Is today’s comic a little bit of a cheat? Yeah, but I needed a break after drawing all that cray-zay coaster action on Wednesday. Plus, I thought it worked really well for the pacing. Really, I just like the idea of being a participant of a disaster, being stuck upside down and then casually suggesting Poseidon as an entertainment option.

From what I’ve read, Wolfgang Peterson’s remake moves along at a fairly brisk clip. The boat gets turned over somewhere around the 20 minute mark.. Some people have complained that the film doesn’t give you enough time to get to know the characters and therefore you’re not invested in their peril. I think that’s hogwash. I’m tired of bloated action pictures giving you every boring detail about a character to get you to care about them more. "She’s a mother of three AND she goes to night school! Will she make it home in time to protect her kids before the alien invasion!" Please. You know most of them are as good as dead anyway.

Peterson’s decision to forego the pleasantries is a good one. His directing style is less about people anyway. But the bigger reason is that the goal of these disaster movies is to put you beside the people in danger as you wrack you brain trying to figure out what YOU would do. At least, that’s my theory.

There was a strong outpouring of support from people after I announced the pre-order deadline of June 11 on Wednesday. Sincere thanks to all of you that placed an order. As you can see, the little meter below the comic has been updated. We’re getting close, but we still have a ways to go! As the bold, circled date on my calendar communicates, today is payday. So if you think you have a little money to spare, please pre-order the book. And remember – the faster we get your order, the faster you get your book!

There’s some great stuff happening in the Theater Hopper universe lately. I recently did an interview with Comixpedia – which was a big deal for me. Comixpedia sometimes gets flack for only being interesting to other web comics creators. I don’t think that’s true. I think they’ve made great strides – especially in the last 4 months – to make their magazine an essential resource for fans and creators alike. That’s why I was more than pleased to have been contacted by them to do an interview for their "movies issue." If you’d like to read it, click here for the full article.

Movies seem to be the topic-de-jour right now because I also have an interview in Zoinks Magazine that is coming out in June. I love Zoinks Magazine. These guys do a great job of promoting the web comic scene and doing it through a print magazine is an excellent way to spread the word to potential audiences who haven’t gotten into online comics yet. I should mention that my contribution to the issue besides the interview includes a sidebar about the movies I’m looking forward to seeing in ’06, a brand new illustration of the Theater Hopper cast, and I also contributed to the cover artwork along with Chris Cantrell from Please Rewind.

If you want to get your hands on this issue, you need to pre-order now. You don’t have get a full subscription (although I would highly recommend it). You can order one issue at a time if you want. If you haven’t read Zoinks, I suggest picking it up. It’s a really great publication.

A couple of more things I need to mention:

Today will be the last comic you see from me in a while. Cami and I will be going on vacation on Thursday and we won’t be back until May 30. I have a bunch of great guest comics lined up for you over the next three weeks.  I haven’t lined up the itinerary yet, so be sure to come back on Monday to see if your favorite web comic artist is contributing the the mayhem.  A lot of very talented artists sent in some GREAT work, so you’ll want to be sure and check it out.

Once I get back from vacation, I will be attending the Iowa I-Con comic book convetion on June 10 at the Polk County Convention Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Incidentally, one day before the book pre-order deadline! It’s $5.00 at the door and they’ll be open from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.I will have a bunch of shirts and posters for sale and will be doing sketches for anyone who wants one.

I’ve been trying to go to I-Con for the last two years. But it seems like every time it’s going on, I have to be out of town for one reason or another! It’s nice to finally be able to attend a convention in my own backyard.

By the way, if any of you out there have exhibited at conventions before, I’m looking to upgrade the quality of my booth presentation. I want to build some kind of PVC display area that can go behind the table. Stuff I can hang banners and t-shirts from. If you guys have any insight on how I could assemble something like that, let me know!

At any rate, that’s the news that’s fit to print. Thanks again to everyone who has pre-ordered a book. Keep ’em comin’! We’ll make it to our goal in no time!

Have a great weekend!