Today I think I actually hit a break through with the current projects on the ol’ Udon plate. There’s still a ton to be done, but I think I may have gotten most of it actually scheduled some what and do-able. For a few days earlier this week it was looking absolutely overwhelming. We’ll see if this current optimistic attack schedule holds up.

The only thing heavily buggered up at this point is the Exalted comic schedule. I think everyone who works on the book has suffered some incredible setback in 2006. I had a slate of personal issues crop up early this year. Noi (the penciler) had a killer bout of the flu, Greg (the background artist) mushed his ringfinger (enough so that he lost the fingernail) during a karate demonstration and Roberto (the colorist) is actually going through a difficult divorce. I don’t state these things to elicit pity from people expecting the book, just to note that life throws us all curveballs and that we’re struggling through as best we can. Issue #4 is getting completed and as soon as possible I will show you all sample pages. Thanks for your patience and support.

The latest comic portfolio article is up:

One Step 8: Portfolio Horror

What NOT to do portfolio tips based on real things I’ve seen at conventions. Bad anime, porn, demons and more. Good times.

Hey Gang,

Convention season starts early this year. I think it’s starting earlier each year, actually. Here’s the first few shows I’m confirmed to be attending:

Toronto Comicon Fan Appreciation – April 23rd – Toronto Convention Centre
Toronto Paradise Comicon – April 28-30 – National Trade Center, CNE
Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo – May 7th – Big Four Building

This is my first time back to Calgary since I moved away to Halifax back in 2002. I can’t believe it’s been four years since then. If you worked with me, were taught by me, LARPed with me, hung out with me – it would be nice to see you. I’m going to try and come into town a couple days before the comic show, so ideally there can be some sort of pub get-together kind of thing. I’ll also post a list of comics and RPG books I’ve worked on if you want to bring something by the comic show to be signed. Omar Dogan’s coming along too, so I’ll post a list for him as well. Free Comic Book Day is the day before the show, so we may also be at a comic book store on Saturday for a signing – not sure yet. More info as soon as I know.

E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo – May 9-12 – Los Angeles Convention Center

Heading straight from Calgary to LA with no time to spare, Udon has some meetings set up for the big video game show. I’ve never attended E3 before, so this should be quite the eye opener. I’m hoping to branch out our contacts, do some schmoozing and have some fun. If you’re going to be at E3 or live damn close and love to karaoke, let me know 🙂

Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight.

Gotta kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight.

Good conversation tidbit –

Zub: I wonder if I should go get a snack or not.

Not Me: You must decide.

Zub: Actually, that would be a cool occupation.

Not Me: What would?

Zub: Being a Snackornaut. Like an astronaut, only with snacks.

Zub the media whore as of late… holy moley.

Here’s a video clip from Latest Issue Entertainment at the Udon booth during the New York Comicon.

Interview with some nerd guy.

I had a terrible time sleeping last night. Looks like repetitive typing/mouse motions from Udon work, e-mails and WoW is causing a burning pain to emerge in the middle finger/knuckle of my right hand. I soaked it in ice water last night and am trying to stretch my fingers every so often today as well as avoid massive amounts of typing in hopes that the ouch will pass.

My latest Newsarama article is up:
One Step 7: Around The Portfolio

A couple hours after the article went up I received an e-mail from an editor at a Spanish comic web magazine offering to translate all the One Step articles for their site. I’ll post links if it ends up happening.

I realized something odd.

There are a lot of clichés about women being socially competitive, one-upping each other or playing with guys’ hearts and minds to get what they want. I don’t believe all of that and have seen just as many men warp into manipulative bastards. Hell, I think I’m a manipulative bastard in denial.

But I do believe in Geek Girl clashes.

You see, in quite a few nerd groups there’s one cool Geek Girl. That one girl who can toggle in and out of geekdom, able to dance amongst the geekiness without being smelly, totally fashionably inept or socially incapable. They seem to raise the normal cred of the geek group a bit, giving them a bridge to the regular world.

But, that’s the catch… in each group there’s only one.

When nerd groups intermingle (like at a LARP, convention, housewarming or other gathering) the Geek Girls instinctively go territorial and pull out the claws on each other. First impressions between them are almost always awful. They look for flaws and circle, waiting for an opportunity to strike. They might be polite to each other on the surface, but there’s a cold destruction under their gaze as they see this upstart trying to mingle and corrupt their nerds. One will start the coldness right off the bat and the others’ neck hairs will raise – ready for the impending duel.

Only one.

Maybe the ladies will dress provocatively to get a reaction. Maybe they’ll show up unannounced. Maybe they’ll schedule multiple nerd-based events to ensure exposure to their pack. Maybe Girl A will lecture Girl B on geeky things B already knows just to make her feel inferior. They might compare conventions they’ve attended or geek celebs they’ve hung out with – all while saying it in a “matter of fact” kind of tone. Whatever the method, subtle or combative, it’s a war and to the victor goes the spoils – junk food, RPG sessions, B-Movie nights, hangin’ out on new comic book day and overall adoration.

Even more disturbing is that the men are rarely aware of what’s going on. They may know that Girl A and Girl B seem to be at odds but they’ll chock it up to misunderstanding, miscommunication, bad timing or PMS and just stupidly hope that it goes away over time. They assume that everyone will get along and marinade themselves in the hobbies they mutually enjoy. Most of these nerd men are so happy to have multiple Geek Girls in their life that they’ll blindly overlook everything up to the two girls physically beating each other up. In their world, the only people who are assholes are jerks stressing them out at work or guys who leave Cheetos stains on their trade paperbacks. Geek Girl wars are out of their scope of understanding.

On a related note: If one of the men gets a girlfriend, she must go through the extensive Geek Girl approval process. If she’s a Girly Girl and no threat to the Geek Girl’s special territory, she may be regarded as a bimbo annoyance but allowed to live. If she is too enthralling, too geeky or begins to enjoy her boyfriend’s hobbies too much then she will be marginalized or, if need be, the guy will be carefully exiled from the circle until he breaks up with Nerd Girl Competitor X.

I don’t believe it’s a case of evil. It is nature and social hierarchies. Know this and tremble. 🙂

I’ve posted up some pics of my favorite Udon-created artwork from the new Exalted 2nd edition corebook. Some of the pics are larger and more detailed than their printed versions, so I thought you guys and gals might get a kick out of seeing them:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=254340

The multitudes of weapon and armor pics were shrunk down a bunch to fit them all in, so I may post my favorite equipment pics later on this week as well.