Remember I mentioned trying to fit in some reference to Jim cleaning out that house? Well, today’s comic Issue 173 was it. Well, to a degree. This comic is one of those true-slice-of-our-lives strips. When Jim was cleaning out that house, the woman’s pantry was filled with daddy long legs. In his own words: “I didn’t know they could get so big!” Most of our kids hate bugs and totally freak at the sight. That is, except Paige. She’s Paige the fearless, and will stomp bugs, go into a dark room alone to turn on the light, and a myriad of other “brave” things. It’s a bit comical to see our 12 year old run into room to grab Paige so she can squish a bug somewhere else in the house. I have to admit, even though I have to roll my eyes at my older ones being such “babies”, it’s quite hysterical to see this little 4-year old go to town on a bug. Paige (effectionatly called Ram-Paige at times because of her ability to trash a clean room in 10 second)–the courageous vanquisher of spiders and all things ick!

The comic (Issue 172) was late because Jim spent all of yesterday cleaning the house of a dead woman so her family can sell it.  Yes, I know that sounds pretty crazy, but it’s true.  We’re just trying to find a way to work it in the comic.

Oh, and between the time we last posted a comic, my computer has been hit with a worm, which required a frantic backup and export of the data and speedy reformat of the hard drive.  I am working at half mast not having any of my stuff!  Oh…and I lost all my favorites.  Then, just today, I ended up infected with Antivirus XP 2008!  Thankfully, some good malware software cleaned me up.  *sigh*  Truly, my computer jinx is still around.  Trying to think of ways to write that into the comic too!

Either way, today’s comic was totally Jim’s show.  We just got off of the Rasterman storyline and we decided we need a few stand-alone “filler” strips to kinda space things out before jumping into the next plotline.  Since we left off with Harry at the office, I wanted to do a trouble ticket strip.  Jim came up with this idea, and after a bit of hashing out, we came up with this.  In fact, we came up with 2 jokes, and will be doing the other one in the future. 

Barring any major emergencies–and you never know with us–Friday should be up on time.

Oh, and just to be clever, three points to the first one who comments here in the blog with the correct answer to the question posed in the strip.

Today’s issue is Number 171. But in actuality, this is issue number 1. This is the very first Bitmap World comic we did…ever. After the “throwing around ideas” stage, and we had settled on actual characters, storylines, and whatnot, we put together this prototype strip. In fact, had you visited our site in the months before we officially went live, you would have seen this sole comic up on the site. Our site was very much like it is now: the pseudo computer with the framed comic within and the navigation buttons on the “keys.” Though, back then, there were much fewer links on the keys.

Of course, you will also recognize this strip as one of the templates in our Build-Your-Own-Comic maker. But, be assured, this strip was not made using this utility. It was done months before we even dreamed of the BYOC.  It truly is neat to have this stand-alone comic done so long ago slipped into the regular continuity, rather seemlessly. Though, if you do look closely, this strip has been altered slightly from the prototype (this alteration was done recently since we have certain style aspects to the comic now we didn’t in the beginning). 5 points in the forum if you can see the differences.

We always planned to have Rasterman come on the scene a bit into the strip, but I don’t think Jim or I ever planned that it would be nearly a year and a half and 170 issues in. The strip, the characters, and the story really have taken on a life of their own, and have gone in so many directions we didn’t plan.  But it’s been so much fun, and ultimately it’s worked out that we’ve been (up to this point) been able to add the elements we’ve wanted to.  It’s funny because many of the stories we did plot out in the beginning are still yet to be told.  In fact, Jim and I were just hashing out a few things and realized a couple of the storylines probably won’t come up until year 3 or 4!  How’s that for planning ahead. And we have new ideas popping up every day, so who knows where that will take us. That said, I guess it would be hard for you all to believe we actually struggle with writer’s block on occasion and pull our hair out to get one strip up.  That’s because it’s not the pictures that give us fits but getting the words just right.  While this “little comic” may not be Pulitzer Prize material, we still taking it seriously and don’t want to shell out just anything.

Anyhow, thanks for making Bitmapworld part of your weekly routine. Here’s to strip 200 on the near horizon, and to many more after that.

Poor Verde. He always has to help the Mayor out, which is difficult because the Mayor’s so stupid. I’ll bet he has to tie the Mayor’s shoes in the morning. His job is basically the same as what Alfred’s job would be if Batman was an idiot.

First of all, thank you to everyone who sent well-wishes this past week. I had a couple of scary days there–almost considered going to the E.R. But I’m fine now and that’s all that matters. Thanks for being understanding and such loyal fans. You guys rock!

I have wanted to write a bit more detailed comment about some of the strips, but life has been kinda crazy. I figured the Booyah would be a good time, so I’m going to backtrack a bit.

Issue 158 - The orange joke was totally inspired by the art. Those oranges are some Japanese pixel art which I used for the strip. When I saw it, the gag immediately jumped into my mind. It is SOOOO appropriate for the Mayor.

Issue 159 - I am a little bummed the second float was blurred. I had done some great “celebrity” smilies for it and they are obscure. 5 points in the forums if anyone can guess who it is! I do hope to feature them in another strip down the line. Also in 159, I love the line “Hey, Mac.” Double play on words there.

Issue 160 - I am really proud how this strip turned out. Not a word spoken, but everything is said loud and clear. I really wanted to do the last panel justice, and I went over a lot of ideas on how to depict it. The long-shot shadow definitely worked best, and I love how it turned out.

Issue 161 - I already commented on this one in an earlier blog, but I did want to note Jim’s favorite line is the cop chiding his partner about wanting to shoot the volcano.

Issue 162 - I think it is so funny, and convenient, how there is always a reporter in the crowd anytime something exciting happens in a movie or on t.v. I thought it would be great to have something happen and there NOT be a journalist around.

Issue 163 - Rasterman was not our first choice for the superhero name, but it was in the top 3. I totally wanted to do the spotlight shot for the second panel, and made sure to use a snazzy comic font for the wording. I just crack up when I see the paperboy ready to bean the superhero to keep him from flying away.

Issue 165 - We debated how we were going to have Blip get a newspaper in this strip. We thought of having the paperboy deliver it, but that would have distracted from the story. We toyed with him just having the paper on his front step. Eventually, I went with the idea of him going out at the crack of dawn to get one. I wanted to do a news-stand, and went searching for pictures for inspiration. The stand I did was replicated from this picture. The Times New Roman is a great name for a newspaper and I’m psyched to have come up with it!

Issue 166 - Designing a new set is always stressful for me. I really try to get something that will reflect the characters. Since this is the first time we see Blip’s wife, I wanted it to be extra special. Originally I was going to go with a different look, but once I got the retro-modern blue theme going, it fit the best and I ran with it.

Issue 167 - The mayor is such a hopeless dope. He was supposed to be a small supporting character, but he has totally developed beyond that and we have a special place in our heart for him.

Issue 168 - I wanted to have a nice strip just showing Pixel life. It was kinda inspired to have Smiley in there cogging it up. While I was doing this strip, all that kept running through my mind is the Simpsons episode where they have all the major league baseball players, and Bart is heckling Daryl Strawberry (I think that was who it was). ROFL!

Issue 169 - Yes, the first three panels are identical to Issue 39. That was totally deliberate, and not simply to be a cheat. I just felt it best illustrated Harry’s transformation from psycho newspaper boy hound to indifferent and rational smiley.

Issue 170 - Are we really only 30 away for Issue 200? I know we poke so much fun of corporate American in this strip, but we can’t help it. Have you ever seen the movie Mystery Men? Captain Amazing is covered in endorsement badges and does commercial. I just think the idea of that is wild. Seriously, would any good, upstanding superhero stoop so low?

This is one of those strips that is based on real life. Granted, this doesn’t happen every time, but enough times to drive you batty. The kids will have an exciting day, running around and playing. On the way home they will knock out for a short nap–something the adults can’t do. Then, when we get home, we’re hopeful everyone will crawl into bed and sleep through the night…and the kids are wide awake. And not just wide awake, but recharged and hyper so they can’t sleep at all. So we end up half-asleep on the couch while they do their thing for hours. *deep sigh*

There is a lot more I want to comment on about the whole Rasterman storyline, and I’m going to do that during our Booyah next week. Though, I do want to mention (again) that Rasterman was one of our original characters, and the very first test strip we did was about him. It’s amazing to see him finally introduced all these months later.

Oh, and as for my computer woes. Truly, you would all think I was a troll if I was just a stranger on the forums! But, yet another minor hiccup (aside from part of my hard-drive being corrupted, which I reported about on the forums yesterday). Jim had built me a custom keyboard tray for my computer. Well, I came home today to find the kids had demolished it. The way it was/is setup makes it that I can’t just take the keyboard off and use it on the desk. I would have had to do it on my lap, which makes it impossible to do pixel art.

Certainly the gods have it out for me.

Thankfully Jim got up at 3:30 a.m. this morning to fix it.

See you all tomorrow with a new strip.