First and foremost, remember back a few months ago (when I was still on ComicGen) and I tried to offer downloads for Book One? Well…I finally did it here. In fact I did it a few days ago…so you may have found it already. You’re more than welcome to download all eight chapters from book one. If you feel the need to. Again, it’s right here.

Second, I have a confession to make. I’ve been cheating this comic the last few months. No, I haven’t been stealing art or plot lines (I’m too honest for that crap) but I’ve been…half assing my art. A while ago I started to SKIP a step in the comic process. The layout. The layout involves me drawing blue guiding lines so the characters are more fleshed out before I try to ink them.

I’ve been drawing a basic, loose, design of the charaters. That’s why the art has been fluctuating so much from panel to panel. I’m basically trying to INK without any lines. Now, with my tablet this isn’t a HUGE deal, but it DOES leave things looking both a little flat and slightly ‘off’ every panel. This comic, mid way though, I started using those guides again. The last three panels particularly.

I’ve already done one comic (Friday’s) that’s totally done the RIGHT way and I’m much happier for it. It adds a little more time, but it’s worth it. I mean, why would I spend ANY time on this comic if I’m not spending ENOUGH time on it. Right?

So I’m sorry. Art will start to improve again, because all I’ve been doing is playing it safe…and I can’t get better if I’m playing it safe.

Finally, I was being serious with the title of this one. I really did start to carry gum in High School because people ALWAYS asked me for it. It drove me NUTS so it only made more sense to me to just tote the damn crap around.

I’m glad we’ve got our two new characters finally, they’ve been poking around in my head for ages…if I think about I’ll try to dig up some OLD (early Book One) pictures of Mark and Pat…they’ve changed quite a bit, but not as much as you’d think.

Enjoy the comic and expect Fridays to look even better.

-Peace