Sorry Guys...

Monday's comic is going to be late. I tried to get something done, but I'm sick as a dog and it just wasn't happening. Look for it Tuesday evening instead!

Gah!

So, I stayed up late last night finishing up the comic, I pushed the update button then stumbled off to bed, assuming that it would actually update like it was supposed to. Silly me!

Gah!

Well anyways, the comic's up now.

...annnd We're Up to Date.

Sorry 'bout the missing comic Monday. I was on a trip and not being particularly bright I thought I'd be back Monday, when in fact I ended up returning home Tuesday. Anyways, I updated today with both a Monday and Wednesday comic, so don't forget to hit that "Previous" button!

Also, I have a new article up at Cracked (I'm starting to come off as a communist or something with all these economic themed ones).

You Never Write Anymore...

Hey there, it's been a while! Sorry the comics have been a bit late recently...I'm still getting back on schedule after going on vacation a week or two ago.

Oh and I also have a new article up at Cracked. It's a sequel to my first article...prepare to get creeped out.

I'm going to dry and write something more interesting in this space soon...

New Profiles: Ernest and Chomps!

Sorry today's comic was late! Had a few computer issues...to make up for it, it's the return of the profiles. Unbelievably looking back it's been around 10 months since I put up a new profile. Yikes. I'm just not cut out for this blogging stuff...it's just too easy to neglect. But anyways, let's get back on the ol' horse...

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Name: Ernest P. Ape

Species: Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Astrological Sign: Virgo

What the "P" Stands For: Pembroke

Host of the “Mating Calls” radio show, Ernest specializes in giving spectacularly bad dating advice to his callers. It’s not entirely clear whether he does this because he enjoys messing with the callers or if he just doesn’t know what he’s talking about…it’s probably a combination of both. We do know old Ernest isn’t quite a smooth as he’d like people to think and may in fact be a bit of a momma’s boy. Another mystery is who exactly listens to his show, although we do know that Shandy, Angsty and one of the zoo’s human zookeepers have called in. Ernest can be rather obnoxious, but ultimately he’s a good guy.

Name: Detective Chomps

Species: Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)

Astrological Sign: Cancer

What he's Looking For in a Woman: Thick hide, nice smile and excellent death rolling ability

With the zoo police, Chomps is the lead detective for the missing animals department (most of which happen to be vanishing down Chomps’ own gullet). Chomps isn’t necessarily evil…he’s just doing what comes naturally to his kind, and he’s also one snappy dresser. The hunter has also been the hunted as Edgar McCoy, Master Hunter has targeted him on more than one occasion.

Apologies, my Favourite Comic Strips and Future Plans.

Sorry about Monday's comic being a bit late...the Comicgenesis system seems to be backing up on a fairly frequent basis these days. Afraid there's not much I can do about it aside from stomping my feet and fussing on the Comicgen forums...and all that usually gets me is being told, "Hey, shut up! It's free!" and really, I can't argue with that logic.

Anyways, a few days ago I promised I'd actually update with something semi-interesting soon, and so I shall (a week or two late). Ever wondered what comic strips the creator of Zoology reads himself? No? Come on...play along. Yes? Well great, because I'm about to tell you! Strap yourself in...

The Noob: Written by official "pal of Zoology" Gianna Masetti! In fact a lot of you reading may have found your way to this site through the generous links to Zoology Gianna has provided on her site. Although it deals heavily with the ins-and-outs of the online gaming world, you don't really have to know all that stuff to enjoy this comic. It's got a sort of intangible European comics style charm going...which is appropriate since Gianna happens to be from that continent.

Elf Only Inn: Written by another official "pal of Zoology" and all-round cool guy Josh Sortelli. It also, like the Noob, happens to revolve around online RPGs...apparently there is some kind of overlap between MMORPGs and lovers of fuzzy animals. Anyways, he doesn't update anymore, which is a shame because he's a talented cartoonist.

Achewood: Achewood is...well, Achewood is Achewood. It exists in a completely unique universe created by madman Chris Onstad. It takes a while to get used to, but once you understand the twisted internal logic this strip runs on it should start to click. Give it a chance (like Achewood really needs my help).

The Perry Bible Fellowship: There tends to be a lot of chest beating in the webcomic community...both amongst those that make 'em and those that closely follow/read them. Webcomics are far better in ever way than those stodgy old boring print comics. Problem is, it isn't often that it's actually true. Perry Bible Fellowship on the other hand I can point to as a comic that is both genuinely superior to almost anything else out there on the web or in print, but is probably something that would have never succeeded the way it has without the Internet. So yes, in the case of The Perry Bible Fellowship the webcomic community's hubris is justified.

PVP: In this case though, the snobbishness of the Webcomic community isn't justified. Webcomic fans love to shit on poor ol' PVP mainly I think because it reads very much like something you could get in your paper (except with more dick jokes). That enough is apparently enough to get some people to turn their noses up in disgust, ignoring that it's actually a rock solid, funny comic whose cast is always very consistently characterized. All in all it's a nice well-done nod to the newspaper comics that were the forbearers of today's webcomics.

White Ninja Comics: This comic is basically all the ideas other cartoonists have when they're sitting around but then dismiss because they're just too stupid. White Ninja instead runs with these hilarious/idiotic ideas and somehow it all works amazingly. All the other cartoonists are jealous as hell.

Wapsi Square: A truly unique creation that revolves around demons, ancient Aztec mysticism and lots and lots of cute girls. I'll admit I mostly read it for the art. Paul Taylor does some of the best girl art around...it's very highly stylized and yet somehow his girls seem more alive and true to life than most more realistic art.

Nedroid: A master of doing more with less. His jokes are usually wonderfully simple and understated, yet hilarious. His art is reduced to as few lines as possible, but it's still amazingly expressive. I want this guy's talent.

Liberty Meadows: Hot chicks and funny animals...it's my 2 favourite things to draw and it's Frank Cho's too.

Zits: A funny well-drawn newspaper strip. It really does capture teenage life pretty well...although it is held back somewhat by the content restrictions of syndicated newspaper comics.

Slylock Fox and Comics for Kids: What? Why are you looking at me like that? I've always enjoyed this feature since I was a kid and I still like it. It's filled with funny little bits of subversive humor, as is the case with any good children's entertainment. In our world of Teletubbies and Barney it's nice to see some decent quality children's entertainment is still being produced.

Pooch Cafe: Really sharp and somewhat edgy writing that would be at home on a show like the Simpsons. The spiritual successor to Snoopy.

Blondie: This old standby has been going almost 80 years and it's still one of the best comics in the paper. Yeah that's right, I like Blondie...whatcha got to say about that? The addition of John Marshall as new artist seems to have livened things up as well as it's been particularly good as of late. Oh, and that Blondie is still a fox for a woman who should be over 100 by now.

Overboard: Terrible art, but nonetheless somehow charming strip about Pirates.

Herman: Greatest comic of all time. That's all there needs to be said.

*Phew*...this went longer than I thought it would! Anyways, I'm sure I've missed something, but I hit most of the major bases. So folks, now that you know what I read, what do you read (aside from this fine strip of course)?

Oh and I'll probably be adding a new writing section to the site fairly soon...I'll collect together links to various freelance pieces I've done around the Internet in one place and probably add some original stuff as well. Hopefully the Zoology site can become a central place to find all my various projects in the future.

Hey, wheresa my Monday comic?

Sorry guys, Comicgenesis is experiencing turbulence again so I couldn't post Monday's comic properly. As always when Comicgen is having problems you can access the latest Zoology comics Here.

Also I realize I have kind of fallen off the blogging wagon over the past month. I was too preoccupied over the holidays to write anything here and I guess I just got out of practice. I'll be updating more often starting now though as I'm looking to whip things into shape around here over the coming months.

Oh, and I got a number of shirts delivered from the fabulous Zoology Shop recently and they're really nice. The printing quality is very sharp and the shirts are nice quality. Order a shirt and spread the word of Zoology on your heaving chest and/or bosom. It should be noted though that the sizes for the shirts are quite generous so when in doubt about what size to get, go for the smaller size rather than the larger.

That's all for now...I'll post something more interesting over the next few days.

Whoops, sorry for the lateness...with some Christmassy ramblings!

Sorry about Wednesday's comic being a bit late...totally my fault. I entered the wrong date for the comic so it wouldn't update (apparently there's no 13th month, who knew?)

Anyways, that Christmas spirit is in the air ain't it? Traditionally I've done a big storyline leading up to Christmas that climaxes somewhere around the day itself...didn't happen this year though. The holiday season just came up on us too fast and I didn't have anything formed in my ahead aside from the Rose storyline (and I thought that one was a bit too sad to use for the the big Christmas storyline). So instead it's short mini-storylines and one-off comics for a while...probably no extended storylines until the New Year.

Oh and hey, the zookeepers are back after not being around for a while. Sometimes it's nice to be able to draw some humans instead of all those darn animals.

Happy Birthday to Me (and Sorry for the Lateness).

Sorry about Wednesday's comic being a bit late, but it was my birthday and it's kind of hard to say "opening presents and eating cake is going to have to wait...cartoon sheep need shading!".

In case you're wondering I'm 26, which means I'm now closer to 30 and 20...in other words I'm an old man. On the upside at least being a senior citizen now means I get a discount at the movies.

In birthday related news that ties in with the comic, I got me a Wacom tablet as a gift. I've been wanting one of these for a while, if only so I can say I have one. You can't be a webcomic artist these days and not have a Wacom tablet. It's nothing too fancy, just a medium-sized Bamboo Fun (I realize that sounds like a toy you'd give a preschooler, but the Bamboo tablets are actually a replacement/continuation/improvement of the Graphire line).

^ I realize the above paragraph will make absolutely no sense to most of you with the exception of a small handful of my readers who also draw comics. To put it simply I got me a new toy that lets me draw on the computer without a mouse.

I've been playing around with the tablet quite a bit (and shaded today's comic with it). Maybe I'll post some sketches I did with it tomorrow or something, but for now I have to go to bed. Us old folks can't be staying up all night.

Ever so sorry...

Sorry about the lateness of Monday's strip...when you combine my pickiness (I actually scrapped and redrew a panel which I rarely do) and Comicgenesis glitches and you get a comic that's a few hours late.

Hope folks are enjoying the Halloween storyline so far. It's kind of atypical for a Zoology storyline, but hey...maybe I'll become a destination for goths with all the darkness and death.

Apologies and Bonus Ramblings!

Sorry Wednesday's comic was a bit late...there was a bit of an ink related disaster and a couple panels had to be redrawn. My most humble apologies!

So anyways, as you may notice I'm kicking off a month-long Halloween themed storyline. I've resisted doing anything like this before because quite frankly I think Halloween has become overblown in recent years. Yeah sure, I loved hauling 30 pounds of candy home in a sack when I was a kid, but even then I was under no false impression that Halloween was an important holiday...it was the day where I put on a mask and begged strangers for candy, nothing worth making a huge deal of. Apparently the opinion on Halloween has changed amongst a good slice of society because the amount of Halloween junk they try to push on you these days is rivaled only by Christmas it seems. Talk of Halloween starts almost as soon as October begins (or even earlier) and of course the "Lol...tradition is uncool man" crowd the proliferates on the Internet love it precisely because it's so meaningless and are in the process of beating it to death like they have pirates, zombies, pictures of cats or whatever thing we're supposed to be enjoying ironically at the moment.

And uh...now I guess I'm on the Halloween bandwagon too. Seriously though, I think it's going to be a really good story, so I thought I'd stop being curmudgeon about the Halloween thing and just go for it.

Oh, and the story also marks the return of lil' Baker! I grew up in an era where those in charge of making cartoons were so creatively bankrupt that the only idea they had for new shows was to take an established cast of characters and make them kids or babies...and thus Saturday mornings were packed with shows like "A Pup Named Scooby Doo", "Muppet Babies" and "Tiny Toons". So to me it just seems natural...if you create a cartoon character you have to someday do a kid/baby version of them. There's simply no way around it. While we're on the subject, how adorable would baby Shandy be? Very adorable I think...I need to do a baby Shandy storyline.

Anyways, that's enough rambling for one day. I wouldn't want to spoil you.