (2.15 hrs runtime) on high and 48 lumens (11 hrs runtime) on low are selected by simple twist of the lights head.

If you want to spend a little more then you can get the Fenix LD20. It also is waterproof to IPX-8 Standard, even more setting options, 180-Lumen LED flashlight offers 2 output modes for a total of 6 output levels, 3-ounce, 6-inch body made of durable aircraft-grade aluminum, reaches up to 135 meters, runs on two 1.5-Volt AA batteries, Comes complete with holster, lanyard and more
15-day replacement, 24 month repair warranty, limited lifetime repair warranty subject to parts
It’s worth the $$ IMHO if this is your main torch.

If you want to spend a little less then the TerraLUX TLF-3C2AAEX LightStar220 3-Watt LED Aluminum Flashlight is a great choice. It has 2 light modes that is high and low. It operates on 2 AA battery and includes wrist strap, pocket clip and nylon holster. This flashlight is of 220 lumens and has 6 hours of run time. it has bright white 3 watt LED flashlight.

These are amazingly light and you can mount to your bike, helmet, wrist or gun. Stop carrying around that 10 pound flashlight and save your back. Armageddon is right around the corner so what are you waiting for?

Have fun!

Shawn

Welcome to the kitty kat club. (Mr. Phelps anyone?)

Hope you’re doing well. Another week, one more Gene Gardens page. Turning up the action a notch soon.

I’ve been getting back into shape lately. Hitting the gym & biking the trails on the weekend. But I’m still not up to climbing up drainage pipes yet. But if you are, check out this book on Parkour and Freerunning. There are more great books on amazon if you search.

And did you know that you can get some great freerunning gloves on Amazon. No, they aren’t sold as freerunner gloves but work. They are made for sports training but will definitely help protect your hands as you pull up on the roof. If you’re starting out, definitely keep the pads on until you’re able to land on your feet more.

Keep safe and have fun.

Shawn

How is your new year going so far? Broke all those resolution by now? At least we have some great games coming out this year.

Grand Theft Auto V is coming and it looks like it might be as good as the last one. These games started out as the media punch dogs but that got them a lot of attention. When we actually played the game we found a very solid experience that went on for days. Rockstar is pulling all punches so expect some good open world excitement. This is on the top of my list for this year.

Mass Effect 3 is coming out which should be great. I will definite get this but I’m still working my way through the first two games. They are great and vast. These are games that you can replay to see different outcomes and it’s still fun.

Other games I may get include Halo 4.

Borderlands 2 (even though I never played through Borderlands 1 but multiplayer was fun).

Soul Calibur V, a very fun fighting game.

Incoming search terms:

• www genegardens com

Has anyone seen this film called Freerunner? It doesn’t look very good but I’m curious about it. If you’ve seen Freerunner please drop me an email or comment here. Is it worth seeing?

This year I finally fixed up a bike and should get to be more urban mobile. Cars are fine, but there in the big cities there is nothing like being free to move on your own power. Walking, biking, skating, or parkour are all fun ways to get to where you going and get in better shape. When the government starts cracking down on your freedoms you’ll be ready to pop out a window, flip onto the roof and flip them the bird. Run, boy, run!

Hope you’re doing well this new year. I’m still behind on some projects but working hard to get back on schedule.

Have fun.

Shawn

Happy New Year!It’s already 2012…pretty crazy how fast time flies. If you’re ten years old you might not think so, but after 30 the years feel more like months. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been creating comics since 2004. Those eight years have gone by really fast.It’s been a lot of work and a lot of fun. I’ve made a lot of friends along the way and there are a lot of people I owe a big “THANKS!” to. So many other creators & artists have helped me learn the tricks of comic creating as well as showing true comradely friendship. I was amazed from the beginning at how generous and joyous the comic community is. Also a big “THANKS!!” to the readers that have followed my work. From Innocent to Family Bones to those 2007 Comic Book Challenge Finals to Mr. Phelps Space Detective to Gene Gardens; plus all the other short stories & one-shots, there are a lot of you who come rain or shine.I really, really appreciate it. It would be difficult to continue to create comic books & web comics without that support.Thank you.

In 2012 I’ll be continuing work on Gene Gardens, keeping this a weekly comic is hard but it’s my goal. Also I’ve started a personal side web comic project called Daddy’s Girls. Daddy’s Girls is a change from my usual fare since it’s always safe-for-work & all-ages. It’s not for kids per say, just not something you should worry about them reading. Most of my work isn’t for the kiddies. Besides the two web comics I’ve got an Innocent prose in the works as well as a southern gothic mystery novel. I have also started another mystery horror book that had me thinking “Why hasn’t anyone ever written that?” If I can squeeze it in this year, I will. I’m not sure I’ll be getting to a couple true crime novels that I’ve got outlined, maybe for 2013. They will require a lot of research and some traveling, I’m not sure I can do that this year. But I’m always looking for a way to get to it. And then there are a few original graphic novels that I’m looking at completing, including the long delayed Grey Shades story that was the 2007 Comic Book Challenge finalist.

2012 might just be a very fun year.

Shawn

Christmas is over, New Years is just around the corner. It’s hard to believe that it’s almost 2012. That much closer to the Gene Gardens reality. The mood everyone seems to have now is enjoy whatever you can as soon as you can because it might be gone tomorrow. Maybe, or maybe it will just be slightly mutated.

Today I’m going to point you to an addicting 1.99 game currently on sale for .99, available for all you Android users. Sentinel 3: Homeworld appears to be a simple Tower Defense game, and it is, but it’s more as well. You have a character that you’ve got to build up to help you save your world. With mutant bugs, robots, and flying demons it’s not so unlike the world of Gene Gardens. Maybe I can fit some tower defending into my story? It’s a lot of fun and definitely worth the .99 it costs right now. It’s easily worth 1.99.

Have a fun & safe New Years and I will see you next year.

Shawn

It’s hard to believe that Gene Gardens has already been going for about three months, only three months?! Wow…well I hope you have enjoyed the ride so far.

So what have you been reading? Creating? I’m a big fan of the comic art form and read quite a lot. I admit though that I’m not good at keeping up every day just because of my schedule, but I tend to sit and go through archives a lot. Any reading recommendations that I might have missed?

If anyone can tell me how to download RSS feeds to my new Kindle Fire I’d appreciate it. I can read them but so far it’s not working when I’m wifi-less. Any good apps? I found a few good .CBR readers, comiXology, and the Amazon comic reader all to be good. No Graphicly app yet.

Still one of my favorite series about the future is Judge Dredd. If you’ve only seen the Stallone film then you owe it to yourself to pick up a book and see just how good it is. Filled with adventure, humor, and political commentary. My dream was always to write for 2000AD, but then I found out that just having English blood doesn’t work to get hired. You’ve got to be in the UK pretty much. Oh well…next dream!

Have fun and merry Christmas! See you next Wednesday.

Shawn