07.27.2008 - Terrence Marks:
Isabel and I went to Comic-Con on Thursday. We're close enough that we could stop by for a day and drive home. We had ordered our tickets a few weeks in advance, just in case. They sold out a few days before the con, so I'm glad we did. So we drove to San Diego, spent an hour trying to park, and headed into a fully-packed Comic-Con.

Our first stop was the Girl Genius booth. We stopped by and talked with Phil and Kaja Foglio. Girl Genius is one of my favorite comics. I've been a fan of the Foglios since I was in middle school. I had a total fanboy moment and couldn't think of anything to say, besides "It's so great to meet you, I love your work" and "I'll take four books and all of the pins", of course. I got a sketch from both of them, as well. Isabel took a picture of them. Kaja took a picture of us. I'm very, very pleased that they enjoy our comics too.

From there, I stopped by the Blank Label booth (turn left, take three steps forward). I tried to decide which Schlock Mercenary book I should get. Isabel suggested I get all three. Howard agreed, and I - being outvoted - went along. I got sketches of Schlock, Kevyn, and Tagon in the books and Ensign Ventura in my sketchbook. I couldn't think of anything intelligent to say about the comic, despite finishing a complete archive trawl a few months ago.

I'd say we stopped by the Electric Milk booth but that grossly overstates how intentional it was. We wandered aimlessly for a minute or two, then I was distracted by bright colors of the Tiny Titans comic books. It's the Teen Titans. In pre-school. By he guys who do Patrick the Wolf Boy. I picked up the entire run and headed back to the webcomic area; I already had sketches from Art and Franco.

Next stop - Keenspot. I got a Funny Farm book and a sketch by the elusive Ryan Smith. Funny Farm was one of those comics in the Class of '99, like Unlike Minerva and Namir Deiter. It amazes me how many people who started back then are still doing comics. John Troutman was there too (one of, perhaps, six people who has a sketch by me. If you saw me draw, you'd understand why demand is so low). He introduced himself, after I kept staring at his badge. He looked familiar but I couldn't bring myself to ask who he was. I'm still not sure who was there from Keenspot or if I missed anybody there.

I circled the webcomics section once more, stopping at the Dayfree Press booth for a Dr. McNinja book and sketch. Every time I think that comic is as awesome as it gets, it gets a little more awesome.

We were heading out and I spotted the Amelia Rules booth by the door. There are four comic books that I buy - Usagi Yojimbo, Acredale, and whom I had met back at DragonCon 2000. He recognized me, and I recognized him, at least by name. I showed him the Apathy Kat sketch in my book. I spent a moment pondering how unlikely it is to coincidentally run into someone at a con with over 100,000 people. He introduced me to Jimmy, and I got a very nice sketch of Amelia (I was seriously considering asking for Pajamaman but chickened out at the last minute. I hadn't read the comic in a few months and wasn't sure that was really his name).

And with that, we headed back home. Did I miss a few things? Plenty. There's part of me that wanted to walk through the floor and see what was there. Folks, when I was in the middle of the exhibition hall, I couldn't see either end of it. I had originally meant to go through Artists' Alley, but my bags were getting heavy and my wallet was getting light. There was anime, but we decided to head home and watch Pom Poko instead. There was gaming, but I'd rather try to find a local group than a pick-up game at a con. I think there was a panel about superheros or something, but I didn't look at my program too closely. So we left.

We had a great time. If you'll notice, this is a lot more upbeat than most of our previous con reports. I'm happy just to show up and fanboy for a few hours.

When we were thirty minutes away from San Diego, we realized that we could've gone to see Stan Sakai. But that's for another con.

07.25.2008 - Terrence Marks:
Where to start - it's been a busy weekend. Firstly, the thing that isn't updated. Mailbag Saturday is delayed a day - I made some adjustments to Isabel's drawing table so it'd hold better. Unfortunately, it's holding very well at the wrong angle and cannot be easily readjusted so tomorrow we're going to get another one tomorrow.

Secondly, many other things are updated. NamirDeiter.net has two new wallpapers. There are two new books in the free section of the library -
Disguises, which is a 24-hour comic book that I did a few years back, and the Namir Deiter 2003 Fall Newsletter. We've also added King Me (an Unlike Minerva flashback), Brisbane's Quest (a wordless 7-page story Isabel did for Valentine's Day in 2005) and iPod to my Heart (A wordless 8-page original story Isabel did for Valentine's Day in 2007). There's also a new ND Talk podcast.

Thirdly, we got back from Comic-Con! We had a great time and got to meet some very talented folks who we've been wanting to meet for a very long time. There'll be more of a con report later on, most likely in my blog.

07.10.2008 - Isabel Marks:
Hey everyone, welcome to another month... first and foremost, yeah, we didn't make the goal.As such, all webcomics are back to the non-bonus updating schedule. I'm happy to say that as of last Monday the webcomics are back on track. All the comics for the month of June's bonus update schedule (with both web comics updating seven days a week) are in the archive. Namir Deiter for the month of July will have comics five days a week while You Say it First will run Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Namir Deiter's comics from the past month now have titles to them and the archive drop down for Namir Deiter has been updated, for whatever that's worth. We thank you all for your patience in all this and hope you enjoy the comics in the archives if you happen to have missed one of those mass updates.

NamirDeiter.net news... wallpapers are now up! Please visit the wallpapers sections to see them. This month's main page bonus comic story will feature a chapter from the made up romance novel "Victorian Lurve". It will update seven days a week until all the bonus comics that were missing from the previous month's delayed pages are made up (and perhaps a few bonus ones as well). If you had an account that expired during the month of June, please contact Terrence with your information, and he will give you two more weeks so you can see some of the comics you missed.

Also every week at NamirDeiter.net, we'll have Jun and Tori's Mailbox Saturday, where ND.net's semi-offical question-asking mascots, Jun and Tori, interview and interrogate various characters from the ND Unlimited multiverse with YOUR questions. If you're a donor and have any questions you'd want to see answered, send them in and we'll see what happens. We seriously need more questions for this week, so please send them in!

Once again, we thank you all for your patience! We hope you enjoy the month of July and the stories it will bring! Previous News | Old News (2006 and before)
 

07.29.2008 - Terrence Marks:
It's one thing to wake up and realize that you're being shaken. It's quite another to realize that the rest of the room is shaking along with you. Afew precariously-stacked things fell over. Otherwise, we're intact. It was the first earthquake that I'd been through and I can't say I appreciate the experience.

I have added Kaspall' to the links list - it's an anthropomorphic fantasy police procedural comic. I have also found the awesomest con report ever; I recall seeing a Jaegermonster or two at the Girl Genius booth and knowing the full story just makes it amazing.

07.19.2008 - Terrence Marks:
Game of the moment - Mario Kart Wii. Honestly, I liked Mario Kart: Double Dash (the previous iteration) better. Why? In MKW, you can't unlock things in multi-player mode. Mario Kart is a group activity. Isabel and I want to play together, and we want to unlock all the characters. We have to pick one. It's less fun. The other thing they changed is item distribution. If you're in the lead, you won't ever get a good item. Meanwhile, the guys in the back keep hitting you with blue shells, lightning, POW blocks - one right after the other. Again and again and again. I know that it's not a realistic driving game. If I wanted a genuine racing experience, I know there are better games for that, but Mario Kart combines racing and hitting stuff in a brilliant way. The only difference is that now I'm the one getting hit. There were some matches where I got hit with three blue shells. They've added a bunch of area effect weapons and pretty much guaranteed the CPU gets three of them each lap. The franchise seems a half-step above the other Mario sports games, but it used to be a full step.

07.16.2008 - Terrence Marks:
I went to Anime Expo a week or so ago. I stayed for a few hours, mainly walked the dealer's room. While some of the panels looked interesting, if I stayed longer I'd have to fight downtown LA traffic. Most of the anime they were screening was available through Netflix; I can theoretically watch it in the comfort of my own home. I won't. But I could if I had to.

But I had a good time. Scott Ramsoomair and Shawn Handyside had a booth, and now my sketchbook is two pages closer to being filled. That's what I went for. What interested me the most was the Artists' Alley. There were a lot of very good artists there, but most of them, all they had was anime characters. Ouran Host Club, Bleach, Fruits Basket, or what-have-you. You could get bookmarks featuring the characters, prints, custom drawings. It looked good. It looked on-model. But it didn't say anything. No commentary. No clever juxtaposition. There's already someone who draws Fruits Basket, and she does a really good job. Why would you want to compete with her at it, in an imitation of her style? It's kinda like learning guitar just to play in a cover band. And I'm not trying to put anyone down if they enjoy it. That's just not where I'm at.

I'm used to everyone having a story to tell. Maybe the artists did have their own stories to tell; perhaps they weren't confident enough, or the story wasn't finished or they just didn't think it'd sell. Or maybe I've been hanging around cartoonists too long.
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