Zwol.org

And in case you missed it ('cause I know I did), my contribution to Damonk's Panel Jam project appeared yesterday.

According to Google, Zwol is one of the hardest websites to find on the web. Man, that sucks.

I am going to have a new comic soon. I really am. I'm starting to feel like Jeff Smith when he said (paraphrasing), "when I'm done, it won't matter how long it took between each installment. It will only matter that I completed the story and it's as good as it can be."

In the meantime, I'm really enjoying Max Leibman's Desiderata, which is as decent a Zwol-substitute as anything I've seen outside of one of my bigger influences, Chris Baldwin's Bruno. If you mix the two of those, you might get Zwol.

Which segues into mentioning that I ordered book 5 and 6 of Bruno last week and they arrived this week (nice and quick- Thanks, Chris! (ok, I'm certain Mr. Baldwin doesn't know who I am, but I've got to act like everbody's all webcomic buddies out here in cyberspace, right?)) and I must say that they're even more beautiful and of higher quality than I'd expected. As a fairly active supporter of webcomics (square-bound book collections, comic book format reprints, newsletters, direct donations, etc.), I'm sorry I hadn't ordered any Bruno books earlier.

In traditional print comic books this week we see the first issue of Tom Strong's Terrific Tales (no really good links, but this'll do) which features an 8-page story drawn by Art Adams, who is doing some of the best work I've seen him do in years. It would be a pity if DC Comics never released the final three issues of The Authority that he's been working on.

And should the below news postings lead you to believe that I've been completely negligent, I'd like you to know that over the weekend I spent considerable time involved in creative enveavors. Though I am no musician, I have been known to attempt to create music from time to time and over the weekend I managed to work out a couple short tunes. Incomplete, and probably derivative, but something created, nevertheless.

Hey, it could be worse- Ice Cream for Breakfast has been promising new material longer than I have.

What do you think about the Everything Jake solution? When he doesn't have a drawn comic, he posts text. (Personally, I don't think that works for Zwol, so you're highly unlikely to see that approach here.)

David wraps up his three-part RC installment. It's a little late not because of David, but rather because I didn't log in to check email (or anything else) at all this weekend. It's there now. Unless I decide to go see the Harry Potter movie tonight, there could be a new something up there tomorrow by me.

OK, in the USA the third fourth Thursday in November is a national holiday known as Thanksgiving. We're so loud about it that I'm sure most non-Americans reading this are familiar with the name of the day if not the specifics. Even so, you can probably understand my confusion that Mr. President George "Dubya" Bush has declared this year's Thanksgiving Day to be a National Day of Thanksgiving. Huh? That's like declaring that New Year's Day shall signal the beginning of a new year.

Thank God it's Wednesday on a short work week here in the U.S. of A. where we're all thankful that there's a Day of Thanksgiving. Personally I plan to spend the holiday in the traditional fashion, so rather than eating turkey, I'm going to find a Native American (F.K.A. an Indian) to swindle out of some real estate.

No, forget it- I like turkey too much. Last year I didn't get any time off, as I was working in London, England, and had to settle for the sorriest turkey sandwich I'd ever seen (Pret A Manger, I forgive you). This year will be more elaborate, as I visit some friends and maybe even have some stuffing with the white meat and gravy.

Tonight, however, I will drown my sorrows in water and studiously avoid creating the comic that I've been promising for so long. To you, my faithful, uh... however many of you are still left- I'm no longer sure- To you, I apologize and wish it to be known that I'm not dead. I'm just resting my eyes.

God bless, Allah be praised, and don't let Muhammad smack you on the way out.

Alert reader David Holm clears up the confusion I expressed in an earlier news post over George Bush's declaration of Thanksgiving Day as a Day of Thanksgiving. Seems that this is as regular a tradition as the holiday itself. David says:

Ever since George Washington was president, the president has issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring the specific day for that year's National Day of Thanksgiving. The only "duh!" moment here is on your part for attempting to make fun of President Bush for doing what every president before him has done.

This is what happens when I get my information from the internet! On the other hand (fickle as it is), the internet has now seen fit to supply me with this information:

George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, although some were opposed to it. There was discord among the colonies, many feeling the hardships of a few Pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday. And later, President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of having a day of thanksgiving. It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials championing her cause in her Boston Ladies' Magazine, and later, in Godey's Lady's Book. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.

That should clear up everything! Thanks to David Holm for pointing this out in the first place and proving that Grant Morrison was right when he says, "the great thing about the internet is its levelling effect; online all opinions are equally worthless."