Update (5-27-20)

Hello, hello, hello. 

Thanks to those of you who also follow me on Twitter and were able to check in while we were testing the webcam and the livestreaming process. We had some buffering and connection issues (I guess those are pretty much the same thing?), but nothing too horrific. We'll have to see what we can do with our situation, logistics and means to maybe try to improve the operation. I asked Sarah about an ether cable (thanks, Roger) but the house is set up so I'd have to sit in the basement or something heinous like that. She said something about "wireless" and "cable" and I think I sort of understood what's going on. Anyway, I'll be able to schedule the first Patreon-only drawing and jawing session pretty soon. Hopefully we can set things up so I can do it at my drawing table rather than my desk.  

Index Card Art Update: We sent out all the cards going to folks living in the continental U.S. of WTF. Sarah reminded me we actually still  have a mailbox a few blocks from here for plain, stamped mail (most of the neighborhood mail boxes were removed a few years ago). I have two international envelopes going out on my next run to the post office. 

I still need to hear back from four backers who won, and they are: Duncan, Christian Finnegan, Cameron Davis and Mike Fragassi! If you're reading this and want your card, please drop me an e-mail at evandorkin@gmail.com so I can get your address. If you don't want the card, that's cool, if possible drop a line so I can send it to someone else.  Thanks!

Comics Update: The funnybooks are shipping again, which is making a lot of people happy, and that's nice and all. Blackwood #3 shipped to stores this week, fyi, which was a bit of a surprise. I wasn't sure exactly when it was going to appear. Everyone's shop will be operating differently based on location and circumstances, but if they deliver I'd sure try to go that way, myself. The comics ain't going anywhere for a while, and neither am I (I am fortunate that I can hole up most of the time). You probably have books and other comics unread in the house you still need to get to. Shops need taking care of during these miserable times, but so do you. Be careful, be safe, be sure to drink your Ovaltine. 

I don't think I've ever actually had Ovaltine...uh-oh, I feel a tangent coming on..!

CUE TANGENT...

ROLL TANGENT, IN 4...3...2...1 --

GO TANGENT: I grew up on the Fox's U-Bet (Brooklyn Zoo, Brooklyn Jew), and then Nestle's Quik with the rabbit. Then I didn't drink chocolate milk for many years after I moved out because it registered in my brain as an unaffordable luxury beyond my reach, along with orange juice, "good" bread and other items ( longtime House of Fun readers might remember Halby Durzell's Nestle's Quik rant in Pirate Corp$!, now you know where that came from). I would feel anxious about buying something unnecessary, or too "nice". Even in the 90's when we were doing well, I'd skip buying things like that because it was ingrained in me as a kid that such things were "special", to be doled out carefully when bought, when it was bought. There's a strip I've always wanted to do about orange juice, "Orange Juice is Not a Drink", based on a quote from my mother. I still feel anxious and/or guilty buying things these days at the grocery store (and elsewhere), Sarah would always end up saying something like "Why don't you get it?" or "Just get it"  every trip to the store. And I'd usually put it down, or put it back before we checked out. We're not talking about caviar or lobster, here, like, a box of donuts or something like that. 

Another weird way my brain works ("works") is I simply forget I can have these things. That these things even exist anymore. That I'm entitled to have things like that. It's like the item is removed by my internal menu. I was at a birthday party a few years back and the U-Bet made a nice guest appearance and it was like seeing a friend from grade school I'd forgotten about. And my head started clicking as the circuits started re-connecting, and I thought. "Schmuck! You can buy some fucking U-Bet! You're an adult, no one will stop you." 

So I try to have the Fox's U-Bet in the fridge and not be ridiculous about it. It won't break anyone. But I make it last. I do make it last. Now if I can just convince myself to get the Dr. Brown's Cream Soda once in a while, let alone a halfway-decent kishka. Ha ha ha. 

END TANGENT 

Secret Project Update:  Art came in on the first issue and is looking swell. First issue is finished save for some lettering revisions. I'm working on the third issue outline, and the fourth (and final) cover. The artist on the book turned in their variant for issue #1. I think all the variant are assigned. We may be announcing the project fairly soon, here's to hoping.

The Other Thing I'm Writing: I'm writing it! It's being done in segments so I think we're a third of the way through this bit. With possibly more after that. Art's started coming in, so, things are moving along there.

Commissions: Haven't been able to do much on the list the last couple of weeks, but am hoping to get back to them in a few days. Haven't had a chance to do much drawing lately, but I just got new Tombow pens and have white ink pens on order, so, yay for new art supplies. I do need new markers, but the colors are always out of stock. And you can't find them on Satan Island, all we have is Michael's. Oh, wait, I also bought a set of supposedly never-used rapidographs on eBay! Hot dang, that was exciting (and anxiety-inducing)! I've needed to replace my pens for a looong time, four of them have been killed in action and the remaining ones are badly wounded. I traded a Taskmaster commission many years ago for the set, hopefully the new ones are up to snuff and I can letter without clenching my jaw soon. This is thrilling, edge-of-your-seats reading, isn't it?

Anything Else?: Sarah finished up the colors and stuff on a variant cover I finished a few weeks ago. I don't think the project it's for will be announced for some time, but you'll undoubtedly hear about it when it happens. It's way more popular than my own stuff.  

Otherwise, I finally got some new undershirts. And I bought a Manly Wade Wellman book I've been after for years for $10 (ex-lib). It's all very exciting, just like the rapidographs and the Fox's U-Bet.

 Which reminds me, I should eat something.