AARRRRRRGGGGHHHH

My secret plan is exposed and the contest is forfeit. All this time, the charade was to put fan pressure on Zander. Every pencil stroke, every blotch of ink of The Invention of the Microscope, willing with my hands and brushes and pens to force Replacement God into the light .... for naught.

Well, not completely. Zander attached this photo as a concession to his giveupian e-mail.

Words as follows:

I wish I could, but it's going to have to
wait.

So this is it. My concession email. You have won, even without
winning. You skunked me.

As proof, I send you a picture of me with a funny hat making a TIE
fighter and the Enterprise-D fight.

I salute you.

Z

Strikingly, Zander's face in this photo is exactly equivalent to the mouth-noises I make while drawing the space-ships of ENL.

Comiclusion ... comicluded. Til next time, dear readers!

Maxeem out.

Chapter IV of Book 2 is DONE!

Technically, I am not sure if it counts since I haven't actually printed anything after issue 6. Zander has all his books printed. And pretty. So as far as printing goes I am not there. But damn the deprecation! I have 49 new ready-to-print pages shrunken down to convenient web format.

Here is the hype.



I won't say "neener neener" yet, but I think Zander is pretending he didn't accept my awesome challenge right now ... nu? Nu?

Trouble is, I am still that one, precious, full-book conclusion away from having this in the bag. By "this" I mean Zander's soul. In a bag. It can't get out because the bag is lined with tin foil. If you don't believe that's how the universe works, just read my latest issue and I think you'll change your mind.

In fact, I know you will.

Plodding along ...

Half way through Chapter IV, and rethinking all of Chapter V... Will Z suddenly appear while I am struggling through the comiclusion?

Chapter III Completed! (pant pant)

Alright, I am not sure how much I am going to get done in the next couple months, but it seems there are 2 books left:

CHAPTER IV - almost resolved to 50 pages penciled and lettered - almost no inks.
CHAPTER V - no pencils, questionable thumbs, needs re-writing - over 150 pages

At present rates, I *should* be done with the BIG FINALE by 2012! It's a good thing I got a bit of a head start ... resolving the last issue is going to be some work.

Maxeem surges ahead

To coincide with Obama's nasty proposal to create more war while accepting the Nobel "peace" prize, I have nigh doubled my efforts to create my anti-war comic. Sure, it's an anti-war comic ... among other genres.



Okay, completion of Chapter III probably due just after X-mas.

When Zander joins the race in 2010, he will probably be pitting his comic against Chapter IV, leaving only one - albeit one massive - chapter for me to finish after that. And I might be too busy on "The Civil Four" to work on ENL ... put perhaps I reveal my weaknesses to Z too easily ...

Ex Novo - the Event Horizon

The end of Ex Novo Libris is a dark dark black hole from which no light returneth, and I can already feel myself being drawn within ... for Science!

When I emerge the other side, whether glorious or shamed, know that I began the journey prepared for victory ...

EQUIPMENT

Item 1.



... CHECK. How appropriate that "Poop-Monkey #3" (from Ex Novo Libris book 1) and "Invention of the Microscope #3" (from Ex Novo Libris book 2) would both have crucial notes developed within the Pentalic Utility Sketchbook, an ode to which I wrote here. It is a magic book.


Item 2.



... CHECK. Canonical essentials are added to THE YELLOW FOLDER. This folder has been with me for almost 10 years, and one day it will be in a small, dimly lit corner of a Space Museum about the downfall of the human race.


Item 3.



... CHECK. No issue is completed without extensively ignored thumbnails.


Item 4.



... CHECK. One bag-o-pages. This presently contains all my working comic projects, including Capitol, The Civil Four and some miscellany. I usually do many things on a single sheet, sometimes even two pages. I know this is not a healthy way to archive, but what can I say? I don't believe in waste.


Item(s) 5-18 (DESK OF ESSENTIAL TOOLS)



... CHECK. Even when I fail to spell things correctly, the spirit of the dictionary is in my writing ... and that's all that matters.

MAXEEM INITIATES THE CHALLENGE

I know - I know - it's not a good start to break my "2 pages of finished inks per day" record just to cram some logic into a completely illogical story ... but, I would be kidding myself if I dropped the narrative ball here. Looks like Zander gets to bide his time while I sort out the mess in the yellow folder.