Hey, before I get into the acronyms, huge congrats to our cameo appearance stars Brian and his fiance Patia, who happen to be getting married this weekend! Coincidentally, they met on New Year's Eve, so this strip is extra fitting for them!

I was going to have Hazel add "You have my blessing" in panel one, but it didn't fit. ;) Anyway, you have mine, which I hope is a step up from a blessing from Hazel. ;)

FAQs!
Sorry it took me a full week to reply to all the questions that have been asked about the ending of GWS! I’ve collected the most common queries, and answered them here. I hope this covers everything! But if not, feel free to ask for more details in the comments below.

Will you still be doing conventions?

YES. Are you kidding? How else would I get to see my Con Husband, Randy?!

I may be skipping TCAF this year (they’re requesting that exhibitors skip a year if they don’t have new work, in order to give space to other creators), but aside from that, I’ll still be doing conventions, signings, Free Comic Book Day (did you know there’s now a comic book shop in my hometown of Shepherdstown, West Virginia? It's so new it's not even on the website yet!), and other events throughout the years. Besides, I’ve still got at least two softcover collections of GWS to put out. 

Speaking of which…

What about GWS books 1-5? Will you be re-releasing them in color?

I promised myself I wouldn’t talk about it right away, but… let's let the cat out of the bag. I’ll be releasing an omnibus of the first 1,000 strips in full color, ETA late 2016. Laeluu is working very hard to color everything in time for the release in two years. :)

That said, if you’d like a copy of volumes three or four, you should jump over to TopatoCo now and pick them up before they sell out forever, like volumes 2 and 5 have! I won't be re-releasing the old books once they're sold out.

Will you keep the old black-and-white strips up on the website?

Yes, definitely. And if I can find a way to do it without being a bother, I’ll also link to the original black-and-white strip every time a new color strip is uploaded, so you can quickly see the difference. I’m a sucker for that sort of thing. :)

What about your Patreon? Have you been lying to your patrons all along?

Nope! Every bit of money that’s being donated through Patreon is going toward my new computer (which SHOULD be delivered today, fingers crossed!), Laeluu’s coloring, and trivial things like sustenance and heating bills because my studio gets very very cold on weeks like the one we’re about to have. 

Once the strip has ended, I’ll need to tweak my Patreon message a bit. The donations will still go toward paying Laeluu, only moreso, as she’ll be coloring at a way higher volume than she has over the past two years. But they’ll also go toward my own experimentation in art, and the behind-the-scenes extras for patrons will include insight into the progress I’ve been making. I’m sort of relying on Patreon patrons to be my accountability partners along this journey, as I’ll owe you sneak peeks of the new artwork I’m making, which means I absolutely MUST be making new artwork. :)

That said, if you’re uncomfortable with the idea that my Patreon pledges will soon be used to draw things that aren’t always GWS-related, PLEASE don’t pledge! I started a Patreon because a lot of people wanted to contribute to my expenses (bless y'all), because I wanted to share more photos with die-hard fans and aspiring creators, and because I could use help paying for my colorist. If none of those things interest you, please feel free to drop your pledges once the strip ends! 

Are you taking commissions? Could you illustrate my graphic novel?

I'm not taking commissions until the last of the remaning few overdue commissions I owe people are finished (some of them date back to 2007!), but if I do finish them, I may take commissions later this year! It'll be on a first come, first served basis, and you'll hear about it first here in the blog.

Overall, however, I'm taking this break to practice and experiment, so if I take commissions, I probably won't take very many! (Assuming I don't go broke by the end of this year!) I don't see myself illustrating other people's stories anytime soon, either, as I've got a lot of my own stories in the works to illustrate.

I think that's it! If you have any other questions please feel free to ask them below. 

FLA!
HEY FLORIDA! You poor, neglected state. I'm waiting to hear back from a comic book shop in Tampa, but it sounds like I'll be doing a signing on Sunday, January 18th in the late afternoon/evening. Check back for details!