The Working Season Is Here

My summer job is officially over, it has been for a week, and I’m at the point where I’m establishing goals for the next working season of Merunga. I had some fairly lofty goals for the first year, of which I succeeded at five of them, including the most important of not missing an update. Not missing an update is a goal rolling over into this year of Merunga, along with some site tweaks, a shop of some sort, and some tangential story telling.

All this will start to take place after the patio is finished. It’s currently 80% complete and it’s only taken me four months to get there (having now started this project, and finally looking at finishing it up, I would TOTALLY do it again, but at someone else’s house, four months is a long time without a backyard.)  Next on the construction front is a small boat with a small water balloon cannon, and pirate battles on a nearby pond to follow. And of course general household maintenance, child-rearing, possibly some substitute teaching. The kinds of things a beta-male like me thrives on.

As always, thanks for reading, I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am, and feel free to drop me an email, comment, tweet, and/or share as much you like/can.

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It Lives Again!

An unexpected benefit of switching hosting was the resurrection of my previous webcomic, Buster Drake.  Benefit, my be a bit strong, it’s not the worst comic ever made, but it’s certainly not the best either. I can say, I learned quite a bit, while Buster struggled on for a few years, and it’s a concept I revisit occasionally, and will begin to post new pages someday even, once my brother starts inking it for me.

For now, a sneak preview of what might be, someday:

bd_refsheet bd002

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Tomb of Dracula Wasn’t the Only Reason

I finally got my tablet. It’s been a long and difficult wait. Waiting for the money, narrowing down the candidates, working myself up to that final fever-pitch of unbridled desire enabling me to physically go and purchase the tablet, but I did it.

RCA 11.5 Maven Pro, that’s what I got. The final and most determinant factor was that 11 inches, which comes closest in size to a standard American comic book. I don’t like iTunes, so I was never going to buy an iPad, also it’s too small. Ditto for Microsoft’s Slate, which also suffers from Windows 8, an abomination in my mind because I’m an old fuddy-duddy who still misses Windows XP, even though I’ve been using Windows 7 for years now. Plus, price tag, so, Maven it is. Android is also a plus. My first smart-phone was Android, and I’ve missed not having it.

I won’t say that reading comic was the sole reason I wanted a tablet, but it was an easy 98% of the reason I wanted a tablet. I have eight long-boxes mouldering away in my garage, and I like all of the comics in all of those boxes, but I’m just lazy enough that working my way through a stack of comics, un-poly-bagging and re-poly-bagging each individual  is a nightmare. Now everything is an easy CBR read and I couldn’t be happier. Superman, Legion of Superheroes, Silver Surfer, Micronauts, Jack Kirby’s Fourth World, brilliant stuff that I’m finally experiencing again, since I don’t really like any of the books DC is putting out today. (It pains me to no end to say this, but Marvel’s new Surfer book is tops and I love it and I feel like I’m betraying my very soul by reading it.)

A completely unexpected benefit is Marvel Unlimited (damn you DC for sucking at everything.) My Brother and I share the account, and a vast (not all, but VAST) selection of Marvel’s entire comics library is available for reading whenever I want. Silver Surfer (the new one I said was tops and kills me a little each time I read it) was my first stop. Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo’s Fantastic Four was my second, and then casually browsing through all the available content, there was ‘Tomb of Dracula.’

I love Gene Colan, and have fond memories of an old ToD reprint I had as a child. Finding all 70 issues was amazing. If I believed in them, I would have fully expected a heavenly choir to shower sweet music and golden radiance on my head. Which might be odd considering the comic, but still. If I had known before hand that ToD would be a reading option, I would have worked up that fever pitch just a little bit sooner. Maybe not a full month, but definitely a week, maybe even two.

It’s been a week now since I found ToD. I’m limiting myself to five issues a day. It’s the best comic I’ve read, it is from the seventies. Some inkers for sure work amazingly well with Colan, and some are terrible, but right now, it’s everything I want in a comic.

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My Mobile Site is Trash

Which isn’t all I have to say on the subject because I’m not sure how to fix it. The main site is built, and tweaked, but a series of painful experiments through Firefox’s Firebug plugin. Everything I know about website design is thanks to Firebug.

Buuut, does Firebug even work on mobile sites? I can use the emulator in FF to see what my site would look like on smaller screens, and it’s not good. I think it’s because everything has a rigidly set position and isn’t flexible in the least. So how does one make the site responsive to different screen resolutions, but not give up the design that’s taken me months to nail into place?

If anyone out there has the slightest clue, please, PLEASE, don’t keep it to yourself.

And to all those who have found my comic on your mobile device, but can’t read it because the navigation buttons are impossible to get to, I’m so very sorry.

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Merunga: The Movie

Someday when the Merunga movie is made, whether it’s a live action/CGI extravaganza or a white-washed Disney princess powder-puff piece, I’d like to think I’ll have some say in who shows up for work on the first day of shooting.

For Merunga, I’ve always thought of Idina Menzel, not that you could tell. I can’t really draw likenesses, nor have I ever tried very hard, but in person, Idina is who I picture as Merunga. The only thing that would make her a stronger competitor is if she had Jennifer Connelly’s Labryinth era eyebrows. A little bushier, a little wilder, perfect.

For Mouse, I really have no preference. You could slot any bland Hollywood starlet into the role, slap a wig on her and call it good. I’d prefer if she could act, but I don’t think most studios consider that a requirement.

Lupa=Nana Visitor. Of all the Treks, DS9 is my favorite, and Kira was my nerd crush for a lot of years. I recently saw her out of make-up in an episode of Murder She Wrote, and that’s the moment when Lupa’s casting choice crystallized for me.

Ekho is always CG. I think it could be made to work with some awesome puppetry, but I doubt it would happen. CGI is the order of the day. Find a bird with a throat sore and you’re off.

Curo just needs thin an gawky. He wouldn’t have a lot of lines, so like Mouse’s role, really all you need is the visual. Probably someone young and upcoming without the clout to turn down a thankless role. He’ll have to justify it to himself by finding the inner-meaning of the character, which, good luck to him. Just remember, you never go full retard.

The Driver’s, if they’re even in the movie, CGI, like the Harpy. I suspect the Drivers will be replaced by the Villagers for simplicity’s sake. Much like what may or may not happen in the strip, you’ll have to keep reading to find out.

For the villagers, some one young (Haimo,) someone old (Ermo,) someone fat (Aloys,) someone rude (Bogdan,) and someone with a sweet ‘stache (Col.) I’d almost say Sam Elliot for Col, but he’s a little out of the age I’d like. I love Scott Glen in anything, he’s an easy pick for Ermo. Aloys, I like the kid from Stargate Universe (the best of the Stargate TV shows,) David Blue. Give him a slightly receding, thinning hairline (same as Col,) and he’s perfect.

Bogdan and Haimo, rinse and repeat with Mouse’s casting decisions. You can probably make them a little uglier because for whatever reason it’s ok for guys to be ugly and not girls.

When I find someone I’ve got a good feeling for, I’ll update the list. Because it is kind of empty, emptier than I thought it would be. If you have better suggestions, please, don’t hold back, lemme hear what you have to say.

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