I think some of the people who read today’s strip (Issue 140) might feel that Harry is being exceptionally rude to Blip when he finds out he’s married. Well, considering how rude Blip is to him, I think it’s a bit justified. Also, it’s one of those cases where you find out something about someone that shocks you so much, you forget all etiquette. I know there have been people I have met with less than stellar personalities, who I later found out were married. I would be shocked, wondering who the heck would have married them, and secretly wondering how they put up with such a person. Granted, I understand that most people act differently when it comes to family and then outside acquaintances. Still, it make you wonder. That was what I was trying to convey with Harry in that strip.

The next 2 strips (Issues 141 and 142) were incredibly fun for me to do. I dreaded having to design the mayor’s office, but ended up loving it once I was into it. First of all, as a bit of trivia, the mayor’s office design is based loosely on a mayor’s office in a popular video game. I actually studied pictures of several real mayor’s offices in the U.S. and thought they all looked so pretentious! They looked like mini Oval Offices. I wanted something a little less flashy, and decided to do a parody of a movie or game one. Thankfully I found one I liked and used it as a model. I have to admit to not ever hearing of the game, much less playing it. Though, I did learn after the fact that my kids had played it a while back, having borrowed it from a family member.

Can I ask, are there ever any good mayors in comics? Most of the ones we run into are all corrupt and shifty. I guess those types of characters are more fun to write, and make for better drama.

Last, I also have to point to an inside joke, which literally only a handful of our close friends will get when reading the comic. Jim and I have been in a role-playing game since before we were married. I truly date myself here, but the campaign has been going on 16 years!–though only 3 years have passed in game time. It’s a superhero based game, using the DC Heroes universe. My character also happens to run an orphanage. Early in our gaming, I ran a game which had major events happens at the yearly “charity carnival.” Little did we know, that would be a recurring event in our game, and always the source of a lot of fun and drama. Thus, my inspiration to use it in the strip.

It’s really funny because the strip has taken on such a different tone lately, moving away from the “new kids on the block” focus of the Pixels, and widening the focus on the town and supporting characters. This was always our plan from Day 1, but as we mentioned before, we did not want to rush things. It’s neat to finally be writing storylines we came up with nearly 2 years ago! Hope you all enjoy them.

Actually, more like *several* days late. Though, the dollar part is argueable. Despite being a bit behind, our Booyah is up and we’re pretty pleased with it. 

Of course, fresh off the frustration of a server move, I am tempted to spend a page and a half ranting and raving.  Honestly, the move went relatively smooth.  The problem is that our new server has more advanced security, which is good from a general standpoint, but not good that a large number of our scripts and programs didn’t work properly.  That included this blog and a bunch of other stuff.  Not to mention that BMW had a longer time propogating than some of the other sites.  Ah, but I promised not to rant, so suffice it to say it was a pain, but we’ve got it (mostly) taken care of now!

It’s amazing that Bitmap World has been around a year! It truly doesn’t feel that long at all. There was so many plans we had when we started, and we’ve only begun to explore some of them, and there is so much more to come.  We had hoped to start one storyline in particular with this Booyah, but instead decided to do a “birthday” strip with Issue 134. Wanting to do an Easter strip too, we figured we’d just do a few stand-alone strips and will begin the planned storyline next week.

Speaking of the birthday strip, this is again one of those comics that is more real-life than not.  Our kids LOVE bubble wrap and fight over it.  While I have never actually gotten them a roll of it, I’ve considered it.  And I have to admit, I love popping it to.  Why the heck is that so much fun?!  Whatever the reason, it is.  I can totally see my kids having a great time with a big roll of that stuff.  I’m not sure if Jim would be like Harry, thought I’m sure he’d pop a few anyway.

One of the big complaints about some comics in general is that white space is not good.  We have always held that Bitmap World is deliberately minimalistic, since we want to invoke the feelings of the old computers of days past.  Still, adding some additional color is something we have wanted to do, and have made the leap to give many of our “sets” a splash of colors. In all selfishness, we didn’t want to have to go back and color all the past strips, so a convenient little explanation was crafted.

If you visit YouTube, be sure to look up the song, Code Monkey.  It’s a great song written by a talented free-source musician, Jonathan Coultan Jim and I both love that song, particularly since we are the programming types.  I have dreamed of doing a mini-movie to the song using Bitmap World characters.  I may still yet…perhaps when I get more time in the future (whenever that will be).  Still, I wanted to somehow give a nod to the song and did so through this comic.  This is another slice-of-life strip.  My kids can’t stand when we like their stuff, even though we’re the ones that got them interested in certain types of music/movies/shows.

Last, the Easter strip. Honestly, we didn’t plan this one to be a big commentary piece. We were just talking about the Easter Bunny and then the idea was tossed around about the Macrohard bunny being at the mall, and then it went from there.  That said, both of us do find it ridiculous that there has been a trend of companies to “claim” holidays, and even seasons, as their own.  Did you know that Country Time Lemonade, Corona, and Borden’s Ice Cream all claim to be the official sponsors of Summer?  I wonder who they pay royalties to, Mother Nature?

There’s a ton to this Booyah, so remember to check out our News page for details.  We actually had more planned, but our server woes had to come first. The good news is that next month we’ll have a nice Booyah too!

Happy Spring, everyone.  And Merry Easter, too.

I have a confession to make. I have one of those lives that defies belief. I mean, the fact that I am the daughter of a ventriloquist-turned-novelty-shop-owner, having lived behind the aforementioned trick shop most of my life, hanging out with magicians and clowns and entertainment-types, that pretty much puts me in the “oh, okay” category right off the bat. That’s not to mention all the other oddities which have plagued me throughout my life since then. Anyhow, kinda like Harry, weird things seem to follow me. I tend to avoid talking about them to most people, because frankly I think most people *do* think I’m exaggerating or making it up, and I just don’t want to go there.

A while back, there was one friend who I felt I could confide in. She insisted she believed me and didn’t think I was a nut–and I believed her that she believed me. That is, until she wrote a blog entry in which she referred to me as “paranoid superfreak.” So much for her words of re-assurance! Now, honestly, most people would have been upset. But, as I mentioned, I’m used to people thinking I’m full of it. So, to me, this was actually one of the funniest things I had ever read in my life! I mean, I’ve been called a lot of things (many of which I can’t repeat this being a family site and all), but not that. In fact, I was so tickled, I immediately realized I had to use it somewhere in Bitmapworld. I already had some ideas of how to work in our contest winner, Evil Couch, into the strip, and this was the element that tied it all together. I guess in some ways I have to be thankful for that blog entry. I mean, reality is stranger than fiction…and certainly makes for good fiction.

So, there you have it, my dirty little secret. I’m really a paranoid superfreak. Well, there are worse things to be. Particularly since *they* are out to get me…and you too. Didn’t you know?

That said, this strip (Issue 131) proudly features our BYOC contest winner, Evil Couch, making his premier into the pixel world! Be sure to check out our next issue to find out what happens.

Oh, and while you’re at it, be sure to look for the extra strip tomorrow. Remember, when we miss an update, we feel guilty, and YOU win! 2 strips tomorrow.

This issue and the storyline to come are actually inspired by real events. Recently, a couple of our kids have been bitten by the “love bug.” Of course, in grammar school, there’s no real love, just little crushes. Still, it’s incredibly cute. Our son received a gift of little trinkets from a girl for his birthday. One of our daughters recently got a letter from a secret admirer. I still remember my first “kindergarten crush” and I hope that this little arc will bring back fond memories for our readers. Who was your first crush?

The Pixel kids do come off as a little dense at times. I never view them that way, though. They are just kids. They are caught up in their own worlds and don’t know everything–even if they think they do. The Pixel kids are quirky, though. It makes for good comedy, but our own kids tend to be that way too, so we personally find it endearing. Speaking of today’s strip (Issue 115), I think we can all relate to talking at cross-purposes.

The bonus of this new storyline, is that it is going to allow us to work in a few things that we have wanted to for a while. We also wanted to mention, we got a lot of positive feedback from the strips with the robbery and Blip. Don’t worry, there will be more to that arc coming soon. If you’re a regular reader, you know we take pride in pacing things out. All in good time. As promised, there will be some exciting things coming at our year anniversary mark in March!

Issue 112 is a milestone in the sense that it is the first time we follow a character that is neither one of the Pixels nor the Smileys. Not only that, it follows characters who are not regulars. When we created the strip, we wanted to be very careful with pacing, to establish the characters and let our audience really get to know and care about them before branching off. At nearly the year mark we feel confident enough to do that now. That said, Bitmap World will always have the Pixels at the center, but the word “World” is not in the title for nothing. There is a lot more to see, and many more characters waiting in the wings.

In this strip, the security guards are shown holding pistols. I really lamented about this, and almost didn’t do it. The same went for the cigarette smoking joke in Issue 111. This is a family-friendly comic, and we want to make it readable for everyone. I guess the difference with these two jokes is while they show smoking (which is considered bad) and guns (which are dangerous), neither is depicted in a manner which is complimentary. The security guards are obviously in the wrong and breaking the rules, and they get yelled out when they are smoking. With the guns, it’s clear they are acting like policemen, so there is a reason they have weapons. I think even small children understand that, since they see it on t.v. Individuals that are stealing large amounts of computers are usually not petty thieves, and very well could be dangerous. Of course, the guns are never used, which is an overall positive.

Oh, I just want to say that I am in no way poking fun at all security guards with these strips. One of my friends happens to be a security guard and loves it–and she’s very good at her job. That said, I have known a few very inept security guards in my time, and since it makes for good comedy, these guards are quite bumbling and idiotic. It’s always fun writing characters like that!

On a last note, I am proud that we managed to get the strip up today! Albeit with 10 minutes to spare, but it was on-time (just about 12 hours off center).

Another series of Cosmic Dungeon strips. I thing I’ve said it before, but I both loving and hate doing those strips! I love them because they are so much fun, and I think the story is great. RPGs and MMPORPGs have been a part of our lives for so many years, it’s really exciting to draw upon that experience for this storyline. The reason I hate these strips is that they require so much more work than the regular strips. Truly, a price for affect.

We hadn’t planned to go back to CD so soon. We were going to come off of the monkey storyline and were going to jump back into one of the other ongoing plots. But, even with the couple of filler strips we had, we decided we wanted to pad things out a bit more in the pacing department. Since we’ve had quite a few fans tell us how much they love the Cosmic Dungeon strips, it seemed natural to go back sooner than later.

I personally hit a big writer’s block when scripting these newest 3. I knew what they were going to be about, but the dialogue just kept escaping me. I was actually getting worried that we’d have a series of stinkers, which I really didn’t want. Then, while walking to the commuter train on Wednesday night, inspiration hit. There is often a lot of musing among webcomic writers about where and how ideas hit. In this case, there was no inspiration, but rather working through the story over and over, and on the 20th time, an element coming to me that hadn’t before. Once that happened, the words came naturally. The added plus was that the idea blossomed into something I’m very excited about.

For those wondering about the other story arcs, be assured, it’s coming. We’ll be in CD a few more strips, and then we move on. Be assured, answers always come. All in good time…and pacing.

Strip #97 finally gives our readers some information about the paperboy. And, to our astute readers, it may even give them the hint to what movie we are parodying with this whole storyline.

Oh, and I should note that this is the first strip that has even the remotest hint of a political commentary. It was not intentional. Frankly, I am not into Bush-bashing, or any political bashing for that matter. Certainly I have my opinions of these issues, but a fun family-friendly comic is not the forum in which to get on my soapbox. So, fear not, this isn’t the start of a precendence. However, Verde’s line originally was written to use the word bush. By capitalizing it, the phrase has double-meaning, and still is very much in-character for Verde, considering he works for the mayor and therefore has political preferences.

Strip #98 is just a simple slice-of-life comic. No, it’s not over the top funny, but it’s amusing…and true. The story about the hot dog/pigs-in-a-blanket actually happened at Tess’s school a couple years back. I should note, the pigs-in-the-blanket were supposed to be pancakes wrapped around a sausage link, but instead the lunch ladies used hot dogs. Dott’s reaction was pretty much the reaction of the whole school. Tess said that the kids were so grossed out, they gave them all free ice cream to make up for it.

As for the flooding of the bathroom, I think any parent who has a 2 or 3 year old can relate to this. That whole “too quiet” moment, when you realize your little one is getting into mischief. Our kids love of water, and flooding the bathroom happens every few months. Why, you ask? Well, kids need to use the bathroom, and they need to wash their hands. Believe me, it can take just a couple of minutes to overflow the sink and start a waterfall. If someone isn’t constantly playing potty police (which is sometimes not possible), these things happen. Of course, having older kids who are *supposed* to be watching little siblings but aren’t is just as plausible in these parts. Makes us consider getting those automatic sensor faucets they have in public washrooms. Hmm….