War Games - Part 11

I wanted to talk about this one (and some other things) at length, but I was up way too late working on this last night and I've got way too much going on today to spend time blogging.

Truth be told, my deadlines are going to get a little hairy after today.  My daughter graduated from kindergarten today, which means that it's now summer break, which means my quiet days of working on the comic in peace are gone for a while.  Still, I'll endeavor to get this chapter wrapped up before I take a break, I just want to warn you that I may be posting a strip very late in the day sometimes, or at the worst, a day late.

War Games - Part 3

If you're new to Super U., you may be wondering why suddenly I'm using photos as background instead of drawing it out.  You may be thinking I'm lazy.  In fact, you'd be right, but moreover, I use photos as background during the "Dangerous Room" sequences, when the students are participating in holographic simulations in Combat Education class.

Teams have been chosen.  Roles are being assigned.  On Thursday, you'll get a glimpse of Team Frost and Team Ex doing the same... and then the fur is gonna fly.

Aftermath - Part 2

It's fun, sometimes, when dialogue isn't necessary.

Back when I used to party (and when I had friends), usually I was the one who woke up around dawn on the bathroom floor.  It's just so nice and cold there, you know?

There's a trend in comics (and sometimes even webcomics) to have superheroes that are outside of the social "norm" (and I use that term as loosely as possible), and by that I mean Muslim superheroes, gay superheroes and so on.  The part that amuses me is, generally, when a gay superhero shows up in comics, she's a lesbian.  Right, because we're supposed to believe that you're featuring a lesbian superhero because you're standing up for the rights of lesbians, and not at all because you're catering to your male-dominated audience who wants to see pictures of girls kissing.  Compare the ratio of gay female characters to gay male characters.

What's more, generally when a male superhero comes out, it tends to be a character most readers could care less about.  Northstar, anybody?

I'm not claiming to be breaking any new ground here, of course.  Just an observation.  There are a few exceptions, of course.  And, to be fair, especially in the past year or two, comic writers finally seem to be getting wise to the lopsided representation of homosexual supers, and we're starting to see a lot more male couples.  I just read that, in X-Factor, Shatterstar and Rictor have gotten together.  Coincidentally, I also heard the title was cancelled this year.

I have / had a homophobic friend who's favorite character was Shatterstar.  I wonder if I should tell him? :-)

Spiritorum Awayos

It occurred to me I have characters I haven't used since Chapter 1, Conjuressa, the magic teacher, being one of them.  Even then, at the time, she was just a sight gag.  I'll have to do a Walters File for her pretty soon.  Of course, if you're interested in her background, or any teacher's for that matter, you can always head over to the SSS and look up their name in the tag cloud.  And if there's ever a character you'd like to see all the strips he or she is present in here at Super U., just click on their label below any post they're in (or go to their Walters File and find their label there).

I doubt I need to prove how much of a geek I am, but here's another example: not only have I created fictional elective classes for my fictional students, but I put some thought into which students would take Comprehension of the Arcane Arts, which students would take Archery and Marksmanship and which students didn't give a crap about either one of those classes and elected to take nothing at all during their 7th period.

At least once per chapter, I like to take you through a typical day at Super U., class by class.  The last several strips have reflected the students' classes, in order.  That said, the next class should be World History with The Commander, but I'm gonna have to skip that one this time around because I've been chomping at the bit to get to 9th period, which is Combat Education with Mr. Walters.  

Now that Birdo and E.P.I.C. are dead, and Bobby Rocket's in jail, Mr. Walters is going to have to make further adjustments to the Combat Education teams.  SPOILER: It still won't go well for Aiden.

There's another reason I need to skip it, too.  See, this strip here is #98, which means I've almost hit my 100th strip.  And there's something special I want to do.

Trying New Things

I made the thumbnail very small on this one, so hopefully nothing is spoiled.  I made myself laugh a lot drawing this one.  Read the comic before the blog, too.

Kudos to Jason for the Hello Kitty underwear idea.  I knew Aiden was either going to be wearing ridiculous underwear or be buck-naked with someone's shoulder or something blocking the view of the naughty bits, but Jason suggested Hello Kitty underwear during our Google Hangout yesterday and I knew it had to be done.

Speaking of Google Hangouts, did you know that I've been doing them quite often while I draw the comic?  Well, I have.  If you want to watch any of the previous Hangouts, you can see them on my Google+ page.  Come chat with me while I'm drawing.  I'm lonely.

Poor Aiden's always on a desperate journey to discover himself.  This is something most of us can relate to, but not, I think, on the level of a guy who's lost his memory countless times over the course of hundreds of years and been forced to reinvent himself over and over.  This time around (at least, for now), Aiden's decided he should really be pursuing the superhero angle.  SPOILER: It probably won't work out too well for him.

This is clarification more for myself than anything, but I wanted to shed some light on Aiden's immortal curse.  When Aiden dies, he loses the details of his life, but he retains general knowledge of history and the world.  Each time, he starts at square one concerning personal traits as well, so any amount of training he's pursued or talents he's honed go right out the window.  So, he can still make cultural references, but he can (and does) forget about that last fifteen years he spent mastering the lute.

This is what makes Daemon integral to Aiden's life.  He's been there since Aiden's first resurrection, to point him in (usually) the right direction.  Of course, this has gotten pretty tedious for Daemon, so he does his best to have fun with the whole thing.  Time Lass, their sister Meghan, has taken a more hands-off approach, but we'll see more about that soon...

Of course, it's all rather more complicated than that, but you'll just have to stay tuned if you want the whole story.

An Update, and a Book Preview!

Hey guys,

See that new vote-box up there?  On the top left?  I listed Super U. on the Top Webcomics website.  They showcase the "top" 100 webcomics, as voted by people who vote on these things.  Currently, Super U. is somewhere in the 16,000's, heh, but we can change that!  You can actually vote for Super U. every day!  It only takes a few seconds.

Anyway, the book cover is done!  And, because I like you so much, here's what the cover is going to look like!  Click to enlargify.

There a are a couple small tweaks that need to be done, but otherwise it's good to go!  I just have to format it to the book tonight.  After that, I'm going to pre-order a copy (to make sure it's all good), and if that goes well, the book will go up for sale!  I'll keep you posted.

Also, new movies just below this post!  There are only 9 more movies, and then Chapter 3 begins!

Super U. Strip #66: The Slip

Super U. Strip #65: Felinophilia

The Walters Files: Speed Demon

Richie is a more "recent" character that I cooked up for the RPG that spawned the ideas for Super U.  As you may have guessed by his alter-ego's outfit, he's sort of my version of the Flash, although not as much of a knock-off as Jack Rabbit.  I like speedsters in comics, especially Quicksilver, and given my general dislike of the JLA, Flash is probably my favorite after Batman.  Like practically every other character, though, Richie is a reflection of myself, though a younger version, with the geek-o-meter turned up to 11.  

Though not initially excited about the prospect of sharing the same physical space with a demon, he came to realize the demon allowed him to be everything he couldn't be; to be strong where he is weak.  Against all odds, it turns out the demon isn't half bad.  I don't have any plans, actually, to make the demon reveal itself to be as manipulative and evil as it probably should be, but I'm not ruling it out, either.

The Slip

Managed to get a strip up before I head out of town for a few days.  I won't be able to post a strip on Tuesday, but it seems likely I will have some rad guest art for you to affix your peepers to instead.  If you haven't seen Mason's work yet, click on his name over in the tag cloud.  It's good stuff.

I gotta hit the sack so I can get on a plane in the morning.  Thanks for stopping by, and please help me spread some Super U. love with one of them there social media share buttons or some such.

Felinophilia

Gonna keep this short, because immediately after posting it I'm going to watch Penny Arcade's new Strip Search.  I'd link to it, but they don't need the publicity.  I am not a fan of television, especially reality television, but then again, there's never been a reality TV show featuring artists trying to get into webcomics before.  But if you are a fan of such things, I highly, highly recommend this show.

I had considered trying to get into this show.  I may still if they do another.

Big news!  There is so much Saturday Super Story content, I've given it its own site and put it in the capable hands of J. Klemm.  What's more, I think Jason has been limiting himself to squeeze his ideas into my universe, and so this is an opportunity for him to explore some paths that might not necessarily see exploration in the comic.

For those of you following both, note that you can expect there will be times when the strips and stories differ.  I'm putting the content of his site solely in his hands, just as everything here is solely in mine.

And so, more big news!  In an effort to get closer to my goal of posting thrice a week, on this site on Saturdays I will periodically be posting new Walters Files!  In fact, I have already posted the one that was previously featured in a comic to get us started, and there is a new Walters Files section just over there on the left of your screen!

The Walters Files are Mr. Walters' (formerly the Dark Avenger) personal, top-secret files he keeps on the students and staff.  This is a thing I've been wanting to do for a while, and I think it's a pretty cool way to to get to learn all the characters.

I purchased Manga Studio 5, a digital art program that I plan on using to draw the strip starting with Chapter 3.  I haven't had much time yet to fiddle with it, but in the short time that I have, I have been extremely impressed.  It seems you can do a lot with this thing, and, oh yeah, it's hella cheaper than Adobe products.  If such things interest you, I can already safely recommend you buy this product.

This Thursday I'm flying out to see family, and since I have to leave the house relatively early in the AM, I'm not entirely sure I'll get the strip posted.  But never fear!  Even if I do not, there are plans in the works...  The same goes for the following Tuesday.

Oh, yeah.  I saw the new Evil Dead the other night.  I don't want to talk about it.  Go see it if you like having nightmares.

Hrmph.  So much for keeping this short.

Divine Blessing

Here it is: The Gripping Conclusion.

There had been a blog today, but I've been in a battle with the internets all day just to upload an image to anywhere, and now I'm out of time.

Hope you enjoy!

 

A Well-Rounded Party

Totally not late this week.  It's still Wednesday.  It says up there I update Wednesdays.  It doesn't say when on Wednesdays.

A good day today, because the bombardment of political advertisement will stop, and at least half of America showed that it has a bit of sense.  On top of Obama getting four more years, three more states decided to okay same-sex marriage, and in my book that's pretty neat.

A bad day today, because I had to take my mom back to the airport.  I'm so, so tired of my friends and family being so far away.

Anyway.  I had to rush a bit on the strip this week.  I'll make it up to you next week.

 

The Quest

Heh, I almost totally forgot to post this today!

FYI, there's a chance there won't be a strip next week, or it will be late.  My mom's going to be in town and she's staying with us on the night I normally devote to finishing up my strip.  I'll keep you posted.

I really like the way this one turned out.  The hand-drawn stuff doesn't look as good as I hoped it would, partly due to my ancient scanner, but whatever.  It's still fun.  Hope you enjoy!

Lairs and Lizards

This week's strip looks a little weird.  Aside from the hand-drawn part, that is.  That's because I was working on it during my short trip to Anna Maria Island, and condensation from my beer bottle plopped down on it.  Some of the coloring was done with watercolor paint, so... yeah.  I had to do some clean-up in Photoshop, and had to black out considerably more than I had intended.  I'm sure there was a way to fix it without having to do that, but my skillz are beyond rusty.
But I kind of like the way it turned out, and I figure it can only get better from here.

Speaking of trips, I just got back from Bryce Canyon, Utah, and also Las Vegas.  I'd like to go into detail about them here, particularly about Bryce Canyon, but I just can't do it any justice by describing it to you.  It boils down to my going on and on about rocks, and doesn't sound nearly as exciting or wonderful as it truly was.
Vegas was cool, too.  It was my first time there.  Two things about it, though;  one is: you know that saying that goes "the food and drinks are cheap in Vegas because they want you to spend your money gambling?" Not true in the slightest.  The truth is they want you to spend your money gambling, and they also want you to pay fifteen dollars for a margarita and twenty-two dollars for spaghetti.  The second is:  Vegas is the last place on Earth you want to go to if you're already broke. 
Nevertheless, my dad and I had an awesome time, and I'm sad that we already had to say our goodbyes and go back to our corners of the country.

Halloween looks to be a bust again this year.  Our plans to party fell through, which ought to be great fun explaining to my four-year-old who has been anticipating it for most of the year.  There's a chance that I might be able to get out of work and join some others at Disney's Not-So-Scary event (because when I think Halloween, I think the Magic Kingdom, and nothing says fun like shoulder-to-shoulder crowds brimming with sugared-up toddlers), but dammit, I had better get to do something... we've already blown a small fortune on our outfits.
Holidays in general tend to be a bust down here in Florida.  This could have something to do with the fact that when you work for The Rat, you tend to work all holidays, and may also pertain to the fact most of my family and all of my friends are a thousand miles away.

I had better stop now, before this turns into a real blog.

Just one more thing.  If you could find it in your hearts to keep my Papa in your thoughts, I and my family would much appreciate it.  Thanks.

 

Do the Ronfar

Here it is, the first strip of Chapter 2!  Thank you all again for your patience while I worked on some things.

The ad box down below got delisted due to low traffic.  In retrospect, it was probably a stupid time to put up an ad box while I wasn't posting anything.  I'll try and activate it again, and by all means, click on it to read some other person's webcomic!  And, of course, should you desire to advertise something here on the site, you can do that, too!

The "official" site at Interrupted Reality is going through some minor changes.  It's easier to navigate now, and (fingers crossed) hopefully soon it will start drawing in some traffic of its own now that it will be listed on the Interrupted Reality homepage.

I think I mentioned it before, but on either site you can now donate your hard-earned dollars, or you can use that donation section to request commission artwork.  I think on the Interrupted Reality site, you can even buy prints of the strips, but as of this moment I couldn't even begin to tell you how that works.

The YouTube channel seems to have drawn a few curious viewers, so that's neat.  All I need to do now is download some music-making program so I can put Chapter 2 to music I created, and then I can monetize the shit out of that, too!
Funnily enough, the strip with the most views is one that I tagged with the word "cleavage."  Maybe I'll just start tagging everything as "hardcore porn" and I'll get a bazillion views.

All in all, Super U. has made me, like, three dollars.  But hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?

Anyway, without further ado... I give you... "Do the Ronfar!"  A strip that like only two of you will think is hilarious.

-Matt