And so ends part 008, “Rebirth.” Next up? Part 009, “Gifts.” It’s going to be awesome. Things will happen you never expected to happen. And our page featuring guest appearances from fans and pals from across the internet will appear. So much good stuff. All kicking off next week. So be back here on Feb. 3 for the next chapter in the life of James Douglas.

Fists high!

Maybe I should name every strip after a Cure song?

Maybe not.

Anyway, welcome back. I did finally get in the first print run of The Utopian #2. Turns out that the printer HAD printed them as scheduled, but the box of comics disappeared from their warehouse mysteriously. So they reprinted the batch and got ‘em out to me right away. So if you pre-ordered a signed copy, it’s on it’s way to you RIGHT NOW. And if you didn’t, well, go buy a copy now so you can relive the excitement of parts 5 and 6 on the toilet. Heck, if you live in Las Vegas, you can just boot-scoot over to Alternate Reality and save yourself the shipping charges.

Next week’s episode wraps up the seemingly never-ending part 8, and then we’ll be right back the following week with a new chapter (no hiatus, yay!), “Gifts.” It’s going to be a complete change in direction for The Utopian, and brother, I mean it! You will be tickled pink at the strange new adventures awaiting your favorite non-emo, non-superhero! Stay tuned.

Fists high!

And we’re back. On track. Mostly. I’m about a few days ahead again, after really pushing myself to get a lot yesterday. I knocked out the inks, flats and shades for this page in a few hours last night, as well as doing two pages of ridiculously detailed pencils for the next issue of Omega Comics Presents and recording some music with my band. So it was a good day, as my friend Ice Cube will agree.

Oh. And allegedly, today is the day issue two of The Utopian print series comes out. I say “allegedly” because it’s now Monday and the books haven’t even shipped yet from the printer. Unless their online system is just inaccurate. Guess I’ll know by the time this goes live. I hope.

Holy crap. Kids, unless I am reading the time display on my iMac wrong, it is 8:41 p.m. — that means it is still Wednesday in most parts of the continental United States … and that means THIS COMIC IS POSTED ON WEDNESDAY AS SCHEDULED. I somehow defied my delay due to illness and managed to lay out, script, ink and color this strip in about three hours last night, and then finished the shading and lettering today. And though I personally feel it looks a bit rushed, I’m happy with the outcome. It got just the right punch I suppose.

Anyway, in case you haven’t pre-ordered your autographed copy of The Utopian #2 yet, this is absolutely your last week to do so. It’s shipping next week and I’m converting sales over to direct from the printer, so … get on it, if you haven’t yet. There are beautiful covers by Hernan Valencia and the dynamic duo of me + Steve Downer, so — DUH!

If you can’t find The Utopian print comic in your local shop but think it should be there, please contact me directly or ask your local comic shop owner nicely to contact me, because I’m having some issues with our current distributor, Haven, who’s taking a little more time than expected to get Pop! Goes the Icon products into their wholesale catalog.

And thanks. Happy New Year!

Well, kids, here’s your last strip of the year. Hope it holds you over until 2010. I’m heading to Santa Barbara for a few days, so try not to litter the comments with vulgarities and pornography.

When I get back, hopefully I’ll be able to get the strip out on time. But I’m still a bit behind and this little jaunt — while much needed — won’t help change that. But we’ll see.

In the meantime, be safe when you’re out there partying like wild animals tomorrow night. I can’t afford to lose any readers!

Oh, and you may want to swing by the Utopian web store this week. It’s the last week you can order the autographed copy of issue two, and I also have a new addition to the store — that sweet mini-poster by Hernan Valencia that was previously only available at the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival. It’s only $2. TWO BUCKS. Geez, I am too good to you kids.

Excelsior!

So I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is, RIGHT NOW you can not only pre-order the second print issue of The Utopian, featuring all sorts of never-before-seen stuff and my autograph, but you can also pre-order the first issue of Omega Comics Presents, which features stuff you CAN’T SEE ANYWHERE ELSE, including the start of an epic action serial written and drawn by ME.

The bad news is, starting today, The Utopian webcomic will only be updated once a week, on Wednesdays.

It was inevitable. As my publishing and editing duties increase, my time to write, draw, color and letter two full pages a week wanes. So I am faced with two options: Put The Utopian on hiatus AGAIN to get caught up, or keep the momentum of the storyline going but cut back to just one page a week. So there you go.

Hope you’re enjoying the ride, and I hope all of you have a fabulous holiday, whether or not you celebrate that tree-lights-gifts thing. See you next week!

It would be obvious to say “big changes afoot,” so just come back here in five days and let’s do this thing.

WORD.

I was kind of afraid all the copy I wrote for this page wouldn’t fit. But it did.

I’m still not caught up from ParentVisit 2009, but I’m not quite behind. Been splitting my attention between this, finishing assembling Omega Comics Presents, and practically starving myself. But it’s all good.

OH. I sent off the order for the first print run of The Utopian #2 this week. So if you want to get a copy, um, please go ahead and order one. I’ll sign it however you’d like. Thanks.

So for anyone with a set of eyes sharper than mine (not tough — my vision’s pretty bad), you may notice something a little different about the line style in today’s installment. That’s because I tried an experiment to speed things along. Usually I do this comic in a particular order: Rough pencil or pen sketch, scan, then digital inks and colors with the Wacom tablet in Photoshop. But I’ve been thinking about trying it the other way around — digital pencils and then real pen ink over it (before scanning back into Photoshop for coloring and effects). And it actually didn’t go too badly. I picked up some decent brush pens at Blick a while back, and they gave me a decent amount of control, and definitely sped up the process (I think it only took me half an hour to ink this page, sitting comfortably on the couch instead of rigidly at my desk). But when I scanned the art, I did it as a bitmap. Now, that’s the prescribed method for scanning line art, especially if you’re doing it over non-photo blue layouts (as I was). But maybe some setting was off, because it seems like the contrast was way too high, and the lines came out a bit blotchier than I expected.

Or maybe my line work just sucked.

Either way, I don’t think it turned out too badly, and it let me loosen up a bit too. I’ll probably continue to experiment, as I’m also working on writing and drawing two other creator-owned projects right now (the first of which is in the fine Omega Comics Presents anthology you should be pre-ordering RIGHT NOW), and need to shake things up every now and then, lest I burn out completely.

So yeah. See you next week.

Well, folks, we’re back. Just barely. Between the parents’ two-week visit and a plethora of other projects — including the mad dash to finish the first issue of Omega Comics Presents — The Utopian barely returned on time. But here we are anyway!

And I have brought you good news! The deluxe cover for The Utopian #2 has arrived, and in usual Hernan Valencia form, it’s completely badass:

Yep. If you want to see it in all its glory, you need to BUY THE COMIC. Why should you? Because, um, it features never-before-seen material such as a new splash page, letter column, sketches and other stuff. And that cover! All for only $5.

Or if you’re a cheapskate, you could buy the standard edition, which features an almost-equally-rad cover by me and Steve Downer, and it’s only $3:

So there ya go. See you on Friday!