A Bounty Of Vexxarr!

First of all, check out the cool cameo over at The Whiteboard - a polarbear / paintball comic artfully drawn by "Doc's Machine".

Thanks to gamachinist of our forums for pointing that out!

Two new comics and something special. The new comics are in the archives on their appropriate days. Just click back to read them...if you dare!

NUCLEAR TEST!

As promised...

Big news!

First...

New comic! On time-ish!

Second, I would like to take this opportunity to announce to my readers and indeed the world that I, Hunter Cressall, will test a nuclear device . Due to mounting global pressure and the recent test by North Korea (of an absurdly primitive nuclear device), I feel that for the safety of my household, my Star Wars action figures and my socks I must procure and test my own nuclear device.

I would also like to add that I am much taller and far more attractive than Kim Jong-il and can kick his ass at Dr Mario up and down Pyongyang.

Look for updates soon...

Make Good

Behold a new comic. Behold TWO new comics!

Bwaaa Haa Haa Haa Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I am humbled...

You guys are great...I mean really. Thanks for the support on the RRS front. As I receive your emails and instructions I begin to realize exactly how little grasp of this simple matter I really have. I'll likely wind up just asking someone to do this for me. It could be YOU so be ready. I'm just so confused at this point that it makes me feel my age...

OK, late Vexxarr but what else is new? He's coming AND there will be both a Wednesday and a Friday Vexxarr as always (you should no my no wimp out policy by now). When you peruse my archives (as I know some of you have been - I've been watching you) please note that there are three blue numbers in every damn week of every damn month since I launched this sucker.

So it shall remain.

So thanks! You guys are really teh bomb. I'll have an RSS up shortly and then I'll whine at you about searchable archives! And about that foreign shipping issue in my Print Shoppe...I'm just going to let these babies go at a single rate. I'll update the page.

Later.

After I give you today's Vexxarr.

With the bloody stumps of my fingers...

RSS FEED! Who can help me?

I need help setting up an RSS FEED. If someone could walk me through the process I'd be really grateful. I'd mail them a print! I'd credit them or offer a link. Just drop me a line here or the above email link.

Thanks in advance!

Data safe. Vexxarr Safe. Hunter Poor.

The cost of being a sole proprietorship I guess. Apart from the abysmal grammar of yesterday's whine, all things ended well. New strip Monday (mine - not yours Australia). I think I may actually turn my upstairs TiVo-like PC into a server. I can keep a JBOD on it and just back my data up from the ravenous Mac to the relatively serene PC environment. As I said before, I'd never want to edit on a PC professionally but I'd never run a Mac server. It's like using a lion as a sheepdog.

Or a Tiger, maybe...

Drive down! Vexxarr late!

It's not what you think. It's worse. My work drive is sick. I'm desperately trying to move data from my LaCie Big Disk onto a new Big Disk I just acquired for this very purpose. It's a slow and tense process. I'll have Vexxarr up tonight...

See, I do Vexx on a PC. PC's chew up operating systems. Mac's chew up drives. It's just one of those things you have to deal with as a Mac owner. Problem is, when your OS goes belly up. Assuming you've instituted safeguards like multiple hard drives in your PC, none of your data goes away. When your hard drives are constantly under the barrage of needless internal data management like in say...a Mac. Well, you're screwed.

So...

If I can keep my old LaCie alive long enough to x-fer 460GB of my life, blood and tears to my new LaCie. I'll be in the clear. You know, I just had an idea: Maybe I should use a PC as a server and backup for my Mac data. See cuz on a PC when you aren't using the drive...the computer isn't using it either.

Are you listening Apple?

Print Shoppe Works!

* EDIT *

Remember that each print comes with a paragraph from me explaining exactly "...just what the hell I was thinking..." at the time I drew the strip. That alone should be worth the roughly ten US bucks.

* EDIT *

I have early confirmation that everything works as promised through Paypal. While it is not necessary to have a Paypal account, it does make things easier.

My only word of warning, it is NOT necessary to become a "verified" Paypal member nor should you. This involves giving them permission to make bank drafts directly from your checking account. Don't do it. The only complaints I find about Paypal center around incorrect bank drafts and Paypal's sluggishness to investigate and correct these matters. All Paypal needs is a credit card and should an unverified charge be levied to your card, you can challenge the charge and most likely, considering Paypal's past, your card will side with YOU.

Anyway, the payment button is safe. I get none of your credit information. I do get your request, your order number and your address. So if you buy a print, it will arrive at your door via post. Original artwork works the same way but I need an email with your order number so that I draw Vexxarr in exactly the sort of nighty you had in mind.

So buy my prints.

Print Shoppe Open!

It is!

Some clarification first:

Ok, Paypal doesn't offer a demo walkthrough for the vendor (me) to examine the experience of the buyer (you). So I don't know what to expect. What it should do is ask (1) for your address, ask for (2) the date and title(s) of the comics you want and give you (3) a unique numeric identifier.

At the end of your purchase, I ask you to email me through the link provided and send me all that info as well. If you include the time you made the purchase, I'll have no trouble pairing you up with your purchase even if you don't have a unique numeric identifier. Either way, if you email me, I'll send out a print. No questions asked.

I would also like you guys to share the experience with me so that I can make it better.

Don't be confused by the six options. It boils down to this:

2 options for a print: domestic and foreign
2 options for a colorized print: domestic and foreign
2 options for original artwork: domestic and foreign

Yes, I will update all the black and whit archives with the colorized artwork. So yes, eventually you won't have to pay me to colorize a print. Why am I charging you to have my archives colorized? Someone has to do it. And if you don't pay me to, let's face it, I'll simply never get around to it. If you pay me 10 to 14 US dollars, I'll feel OBLIGATED to color them. Eventually they'll all be in color and a nicer dither pattern and the colorize option will go the way of the Dodo.

If you hate your artwork, I'll offer a make-good at least once. If you really hate your artwork, I may offer my wrath. Or a cookie. Depending.

So buy my artwork and I'll eventually quit my dayjob and pump out happy alien goodness seven days a week.

Really.

New Comic! New Store!

T-shirts?

No....not quite yet. But almost as good. Prints and cards suitable for framing. Original artwork by request. Naked images of Sploorfix. Heady stuff, I assure you. But if this does well, T-shirts will not be far behind. It's called seed money.

I'm setting up the account and it will go live soon. I had planned it to go live today...but work precluded any such rash action. See, you guys need to subsidize my work so I can dish out the Vexx 24/7. Believe me, If I could draw Vexxarr full time, you guys would get a new strip 24/7/365. I mean that.

So new comic. And a new blending option in photoshop. People have asked me why I do not post a tutorial on the creation of the Vexxarr strip. I always answer...because no one wants to see sequential jpegs of a grown man weeping at a drafting table.

And so it is true...

That was a rough week...

And I get one day off then turn it around again. More work. More comics. More Diet Code Red.

None of this should concern you. What it SHOULD do is compel you to click the web comic list banner and leave them a piece of my mind on the Vexxarr page there. Heck, maybe you should sign up and vote for Vexxarr!

So far I haven't asked for donations or even offered T-shirts...so far. The very thought of banner ads makes me ever so slightly ill. So all I dream about at night are new comments in the community BB or on the webcomicslist to make my inner child squeal. It really does squeal.

Most annoying.

Anyway enjoy the banner week of comic goodness and look forward to another...

...banner week of comic goodness.

There will be a Friday Vexxarr

*EDIT*
A Late Friday strip is in the works! Hopefully those in the US will see it before leaving work today! Those of you across the globe...not so much!
*EDIT*

And as always it will be late. I picked up some work this week. A lot of work. And those of you familiar with my chosen career - please try to respect he restraining order and keep out of my bushes...

For those of you less familiar with my job - and therefore my shrubs - I'm a freelance video production entity. I shoot, direct, produce, edit...basically I'm an A/V whore. And this week my Johns have been banging at the door. But you know this because I hear you outside my window. Anyway, I've edited two long format projects, shot a commercial and retagged some PSA's I did about a year ago. Am I complaining? No. This means cash. But I am telling you guys that while I have pledged to do three strips a week until every proton in this universe decays...you may actually have to see a few decay before I give you all three strips.

In short...late Friday strip...but it's on the way.

Sorry for the long-winded and equally pitiful excuse...but I'm punchy.

Spiders.

Better, but tired.

And I still find time to spin you another comic.

Where is my thanks?

Anyway, I can't say I plan to make a habit out of yesterday's offering. But if the moment moves me...I may give in to the mood. And for those who asked...I did indeed pen that missive myself. It's accessible through the archive page. I'm not sure if I'll make it available as a strip in continuity...as it were.

Well today marks the return to story. And I still plan to update Wednesday and Friday.

Who loves ya' Babe?

Still Sick...

But recovering. Note the new comic. It cost me six years of my life. I hope you're happy...

Lots of news on the homefront. Many of you have wondered why there is no Vexxarr store yet. I can say with confidence that the store is almost ready. I simply had to reconcile aligning myself with a force I had previously relegated to the shadow realm. Not the cool, sexy shadow realm...the other one.

Anyway, keep an eye on this spot. And try not to keep your expectations too high...

Sick, Tired and Recovering...

To say it has been a long weekend would be to call Michael Bay a bad director. Now I have a fever and a sinus infection to show for my efforts. To this end, Monday's is delivered unto the masses and Wednesday's has been written, drawn and scanned. As it is 3:21am where I draw oxygen, I'm going to sleep and THEN color, letter and upload Wednesday's. It's worth the wait I promise...and it features yet another silicone life form.

Hummer Thinks You are A Moron

In a recent commercial, Hummer proclaims with the sort of manic exuberance that only exists in psychotic episodes that the Hummer "midsize" H3 attains an "amazing" 20mpg. Imagine, after a hurricane degrades much of the US gasoline refinery capacity and a leaky pipeline cuts off at least 5.oo% of our domestic crude oil production, General Motors actually rejoices in the production of a passenger vehicle that gets worse gas mileage than most civil utility vehicles.

I haven't driven many 5-ton trucks that got less than 20mpg. When I think of 20mpg and below, I tend to think of something a little less agile than a four wheel drive vehicle.

I wish companies like General Motors would stop paying huge creative agencies millions of dollars only to be told "People are stoopid...tell them anything!"

Hey Rick Wagoner! the Emperor is naked! ...and he's FAT!

Friday Come And Gone

And here I sit languishing, Vexxless, while another godless QuickTime renders for another godless client. Such is the life of a freelance video professional.

While I'm venting otherwise unblemished spleen for the benefit of those few readers who have not yet turned away in disgust at my tardiness...let's talk Macs again, shall we?

Those of you who read this comic (and the subset of you who scroll down to discover that there is actually a BLOG attached to it) will know by now how I feel about Macs. I can sum up the breadth and depth of my emotional totality with regards to the Macintosh computer in one sentence: They are computers.

They hold no special magic, they perform no special tasks. In a world of silicone thralls each bound to our every whim regardless of how vile or base. Macs rate a perfect 5 on a cosmic scale of 1 to 10. That is to say they exist.

To further bring this implacable truth to blinding light of public consciousness I wish to relate my afternoon's experience.

Now, if I were to bring you a woe-laden tale of sudden hardware failure what word would first leap to mind? PC? Dell? Windows? And if I also mentioned that my computer had been running fine when suddenly is simply froze and refused to reboot what would your impression be? If I added the fact that after that crash and reboot, my computer was unable to see the MONITORS - the stinking monitors! Instead, all my files, drives and documents were clumped together on the NTSC monitor to the right of my setup. Visiting the settings showed that my computer not only had forgotten that it was attached to two perfectly good flat-screen LCD's but had in fact FORGOTTEN WHAT THEY WERE? What would you think? An HP pavilion running Windows M E?

No, if you hadn't realized by now, I was using my Mac dual 2.5 ghz monster G5 with 2gigs of RAM. I started the day with several sequential lock-ups resulting in a persistent boot condition which left the VGA monitors dark and wanting. Solution? Well, this is a Mac we're talking about. As with most problems, there is no fix. Mac simply won't give you access to the tools you need to address the problem. The button USUALLY found on the settings windows, "detect displays" was mysteriously missing. Unplugging the Blackmagic capture card did nothing to help. In the end, I reached into the off-monitor void with my mouse and was eventually able to retrieve my finder. With that, I was able to open my Preferences folder and start trashing my Mac system preferences until my computer eventually forgot that it had forgotten it had two LCD VGA monitors. On THAT reboot, I got my monitors back.

Now let's be clear here - I never solved the issue. I never even understood what the issue WAS apart from wanting to kick my Mac. So I want all those Mac and OSX apologists out there to take note - to date all of my PC bug experiences ended with a long learning curve, a deeper understanding of the operating system and ultimately a fixed computer. All my Mac bug experiences ended either with trashed preferences or the guy at the Mac store telling me the motherboard had died and charging me $800. Yet I bought one of these beasts for my very own and watched it repay my offer of home and family with pain and mental torture.

That guy at Cult Of The Mac is welcome to keep drinking his iCoolaid. Me, I'm still waiting for machine that runs as well as it's slavish proponents wish it did...

Friday update

Vexxarr will likely post a tad late Friday...although you never know. I was really impressed that I got two comics up Tuesday for this week. I'm on location with a job right now and I'll be getting back home just about the time Friday's comic should post. I'm not making any predictions...but I bet I choose sleep over a Friday update when I get back. Vexxarr will post later this Friday afternoon but for those of you who know me...that is no surprise.

Still, I bet I post before Gabe and Tycho...which is a bit like betting on the house in Vegas.

Late...again...sorry.

I'm running to Atlanta to shoot a car dealer. Regretably, I'll be using a camera.

With Beta SP - the dead format that wouldn't die.

[See, Sony decided that it was time to end the dominance of the Beta SP format - partly due to it's attempt to promote the vastly superior and vastly more expensive Digibeta and partly due to the fact that Sony was no longer the largest manufacturer of SP cameras and tape stock. So Sony declaired Beta SP dead and they announced the end of support for SP products. This lasted about six months. Today Beta SP remains one of the most common video formats for commercials and long format video world-wide. Digibeta died a lingering and expensive death - despite the fact that it really was all that and a bag of uncompressed 10 bit full component chips.]

By The way...I just moved my last anti-Sony rant to the rants section. I think I'll just delete the above...

Where was I?

Oh yes. Vexxarr will post in the evening tomorrow. Fear not, it is written and inked already. I just need time to scan, color and post it. And a new Vexx ontime Friday.

Huzza!