And there you have it, kids. Part 004, “Out of the Closet,” is done. And for those of you who thought the chapter’s title at the start of this whole thing alluded to … something else … well, GOTCHA.

With that, I’m off to San Diego Comic-Con. And remember, I’m taking off next week. So be back here Aug. 5 for the first page of Part 005, “Revelations.” Bring cupcakes.

Man, that Michelle character sure is sneaky.

In theory, we’ll get up through the last page of Part 004 posted this week, and then I’ll be taking next week off to recover from/get caught up after San Diego Comic-Con. And then we’ll be back in August with Part 005, “Revelations.”

In other news, I received cover art for the official first issue of The Utopian print edition from Mark T. Zeilman, and … it’s neato, kids. We hope you like it. But no peeking. Yet.

Oh … also, if anyone wants a Utopian postcard, e-mail me your mailing address, and I’ll send you one totally free of cost.

I am really sorry for the delay. The stuff I talked about on Wednesday is still up in the air and, well, it just took me a little longer to get this stuff going. Plus, I swear, all that dialog takes FOREVER to letter. Man. Is it lunchtime yet?

I figured after the heart-pounding action last week, you kids needed some old-fashioned verbal sparring, courtesy of James and Michelle. Enjoy.

In light of two major events occurring in tandem — San Diego Comic-Con and moving into a new house — there is a 50 percent chance The Utopian will not be updated next week. I’m still hoping to finish up this fourth chapter of the story as scheduled next week (which would make a lot more sense), but we’ll see how things go. Right now, everything is up in the air and though I’m trying to get ahead of the game with this strip (one day ahead right now), I can’t guarantee anything.

On the flipside: WOW. I can’t even believe we’re already coming to the end of what will end up being the first print collection of The Utopian. Today is the three-month anniversary of the web series. That went by quickly, huh? It’s interesting to see how much the strip has developed in even that short span of time, especially visually. As I may or may not have stated when this thing started, I was very out of practice drawing before embarking on bringing this story to life. While visual art was my first talent and passion, I’ve spent the last decade focusing so much on writing, I let that “muscle” entropy. But when you see the first chapter of The Utopian put against the latest, well, it’s obvious the level of suck is generally decreasing.

Thanks so much for sticking around and don’t plan on going anywhere: Things are just getting interesting as we round the corner here.

Hey, it’s those guys from page 011! See, I don’t just create throwaway background characters. Every one of my creations is given life!

OK, maybe not all of them, but I’m trying here!

Also trying to get caught up. San Diego Comic-Con is now only two weeks away, and I really would like to avoid missing a week posting because of it. Surely you would too (I hope). So we’ll see what happens.

Well, you’ve stuck around for three months and 27 pages, so I figure you deserve a little action.

I know dropping one page at a time is killing you, but … the tension is lovely, isn’t it?

News about San Diego Comic-Con coming soon. Pay attention!

If it were not obvious, you’ll want to be back next week for A FIGHT.

I did it again. As I bitched about a few weeks ago, I spent time painstakingly drawing parts of panels (this time, cars — which I hate drawing), and I ended up covering them with word balloons! But I can’t help it. I DO sketch in (roughly) the placement of balloons when I do the layouts, but by the time I get to doing the line work, I kind of forget about the larger picture and get lost in the details.

Ah well. In case you hadn’t noticed, Part 004 started today. I bet you wondering what the title of this chapter implies, huh? Only one was to find out, kids. STAY TUNED.