8-18-2008
4 Days a week! YAHOO!!!!
I now have Fridays off from the Wenatchee World. It's like having a large part of my life back. I'm using the time to do work on Shin Kage, which I intend to start up again very soon. I'm also going to be doing some e-baying to make ends meet. One of the great things about this is that being out of the office one day a week I find myself a bit... separated from the office drama. I cannot express to you how precious that is. There's a thread on this in the Wandering Ones Forum.

With Keenspot's new ad program, I'm just about making up for what I lose not working the other day. (unless you factor in the Sales bonus, that extra third of my salary needed to make a decent living, which my team hasn't hit since February!)

I'm also working on two more books of Strip reprints similar to the Ghost Wind book. The first will chronicle Hawk Talon and intriques in the West, the second will chronicle the mission against the Reich's fuel depot. Of course all the side stories will be there, along with a few extras...

I took a little overnighter to Ingalls Creek. Click the link if you'd like to read about it.

Next weekend, I will be at the Earthwalk Northwest Gathering, so comics may be a little spotty.

For any of you in the Portland area, Jon Young will be conducting a lecture called
Bird Language: Epic stories of ancient trackers & the wilderness 7pm-9pm, September 2, 2008
for Tracker NW.

6-30-2008
It's Too Darn Hot!
Well, it's 111 degrees this weekend in Wenatchee, and I have had a heck of a time just trying to draw (or even think). We really like the house we bought here, but being 20 something years old, it's got it's share of repair needs. (after I get done typing this, I have to go downstairs and try to fix a door that's fallen off it's hinge) One of the problems that we've had is that our air conditioning has not worked in all the time we've been here. We've contracted to spend the last of our savings to remedy the situation, but the friendly AC guys are taking their time getting here. It's hard to think when you're this hot. (Before you folks in Arizona or Australia start in, yes, I know I'm a wimp for heat - come up here in January, and we'll see who does better)

Some very good news is on the horizon. I talked with my boss Russ, and it looks like I'll be able to work a 4 day schedule. I can't espress how much this can mean. An extra day a week could mean another strip, feelance illustration, or finishing the outdoor book I've been writing. It's not set in stone yet, so keep your fingers crossed for me! I'll need to generate around $300 a month, one way or another, but even if I have to Ebay stuff to make ends meet, I'll do it.

The scribble that you clicked from is just a cover idea sketch that I'm working on for a second Wandering Ones book, that follows the events in Wandering Ones: Ghost Wind. I don't even have a working title yet, and I'm also trying to decide if I want to include the Walking Man story or just leave it web only with the book being solely Wandering Ones material. (and do I include the Mad Scout or not?) I was looking at Booksurge as a publisher, but Chris Crosby indicated that he would like to publish it POD style (Print on Demand). As publishing through Booksurge would cost me several hundred dollars and Keenpspot won't cost me a dime (and also published my first book) it took me about 2 seconds to make a decision. I could expect about the same amount of promotion from both. I eventually hope to have the whole series in print form.

I thank those of you who gave your condolences about my family loss, it was my uncle Howard, my mom's brother. To be honest, I did not know him well, but I'm sad for my mom's sadness.

5-19-2008

I took a little trip out to the Columbia River last weekend.
(Warning though, I left the photos at 1000 pixel width, so if you're on dial-up it may not be worth the wait)

Things have been going pretty quietly lately. I still have not gotten around to talking to my boss about going to a 4-day work week. With as little as my team has been making it's sales goal (and thereby commission) I don't see how I could possibly make less using that extra day to work for myself, if I even half gave it an effort. (I was originally hired to work 4 days a week and the extra "marketing" day was added to entice me to move accross the mountains.) Just need to find a way to get my boss to agree. They actually don't have enough marketing stuff to keep me busy for 8 hours, anyway.

I'm looking at a few other creative outlets recently. I've made an aggreement with Brain Scan studios to distribute Mountainworld online. I'm busy prepping the pages for the first issue now. Others will soon follow. Eventually, though, I will need to draw the remaining 56 pages. Another reason to go to 4 days a week at work.

I'm also looking at starting the reprint books again, taking up where Ghost Wind left off. I'm currently in contact with Amazon's Booksurge division about doing a reprint book with ISBN number and the whole works. I'm finding, however, that there is a fee for everything. To get the book reprinted and ready for sale on Amazon will cost a minimum of $300 just to get the thing done, without even getting any copies for myself.

I may just stick with Ka-Blam.

Susie still has not heard back from the publisher about her requested manuscript. She's starting to lose hope on this one. She's started her next manuscript.

For some reason, I went a got myself a MySpace account. Still not sure why... if you have ideas on how to network with it, please email me and let me know!

2-8-2008

Wow. Been a long time. I'd guess most of you have noticed the slight redesign of the comic pages. There are still a few bugs (like that X#@@!! "previous" button, which doesn't want to play nice with Keenspot's scripts), but I hope everyone can appreciate that I tried to cut back on the clutter. I've put most of my extra stuff on the Wandering Ones Extras page, which is still a work in progress. If you have suggestions, feel free to email me. It might take me a while to get back to you, but I will certainly try to do so.

2008 looks like it might be a pretty good year. There have been some MAJOR changes at Keenspot, that I keep expecting them to present a press release for. I won't go too far into details, but it may well mean a few hundred extra bucks a month, rather than a quarter. What that means to you is that, possibly this summer I may be able to go to a 4 day work week at my regular job, which means I will have an extra day to produce content. Might be an extra day of Wandering Ones, or panels of Shin Kage (I've got a sailing ship story for Shin that I've been wanting to do for a long time) or maybe, I'll start a new strip I've been thinking of, maybe showcasing the Walking Man.

Some of you may have noticed that I have new books at IndyPlanet. I also have a sketchbook in the works there. I'm also considering putting my MountainWorld comic up on download publisher WOWIO. Maybe with print versions at IndyPlanet.

Susie has also had some good news. Though she's been sick as a dog this week, she heard from a major book publisher that she sent the first three chapters of her manuscript to. After a few months, the senior editor wrote her back and asked for a synopsis and a full manuscript. Pretty exciting stuff.

I got to go down to Yakima and spend the weekend with my friend Howard, and he helped my make this little rascal. Making it was fun and made me think about making my own mini-forge. I'm worried though. I've been warned it's quite addictive. Speaking of Forged stuff, Storm Crow sent me a little something to teach me the difference between axeheads and Tomahawk heads. He made this by hand!!! The hand formed axe head is shown next to my Cold Steel Rifleman's hawk.

For those of you who are comic strip fans, here's some info on Rusty Riley's Frank Godwin, and some on British soap opera strip Carol Day.

10-22-2007

First of all thanks to several fans who have donated lately, especially stormwind13 who seems to be making a habit of it! Thanks also to Eric C., who so kindly offered us a place to stay if we ever get over to France (I'm trying hard to keep Susie from dragging me to the airport). Also, to Carl and Sue, it was great having you over, let's do it again. (Carl, thanks for the Bokken help!)

A Little Help? Anyone out there have Howard Tayler's email address? I promised him art...

I guess you're wondering why no strip for today. Welllll,...eh heh... The truth is I decided to ...read a book. Actually, two. This week I read Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett (Author). It's the story of two different groups of stranded mariners who find themselves shipwrecked on Auckland Island. One group had good leadership and worked cooperatively and they managed to all survive, even though the experience was very difficult. The other group had no leadership to speak of and of the 40 who made it to shore, only a few lived.

The other is Brother Odd by Dean Koontz. This is just a fun read, the third in the series. The first is interesting history, the second is just good fun storytelling.
I think I fall more in the storyteller area.

So... what's new... Well, I finally got the files for Melpomene sent to Ka-Blam, so hopefully that book will be on IndyPlanet with my others soon. You'll probably need to be over 18 to order it though. They're Jamie Robertson's were creatures, and in this story, they're clothes were off as much as they were on.

I've talked up Dr. Ron Hoods videos here before, and now if you'd like to see what they're like here are a couple on Utube. The first one is about Heat Loss, and the second is about Shelter priorities. These are excerpted from his 2nd Woodsmaster video.

A few weekends ago, I went out with my old NATO canvas pack $10, my coffee can (free), three wool blankets, (ok, one of them is actually a Korean war wool bag liner all about $20 total) plastic pepsi bottle (free) and a 32 0z. Nalgene ($8), Fire making stuff (esp. the cotton balls) an old somewhat pitted Kabar hunting knife ($5 from garage sale)and my rifleman's hawk and my SAK.

My food was carried in a canvas shoulder bag that cost me about $10 surplus) My modern conveniences were a $5 6x8 tarp from Bi-Mart, some 550 cord, and a fleece throw that usually becomes my pillow. I also ALWAYS take a sportsman's thermal blanket to put over me if it gets cold.

My clothes aside from underwear, were a watchcap (wool) $5, a pair of wool swiss heavy pants (2 for $14) my wool woolrichÊ jacket (green/black plaid) which I got as a Christmas gift 10 years ago. A decent pair of hiking socks ($14?) and my REI bought boots whose brand and price I can't remember. (Boots being the one thing you should NEVER scrimp on if you're hiking very far)

I actually have some more modern gear and sometimes I will use it where elevation gain is a factor, but my fancy Gregory pack weighs a good eight pounds...empty. Also, I'm a cheap bastard.

Went to camp out at my "hidden" spot which turned out to be not so hidden. A group of quite young & green boyscouts showed up about 2 hours later with their scout masters. I offered to share the site, but they felt that wouldn't be fair to me and we scouted a few bushwhack camps i knew in the area. When I thought about trying to get those green kids out to these "dry" bushcamps, I decided to cede the camp to them. (I knew another good site about a qtr. mile up the trail.) They were very grateful.

I had forgotten my pad, and the amount of material to make a pad was minimal. I was pretty stiff and sore the next day, and when my friend Howard and i went out 2 weeks later I wimped out and took my thermarest.

Next year, we're gonna try it with almost no gear. It'll be interesting to see if I can walk the walk.

6-15-2007

Things have been pretty quiet here on the Western Front. Susie has found employment, but far below her skill level, and what she should be making hourly. For all of you planningÊ on moving to a smaller town, this might be a cautionary tale. Still, a few good things have definitely happened.

I recieved this email from my boss the other day:

The following message is from Matt
Congratulations to the winnners!!! Thanks, Russ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"We received 3 awards at the PNNAEA annual banquet:

3rd Place - Best single house ad/series "Breaking News"ÊRaquel Morgan: Designer ¥ÊBecky Sager: Marketing

2nd Place - Best use of small space ads 15" or less - Premier One "There's only One" ÊJean Weil: Designer ¥ÊChris Henry: Sales Rep.

1st Place - Best use of black and one color - Sangster Motors "Kids Toys" Ê Ê ÊClint Hollingsworth: Designer ¥ÊChris Henry: Sales Rep.
The Sangster ad received rave reviews, and I was told later that it narrowly missed out on the "Best in the West" award, which is given to the best overall ad. Once again, there were well over a dozen papers entered that went home empty handed. The top award winner was The Coeur D' Alene Press, but their reign will be over next year, if you know what I mean. -Matt"

Kinda cool, neh?

I have been working on getting a library of books ready at IndyPlanet.com, but things are moving a little slow on both ends. So far, only the Mad Scout comic is up, and I have no way of knowing what their turnaround time is. The Shin Kage book is in their files, but hasn't yet been put up on IndyPlanet. I'm also working on a full color trade paperback of my collaboration with Jamie Robertson, MELPOMENE and have it 80% built. (Adults only, lots of nudity)
Now I just need to find a few missing pages, do a new cover and fill a few pages. I'm also hoping to do a sketch book and maybe a reprint of scans of some of my nature journals.

Gary Bloom of Tiny Blue Music thinks the Wandering Ones needs a theme song. Hmmmmm....

Jason G. emailed to point me to Afterculture.org, The artist, Michael Green, has developed some really inspiring scenes and artifacts of a post-collapse, neo-tribal future

I got to spend a little time in May with Ron Hood and the NW Hoodlums and hadÊ a good time. Nice buncha folks, and as an added bonus, I got some personal instruction in using a sling. I have one of my own now, and last weekend spent a couple hours along the Columbia river just,... slingin'! Little boys love to through rocks in the water, and big boys like to sling 'em!

Speaking of Ron Hood, I have a recommendation for you. Often, plugs I put here are things I think you might be interested in. This one is one that I think might actually be of benefit to most of my readers. His URBANMASTER video is a really good primer on disaster preparedness. I STRONGLY recommend that you check it out for your own sake.

I also had a great time at the Emeralds City Comicon, and at the Earthwalk Primitive fishing class, and I have a few photos that I hope to get up next week.

3-19-2007
Wow. I't been quite a spell since my last blather here. Guess I'm not really any great shakes as a blogger.
Probably the item that's hottest is that Susie and I will be at the Emerald City Comicon on April 1st & 2nd. I have printed my first two POD (print on demand) comics, Wandering Ones: The Mad Scout and Shin Kage (both admittedly comics you've seen on the website. I'll have both of them in time for the convention God willing)

In May, I'll be printing the comic I co-created with Jamie Robertson MELPOMENE, which ran on Keenspot Premium. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get that one ready in time. Eventually, all my books (except for Ghost Wind) will be sold by Indyplanet.com (when they're back up and running.) All printed at Ka-Blam (Still working one the Wolfrun comic)

On the home front, nothing has changed too much. Susie is still trying to pierce the Wenatchee Valley job market. As much as I love this area where I grew up, I have to tell you that the job situation here is... wierd. She's managed to keep her spirits up. Since she was let go from her previous job (the best we can figure, she didn't kowtow quite enough to the right PHD) she's even been refused an interview at the place i work, The Wenatchee World, by the Human Resources person there, Needless to say, that person and I have a VERY strained relationship. The rest of the time, she's hearing that she is overqualified, and they don't think she'll stay.

Still we're confident that something is going to happen soon. In the end, it'll all be good. One thing that it really makes me want to do is to seriously start a part time free-lance business. Sometimes I wonder if the Great Spirit hasn't landed us here just to kick us in our complacent pants, to start doing the creative endeavors we should be pursuing. Ya never know.

On an iteresting note, a thread has been started in the forum about the art style used in Wandering Ones. Is it too complicated? Too antiquated? Lord knows I'm a bit of a relic in many ways, particularly in the Flash-Inspired colorful comics of today.
Check out the discussion here.

I'm also working on an article for The Backwoodsman Magazine on inexpensive backpacking gear, hoping to get that finished soon, and I'm finishing up some last minute illustrations for Earthwalk Northwest (I plan on taking their Primitive Fishing Class in April)

Well, if you're in the area April 1, stop by the con and see me!

Latest blah blah 11-6-06

I have to tell you, I am humbled by the generosity of some of the Wandering Fans. Since posting about our current problem in the forum, several of you have been so kind as to donate a little (or in a few cases a lot) and probably have made it enought for two weeks groceries, which freed up the same amount for November's mortgage, which freed up the same amount for Susie and I to pay our health insurance from the World.

Louis, Thomas, Magnus, James, Madeleine, Lela, Richard, Marcin, Tom S.... (and, God forbid, anyone I might have missed?)
Thank you so VERY much!

Something that has amazed me, is Susie's attitude. She has sworn that she is not going to let dispair rule her, letting this horrid person have control over her life. My wife is definitely the internally stronger of the two of us.

NOW, To get off this depressing subject, let's get back to the comic. This storyline is about to end, and I am planning on five days worth of pages answering some of the questions asked regularly. The first day will be a map of the Wandering Ones ranges, the 2nd day will be a look at what Ravenwing carries in that bag of hers. What's after that? if you have a Wandering Ones questions that might be of interest, email me!

I have been spending a bit of time reading the Survival.com forums, and I found a particularly interesting story by Monsieur Muddyboots. I think many of you might find the story interesting. I wish I had been this self sufficient at that age.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Latest blah blah 9-18-06

Wow. A long time since updates. Sorry folks, I'm just not much for blogging. So what's new?I've had a bit of time to become more familiar with some hiking spots around the area, though it's been very smokey in our area due to huge forest fires in the North Cascades. However I did manage to sneak in a nice little stay last week. (And though i didn't get a chance to write about it, I also had a great time on Earthwalk Northwest's Survival Trek. Frank and Karen Sherwood are awesome.

Well, I'm working on a stand-alone comic detailing Wolfrun's scout trial, I'm going to be P.O.D. printing it in full color, and if things go well, I should have it out by next spring (2007). Here's a look at the splash page.

To be honest, I've wanted to do a full color print comic for many years, and with the advent of Print On Demand printing, I can order a few at a time and sell them as i see fit. Since moving to Wenatchee, money's been so tight I can barely afford paper. Having something new to sell might actually allow me to get ahead, particularly if it's not something I've already offered for free.

Also, I'm HOPING to start doing Wandering Ones twice a week, later this fall or early in the winter. It's too darn hard to keep track of the strip when it only appears once in a week, and readership has suffered from it. My goal will be to do 2 pages of the regular strip and 1 page of the comic book per week. It's an ambitious goal for one working 45+ a week, but I think I can do it.

I may do a POD print of The Mad Scout storyline with reprints of my Keenspotlight stories. If you have any interest in printed Wandering Ones books, I'd like to hear from you. Suggestions would be great too. I might even be able to do POD books for the entire series, but not if there isn't any interest.

Email me if you have an opinion, even if you think it's just a waste of time.

Latest blah blah 5-22-06

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

Well, I'm off to the old Survival Trek with Earthwalk Northwest, if you don't hear from me again, you'll know I didn't manage to survive!
I'm looking forward to this for two reasons. 1. I've wanted to do a trek like this to test my skills for a long time. Taking classes and reading books is fine, but it's good to test the skills under real conditions, while still being supervised.

The second reason is that I've needed a vacation from my job for some time now. While everyone on my team gets a base wage, if we want to make anything like a normal living, we have to make goal every month. And every year thereafter we have to at least do as well plus 4%. And quite frankly, as the cowboys used to put it, I feel "rode hard and put away wet". Any day out of the office is a vacation, even being in a survival situation. :)

I am sooo looking forward to this!

Latest blah blah 3-27-06

Hi everyone. Let's see, ... what's new.
Doing a litttle freelance work for Earthwalk Northwest. Doing in trade so I can take their Survival Trek in May. Unfortunately, the class is during our heavily busy last week of the month at the paper, so to pull that off, I need to work the entire weekend preceding. (feh) Oh well, I think it'll be worth it. as well as liking the activity, hopefully I'll meet a few like minded folks. I've been working so much, I've not sociallized much lately. Frank & Karen Sherwood are former head instructors for the Tracker School, and nice people also.

I've just about gotten to the conclusion point of Shin kage, and I'm not sure where to go from there. I have more stories for ol' Shin, but as usual what I don't really have is... time. I'm thinking about retiring Shin, and doing Wandering Ones twice a week instead.

So what do you think? Email me and let me know.

I'm really getting cabin fever, so I've been weeding out my hiking gear. I have one of those gigantic Gregory internal frames and can hardly get on the trail for an overnight for less than 45 pounds. I decided it's time to start hiking smarter (ie: lighter) and so I got Ray Jardines Book on the subject. I also read Horace Kephart's book and have been looking at using a bit more..."traditional". I decided to try and waterproof my old canvas pack. So I soaked it in boiled linseed oil.

NO ONE TOLD ME THAT YOU HAD TO CUT THE LINSEED OIL!

3 weeks and it's still tacky to the touch. But boy howdy is it waterproof!

Latest blah blah 1-2-06

Happy New Year!

December has been a good month. Susie finally, finally found a job. It's not a great payer, but after 6 months with no luck, and watching every penny, it's a light from heaven! (The good thing about her being unemployed was that she turned into quite the little E-Bayer! My knife collection is quite a bit smaller) :p

Also, my little 5 person advertising team was made the Wenatchee World's 2005 advertising team of the year.

For anyone who's interested, I've been updating Shin Kage pretty regularly. If you wanted to start with the new pages start here. I'd be interested in hearing what you think of the panel a day format. I'm having some fun with it, though the panels are taking a bit longer to get done. Still, it's fun. I'm not sure if I'll continue after I finish the current storyline or not. My stats say not many are reading it.

I've been trying to get outside a bit more. Today I was down by the Columbi River, watching the sno fall, while a Bald Eagle circled above me. I've managed to get in a couple other nice trips this year. One to the Colockum Wildlife area and one to Ancient Lakes near Quincy Washington.

Wow. Thought I'd have more news! If you've emailed me recently, and haven't heard back, sorry, I'm trying to catch up.
Special thanks to Spenser M. for his donation. Much appreciated! Look for an email soon Spencer!

Latest blah blah 8-24-05

Stopping here would be acceptable... it's a good spot in the story, but... no. Not quite ready to stop doing Wandering Ones all together yet.

Here's the thing though, after putting out over a thousand pages of entertainment, well, I'm kinda burnt out. I started out in 2000, hoping two things.

A) That I would be able to share my love of the old ways and nature with a lot of new people who might not have been exposed to such things before.

And B), to be honest, to make a little bread.

See, when Chris and Teri contacted me about joining the new Keenspot thing they were starting with Darren and Nate, everyone was excited by the prices that banner ads were making. At that time, 300,000 pageviews would have easily equaled my salary at my current job and then some. The Keen heavy hitters like Jeff and Maritza would have been freakin' rich! It was a time of great hopes.

But as REM put it... That was just a dream...

We all know how the internet went bust, and Keenspot had a few years where NO ONE made a dime. Now, though things are the best they've been. We're getting ads from some legit advertisers, and everyone making... a little. I'm averaging enough to take Susie out to a medium nice dinner every month. Yeah. Woo.

Ok, I know. I'm an artist. I'm only supposed to be interested in doing my comic for the love of it, and I shouldn't be doing it for the money, blah blah blah... but damn! Money's tight, and I've got a fair amount of debt eating at me. The 9 to 5 job just ain't cuttin' it.

So, bottom line. I plan on doing a few more pages as an "epilogue", and then take a 2-week hiatus. After that, Wandering Ones will go to a once-a-week schedule, maybe done regular comic style or, more likely the narrated "Prince Valiant" story style that Shin Kage went to.

This will give me time to look for more freelance work and work on a new comic that I've tinkering with, an expansion of my Walking Man character. I know some of you will get disgusted and stop reading, sorry. It's time for me to have a life again.

For those of you who want to stick, around, I'll try to keep giving you an interesting and fun adventure. Just at a little slower pace.

Best regards to you all... -Clint Hollingsworth

Latest blah blah 7-29-05

If you're wonderng why today's (7-29-05) strip is late, I'm having the week of the very rough ride. Susie's out of town at the Romance Writers of America Convention, and things have gone ding wacka hoy. (I apologize for whining in advance)

This week, we found out one of our little cat buddies was going out with Cancer. We were going to have him put down, but coming home on Tuesday, I found where he had gone out in the garage, lain down and passed on quietly. It was hard to take, but his passing seemed peaceful. But there's something awful about looking down at that little face, and seeing... nobody's home. It's just dead matter.

Of course, this has to happen during the last week of the month at work where we're very short handed and have tons to do.

But that's the least of the deal. On Wednesday, my mom went into the hospital for a badly infected shoulder. She's going to be in the hospital for a week at least, and right now she varies between being so drugged up she can't stay awake or writhing in pain. It's 8:30 pm, and I just got home from work and the hospital, so I have little left to give.

I think next week can only be better. For those of you who have emailed me and STILL not received a reply, please be patient. I try to answer all my non-spam email, but I'm just doing all I can to get the strip up. I'm just so FREAKIN' tired.

All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon.

Never his mind on where he was. Hmm?

What he was doing. Hmph.

Adventure. Heh! Excitement.Heh!

A Jedi craves not these things."

No, I haven't seen it yet.

First of all, there are now six pages of MOUNTAINWORLD up at Atlantis Studio.

For those of you who liked the Mystery Tracks, Brian Booth has some great tracking quizzes and while you're there check out the rest of the site.

For those of you who read my Scout Class report here's a little info on the Scout Pit.

One of the more enjoyable sites of solo adventure stories I've found is Eric Stoskopfs and another is Bill Hay's site.

And old Wandering One's friend Coyote Bob expands our horizon's at Coyote Science.

I had more, but I am so out of time. (Gotta work tomorrow and it is now midnight.)

Ghandi once said, "ALL of man's problems, stem from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone."

Latest blah blah 3-26-05

Wow, it's been since last September since I last "blah blahed". Time flies.

We've been in our new home since last November and it still feels... wierd.

The old place was 1300 sq. ft. and the new one is 2200 sq. ft., consequently, we have a couple of rooms with like... 2 pieces of furniture in them. The house, quite frankly is better than anything we ever expected to own, a 2 story house with 2.5 baths, 4 bedrooms and almost a full acre of land dropping down into a shallow undeveloped sagebrush and quail-filled canyon in East Wenatchee. (A definite Coyote alley)

Our payments are lower than at our old house though. :D Even though I grew up in this area, (though closer to the Cascades) it's still strange to look up and see this semi-desert with huge basalt cliffs behind our house.

I was worried before the move over here, but many months later, I haven't regretted it.

I've been trying to figure out if I want to journey to New Jersey again for the Scout Philosophy class at the Tracker School. Though I enjoyed the Scout Class in 2004, I have to admit the getting there, and the HUGE class sizes have put me off a bit from being enthusiastic for a speedy return. Instead, I'm thinking about Frank & Karen Sherwoods Survival Trek. A LOT closer to homeand a lot less money (especially with no travel expense to speak of).

Some interesting news... Some of you are probably familiar with the Mountainworld comic I've been working on forever, (150 years before the time of Shin Kage) but now you're going to be able to actually read the thing! I'll be posting a FULL COLOR page each week on the Atlantis Comics website starting... er... soon. They're still setting up the thing. More info as things get going.

An announcement: The Wandering Ones book is only about $180 bucks from being in the black (hey, it's only taken two years) so, if you by any chance could help a guy out or know someone who might like a copy or a store who might like to carry the book... I might actually start to get money from this thing! I hope to do a couple of things that might make me a little more money from Wandering Ones.

Since the CafePress store has been such a bust, I thought I might post an "ART FOR SALE" page featuring pages from the series that can be purchased. Prices will be quite reasonable.

I also hope to do a Recommended Reading section linking some of my favorite books through Amazon's Affiliate program.

(Sorry if it seems I've gone into "money grubber mode", but the comic is a lot of work, I took a pay cut to come over here and Wandering Ones makes me about... oh.. $35 to Forty bucks a month. )

Latest blah blah 9-06-04

Well, I've been working East of the Cascades for a month now, and even though Susie and I are sort of stuck in Transition Hell, I still am not regretting the decision. The job at the Wenatchee World is VERY busy. I'm working four days a week making ads for the paper's clients and one day a week I do the paper's own marketing. I haven't been bored yet either. The house sale and hunt now begins. (and we're able to buy a lot better house in Wenatchee than near Seattle.

I survived the Scout class, and if all goes well this week, I hope to post a report on the whole thing. You'll find out why I now don't consider myself too old and my realization that the character Ravenwing is NOT all that farfetched.

There is a possibilty I may have some paying comic work in the future. Before, I wasn't all that eager to jump on the bandwagon with this sort of thing, but since I am now making less in the day job, Wandering Ones may have to take a back seat for a while to work that actually makes me some money, rather than breaking even. We'll see.

Apologetica: to all you forum members who have valiantly been posting while I've only posted once every blue moon I want to say thanks for keeping things alive in there. I'm starting to get my feet under me now, so hopefully I can be more active again. And for those of you who emailed me, if I haven't gotten back, I cry your pardon, Gunslingers. I hope to catch up eventually.

Speaking of which, I recently finished Stephen King's two newest in his Dark Tower series of books. Wolves of the Calla and Song of Susannah. The first of the two is excellent, combining all the elements that readers have come to love in this series. Truth, honor and deadly skill. The 2nd of the two however, I didn't enjoy as much because King goes totally self indulgent and breaks that 4th wall nicely. Ptui!

Latest blah blah 6-30-04

OK, first things first, if you use Keenspot, Internet Explorer and a Windows PC, please see this thread.

BIG OLD CHANGES! (Coming in July)

Well, I mentioned that there were to be some big changes in my life, and while to some they may not be THAT big, they are a new chapter in my life.

On Monday 6-28, I gave my notice at my excellent and stable AAA Washington job. I will be moving back to the area where I grew up (on the Eastern side of the Cascades), to take a job with the local North Central Washington State paper, The Wenatchee World. This was a big decision for me; to stay where I was, stuck in a bit of a rut or to move to a slower paced lifestyle, with the potential for more creative freedom. (and less money). The people at both places are pretty excellent too!

I have a tough time making these sorts of decisions, but it REALLY looks like the universe is steering me in this direction. There were more "coincidences" that pointed in this direction than I have ever seen. One time I actually looked up at the sky and said "Abandoned subtlety, have we?"

So, with trepidation and excitement, I move to new horizons. I will be closer to my family, and living in the land of the Wandering Ones.

So, what does this mean to you? It is likely, that until I work out some of the details of getting the comic done, things may be a bit erratic as far as getting new pages up. I'll be trying to work a new job, help Susie find work over there and most horrifying of all, we'll be getting our house of 10 years ready to sell. OY! Add into that mix, the Tracker School Scout Class and July is going to be one wild month!

I'll keep things running as well as I can! (Everyone groans)

Shin Kagé, now what am I gonna do?
I am getting to the point in a couple weeks where I will be out of the early pre-drawn Shin strips. I am not sure what I'm going to do then. It may be posted on a "I'll notify when a new page is up" or I may just have to stop. I certainly can't afford to pay anyone to draw it.(I knew this day would come, I just didn't know it would come so soon!)

Latest blah blah 5-28-04

Once again, our current administration tries to do an end run around their enviromental responsibilities. See Washington State Senator Cantwell's response.

How Special! Now I'm diabetic. I suppose that's being a bit of a drama...er... king. My doctor just diagnosed me with early diabetes. I don't have to take insulin, but I have to start a new diet (I've already cut out about 90% of my sugary foods/drinks last December at the recomendation of my Naturopath) and I'm supposed to really start getting serious about excersise to bring up my LDL levels. I also have to prick my finger regularly for the glucometer. Phooey.

The first two years of my life, I was taken care of by my father, Bill Hollingsworth. He was sick with diabetes (exacerbated by a logging accident) and my mom was working to support us all. He died when I was two, leaving a gaping void in my life and personality. He was 32. I was fortunate, in that his friend Alf, married my mom and became a wonderful father to me back in '65.

Ironically, my (step) Dad is crippled and must walk with a cane. Double ironically, this was caused by... a logging accident (on the last hour of the last day before he was to retire) And some people find it odd that I went into a career in Graphic Design?

WANDERING ONES HOME ENDANGERED. The backgrounds that you see in Wandering Ones have a basis in fact. I grew up at the mouth of the Icicle Canyon, in Leavenworth Washington. (see pics here and here ) I pass by Scout's Roost every time I cross Blewett Pass.

Well, now, the land of the Wandering Ones is threatened. Professor Wick Haxton, of the University of Washington Nuclear Physics dept.wants to drill a two mile long tunnel under the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area from Icicle Canyon so that he can study neutrinos at his convenience. (Even though there are pre-made mines in S. Dakota that would work fine for his study, it's not convenient for him.)

To put the site in Leavenworth would literally cost millions, (and that sort of funding smells of the military to me). It would also alter a beautiful area that has existed for billions of years. All for the hubris of one man.

Want to learn more? Here's the anti-lab website. If you feel like taking any action, look here.

Personally, if you're in Washington State, you might get more uproar by sending a note to the Seattle Times..

From their site:

"You may mail, fax or e-mail your letter to the editor, but letters must include your full name (no initials), home address and daytime and evening telephone numbers for verification. If you have questions regarding your letter, please call (206) 464-2132."

E-mail: opinion@ seattletimes.com

Latest blah blah 5-14-04

By now, you've probably realized that I'm not the most talkative fellow you'll find. I update this news... thingie.. so erratically because often, I just don't have anything really to say. You'll find that many of my fellow Keenspotters now have livejournals, and the proliferation of blogs throughout the internet is simply astounding!

My journals usually just have tracks in them. Oh, and the weather for that day so I can have a better chance of aging said tracks.

So, having said that, here's what's new:

My sempai, Kris Wilder, is having another MARTIAL UNIVERSITY seminar in Bellevue Washington on May 22. If you're a martial artist in the Pacific Northwest, check it out. You could learn some cool stuff.

Some of you may know, that I was drawing Melpomene for Jamie. I don't recommend this comic for my younger readers, because there was lots of gore and nudity, but if you're an adult, you could sign up for Keenspot Premium for a month's worth and read the whole shebang. It was fun to draw, and it's really cool to see my pages in color, but I'll be honest with you. I'm really glad to have the 5 - 6 hours per week I spent on it back. (Now, maybe I can get out to the woods on Fridays again) Gotta admit though that Jamie Robertson of Clan of the Cats was great to work with.

There's a rumour that Mel might come out as a gray scaled Manga sized book.

At least one reader has complained of slowness with Internet Explorer, and testing it on my Mac at work, I find that it takes at least 25 seconds to load each page (grrrr!) and on Apple's Safari it takes about 5 seconds per page. I'm far from the only Keenspotter who has noticed it on their site, and poor GAV is unable to find the problem.

If you have a young and impressionable one in your household, Anne Timmons and Trina Robbins have a new paperback comic almost out for their character Go Girl. It's all ages and very well written and drawn. The new book is on Pre-order status.

Susie and I may be making some major lifestyle changes in the upcoming summer, but it's too early to tell you anything yet.

Ok, that's about as much as I can pad this.

Latest blah blah 3-26-04

It's been a busy few months here in 2004 land. My graphic production work for AAA has skyrocketed (usually at this time of year things are slow, but it's AAA Washinton/Inland's 100 year anniversary). I found time to work Kobudo with Sensei Schweizer last week and really got to tighten up my bo (staff) form, Cho No Kon. The kata comes a lot easier if you can do the two man version (without getting konked).

As busy as I've been, I'm happy that I'm still keeping up (for the most part) with WO and Mel. I also have a 5 page WO story due to Keen's CEO Chris Crosby April 1st for Keenspotlight 2004 (Keenspot's Free Comic Book Day book). I'm scrambling to keep up, but I've found it's helpful to do the story small and then redraw later at full size (the Wandering One's pages are 11x17).

I got the sales numbers for the Wandering Ones: Ghost Wind from Teri the other day. Out of 1100 printed, they've sold 96. Ouch. Hopefully Chris will be able to convince CDS to distribute the book to bookstores. (Though the fact it's not manga sized is killing the chances)

Timberwood, in the forums has asked an interesting question, "If there was a Wandering Ones movie, Who would you want to be in the cast?"

A while back, I mentioned the Tracker Knife from TOPS knives, (lust, lust) well, it didn't take long for someone to make a mediocre knock off....

The days are getting longer here in the Pacific Northwest. The eagles are setting up to nest (hopefully they won't run the herons off this year) and I'm seeing lots of Robins, Killdeers and (out at my river spot) lots of elk tracks. I love watching the area just explode with growth and many the edible plants are starting to send out shoots. I just need to remember to take my Actifed.

I don't know if any of you are interested, but if you've ever wanted to learn about nature in a mentor like program, you might want to check out Wilderness Awareness School's Residential Program...

Got my airline tickets for the Scout Class, $313 round trip. Not bad! I think I paid almost $500 airfare in 94 for the Philosphy class! July's still a long way off, but I'm getting excited!

My little black cat Anastasia is getting more an more sickly. She's got to be at least fourteen years old now (we got her from the humane society in '92- she was pregnant and they didn't know it). Her breathing has been rough for a while, and I'm starting to fear the worst.

Latest blah blah 1-29-04

I hope everyone's new year is going well. I've been extremely busy at work, so if you sent me an email, I hope to get all my correspondence caught up eventually.

BTW: One of my favorite webcomics, Zebra Girl had been added to Keenspot, (which I and a few other lobbied strongly for). The first strip is here....

By now, we're well into the Mad Scout story and coming up on the home stretch, and I'm still not sure if I'll go back to strip (horizontal) format or not. I'll have to see how I feel. The freedom that the vertical format offers is seductive, but it takes a bit more time with each page.

At the end of the current story, I intend to have a sketchbook and mystery track week.

Over at Shinkage.com, the final duel between Xandro and Shin is about to take place. Don't expect it to last long. I actually am drawing a new page (first Shin sequential in several years) just to lengthen the climatic fight.

Susie and I will be at the Emerald City Comicon on February 29, if you're in the Northwest. We'd love to meetcha!

I've been off Pop since about mid December, and am trying to get off sugar, except for the occasional reward (sound like sugar's a recreational drug? You betcha!) There have been some beneficial effects, though I'm tending to actually eat more when the cravings attack. Consequently, my weight has stayed about the same. Now to work on lowering my caloric intake or increasing my exercise level. (my cholesterol level dropped 70 point with a little herbal vitamin help)

I've sent in my deposit to the Tracker School for July's class. Thanks again to those who've helped. You are deeply appreciated. Now to start saving money like a miser.

HEY! Somebody sent me a fanfic of a storyteller telling young'uns about the Before Time, and I can't remember who it was. (With Age comes Wisdom, if you can remember it) Help! Storm Crow? NRPAX?

Want to learn about making a webcomic and the ins and outs of KeenSPACE? The Jaded's Phalanx has your answers...

Another year's gone by and I'm older. :/ Seems like I had more to say, but senility prevents. : o

Latest blah blah 12-13-03

I wanted to take a moment to thank those of you who've been able donate a little to my Tracker School trip. I'm hoping that I'll be inspired by going back to the source, Tom Brown Jr.

Well, probably by now you've noticed the different format during this "Mad Scout" story. To be honest with you, the horizontal strip format was getting difficult to work in, and working in the vertical "comic book" format gives me a lot more room to play. I also, when this arc is done, hope to reprint it in a small press comic version to sell at conventions to promote the webcomic.

So, what do you think of the format change? Send me an email or post on the message boards. I'd love to hear your opinion. Also, I'm looking for new ways to promote the strip. If you have an idea about it, let me know. If you frequent message boards where it might be appropriate to mention Wandering Ones, I sure wouldn't object.

You'll notice on the homepage, that there is now a storyline dropdown menu. If you want to find a specific arc sometime, check it out.

NEW T-SHIRT: For those of you who like Shin Kage, I've made a new Tshirt featuring this art on the front and a Katana logo I did with the word SHUGYOSHA on the back (warrior student). I make about $2 on each shirt, and hopefully, if enough people buy I'll be able to get that $22 finally that CafePress has owed me for a year. If any of you have ideas for items to put in the store, let me know.

As I mentioned last time, I've been trying to get out in the woods at least once per week. Last week when I went to my special river spot, I found the old Elk trail just about demolished by downed trees from the huge windstorm we had that week. One old hemlock tree had uprooted from right next to the trail and left a 5 foot deep crater under itself (from the roots) in the middle of the trail. It's actually fine with me. I still can get there via my other routes, but the casual hikers will probably turn back. I like some solitude. There's nothing like sitting by a little fire under the edges of a rainy cedar.

Gosh. That's about all I have to say today. I guess that's why I don't update this very often. Tall, dark, handsome and a man of few words. :p

Latest blah blah 10-23-03

Again, not much of strong portent newswise, so this truly is just me blathering.

I've been (under Dr. Susie's orders) blocking out Friday afternoons as my "get out in the woods" time. Susie has made me promise to get out there on Fridays for HER sanity. Seems I'm a lot nicer and mellower over the weekend if I make some time for myself to track, to meditate, and to...well... nap in the forest.

When meditating, i go to my "inner camp" as I learned at Tom's Philosophy class, and sometimes I have difficulty holding it in my mind, (I never said I was a great student), but last week, it came easily. And to my surprise, there was someone waiting for me, someone I didn't recognize who felt very familiar. That one told me a few things, the most important of which was to spend as much time with my dad as I can.

I don't know how much of this is just generated by my subconcious or how much is "otherworldly"(I had some freaky stuff happen at the class at the school) but either way, the things said were wise, and I intend to listen.

In other news, I recently had a review in the Comic Buyer's Guide. I had sent a copy to Nathan Melby there, but oddly enough, the book was reviewed by a fellow named Jim Johnson. Ol' Jim was not impressed. Though he said I possessed raw drawing talent, the "Stiff facial expressions", "inconsistent inks" and meandering storyline left him cold. Grade C-. It brings to mind the chorus from that old Ricky Nelson song, Garden Party.

Speaking of drawing, those of you following Shin Kage, might be interested to know that while the story is basically the same as when I first published the thing in '83, I have been rewriting the dialog. I just can't help it!

Oddly, I've never heard anything back on the Mountainworld Proposal. Someone suggested I submit it for consideration to Graphic Smash. I might've done it as a Keen Premium thing, but Keen still hasn't really worked out how to figure revenue for that.

ALSO, if you hadn't noticed, I went ahead and put a PAYPAL donate button on the front page to help me get to the Tracker School next year. If you can help, and want to, I'd thank you kindly. If you're living on Top Ramen, don't impoverish yourself (further), I'll get there somehow, I can be inventive.

Lastly, I've coded a storyline menu for the home page, (it should appear below the copyright info) that will hopefully appear as soon as Darren has an opportunity to make it work through that Voodoo that he does.

That's about it, thanks for reading!

Latest blah blah 9-18-03

Well, not much actual news... Shin Kage has started to update again with a "new" story. You can start it here.

Ben S. did a humorous little parody of a recent strip. All I can say is, those Reich guys need more fiber in their diet!

I received my Wandering Ones proposal back from Dark Horse, a very polite “not what we’re looking for”. I haven’t heard back on the Mountainworld proposal.

Susie and I are coming up on the 1 year wedding anniversary on October 5, but this weekend we’ll be visiting my folks in Leavenworth, and coming back across the Mountains on Tuesday. This of course means I have to hustle this week to meet my comic obligations (all self imposed) for next week.

We’re just about to the end of this story cycle, I hope you enjoyed it. Today’s strip, according to my somewhat shakey counting, is # 694. Just 6 strips from 700. My hope is to end the NEXT big arc at 1000, and then reevaluate the strip and wether I have the fire to continue it.

If I do, it will probably go to a vertical comic book style format, appearing a couple pages per week. It’ll be written comic book style so that it can someday be repackaged as a graphic novel.

I’ve gotten some minor flack about some of my drawing lately, (kids, cars, backgrounds or lackthereof) and I can only reiterate what I‘ve said all through the run. I could do so much better if wasn’t doing Wandering Ones AFTER working 45 - 50 hours a week for AAA. The honest truth is I don’t ever see that happening. The profits from the web are just too small.

I’ll keep trying to improve though, I’m not very satisfied with some of the art I’ve done lately either.

I’m also hoping to go to the Tracker School next year for either the Scout or the Advanced Awareness classes. I’ve been wanting to go for a long time, and a message board poster took me to task for writing about scouts without actually having been to that class. Though , to be truthful, the Advanced Awareness class sounds much more appealing to my 43 year old bones. It’ll all be moot if I can’t raise the funds, ‘cause I’ve sworn off the credit cards. I’m within about $3000 of being debt free, (if you don’t count the mortgage) and I don’t want to re-dig myself into that hole! Don’t be surprised if you see a Paypal button on the home page one of these days (temporarily)

My friend and expert martial artist, Kris Wilder has just published his first book. I’m dyin’ to read my copy! (see below)

Latest news 7-22-03

We're back from San Diego 2003, but neither Susie and I could say we're at our optimum performance level. This was the biggest Comicon yet, beating last year's 80,000 people handily. There were so many things that I really liked, but the incredible cacaphony of noise, sound and titilation has left my brain feeling scoured. I feel like I've been through the wringer, and having to go to work the next day for ten hours didn't help. I'm beat!

It was incredible. It was so big, that normal mortals can't take it in.

Celebrity sightings: Well, the gentleman in the Lav next to me was Ray Bradbury, but somehow at that time I didn't think introducing myself all that appropriate...

The man sounding like a carnival huckster next to a booth I was frequenting turned out to be Stan Lee.

I sat 25 feet away from the most of the casts of Star Gate and Farscape (at different times).

Everyone in the known universe was trying to sell a comic, movie or toy there. (The neediness level at this con is huge). Penthouse pets wanted you to talk to them at their booths, and compared to some of the gals wandering the floor they were dressed conservatively.

Several Keenspot cartoonists made pitches at a USA Network representative in the small Keen booth, but he didn't seem interested in anything we had. He took the Wandering Ones proposal with him, but he told me they already had a post-apocalyptic thing in the works.

I met lots of fine people, Kuma, Amy, Kevin Brown of Captain Mike, Jeremie Lederman from illustrationist.com (Crikey! Someone give this guy some work, he's good!) and many others who bought books, asked for sketches or just plain made some interesting conversation. I wish I was better at names... There were some absolutley wonderful folks that came down from Boardiecon with Maritza.

I was on the Keenspot panel which devolved into a revenue statement for the most part. I did get to get in a few words edgewise though.

I bought the latest Finder trade paperback from Carla "Speed" McNeil (probably one of the absolute best indy comics ever made). I bought a page of art from Anne Timmons , A nice pencil work of Xena. Bought the new Paradigm Shift Trade from Dirk Tiede.
I also got a very nice print from Terese Nielsen, a very talented fantasy artist. Plus a few other little joys.

I don't have any photos ready, (maybe later) but here are a few places with pics to give you an idea of the chaos.... (courtesy of Mile High Comics)
Friday

Saturday

Latest news 7-04-03
Well, as of this writing, it's the Fourth of July, 2003 (the years keep rushing by). I hope that you and yours are having (or have had) a great time and didn't lose any fingers. Susie and I are heading to Leavenworth for a party/BBQ with all my relatives and I'm looking forward to the R&R.

RE: The store - I know that I said I was going to take it down last message, but Cafepress clarified it's terms a bit and they're not so stinky now. They still way overcharge but until I find a demand for Wandering Ones stuff (HA!) I'll probably stick with them. I'm notoriously lazy.

The San Diego Comicon - (July 16 - 20) Susie and I will be down in San D. representing Keenspot.Our booth is 2203. Supposedly I'm to be on a panel, Saturday around 4:30 pm to 6. Can't imagine what I'd talk about but if you're there, maybe you can prompt me. I'm prepping a Wandering Ones proposal for Dark Horse Comics, and I've already sent them one for Mountainworld. Keep your fingers crossed.

We took our first back packing trip of the year to the Washington coast at Lake Ozette. We hiked out the 3.3 miles to the beach and camped, seeing lots of bald Eagles. I got to use my bird language skills when i noticed a Song Sparrow making a racket over something in the high grass. I followed his line of movement, and positioned myself in the path. Sure enough a young raccoon came out about 3 feet from me, and was a bit surprised. I also met a young buck coming down the trail, he looked at me, I looked at him, he squinted, I squinted and then I stepped back off the trail. He walked by about 2 feet from me.

Everything was great until Susie got the Latte madness, hiked the 3.3 miles back out to The Last Resort and got the big gulp latte. Fortunately for me, she also brouught back sandwiches for lunch and hot dogs for dinner. We had both forgotten how lousy freeze dried food tastes (Bleah!). Her total miles for the weekend? Thirteen!

Latest news 6-06-03
Susie and I had a great honey moon, more on that below. Some of you may have emailed me, and I should be getting back to you soon. I need to sort the spam first. Here are a few comic-oriented things...

On June 25th I will be taking down the Wandering Ones store. Cafepress’ terms of service have just gotten too odious for a low volume store like mine ($25 per month fee for being under $25 in commission for one thing) so, if you ever thought about getting a cup or a shirt, now would be a good time.

Upcoming projects: I would very much like to do a Wandering Ones calendar for 2004 (or 2005). I was thinking that Wolfrun’s Scout trials (becoming a scout instead of an apprentice) would make a good twelve page story (done in Prince Valiant format). If you think it’s a good idea, email me and let me know.

Melpomene hasn’t updated much while I was away, but I have new script from Jamie, so there will be a new page up hopefully this weekend!

The western strip I did as a filler will be published in Launch magazine, a small press anthology soon.

The Houdini strip I did for Prophecy magazine should be on the newstands in mid-September.

I’m also trying to put together a Keenspot Premium homepage, but that’s a whole different can of worms...

A neat (though brief) article about Tom Brown Jr. finding a lost teenager is here...

THE HONEYMON IN KAUAI
Susie and I had a great time, and have come back fairly refreshed (though she did threaten to get back on the plane and return to the islands...).

We stayed at an inexpensive (for Hawaii) place in Poipu, and snorkeled everyday. Those of you expecting me to now be a tan God will be disappointed though. I used SPF 70 while I was out there the whole time.

My goal was to see a green sea turtle and I saw one everytime we went snorkeling. (One was as large as a coffee table! I also was splashed (3 times) by a spinner dolphin near the isle of Ni’ihau and Susie had an interesting conversation with a large monk seal out there also. I may post some photos, but I need to first edit out the all the “white whale” shots.

5/16/03

Some of you, who've been with the comic for a while know that I was married last October 5th, but, unfortunately, due to work issues and family related health problems we have never been able to go on the honeymoon. Well, Susie and I are making up for it NOW! We've been saving and saving and on May 18th, we're going to Kauai for 12 days. We found a small recommended group of condos near Poipiu, and we're just going to melt into sunny Hawaiian sands.

So what's gonna happen with the strip while I'm gone? Of course, any organized cartoonist would have started calling in favors from all the people he's done guest strips for, but as Han Solo once said..."Hey! it's me!"

So, next week, Wandering Ones will consist of a Monday Proto Wandering Ones page (imagine Ravenwing as a Blond elf), and the rest of the week will be the pages I did for Keenspotlight 2002 and 2003. (if you saw 2002 in the Gallery already, sorry). The following week will be more sketchbook mining, with a funny zen strip on Monday, and I don't know what else following it. The week after that, barring disaster, we'll return to our regular strip.

Oh, my Shin Kage strip is updating Tuesday and Thursdays through May. So far, we've just got out of the prologue. This is a great time to come on board!

See you in June (hopefully, said the nervous flyer).

4/15/03

For those who like old newspaper strip (which Wandering Ones emulates), take a look at these two old strips from the Cisco Kid! The bar is raised a lot higher than I can jump...

I went to see The Hunted with Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro a few weeks ago and I liked it a lot. The martial arts scenes were very well done, and when they'd do the Tracking and Survival scenes, they were right out of the Tracker School classes. If you can't handle violence, avoid it, but if you like suspense and Wandering Ones type stuff, I recommend it. And.... being a knife nut, I'm clutching myself with an iron grip not to buy the very expensive (as in costing more than a plane ticket to the San Diego Comicon) Tracker Knife (which I can't afford).

We received the financials from Keenspot for 2002, and they weren't very big but we were going through tough times then. I expect the next report will be much better. Still, I doubt it will ever match the amounts spent on the last two comicons. On a lighter note, Chris Crosby has mentioned something about a distribution deal with a major bookstore distributor. Maybe those issues of Ghost Wind will finally get out of Keen's warehouse.

This week I start doing the uncolored art for Melpomene. I'm looking forward to having some extra time on the weekend, but I'm realizing that I'll have a tendency to really put in a lot of detail now. Gotta control myself though, my grass is a foot tall!

Seems like half the people I know have been laid off. Hope our administration Fat Cats decide to do something for the regular people soon. Taking over the world's an expensive bit of business.

3/26/03

Well, it's been a while since I've updated this!

Susie is recovering pretty well from her surgery, and my mom is still doing radiation treatments. Both seem to be doing OK, though my mom is tired. Only 8 more treatments to go! It was an eye-opener to me, tending Susie, just how much you have to do to take care of an invalid. The worst part was the time in the hospital, but there was plenty to do at home too. She was tired, I was tired (but my abdomen didnÕt hurt, the poor kid)

Most of you know I've been drawing Melpomene for Keenspot Premium, and to be honest, though fun I was beginning to burn out on the 6-8 hours per page I was using to create the art. Jamie has come to my rescue! Starting with the beginning of the new chapter in about 3 weeks I'll be doing the pages like standard black and white art and he will be coloring the pages with the rich color he uses on Clan of the Cats. Halelujah!

I've been threatening for a long time to start a second strip using the pages I created for APA 5. Well, as soon as Darren can get a little time to activate the scripts, shinkage.com may be a reality. At this time, I just have to reletter the art and find a colorist.

Speaking of Darren, he and Jeff Darliington have been working on rendering down the raw data from Keenspot accounts into actual monetary numbers. In other words, we may get checks in April! I havenÕt received a check since about May of 2001 ($5). IÕm not na•ve enough to think that it will offset the costs of going to San Diego, but still, any payment's better than none.

It looks like we may actually get to go on the honeymoon in May! (I'll beleive it when it happens) :p

12/17/02

Ok, I've picked myself up out of the dust and I'm giving that mean ol' rawboned Cayuse a dirty look.
I'll be back in that saddle Mister. Just you wait.

Artwork has been removed from Fireplace (under threat of death by Susie), new strips up tomorrow.

Pass this by if you can't stand whining.

Just found out the the trade paperback of my Wandering Ones strip has been rejected by Diamond Comic Distributors (the only major comic shop distributor left in the US).

The bad news: Diamond has officially decided against carrying GHOST WIND. The brand managers decided it "doesn't have much sales potential."

They jumped on the Exploitation Now paperback since there's plenty of nudity and some tentacle rape.

I have no idea (at this time) if it was the story concept (futuristic tracker scouts) or the fact that it was a strip reprint... I'll try to give more later. Right now I just feel like a bloody spot in the snow. I feel like taking the 15 or so pages i've done of an original Wandering Ones story (non-web) and having a nice warm fire and a lot of wine.

I'm finding it difficult to even work on the webcomic any more.

10/18/02

The wedding went smashingly and yours truly even went out and danced! More than once!
It was a great chance to reconnect with many friends and relatives that I hadn't seen in a long time and for a recluse like me it was a reminder to remember friends and family.

My little Texas gal got out on the floor and showed everyone how dancin' is done! Pretty soon there should be some wedding pics up at www.benmangels.com .

Susie and I had spent a little time in sweet little hotel over the local Starbucks in my home town of Leavenworth, Washington and enjoyed it but the honeymoon won't happen til February.

The rough part started when I got back to work on the following Wednesday. I work at AAA's Washington club, and since my fellow graphics person Beth is out on maternity, I'm the "emergency holographic web guy" for Washington state and North Idaho. A pretty big responsibility. Monday, Beth had her baby but... our lead artist's mom passed away the same day. I came back to complete chaos. If you emailed me and haven't heard back that's why. I'm slowly working my way through the stack.

Things are starting to get under control now, and this weekend I'm going to my first martial art seminar in a couple of years (Matyoshi Kobudo)

9/25/02

My fiance and I, a week and a couple of days away from our wedding were just informed by the Harp/Guitar duo that were to play at the wedding (and whom we've had what we thought was a minor dispute) just cancelled on us. They had made promises at the outset that they weren't in the end willing to come through on and in the end, when pressed, decided to be vindicative about being called on it.

Nice folks in an Atilla the Hun sort of way.

Could someone be so kind as to shoot me in the head? Thanks. I 'preciate it.

9/05/02

The wedding is approaching like a freight train and things keep trying to spin out of control, but we're lockin' them down.

If you emailed me in the last few days and I haven't replied, sorry. Things are just crazy! I intend to put the wedding invite up on the site during the week of the actual event. I think you'll be entertained.

8/27/02

I'm going to be working on a 1 page a week collaboration with Jamie Robertson (Clan of the Cats) called MEL for Keenpremium. a (COTC SPINOFF).

I've committed to do it, not only because COTC was like the first webcomic I ever found but also because I really need to stretch my art wings a little. My intention is that Wandering Ones will keep the same raggedy-ass lack of a schedule that it currently runs on without interruption. Fear not.

You can read more at http://forums.keenspot.com/viewtopic.php?t=42969

8/13/02

Mac's working fine. Invitation goes to print tomorrow. I'm catching up on all the things I've let slide (including mowing my lawn before my yard starts grabbing small animals off the street). If you've e-mialed me recently and I haven't gotten back to you, I will.

8/6/02

Ok, The mac is working and thanks to the folks that emailed me ideas. I figured out how to reboot from the CD and was able to use a disk first aid utility to resurrect the hard drive. I have backed everything up again since that noise it was making doesn't fill me with confidence even now. So far though everything is still working.

If you hadn't noticed, the Wandering Ones: Ghost Wind reprint book is now available and, with complete lack of modesty, I'll say right now it looks GOOD! (See the cover below next to the newsbox) Published by Keenspot, it reprints the first 365 strips through the Ghost Wind saga. We're looking at getting actual comic shop distribution for it, but right now, it's only available through KEENSWAG.

The wedding invitation should be finished this weekend, and mailed early next week. I'll post a copy of it on the site somewhere the week before if I haven't had a nervous breakdown by then ;) I've been roughing out the pencils for next week during lunch, so I might be able to get 5 strips up (one for each day next week) by Sunday. (assuming the invite is done).

Thanks for your patience this week, I've been a bit sketchy at updating this summer, but that should eventually correct itself.