First things first. Theater Hopper has slipped down to the number two spot on the Web Comics List. I think I know why. You guys haven’t had any new incentive sketches since last Friday. It’s understandable that we’d take a little slide since last Friday’s sketch was, admittedly, a little lame.
But no worries! Today’s sketch is five times awesome! Vote for Theater Hopper to witness Ben Affleck in his post-bee attack state! Everyone wins!
Second order of business. Thanks for giving me the day off on Monday. Between packing up our stuff, hauling furniture up flights of stairs and performing the family and social obligations of the holiday weekend, I was far too depleted to come up with anything original or witty.
I feel bad about it because I’m not one to normally miss updates. And although most of my American readers were probably out celebrating the Independence Day holiday, my international readers got the short end of the stick and no updates at all! For that, I apologize, mes amis.
I think it worked out for the best, though. Because I’ve been sitting on the idea for this strip since last Thursday when I learned Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner got married and I wanted as many people to see it as possible. I’m just really happy with the way it turned out.
In case you’re only vaguely familiar with the site, Mr. Affleck and our good friend Jared have been entangled in violent encounters since February of 2003. In fact, they’ve met on several different occasions. So many times, in fact, that I’m considering assembling all the strips where their paths cross and selling it as “Ben Affleck’s Greatest Hits.” It would sell like hot cakes, I tell you. If it ever came to fruition, this would undoubtedly be the cover:
I have to give points to Affleck for keeping his nuptials hush-hush. Fleeing the country to wed in a private ceremony is much more preferable than the J.Lo spectacle of a year or so back. Who care if Jennifer Garner is knocked up! It was the classy thing to do.
I wonder though, does this mean that Affleck is starting to mature? Does becoming a family man mean that he can no longer be the object of my scorn and ridicule? Who else will I hold up as my bloated, only-in-it-for-the-money avatar of Hollywood excess? Whatever happened to the hard partyin’, hard drinking’, hard gambling, stripper tippin’ Ben of yore?
Oh, well. I suppose I should be happy for him. I think he did himself a service marrying someone with a strong jawline than his. Now there will be NO MISTAKING who the “man” in the relationship is!
Oh, c’mon! You know I can’t resist!
As I’ve mentioned earlier, I will be going to Wizard World Chicago August 4 -7. If you come looking for me, I’ll be in booth 9131-A – in between my good buddies Joe from Digital Pimp Online, Zach from Joe and Monkey and Mitch from Nothing Nice to Say. I’m really excited about this because I’ve joined forces with nearly a dozen other web comic creators and we’ve reserved a block of tables together on artist’s alley. It’s going to be great. And hopefully we’ll draw a little more attention to our online genre by showing strength in numbers.
However, my trip to The Windy City is now in jeopardy and I need your help.
As you are aware, Cami and I will be moving to our new home on Tuesday, July 12. Due to some unforeseen/unplanned for expenses relating to the closing costs and moving the moving of all our crap to our new home, pretty much all of the savings I’ve gathered from advertising and merchandise sales in the last year have to be diverted AWAY from the site and into the purchase of our new house.
There’s a chance that I can scrounge up the cash I need for Chicago on my own, but with your help, I can do it faster. I need your help because after we close on the house, I’m only going to have about two weeks to get the money together that I need to pay for the hotel room, gas and food for 3 days and 4 night. Sure it would be nice to have a little “walking around” money to spend on the convention floor. But at this point I’m more concerned with being able to foot the bill for the necessities. I’ve already made a commitment to going to Wizard World Chicago. Both to myself and to others. I’m not about to walk away from it now that I’m so close. I’m asking for your help so I can meet my goal.
I’M NOT LOOKING FOR HANDOUTS. If you want to donate, that’s cool. I will reward you appropriately for your generosity. In fact, there are odds that I will probably start doing portraits for donations again to help make ends meet. Look for updated information about that soon.
What I’m asking of you is to help support the site by purchasing a t-shirt, baby doll tee, hoodie, button pack or poster. These are things I already have in stock and am ready to ship out. These are already proven sellers. What I need is a concentrated influx of orders from you guys to help me recover my loss. You’ll be getting exactly what you paid for and helping me at the same time. In fact, you’ll be DOUBLY helping me. Because if I can thin out my inventory, that’s going to be less stuff we need to move! Don’t you feel better already.
If you’re feeling extra bold, purchasing some advertising would probably be the quickest way to ammend my situation. Feel free to place orders for spots out into the future. I have an ad tracking system that will keep everything organized and will make sure your ad displays on time. Those ad spots to the right of the comic up there have been kind of lonely for a while, now that I think about it… If you’re thinking about spending your advertising dollar with us, I think you’ll find our prices very fair.
If you’ve ever thought about purchasing a t-shirt, baby doll tee, hoodie, button pack or poster and have procrastinated for any reason, I’m asking you to PLEASE reconsider now. I would grately appreciate it and it would help get me out of a real tight spot. If you’re wondering what item might be best, the button packs are a good place to start. They’re already pre-packaged and easy to mail. I can get those out the door as soon as I get your order. Plus, they are very affordably priced, so you won’t feel the same financial sting that I’m feeling right now.
I feel a little bit of shame asking you guys to help pull this together for me. But as I’ve come to know you as an audience, you’ve been nothing if not patient and fair. Even if it’s not possible for you to contribute at this time, just the fact that you come to the site every Monday, Wednesday and Friday is enough to keep me going. As always, thank you for your continued support. It has been and will always be sincerely appreciated.
I mentioned this on Monday, but I’ve pulled the blog out of the archives.
In celebration of Rob and Elliot’s 100th strip, Clay Yount asked me to draw a guest strip for him. I was only more than happy to oblige.
I get a real kick out of reading Rob and Elliot. It’s a fairly pedestrian set up executed with sublime talent. It was a real treat to play in their sandbox for a while.
Anyway, the strip is up and running if you want to take a look at it.
By the by – It’s also worth noting that Joe and Monkey recently celebrated their 300th strip and that is an accomplishment worthy of recognition.
Zach Miller busts his hump 7 DAYS A WEEK to bring you guys the funny and he’s doing a damn fine job of it. Reward him with your traffic. Go on. Reward him.
Need extra motivation? Zach just celebrated the big 2-4. So click through to his site as a little birthday present, will you?