I just wanted to give you guys a heads up on the status of issue 4 of the Time Being. We’re currently fixing up all the little things that niggled at us as we put out the pages every week such as faces that just weren’t right, eyelines that were off, props I forgot to draw on pages, lines of dialogue that could be tweaked etc.  We’ll be doing that with all this free time that our guest arc gives me (oh boy are you guys in for a treat!). The book will then be available from blackboox.net and we’ll probably be having a launch for those in Melbourne, and possibly New York despending on what Jen is doing.

We’d also like to trial ebooks very soon so if you want to spend a little less but not have a hard copy we’ll make that available to you. Let us know what you think. I don’t own a fancy iPad so i’m not sure how excited people are about reading comics on their tablets.

Finally a few people have mentioned they’ll wait for the collection of the Time Being however sadly there are no plans at present for such a thing. Self publishing is an incredibly expensive thing to do and putting together a book that would dawrf the size of the first two volumes is out of our league so unless we can get a publisher on board the floppies are the way to go at the moment. Maybe down the road but please don’t hold your breath.

Meanwhile I thought i’d share with you a potential cover for the last issue. We’re still playing with a few ideas.

For those that miss the text under the comic this week’s page (and the rest of this arc) is drawn by the incredibly talented Arran McKenna. Arran brings a wonderful sense of colour and fun to his art which hints at his training in animation. You can see some of his stuff here.

Character Animation Showreel 2011 from AzzaMckazza on Vimeo.

Many years ago, before I became the cool popular chap you all imagine me to be (and I assure you your imagination if anything doesn’t do my coolness justice) I used to do a bunch of musical theatre. For those who followed the Diamond Valley theatre crowd you’ll give a faint smile as you remember my star turns as dentist patient in Little Shop of Horrors, Kenickie in Grease and who could forget my pony-tailed Kralahome in The King and I. Wow I hear you think. Yes. The Kralahome!

They were great times and the sense of camaraderie forged with the cast was made in a way that those who don’t perform will unfortunately never really understand. Every night these people share with you the panic as you weave across the stage, hitting marks that other rely on. They share the highs at the end of the night too. The adrenaline stays in you for hours after the show and it is in part this that gave me an appreciation for sci-fi like Star Trek. It happened to be on late at night when I had nowhere to go but couldn’t sleep.

At the end of a show run there’s the tradition of an after party and those of my youth were filled with excess in the way that only teen parties can be. Booze is consumed in quantities that is only understandable once you remember nobody at these parties needed/could to drive home. One party saw me consume a full bottle of tequila and vomit in our poor hosts potted plants. The only consolation was at least I hadn’t thrown up in their pool like one crew member had. Sorry about that Mrs. Branagan.

Anyway as I got older and had more and more of these parties they took on another tone for me. While others rushed to prove themselves the craziest I just wanted to enjoy the time with these people. You see after the brightness of shared experience faded from our minds the cast who were so close for 2 or 3 weeks reverted to their disparate lives and a sense of melancholy would sweep over me without the regular rush of endorphins I’d gotten each night.

The reason I tell you these shameful secrets of a woefully nerdy past (and that’s coming from a grown man with comic collection) is because this week has felt similar to those post show lulls. I’ve become accustomed to feeling the frantic pressure of a weekly strip as Jen’s script pushed me, as well as the rush of pride (and relief) I hit “publish” on the comic on Mondays. It’s been strange to feel the phantom pull of a strip that isn’t waiting. I’m trying to keep that energy going. I’m working hard on laying out book four. Today I began work on a cover for the book that really excited me and I answered e-mails that were long past due a reply.

Anyway the take away message I want to impart to you is if you’re involved in a creative endevour  put everything into it, do the best you can and don’t rush it, because as stressful as it can feel sometimes to really push yourself, you’ll miss the high of doing it after it’s finished.

Oh and belated thank you to those performers. I didn’t appreciate you while I knew you.