Surviving Mars

Comic 11

2005-07-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

I could say something about this comic but- nah.

Was in a weird mood, let's leave it at that ;)

Or Something

2005-07-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

So Ryan North e-mailed me tonight. Honestly, I was suprised he really wanted to know what my problem was. I thought I'd made myself pretty clear before, but whatever. He's a big boy, I think he can take it.

It would be kind of fun if we started some kind of Penny Arcade, Scott Kurtzish rivalry, where we do a little back and forth every now and again, but... naw. I've got better things to do, and Ryan probably does too.

To his fans who are genuinely upset about my rant- get over it. Maybe what I said WAS a little harsh, hell, it was MEANT to be. But ya know what? Ryan still won the award. Nothing I say changes that. So I rained on your parade a little, in the end, the guy you wanted to win still won.

Comic 10

2005-07-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

Fashion trends come and go. There was a time when wearing short pants in hot weather was considered silly. In this time period, shorts are fine for casual wear but an officer who ends up wearing them will get razzed for it.

Ox won't be a main character or anything, but I want to bring him back from time to time. I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions about his "Special Officer" shirt.

Vending machines are pretty well everywhere on the station. Technology has advanced enough that the machines can produce the food rather than simply store it, so the coffee is always fresh and the donuts are always golden brown ;)

A man can dream, can't he?

Give me a God damn break, people

2005-07-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

*I'm repeating this everywhere I can, because it needs to be said*

http://www.ccawards.com/2005.htm
I'm fine with every other Web Cartoonists Choice Award, except Dinosaur Comics winning best anthromorphic comic, which, quite frankly, just pisses me off.

You'll see why http://www.qwantz.com/

A comic that is nothing but the SAME IMAGE REPEATED EVERY DAMN STRIP with badly typed dialogue beat every other anthromorphic strip on the internet?! The general populace of web cartoonist think this guy deserved an AWARD for doing not even a TENTH of the work very other anthro cartoonist does? For putting in not even the same REMOTE amount of effort? I didn't want to believe there was some kind of furry comic/artist prejudice with these awards... but what the hell else should I believe?

Everyone who voted for Dinosaur Comics should be ashamed of themselves. I don't blame Ryan North, because the dude's just doing what he feels like, making this comic as it is, and that's not hurting anyone. But rewarding him, putting him above other artists who are so inarguably BETTER than he is... that is ridiculous.

Amber M. Panyko, Ursula Vernon, those are people who deserved that award, if only because of the quality and EFFORT they always put into their work. Ryan North's work may bring people a quick chuckle... but giving him this award is an insult to everyone who draws anthromorphic comics.

Comic 9

2005-07-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

At this point, if I had any readers yet, they might be asking what the deal is with all the people who resemble lobsters. Rest assured, I might tell them, the way they look is not random and will be explained in time. Then, they might send me a nice, fat check in the mail, and I could eat for another day.

It’s nice to day dream, isn’t it?

Yup, the badge is essentially a hologram projector with the officer’s stats made visible for those who ask to see them. A gun that could identity a user by their DNA or finger prints may very well already be possible, but would be expensive as hell I’m sure. I imagine in 2 centuries, the technology that would make such a function possible will be refined enough for mass production.

Comic 8

2005-07-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

Convenient how everyone ends up knowing eachother, isn't it? ;)

You'll see how the badges work in the next strip.

Brandon's comment about doors comes from my own experiences with doorways- if you're over 6 feet tall, you're pretty cursed to bang your head on a pretty consistent basis. That or learn to duck, whichever works for ya ;P Being tall has its upside, but it has a lot of cons. You almost never fit into the backseat of any car, good luck buying pants with the right size pantleg, and buying coats and shoes at the right size is like trying to catch a fricking unicorn.

Comic 7, Sounds kind of like 11

2005-07-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t had a boss like this yet- you will.

You have been forewarned.

Comic #6

2005-07-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

What can I say here, besides that it’s setting up a precedent ;)

#5

2005-06-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I watched Star Trek: The Movie for the first time in several years. Upon seeing the scene where the science officer dies during the transporter malfunction, I find myself asking "If that can potentially happen, even ONCE, why would anyone ever WANT to be teleported?" Sure, it has the same logic as flying- statsitically it's safer than driving. But who really wants to die in a cloud of molecules? With teleportation technology becoming a reality, I find myself asking a lot of questions about it. Could a living thing really be teleported? Could someone's MIND be teleported with them? And hell, who doesn't remember what happened in The Fly?

#4

2005-06-27T16:18:00.000-07:00

I don't really know if this is a direction cigarettes could go or not, it just seemed like an amusing idea- smoking nothing but nicotine without the carcinogens.

The first two main characters of the strip have met, and there will be more to come shortly.

Comico Tres

2005-06-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

Man, I love drawing shots like this. I’ve always been something of a science fiction buff- I’m really not a dire heard fan of any particular series, I just love the concept of space travel and all it entails. In case anyone was wondering, yes- man has created a space vessel able to travel to- say- Mars, in less than a day. And just to get it out there, no, in the comic faster than light travel has not yet been achieved by mankind. The being sitting in the background of panel two isn’t an alien per se- he’s actually a human being. We’ll be dealing with that matter later on in the series, so I don’t want to spoil it just yet.

A familiar theme in this strip is certainly going to be "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Comic #2

2005-06-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

In Ares-1, the majority of buildings are long columns, most of the same length. The lighting in the station at this point is dim, given the early hour.

Given the detail I've given her, you've probably guessed Alessia is a main character ;)

The alarm clock gag was one I wasn't sure about. At first I thought it was too complicated or was spelling the concept out too much. But then I said "screw it" and ran with it anyway. I don't think there's a person alive who actually LIKES alarm clocks, yet everyone has one, and it's so desireable to have the best one on the market, that plays CDs and has 3 built in alarms and a back up battery- yet we all hate waking up in the morning. Go figure.

The First Comic

2005-06-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are, the first comic of a new series. I can't promise much, aside from what I feel will be both an exciting and humorous story.

In this strip, I've laid the ground for what the setting of the strip will be- Mars, more specifically, Ares-1. A station like this may very well be possible to construct today, but probably not on the same scale. That's assuming we ever actually send human beings to Mars.

In the last panel is a theme that's going to be very familiar in this strip- silly crap I figure we'll have in the future. ;) Such as, talking vending machines with television screens on them. Why do I think we'll have that? Well, it's silly, vapid, and would probably sell a lot of candy, so there ya go.

The Blog Begins

2005-06-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

Surviving Mars is a webcomic that will debut on June 20th. I'll be using this blog for announcements or just general ranting on my part. Laters.