Slither and Friends

For those of you not aware of the Guest Strip Project, you should totally check it out. Not only has it featured a vast array of webcomic talent, but it all benefits a good cause too. Even better, the latest update features a comic drawn up by me!

I had a lot of fun taking a crack at drawing a set of characters not my own, and I even made an effort to deviate from my normal coloring method.  I’m quite happy with the result.

I’m hoping everyone’s enjoying the current story arch.  I don’t normally get the chance to draw actual people and I feel that it flexes my artistic muscles quite a bit.  As for what’s in store for our intrepid fool… well, you’ll just have to wait and see.

 Batman

Fear not, loyal readers.  This “review” is spoiler free, but I thought I’d just take a moment to share my feelings of the recent Batman film.  As the hype and news surrounded the picture have suggested, this latest addition to the Batman franchise is nothing short of brilliant.  If I could only have a few moments to plug the movie for someone, I would say it is perhaps the definitive blockbuster of the summer season.

“But Mike!  You loved Wall-E sooo much!  How can you turn your back on that lovable robot?!?” 

It’s true, I did enjoy Wall-E a great deal.  Enough to put it in my personal top 5 of movie experiences.  The Dark Knight, however, was an entirely different experience.  Gritty, dark, unexpected.  The Joker made me squirm in my seat every second he was on screen.  I’ve never been so nervous around a movie villain like that.  I was actually thankful that Batman would show up to stop him, because I wanted him stopped.  The film is that potent.

But as mentioned, I’ll keep this spoiler free.  I’m just suggesting that if you haven’t seen the film yet, go and do so!  One warning though, this film is dark.  I certainly couldn’t recommend it for young children or people who can get squeamish around on-screen violence.  Still, an excellent film that people will be talking about for quite some time.

I was recently dismayed to learn that the wonderful comic strip, Minus, will be drawing to an end.  For those of you not aware of the strip, the loose story follows the imaginative and sometimes dark adventures of a young girl who seems to have almost complete omnipotence in regards to the world and its fundamental, natural laws.  What at times seems to be a very standard escape into childhood fancy often takes an unexpected turn that kept me eager to see the next wonderfully illustrated page.

The webcomic world will ache with its absence, to be certain.  Give yourself a treat and go check it out if you haven’t already.

In less disheartening news, I’d like to thank those of you who sent kind words along about my recent and daring adventure to the hospital.  Things seem much better and I hope to keep pressing the attack on the comic making front.  I’ve had a lot of fun drawing up weird aliens and making guesses at what strange flavors they’d try to market to their intergalactic consumer base.