Enter Piper, the last of the central characters of Aquarium Drinking. Originally I had given her a 3/4 sleeve tattoo on her right arm but it always ended up looking like a mess so I went with the more appropriate alcoholic mermaid silhouette that you now see. If you want to see the original tattoo and understand why it had to go then vote. The incentive is a picture of Piper as she was originally drawn. Also it is once again the beginning of a month so it’s easier to get high up on the list if you vote heavy now, vote everyday. Why do I want you to vote? Because the higher I am on the Top Webcomics List the more traffic I see coming from that website. It’s good traffic too, the visitors that original from TWC tend to stick around and read the whole story.

Oh yeah, the new blog portion of Aquarium Drinking…

Last week I was supposed to write about  the other type of webcomic blog that I actually enjoy reading but I decided to write about the two types of blogs that I don’t like so, let me get back to that.

These blog installments are written to let my audience know why I am hesitant to write an blog to accompany my webcomic.

In addition to the webcomic blog that drops valuable knowledge about the technical aspects of making webcomics I often enjoy the webcomic blog that shows the reader a piece of what is going on in the authors mind and life. Some authors will talk about their work and family lives outside of their webcomic life and this can be very interesting because people fascinate me. Especially “normal” people. Everyone has a story, every life story is worth hearing, is unique and is of value. This is why these little blogs fascinate me. Although I respect these blogs I could never write one of these myself.

Here’s something that I don’t get, In memoirs or autobiographies of writers, you’d think that much of the story would be them writing and rewriting and writing some more. But you never read this in their life stories. Considering the amount of time that one needs to spend on writing. and not just the physical act but the endless hours of thinking that precedes the writing, you’d think that an authors life story would contain page after page of silent contemplation or silent writing but it never does.

This last statement gives me an idea for a blog for another day “How comic book artists think that they work harder and spend more time working on a page then comic book writers and are wrong.” But that’s not next week, next week I will conclude my “why I am hesitant to write a webcomic blog” series. I have told you the types of blogs that I like and the types of blogs that I dislike, next week I will reveal and write the webcomic blog that I fear that I will someday write.

Before we get into all the stuff below this that I just wrote I want to tell everybody about Worlds Beyond. It is a Science Fiction anthology that features a short story of mine called Prisoner of War and it is hot off the presses and ready for your consumption. To purchase a copy, click on the link to the right, under the calender, yeah thats it.  It’s got a whole bunch of stories and some great art. The critics have raved that my story is “science fiction” and “40 pages long”. The whole thing is almost 300 pages long and my story is a big chunk of that so, If you like this comic then you wont regret picking up Worlds Beyond. If you want to know more then click on the “other projects” link above the comic.

Apparently I have a knack for making obscure references to movies from the eighties and nineties that are funny only to the people who get the reference and the only people that would get the reference are me. This is what’s going on in panel 4. A reference to a piece of dialogue in a’90s movie that is so obscure that I am probably the only person that will appreciate it. It’s not a huge deal that you don’t get the reference mind you, your only missing out on a half chuckle of recognition. Really the point of the thought process in panel 4 is to send up the trope that I have exploited on this page, which actually gives me the perfect segue (that word’s spelled weird) into the topic of last week.

Perfect might be a strong word though, as I promised last week to discuss the second type of webcomic blog that I like when really I have segued into  two of the types of webcomic blogs that I loathe which is…

The Webcomic Blog That Explains What You Have Just Read!

and…

The Webcomic Blog That Points out Everything That the Creator Doesn’t Like About the Current Page.

A 2fer which is kind of impressive in it’s own right. I have avoided writing a blog up until this point because I didn’t want to fall into the trap of picking apart or explaining every page that I publish in exhaustive detail. I’ve read Webcomics where I liked the page, then read the author’s analysis in which they tear apart what I just enjoyed and made me realize that it actually sucked.

Worse, though, is the blog that follows a page that goes something like this… “Isn’t this always the way it is, you think that you’re in over your head and then you find a way to tie an unfamiliar and daunting experience into a familiar experience which allows you to find the strength perceiver.”

By the way, if you write a webcomic and you’re reading this and you think that I am talking about your webcomic, I’m not, relax.

I guess I will save talking about a type of webcomic blog that actually like for another time.

If any of you vultures want to guess what movie panel 4 references, have at it, the first person who does gets a present. If you’re my wife and you guess because I told you then I’m deleting your comment.

Oh wait I have bigger news about a short story I wrote! I should probably put that at the top of the blog…

meta

I am told that I should write a little something for the reader to read when they are done reading what I have written. A lot of people write blogs to accompany their web-comics. Sometimes they are informative essays on the ins and outs of web-comic and graphic novel production. Sometimes they offer interesting incites into the creator’s life both as it pertains to the making of that day’s  page, and about their lives in general. I enjoy reading both of these formats of web-comic accoutrement and would love to provide a useful and insightful lesson every week or a window into the day to day life of the creator but I sadly cannot.

I’m in no shape to offer advice on any aspect of the creation of web-comics or comic books or any type of anything that has to do with anything creative or otherwise as I am making it all up as I go along. Probably the biggest hindrance to me giving advice is that I hate getting advice because everyone, myself included,  is always wrong. I prefer instead, to experience first hand every mistake that one could make when they set out to do… well, anything really. In fact, the only advice I could give anyone is that nobody knows what their talking about because every situation is unique so it’s best that they figure it out for themselves, whatever IT is. Also, if you prepare your lunch the night before, your mornings will be a lot easier.

The second feasible option is to write… y’know what? I’m going to end this here and address why I can’t deliver the second option next week. I’m sure you’ll be beside yourself with anticipation. I wish I could say that my intention is was to end this with a cliff hanger, the truth is that it’s late and I need to make my lunch.

EDIT: Oh yeah, VOTE!

Hey everybody, don’t forget to vote for Aquarium Drinking by pressing the blue VOTE Button to the right of the comic. Today is the final installment of  the voting bonus, “Anti-Manifesto”… for now. In case you don’t know; “Anti-Manifesto” is the comic strip that Luke made for his school newspaper in his Freshman year of college. Remember way back on page 26 when the girl that Luke went to college with said that she really loved his writing in the Campus Lantern? She was definitely talking about his latter publications and not “Anti Manifesto”. It is essentially the rantings of an overly idealistic college freshman who is trying to educate the world. He frequently forgoes adding a punchline to the comic opting instead to fill a panel with a condemnation of society. Also, you’ll notice that he refused to follow the guidelines for the comic strips layout  forcing the editor to stretch and squeeze his panels so that they would all fit. His foil is his new roommate “JP”, a dimwitted jock. I have been releasing one strip a day for the last eight days but don’t worry if you haven’t been reading thus far, all the strips have been left for you to see once you vote, the earliest at the top all the way down to the exciting and revealing conclusion at the bottom. Let me know if you want to see more old editions of “Anti-Manifesto” and I’ll see what I can dig out of Luke’s box of old crap… No matter how much he cringes at the thought of these embarrassing pieces of history being read all over again.

Be sure to continue to vote everyday for Aquarium Drinking. The higher placement on the Top Web Comics site has brought me a whole bunch of new readers.

-CW

Hey everybody thanks for reading and don’t forget to vote! I will be posting a new bonus everyday for the next week!  I should warn you though, it is a terrifying window into Luke’s dark past.

Note: this is my first attempt at a voting “incentive” so I might not have set it up right, bear with me.

2 things:

In case you’re wondering Carly hooked Luke up with the ultra lightweight, super fast Ubuntu derivative called Xubuntu. If you have an old, hopelessly slow laptop or desktop kicking around you should install this on it. I put it on an old, hand me down laptop that was as good as dead and turned it into a lean mean writing machine. Find out more about Xubuntu. Also, it’s free!

In other news Mathieu Moyen posted a great blurb about Aquarium Drinking in the blog portion of his webcomic 6-Commando. While your there you should go back to the start and read the entire historic-sci-fi-war-drama, it’s like “24″ with bigger guns!

Thanks, M!