Posts Tagged ‘Guest Strip’
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Jul18
GUEST STRIP – DAVE BUIST
July 18th, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
I know you guys were probably planning on a new comic from me today since that what I’ve been promoting since last week. But the move to our new house took more out of me than I anticipated and I have the Web Comic List incentive sketch to prove it!
Basically after five days of picking up heavy things and putting them down again, my hands are totally wrecked – not to mention the rest of my body.
It wasn’t just the physical move that screwed me up, but all of the little things you need to take care of as soon as you walk in the door. Installing the mailbox. Hooking up the washer and dryer. Reassembling furniture. Let me tell you – If I don’t see another cardboard box, hammer, screwdriver or flight of stairs in the next two weeks, it’ll be too soon!
My hands are in really weird shape at the moment because I think all the gripping I’ve done has screwed up the tendons in my thumbs. They’re very tight. It’s like my thumbs want to fold in and lay flush against my palm. Nevermind the inch-long blister on the underside of my index finger I got from using a lousy mallet to pound a stake. Or the dozen or so gashes across my knuckles from scraping them across door frames while carrying furniture…
Not to sound like a big crybaby, but holding a pencil isn’t the most comfortable feeling for me right now. Plus, just getting things set up in the house so we can find them when we need to go back to work on Monday… guys, I’m just drained.
Anyway, the plan is to go back to work on Monday and hopefully start to slip back into a groove. I would like to have a new comic ready for you on Wednesday. Partially because – as a means to escape, Cami and I saw both Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Wedding Crashers this weekend and I have ideas. The other half of this ambition is to get back into the habit of drawing so I don’t get rusty.
Switching gears, someone who certainly ISN’T rusty is Dave Buist, the nice gentleman who provided today’s guest strip!
Dave is actually the first person to do a guest strip for Theater Hopper ever! Normally that kind of thing would reside in the Bonus Materials thing – but lazy me, I haven’t set it up since I redesigned the site back in April. It never ends, folks.
At any rate, I thought Dave’s guest strip was very timely considering Charlie’s $50+ take at the box office this weekend. It would be a shame to waste it. Extra points for getting Jared into an Oompa-Loompa costume!
Dave has a comic called Taking the Bi-Pass that you guys should check out. It’s really great and has only gotten better with age. It’s been a lot of fun for me personally to watch Dave develop as an artist and storyteller. As I recall, Dave didn’t even have a full-time web comic until after he did his guest strip for me. So we kind of have a cool link that way. Check out his site!
Another site you should check out it is Farawayistan, our newest advertiser. The comic is kind of hard to explain, but they’re kind of single-panel non sequiturs. Fans of White Ninja Comics will probably find something to appreciate here. Tell ’em Tom sentcha!
A quick note of apology to all of the creators who had guest strips running last week without blogs telling everyone where to check out their regular strips! I had a bunch of pre-written blogs in the database, but an incorrect timecode (my fault!) prevented them from displaying. The blogs have since been re-instated and the links to the individual creators sites are functional. I suggest everyone click back a few comics in the archive and read up on these talented blokes!
I think I’m going to close for now because I need to get to bed. But I wanted to remind everyone that I will be at Wizard World Chicago this year August 4 – 7 hanging out with a bunch of my web comic buddies on Artist’s Alley. Click here for more information. I plan on promoting this pretty much every time I write a new blog, so I’m trying to get into the habit now. ;D
Talk to you all again soon!
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Aug29
GUEST STRIP – JIM BURGESS
August 29th, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(4 votes, average: 7.75 out of 10)
Apologies to the TH faithful that thought there would be a new comic waiting for you today. But as it turns out, I’m leavin’ on a jet plane and will be out of town this week for an extended business meeting.
It’s something that I knew was on the horizon and thought I could prepare for. But as it turns out, what with everything that’s been going on (details I am deliberately withholding), I wasn’t able to muster up a stable of strips ahead of time to run while I was away.
But you are in very capable hands this week. Take for example my fellow Dayfree compatriot Jim Burgess from Able and Baker who was able to whip up today’s excellent guest strip. It pays homage to both Theater Hopper and Little Gamers at the same time! Well done, old man!
At any rate, expect guest strips on Wednesday and Friday as well. I’d tell you who is doing them, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise!
This has been the third time this year that I’ve sprung guest strips on you guys and I feel kind of bad. I did it once when Cami and I visited relatives in Texas back in April and did it again when Cami and I moved into our new house back in July.
On the one hand, I think it’s really great that there are enough artists out there even FAMILIAR with Theater Hopper to do a guest strip and WILLING to do so that I shake my head in disbelief. I’ve made a lot of great friends through web comics and I’m thankful for every artist that takes the responsibility in tandem to the responsibilities of their own comics to produce something extra for me.
But on the other hand, it makes me feel like I’m asleep at the switch – that I’m not providing the content that you guys come here for. I have no excuse. It’s been one of those years, y’know?
Hopefully things will start settling down soon and I can go back to providing you with regularly scheduled content every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Hey, if anything positive came out of this, I was able to take the time I would have otherwise used to make today’s comic and package up all of the shirt orders I had that were piling up. The only two I weren’t able to get to were those for Sarah Cathey in Gainsville, FL and Christoper Orme across the pond in the UK. I’m name-checking you guys now because it might take a little while before I get your orders back in stock. But everyone else can expect to see their stuff in the next few days. International orders might take a week or two.
It’s a very strong possibility that once I get back from my business trip that I will take the weekend to reorganize the store and increase prices on all t-shirts, baby-doll tees and hoodies. I have a lot of these items in stock right now, but some of the shirts that have multiple colors, I had to order in larger quantities – so I ended up sitting on some extra merchandise. Along with the price increase, I will also likely return to doing pre-orders so I can get a better sense of where the demand is.
Anyway, that’s probably enough blubbering for now. Be sure to check back through the week for more guest strips from exceptionally talented artists!
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Aug31
GUEST STRIP – KIDNEMO
August 31st, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 5.60 out of 10)
Geeze, can you guys believe it’s almost September? This year has gone by WAY to fast. We’re in the last fourth of 2005 and there is so much I wanted to get done with the site this year that hasn’t happened yet. Time to attack things with renewed vigor!
That is… after I get back from my business trip this week.
Wednesday’s comic is from my good friend and fellow Dayfree Press buddy Kidnemo. He’s actually done a guest strip for me before, but this is the first time he’s done so in his signature pixelated style. You can catch more of that action from his prime-time comic gig Comet 7. But don’t forget that he has an excellent side project called Kristy vs. The Zombie Army that is really good, too.
I’m not sure how to write this without coming off like I’m bragging, so I’m just going to let my fingers dance across the keyboard and whatever sputters out is what I’ll post.
Anyway, I’ve been receiving a lot of e-mails from people who are writing to me for the first time and saying that they really dig the comic and whatnot. I can’t remember ever receiving concentrated feedback of this nature in the comic’s 3+ years of existence, so it’s kind of catching me off guard.
I’ve always maintained that I have one of the nicest and most intelligent fan bases in all of web comics. Your support has always been consistent and I’m thankful for it. All I’m saying is that to get a bunch of messages like this at once is unusual for me.
At any rate, I wanted to give a collective “Thank You” to the readership. August has been… a really hard month for me – both professionally and personally. And for those friends and family who read the comic, by “professionally,” I’m referring specifically to Theater Hopper and not my day job. Don’t worry! Everything is fine on that front! ;D
But yeah… August has been tough and I just wanted to say the compliments you guys have been sending my way as of late couldn’t have come at a better time.
I try not to fish for these kinds of things. I’ve been deliberately sketchy about some of the details of my life in this space because I don’t want to bog you guys down with my problems. This space is for entertaining. That’s what I want to do with it – entertain.
But to know you guys are out there… reading and engaged. Excited about what’s next. Wow. What a trip. What an honor.
I guess I never really mentioned that Theater Hopper celebrated it’s 3 year anniversary on August 5th. I don’t know why. I guess I didn’t want to trumpet the milestone without something special to back it up. A week’s worth of comics or a special expanded storyline. I don’t know.
But yeah… I created the site to try and use my talents (however small) to reach out and communicate with people. I never knew the real potential of what was out there or what you would give back to me.
So, thanks. I’m amazed by your graciousness every day.
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Sep02
GUEST STRIP – PAUL SPENCER
September 2nd, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 6.60 out of 10)
Beacoup thanks to Paul Spencer for his excellent guest strip. His will be the last this week as I plan on returning to the fold on Monday. Incidentally, Paul has his own comic called Make With The Funny that delivers just that. I think he has one of the better site designs out there, too.
If MWTF sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because we’ve been running Paul’s ad for the site here the last 3 weeks or so. If you’re interested in advertising with Theater Hopper, we have spots opening up soon! Check the calendar for details!
I’ve been “out of the office” (as it were) attending a business meeting in Ohio as part of the duties of my 9 to 5, so being available to update the comic has been difficult. Thanks for your patience and understanding in the matter.
Thanks, too to Jim Burgess and Kidnemo for their contribution this week. I sincerely appreciate it, you guys. The rest of you? Visit all of these fine artists’ sites and support their work! They deserve it!
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Feb17
FAN ART – BEEFY
February 17th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(2 votes, average: 5.50 out of 10)
Sorry, gang. No new comic or incentive sketch for Friday. Instead you’re being treated to some fan art by my good friend Beefy who is referencing this comic about Tom’s last wishes. Incidentally, you should all check out Beefy’s web site, Beefyness.com. In addition to comics, he produces some really great nerd-core rap songs, several of which you can download for free. Of course, I’m certain if you dontate money to help him pursue his artistic interests, he would appreciate it.
The reason you’re without a new comic to help you close out the week is because I went to see Nine Inch Nails live in concert and I didn’t have time to put something together for you. I had to work ahead to get Wednesday’s strip out there because I was out celebrating Valentine’s Day with Cami on Tuesday. To perform that feet twice in one week – let alone when the options in theaters right now are their worst – well, I couldn’t meet the challenge.
I feel bad. It’s not often that I willingly lay down my pen. Usually, if there isn’t a new comic, there’s a good reason. I’m on vacation, my FTP connection isn’t working, my monitor exploded – something beyond my control. This time, it’s essentially lack of time and a little bit of burn out tossed into the mix.
Maybe it’s not a big deal to some, but it’s a big deal to me. I know in web comics, deadlines always seem to be shifting around. But for the last three and a half years, I’ve been pretty good about meeting mine. Considering some of the really wonderful e-mails I’ve been getting out of the blue lately, I feel like I’m letting you guys down.
But it is what it is and I’m only human. I went to a concert, didn’t get back until late, am feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment and needed a little break. I’ll be back and ready to go on Monday and I plan on putting the finishing touches on the book that collects the first year of Theater Hopper strips this weekend. So thanks for letting my have the day off.
And if you’re thinking about it, always feel free to submit fan art. Who knows! Your stuff might end up on the front page of the site the next time I’m in a time crunch. If not there, it’ll always have a home on the fan art page. That’s not a bad deal!
I’ll catch up with you soon.
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Mar13
GUEST STRIP – ALI GRAHAM
March 13th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(6 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)
Big ups to Housd creator Ali Graham for coming to the rescue with this guest strip. As I’ve come to know him through Boxcar, Ali is the go-to guy when you need a little extra coverage. Anyone in the group who has asked for a guest strip from the others will see Ali be the first to serve something up and his work is consistently hilarious. Of course, what else can you expect from someone who has been dedicated enough to pump out over 1,000 strips! The man is a dynamo! Thanks, Ali!
This weekend I was in Chicago with friends auditioning for VH1’s World Series of Pop Culture. For legal reasons, I can’t give you too many specifics about the show. But I plan on sharing more about the trip later. We happened to be in town for Chicago’s world-famous St. Patrick’s Day parade, so it’s safe to say we had a blast!
I’ll likely be posting something about the trip to the THorum later this afternoon or evening. I have photos, too. So look for updates on those as well. I’ll be sure to let everyone know where to find it when posted.
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Mar15
GUEST STRIP – JOERULES AND MADMUP
March 15th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(39 votes, average: 8.82 out of 10)
Much respect to Joerules and Mad Mup for bringing another stellar guest strip collaboration to Theater Hopper. Followers of the site know that they’ve displayed their tallents twice before and the comics keep getting better and better and better. This is a nifty little hat trick for them!
I think we all know Joe Dunn is a pretty busy guy. But why my good friend Mup hasn’t found a full-time artist to collaborate with is beyond me. He clearly has a sense of pacing and knows how to tell a joke. That Quidditch line? Can I steal that and put it on a shirt, Mup? It’s classic!
I also have to give BIG points to Joe for tossing in all the litte Iron Man action figures. Joe knows me personally, so he knows my fanboy obcession with all things Iron Man. Once again, Joe proves he’s the master of detail by adding them to the office environment! If you guys want proof of my Iron Man devotion, you should comb through some of my archived web cam images! I think that’s where he might have gotten the inspiration for this personal touch… Great work, Joe!
This will probably be the last real-time post you’ll see from me in a while. Cami and I are going on vacation tomorrow – hopping on a jet plane to "THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!" Walt Disney World.
I always feel this weird compulsion to apologise for going to Walt Disney World. As if it were some kind of childish endulgance that I should have grown past. I think it’s because when I was growing up, I looked at the resort as this very exclusive place that only rich people could afford to go to. That’s not really the case. It’s very affordable. And, actually, Cami and I have shared a lot of happy memories there.
We’ll never be the kind of couple that goes there every year or hosts some big-ass family reunion that clogs up the line of every attraction. But I proposed to her there, we spent our honeymoon there and – six years later – we’re going back to celebrate our anniversary. We’ll be married six years this Saturday, the 18th. We’re going to have a great time.
I’ll be back sometime Tuesday afternoon and I’ll probably be spending most of it catching up on e-mails and other internet happenings. But there will still be guest strips going on while I’m back. You’ll get another dose on Friday and then Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week.
Both Cami and I have been burned out for a long time. We haven’t taken a vacation where it was just the two of us since January of 2004, so this has been a long time coming. I’m excited to go, but I’m also already excited to come back because this will be exactly what I need to recharge my batteries and get me ready for pushing the release of the first Theater Hopper book shortly thereafter!
Things are really looking up!
Thanks to all you guys for giving us a little breathing room, but also for continuing to support the comic and spreading the word about Theater Hopper to all of your friends. I’m not sure why, but I’ve been getting lots of e-mails from people lately saying that they’lve just been introduced to the comic and are loving it. That’s a great feeling, especially after doing this for three and a half years. Don’t think for a minute I don’t appreciate it!
I’ll be back soon enough. Until then, enjoy today’s great comic and the guest strips yet to come!
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Mar17
GUEST STRIP – BRANDON J CARR
March 17th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(8 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Do you have any idea how tempted I was to title this guest strip "Brokeback Victor?" But I guess Brokeback Mountain jokes aren’t cool anymore since the Oscars are over… Oh, well.
Quick question. Did you know that this guest strip done by my good Boxcar buddy and creator of web comic The Kenmore – Brandon J Carr – is, IN FACT, awesome? Cuz, guess what? It is!
I love the lead in panel with the strip name between the characters. I adore that there is no dialogue and everything is communicated crystal clear. And I am jealous with envy that Brandon uncovered a facet of Victor’s character that I might have to steal for future installments! This is a Grade A guest strip.
But really, should we consider anything less from the genius behind The Kenmore? Brandon’s comic is on hiatus for the moment as our good man moves into a new place. But don’t be sullen. Don’t be downtrodden. Instead, look at this as an opportunity to check out Brandon’s work from the very begining and read all of his stuff before he goes back to producing new material. You won’t regret it!
Thanks again, Brandon! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
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Mar20
GUEST STRIP – MIKE MORGAN
March 20th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 7.60 out of 10)
Greetings, campers and happy Monday!
Today’s comic comes from Mike Morgan. Or, as I’ve come to know him in the THorum, KiltyAsCharged (great name). Mike has his own comic called The Vinyl Groove that I think all of you should check out. I dig Mike’s style. It’s very relaxed and almost painterly. Like watercolors. Am I making sense?
Mike actually sent me a guest strip to use a while ago, but it didn’t work out for me to place it on the front page. It was sort of timely and I had basically finished running, like, three weeks of guest strips and I needed to get back in the swing of things. I put that comic in the fan art section and you can check it out here.
Although the ads in the THorum are advertising it non stop, I know very little about Silent Hill. Neither the movie or the video game it’s based off of. I guess I’ve seen the trailer and I like it’s atmospheric bent. But I probably won’t see the film because I’m not much for horror.
I dunno? What do you guys think? Are you going to see it? Maybe you should talk about it here…
I’ll catch up with you guys soon. Have a great week!
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Mar22
GUEST STRIP – FRED GRISOLM
March 22nd, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(7 votes, average: 7.71 out of 10)
Today’s guest strip comes from Boxcar buddy Fred Grisolm – the very excellent author of the equally excellent Hate Song.
Some of you might read Fred’s strip and say he was stealing a page from Brandon J. Carr’s guest strip from last friday. To which I would say "Stop flappin’ yer gums about things you don’t know nothin’ about!" Fred developed his comic totally independent of Brandon. They never looked over their desks to see what their classmate was doing. Scout’s honor. Just goes to show how great minds think alike!
Either that, or there is a powerfully strong undercurrent of homoerotic tension running through Theater Hopper that I’m totally unaware of putting out there.
I really like Fred’s strip because I thought he did a really good job of capturing my writing style. Something about the pace of this one felt right. Kind of like how I would write it. Fred is right on the money when it comes to serial killer movies with the newspaper clippings on the wall. Can we find a new cliche to exploit, please?
At any rate, thanks to Fred for an excellent comic. If you liked his work here, check out Hate Song where he consistently knocks it out of the park.
Changing gears, I’m back from vacation and it’s good to be home. Well, good and not so good.
The thing I hate about taking vacations is that time doesn’t stop on all the crap going on back home. When you get back to work there are a ton of messages to follow up on, you have to do all the laundry from the trip, catch up on the bills… all that garbage. Honestly, it stresses me out to the point I was stressed at BEFORE the vacation. Thank goodness it’s a short work week. At least I don’t have to do Friday’s comic, either. That gives me a little breathing room.
Walt Disney World was – of course – totally excellent. Although I’ll be glad not to have to side-step fat parents pushing double-wide strollers for a while.
WDW gets a bad rap for all the long lines you have to wait in to ride the attractions. And even though it was Spring Break, I think we got off pretty light. We didn’t have to wait in too many lines that were longer than 15 or 20 minutes.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the Magic Kingdom, but is there a more disproportionate wait time vs. ride time for any other attraction than Peter Pan’s Flight? Seems to take two hours to enjoy a ride that’s maybe two minutes long.
I’ll tell you something that really cheesed me off about our visit. Cami and I were really hyped up to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, right? We loved the ride when we went with our parents in our youth, but when we went 6 years ago for our honeymoon, the ride was closed down for repairs. So this time, we were ready to go. Guess what? It was closed down AGAIN! We found out later it was because they wanted to make the ride more like the movies and were adding in scenes with Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow. Double-ugh! That would have been really cool to see. But not this time. So now I guess I gotta wait until Cami and I have kids who are old enough to appreciate the expense and planning that goes into a Walt Disney World trip before I can see the ride again. Of course, by then it’ll probably be 2020 and the ride will be under construction again to replace the audio animatronics with holograms.
That’s another thing. For the life of me, I don’t understand why parents bring their babies and small children to Walt Disney World. I wanted to punch every sleeping child in a stroller. Have they no idea what their parents went through to bring them there?! When I have kids, I’m going to wait until they’re 20 before I take them. Then maybe they can chip in for a plane ticket!
I don’t mean to make it sound like we had a bad time. Far from it. Cami and I had a great vacation and it was really good to go down there any enjoy it together. We got to see everything we wanted to see and had a great time celebrating our 6th anniversary. I have some more to say about the trip, but nothing I really need to share in this space. Keep an eye out on my LiveJournal page for some extra thoughts about the trip!
Until then, see ya’ real soon!
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