News Archive
With the 2022 website update, I've gotten together an awful lot of ancient news-posts; a few years of them are archived below. These are in reverse chronological order, and we're just going to have to forgive the possible broken links and formatting in the older posts.
October 28, 2024 HEyyy folks. New scene up today and the next several are coming together well; I’m happy with this.
My new horror graphic novel THE LAST DELIVERY is up on the Iron Circus store now, if you’d like to get it directly from them. Weird grimy apocalyptic little book!! It is different from my other stuff in a lot of ways but I like it!
Podcast Reminder, also. I’ll do another of these someday soon. thanks for reading farewell
October 14, 2024 Ok back on track... next scene is inked... I am going to try to get ahead with this thing; I’m pretty excited about the upcoming material.
Some new episodes of the Flat Art Show podcast recently that I’m very happy with... I don’t at all intend to stick to the over-ambitious update frequency I’ve ended up with for this first month-- maybe another in a few weeks; I’ve got some more episodes coming together. Exciting to have a new medium to mess around with, I’d been wanting to do this for a long time. These go up on soundcloud, youtube, and theoretically on spotify but spotify tells me they’re having some problem with syncing so i dunno. These PLATFORMS man. Anyway I think these are pretty great in-depth conversations, and they don’t really rely on particular knowledge of the work of any of the people involved.
October 7, 2024 Hate to skip an update but it was impossible!! Next one up on Patreon in a couple days, and public next Monday.
Western North Carolina is still suffering enormously from climate catastrophe and long-term institutional neglect-- please check out Beloved Asheville.
OCTOBER 7 Flood NYC for Palestine. Telegram t.me/wolprotest
September 16, 2024 OK COMIC’S BACK. I just got back from SPX via BUS as I write this and am kind of frazzled exhausted. Lovely exciting to be there and see so many people and so much wild and fascinating work. I am looking forward to making things, designing books, etc. You should consider reading some Grayson Bear, or Liz Suburbia, or Lonnie Garcia.
Anyway the next show I am tabling at is MICE in Boston. If you’re around.
Finally returning to the Noc business in the comic after around 100 pages. I’ve been consistently shuffling the placement of some stuff throughout this book but this feels like a good moment for this to me. I am excited to work with him in this new context I hope you like it.
September 2, 2024 Hey folks I did a first episode of a podcast-like project called FLAT ART SHOW; it is a talk with cartoonist KC Green and you can listen to it here. I’ve been wanting to do a low-artifice interview podcast like this with other artists in fields nearer and closer to my own; I have some plans but nothing rigid or obligatory but I hope you get something out of it.
I won a Reuben remember that I just want that to be on the front page a little longer lol
Starting teaching 3rd semester real soon... Going to SPX real soon... My ambitions of springing the first 3V book on that show and having nothing else at my table were not to be, but I will have some cool stuff. The gears are moving again...
August 26, 2024 3rd Voice just won a Reuben Award!!! Really lovely and exciting, thank you to the National Cartoonists Society. It is gratifying to have this thing that’s been my whole life for 2 years recognized! Thank you for reading.
August 19, 2024 Heyy we’re almost at 500 pages of this comic. Thank you for reading it!! Did you know I’ve been putting occasional secret world-internal images and other ephemera up on this website? The discord has been finding them. Just an attempt to do something interesting with this space!!! Now that we’re in this much-talked-about era of internet wherein no-one goes to a website anymore. How many people will ever read this little news post? 4 or 5 probably?
SPX in Bethesda MD is coming up soon. I mean it’s in DC, it’s on the DC subway line, why don’t we just say it’s in DC. Going to have a modest amount of books including the new one (which is not up on the iron circus store but I assume will be soon). I have been tabling at this show for a long time and I love it and I highly recommend attending if you are able. SEE YOU
July 22, 2024 Hello... chugging along with this thing... I have thumbnailed almost to page Five Hundred... I am still nervous about this second book hitting and being engaging to people but I’m happy with how it is going moment-to-moment. Whats up with you.
June 19, 2024 Comic is back, did you see. Some more new elements being introduced; I am trying to be mindful of how everything’s rolled out and keep it from being TOO opaque. Anyway getting excited about 2nd Passage; feels like it is coming together in ways I did not fully foresee.
Signing on Sunday for The Last Delivery went very well. I really appreciate folks coming and talking and hanging out. Here is a middling-quality recording of a bit of that. I hadn’t done that sort of thing in years-- I think since the Order of Tales book came out, when I had a release thing at excellent comic shop Bergen Street Comics may she rest in peace. Anyway as I said we’ll do it again whenever that first self-published 3V book happens. The Last Delivery is AVAILABLE along most normal book-purchasing channels.
June 10, 2024 Hey no update this week; last one was quite long and I am scrambling a little. Some more dev art at the bottom of the 3V index page. Thank you!!! For reading!!
THIS SUNDAY at Sea&Soil in Brooklyn NYC, A BOOK RELEASE EVENT for The Last Delivery, a new horror graphic novel I have made. I’m gonna be set up with a bunch of copies of the book and some prints and originals and stuff, would love to see you if you’re able to come!!! Around 3:00 I’ll talk a bit about the book and do a Q&A thing!!!! Book is officially out on June 11; Iron Circus Comics.
May 20, 2024 ITEM! 3rd Voice, that big internet comic I have been making, just got nominated for an Eisner Award. This is a huge thing I am having trouble wrapping my head around. It is lovely to have it recognized by one of our big institutions; I appreciate the nomination so much!!!! Voting is open for industry people; I encourage you to do so though the money in my category is emphatically on Lore Olympus. Thank you Eisner judges.
ITEM! My horror graphic novel The Last Delivery is finally almost out. If you are in BROOKLYN NEW YORK or environs, please join me on SUNDAY, JUNE 16, at SEA & SOIL, a sandwich shop at 102 President Street, at 2 or 3 o’clock, for A BOOK RELEASE EVENT. I will have a bunch of copies of the book, I’ll sign stuff and draw stuff, I’ll probably bring some originals and prints. At around 3:00 I’m going to "talk about the book" a little, or something. I don’t know! It’s been over 10 years since I’ve done something like this! Enormous thanks to Gaby and Noah for the use of their space for this.
Thank you for reading!!! We got an 11-page scene coming up soon so the schedule might be a little shaky. But I am chugging along. see you
May 13, 2024 Hello no update today! I put some more development art up, at the bottom of the 3V index page. I hate to skip a week but I gotta!!!!!
May 6, 2024 Hey! Happy May. The latest of several fairly long scenes up today, and I need to SKIP A WEEK, so the comic will be back on the 20th. In the meantime of course I am gonna be tabling at TCAF in Toronto this weekend!!! Looking forward. THANK U for rEADING
April 29, 2024 Two more soundtrack songs my my brother Lewis! Listen here. Sort of an overture for the 2nd Passage, that he rendered in two songs on the basis of my outline.
3rd Voice got nominated for AN AWARD: The NCS Divisional Award in the category of longform online comics (which seems confusingly defined, as awards categories for webcomics have seemed to always have been lol). NCS members can vote until May 5.
TCAF in Toronto is coming up, May 11 & 12. I am tabling there!!!! It is free to attend!! I would love to see you!!!
April 22, 2024 Some new directions in the update this week. I am excited to see what you think... I am feeling very engaged in this thing but feel like I can’t talk about it at all because I don’t want to spoil anything. Also we’re over 400 pages now. Also I’ve been updating the encyclopedia pretty diligently. Though I am still very far behind on writing transcripts of the pages lol bear with me.
TCAF in Toronto is coming up, May 11 & 12. Excited to table there!!! I have missed it!!! One of the best to ever do it. Please come say hello if you’re around Toronto; it’s free and it’s in the big beautiful library. I’ll have some small amounts of books, maybe a new print or something... Alas The Last Delivery got delayed by some shipping issue and isn’t gonna be there.
THANK YOU for reading, see u
April 1, 2024 Hey we’re back. 2nd Passage of 3rd Voice starts today; updates every Monday as before, you know the drill. I appreciate you reading. Please help me get the word out about this thing. I am very excited about our new directions here. SEE YOU
March 25, 2024 Comic resumes in ONE WEEK. I’ve almost finished inking the first scene as I write this… feels like a very long time to not be doing real drawing, these 3 weeks!!! But I am back in the groove and it is kind of a relief. Otherwise some excitement, much trepidation about starting 2nd Passage; some thoughts lately on patreon.
Still feels miraculous that I have been able to carve out space for this comic. Thank you for reading. Please bear with me as this next part finds its footing; I am reasonably confident about it but it might be a little disorienting at first.
March 4, 2024 1st Passage is OVER with today’s update. Comic resumes on APRIL 1, 2024. In the meantime I’m gonna answer some more letter column letters; see the archive here.
Please join me for a little streamed AFTER PARTY tonight, March 4, at 8pm EST on Twitch.
I’m going to be tabling at MoCCA in Manhattan and TCAF in Toronto in the near future. Thank you for reading.
February 26, 2024 1st Passage of 3rd Voice ends next week, on March 4. Please read it if you would like to read it!! I think it is pretty good, but it’s also just a first step of something. Excited about this.
The night of March 4 (8 pm EST), I’m doing some kind of question-answer livestream thing about the comic on twitch. And I’m taking around a month off before the comic resumes with 2nd Passage-- I have a lot of writing to do!!! Thank y’all.
February 19, 2024 Quite extremely big scene up today; ELEVEN PAGES which is too much to get done in one week but I did it and I’m almost to the end of the first book and then I can take a break. THIS HAS BEEN FUN; it’s wild to be approaching the end of a cohesive chunk of this comic; I think you all have some sense of what I’m going for with 3rd Voice now and I hope you are into it!! Because it is gonna Keep Going.
Contemplating some livestream event around when the 1st Passage ends in a couple weeks. Contemplating loosely how and if I am gonna get this first book printed, but haven’t had much time to think about it to be honest. SEE U
January 29, 2024 Heyyy comic is BACK. Had to skip a week to get some rather intensive scenes together... I am almost a week ahead now, and feeling that it’s going pretty good. Much maneuvering and choreography in this week’s update...
I have nailed down two convention appearances for this year so far. MoCCA Fest in Manhattan NYC, March 16-17, and TCAF in Toronto, May 11-12. I’ll have some handful of books and things at these shows, AND my new book The Last Delivery will be effectively debuting at TCAF. It is a weird one; sort of cartoony and grotesque. See you!
January 1, 2024 Hungover on new years day itself and by god I have still updated the comic for u... happy new year....
My brother has made a set of 3 new songs pertaining to the 1st Passage of 3rd Voice. Ansporruk, Ransallet, and Two-Legs. Currently just up on Youtube but I think he’s gonna put them on his bandcamp and spotify and what have you. thank u for reading.
December 12, 2023 ONE YEAR of 3rd Voice today, can you believe it. You have a sense of what I’m going for now, I think??! I have gotten a lot of this comic out there in the past year. THANK YOU for reading, and making this a feasible thing to work on so far. I’ve been struggling to get together some promo material to make a big deal of this anniversary, but have been too busy... Some new multimedia stuff soon, though.
Scene this week feels like a big one; love the moving parts connecting with each other. I’m gonna be breaking for a week or 2 now. I just made 317 pages of a comic book practically nonstop and I’m excited to keep at it, but just give me a minute. Thank you folks.
December 4, 2023 Happy with the physical humor(??) stuff in this new scene (302-309); I feel like it is a big moment that y’all may like. It is always kind of fun to work with the overly-badass character archetype iSN’T IT!! We are very nearly at ONE YEAR of 3rd Voice, can you believe that.
Most of what I’m doing is drawing my little comic and teaching my little comics class once a week. Wrapping up first semester and adding to my list of "ways I can do it better next time." Getting more into the groove with 3V and adding to my list of "ways I can keep this thing good and cohesive." Having fun.
November 27, 2023 OK, cool scene up today I think; we are now OVER 300 PAGES and approaching our First Full Year of 3V. It has been THRILLING, and HONOR to work on this thing so far. I’m trying to get together another little video to put my thoughts together about the process more thoroughly...
November 13, 2023 Almost 300 pages. Big scene up today; it is exciting to finally get to the Lord and Wizard, one of the most GENRE characters I have ever worked with. THANK YOU for reading.
Not currently much to say here I think. I do feel like I should keep the frontpage news reasonably Updated just so people can see that stuff is happening here but really all I have been doing and thinking about is plowing through these past couple of labor-intensive scenes of the comic and playing dungeon crawl stone soup.
Did you know I illustrated and published an edition of The Wizard of Oz?
Free Palestine
October 23, 2023 Hello. Thank you for reading the comic; I am pretty happy with that big reveal panel that’s up today. Also that Letter Column is getting pretty enormous, if you want to read something over 10,000 words of "talking about the comic" lol. Send me something why not
Did you know I illustrated and published an edition of The Wizard of Oz?
Free Palestine
October 3, 2023 ITEM! I set up a simple encyclopedia for 3V-related people and places and things; I have tried to keep the text basically limited to what is In the Comic Itself. You shouldn’t read it before reading the comic though in my opinion.
ITEM! After much dawdling and thinking about it, I’ve started making big "notes" sections for each scene as I make them, for $5+ backers on the patreon. I have been trying to figure out a way to have some special content for that level without seeming like I’m trying to UPSELL anybody... and keeping in mind that people mostly seem to just want to support this stuff and aren’t too interested in what they GET for it... but that is a new thing! thank u for supporting this comic.
ITEM! Did you see I am making a video game, with game designer Exodrifter, as a thing that Iron Circus and Indiepocalypse are involved in. I am mostly doing graphics stuff and she is mostly doing all of the far more impressive stuff. IT’S FUN. Stay tuned re: that.
ITEM! Solidifying plans for Spring 2024 comic conventions. I am doing fewer than I used to because WHY NOT do fewere than I used to. But me tabling at MoCCa in Manhattan and TCAF in Toronto looks possible. ok bye!
September 18, 2023 Comic’s back. I have the next several scenes thumbnailed; things are coming together for the upcoming sequence in ways that I’m excited about and didn’t exactly foresee. Looking forward to seeing the whole "1st Passage" as one contiguous thing. Soon!
SPX was lovely; probably more direct positive feedback about 3V than I have ever gotten at a show about something I’m in the middle of working on, which is GREAT. It is weird to be in this liminal period however where I have a bunch of books, most of which I’ve had in print for a long time, but the comic I’m currently working on all the time is still just on the internet. I would like to make a BOOK sometime but yknow it is still kind of daunting. More thinking and whining about this sort of thing lately on Patreon... self-publishing!! weird thing to do. But I appreciate so much every bit of enthusiasm and interest and attention people are giving to this thing; would be impossible to do it otherwise.
Working on a smallish game with Exodrifter for Iron Circus Comics and Indiepocalypse.
September 4, 2023 O HELLO; I hope you like the scene (36th) that’s just gone up today, PLEASE be mindful of spoilers etc if you’re a person who talks about this comic online with people. I know many of y’all do that.
I don’t know if I have to tell you about SPX because I’ve been tabling there basically every year it’s existed since 2010 but, wouldn’t you know it, I will be there again this weekend. It’s in "BETHESDA," and I’m still not sure what the actual distinction is between that and DC because you can get there by the DC subway, which is not called a subway but you probably know what I mean. Anyway it is always a lovely show; I will have slightly too many books for my half-table, and some so-far-secret 3V items. I hope to see you there.
August 28, 2023 Hey folks; 6-page scene up today concerning departure, and we’re in the general area of a kind of inflection point for the comic. I am feeling good about it; it’s consistently kind of stressful & energizing to have so much of the planning be open-ended. But in particular the whole chunk of it that is "the 1st Passage" is feeling pretty well-put-together. I keep trying to nail down exactly when that’ll be done but I am just really not sure.
I’m at SPX in DC environs on September 9 and 10. I have tabled at this show many times. I’m gonna have a handful of books there to the best of my ability, though probably not a huge amount of stock for the sake of my uhh physical capacity and stress. I will have a NEW, LIMITED, and SECRET 3V-related print. It is possible that I will have this obnoxious sticker there, but maybe not.
I am always kind of struggling with this having-things-in-print issue. I think a lot about printing the first (1st) book of 3V myself somehow, but implicitly committing to keep a(nother) multi-book selfpublished series in print is horrifying. I am truly not sure what even to do about Vattu; how to reprint the scattered volumes of it as they run out, etc. Constantly running into weird mismatches in the scale of what I’m doing here!! Big full-color comic books and a small invested audience, but not terribly much infrastructure, and not terribly many thousands of dollars laying around to reprint things. I mean I’m feeling stable and productive about all of this so not terribly worried. But helpful to think about, at length, constantly. THANKS SEE YOU
August 14, 2023 ALRIGHT here’s a BIG ONE; a 14-page scene is up (pp 202-215), with an awful lot of moving parts. I’m feeling Good About It. More thoughts and background work on Patreon, including an 18-minute long "production diary" sort of video walking through the process of drawing it.
Basically this past couple weeks have been a lot of intensive focus on this, and I’ve ended up with something that is as close to what I want it to be as I could manage, and I enormously appreciate having the opportunity to make this thing the way that I want to. If you like it you probably like it because I am able to do that, which I am only able to do because I can afford to-- so perhaps consider supporting the Patreon if 2 usd a month feels reasonable. (Parenthetically I am thinking about migrating to a different less venture-capital infused [& therefore Doomed] platform for that but we will see)
I really gotta start figuring out SPX stuff!! I’ve kind of over-focused and lost track of a lot of my life lately. I finally made the commitment of paying for an anime streaming service and am catching up on all of the Gundams of recent years. My partner’s new sandwich shop/bakery seems to be going pretty well, that’s a big thing going on lately. Ok I hope you like the new scene FAREWELL!
August 7, 2023 Heyy alright, no update this week; scene 33 is going up on August 14th. It’s 14 pages long, so I feel justified in this. I just finished inking it; I have been in a total fugue this past week inking it; I hope you like it. OH ALSO, an almost TWENTY-MINUTE-LONG """documentary""" about working on it will go up on Patreon. Trying to push towards more video material for that space in the near future.
Put up a few more odds and ends in the misc-art section at the bottom of the 3V index page, in the meantime.
What else is going on. I’m on bluesky lately; who knows what’s gonna materialize there. Maybe we’re entering into the post-centralized-social-media era-- we can Hope. But anyway I’ve only ever used all of these platforms as a somewhat arms-length professional artist person and will continue to try to be an artist person in whatever spaces make sense to do that in. I am not gonna touch Threads however.
Please remember I’m theoretically still doing that letter column thing; you can email whatever you like to 3rdvoicemail@gmail.com. Thank you for reading; will see u in one week.
July 26, 2023 Scene 31 went up this week; 32 is 8 pages next week, and then I’m BREAKING A WEEK, in order to get together a rather huge and consequential 33rd scene. Thank you for reading; I am really pushing myself with this thing and it’s a huge amount of work every week. Please consider backing the patreon.
I’m tunnel-visioning again; I lose track of a lot of things and it becomes too stressful to look at them, for no particular reason, and I get a frantic can’t-stop-moving feeling about work. This is the stuff I know how to do and can be pretty sure I’m moving forward on productively. Everything else is harder to get a handle on.
Twitter seems to be (finally?) dying; generally a lot of the places online where everyone has ended up spending all their time are breaking or becoming unbearable or being systematically gutted in service of the big fairytale of sustainable endless growth. What does one do, exactly, as an independent artist here on the internet. What do I do as an independent artist who started doing this in a careerist fashion in 2007 or so, before ONE big paradigm shift, now that it seems like we are in aNOTHER big paradigm shift.
I can find very little hope in this. I don’t know what parts of the cultural shifts happening will actually open up space for independent art. I assume some will! But everything is a lot more miserable and precarious than it was several years ago, AND our tendencies towards operating outside of institutions have atrophied hugely of course.
I’m teaching a weekly class (titled, maybe slightly hilariously/anachronistically, “webcomics”) at an art school in NYC starting in a couple months. What does any of this stuff look like to 18- to 21-year olds, I wonder! They weren’t even AROUND to see the spaces for independent art that I remember, which were already dwindling by the time I got to them (I think about moving to NYC in 2010, and finding proliferating beautiful-grimy music venues in williamsburg, and thinking “oh this is just how it is here,” and they were all gone, and everything like them, within a couple years). The sort of thing I’ve always done professionally (and am still, maybe slightly hilariously/anachronistically, doing) is entirely retrospective to these very young artists.
No conclusion to this train of thought; I should come up with one so I don’t get sucked too far into useless negativity with it. I’m hopeful that whatever happens to our spaces, the value of art made from personal & reasonably uncompromised perspectives is important, is a major engine of forward momentum. That was true even in the brutally shopping-mallified reality of web 2.0, and it’ll probably be true in this new phase. OK that’s all, just thinking out loud.
July 17, 2023 The fourth and final Vattu book is available now.
HELLO. I hope you like the new scene I spent a lot of time on it. I like lighting effects. We are almost to 200 pages and I am pretty excited about some upcoming material.
This website finally has HTTPS working, thanks to Clark who has been hosting it and helping me with various technical issues for something over a decade now. I don’t honestly know very much about what HTTPS is, but now the occasional complaints I hear about malfunctioning links should be solved, and I went in and adjusted a few bits of the website so that the padlock symbol shows up properly in Firefox, and there we are. My clunky handwritten RSS feed seems like it is not working correctly now so that is the next thing to fix. Anyway it’s a secure website folks, trust me.
What else is even going on. I’m occasionally returning to the Ambiguity Program lately. I set up an account on Bluesky but who knows what the future of the social mediums is (I am at a high ebb of desperately hoping that the collapse of some of these spaces will return us to some less corporatized version of the internet in some small ways). I’m looking forward to SPX. I’m spending a lot of time and brain power working on this comic. Thank you for reading.
July 10, 2023 The fourth and final Vattu book is available now.
Phew somewhat busy week but managed to get this scene done. Looking forward to some upcoming bits. Thank you for reading.
If you’re in Brooklyn please check out this sandwich shop my partner is starting; they are raising money for the last bits of getting-ready; very exciting and involved project. I hope you can stop by when it’s open in a couple weeks!!!!
June 26, 2023 The fourth and final Vattu book is available now.
FOLKS, what’s up. I hope you are doing pretty good. More moody & conversational Ransallet material this week; I’m absolutely certain we are getting somewhere and I hope you’re all interested in this more low-key material.
The Cartoonist Coop just published a nice panel discussion I was in recently, moderated by friend Blue, about fantasy and setting. Please watch listen to it, ok!!!!
I’m feeling somewhat energized; I have been busy and a little less ahead of schedule than I’d like to be; I am getting things together for some signings in the northeast part of this country soon; I am going to be at SPX in September in DC also please leave us not forget that, please. God bless
June 12, 2023 HEY DO ANY OF Y’ALL USE "TOP WEBCOMICS"?? IS THAT ANYTHING?? You want to vote for this?? I dunno!!!!
I’m back; I’ve missed you. Some extremely labor-intensive drawing in this update. A good view of Ransallet, finally. I’ve put together a fairly large pile of development drawings on this setting over on Patreon; in a way this has kind of been the setting that’s been in development for the longest in this comic-- it was a part of the original self-contained GN pitch I made in 2021.
The Chicago convention was lovely, really one of the big ones in this country of its sort it seems like. Next thing for me is SPX in the DC area, which is really The big one. Oh but I’m figuring out a couple of signing events in July first; will let u know.
Those FOURTH AND FINAL VATTU BOOKS are out the door between this and last week from Topatoco. People are receiving them. I am happy with them. 1300 pages of comics in print at one time, for at least some tiny tenuous span of time. Thank you. Book will be available for order pretty soon, of course from Topatoco. SEE U
May 29, 2023 OK 24th scene up today, a high rate of new peoples and places in the comic lately. What do you think of this guy?? Anyway I’m a little overloaded with 1) working on this comic at a pace which is frankly a little intense, 2) being recently just very slightly sick, and 3) going to Chicago for a comic convention this coming weekend, SO it is looking like this next week will finally be the update I really finally skip. Thank you for your patience.
That comic convention is CAKE, June 3 & 4. At the "Broadway Armory," do you know what that is? I don’t really know yet but I imagine I will figure it out by Saturday. I’ll be tabling with some handful of books.
I am tunnel-visioning so hard on this comic lately. I forgot to do a patreon livestream for May, so I’ll do two in June, why not. Details over there. Did you see the poster yet. Thank you.
May 22, 2023 HELLO, I’m going to be tabling at CAKE in CHICAGO in a couple weeks. I have loved this show in the past and I hope you can come if you’re in the area. THANK YOU.
Did you see the 3RD VOICE POSTER?!!
I am slightly sick. Chugging along. Excited about new scenes of the comic in a new setting. See you
May 15, 2023 WHAT’S UP folks; scene 22 up today and some new characters, finally, out of nowhere. Also did you happen to see I made a 3rd Voice POSTER, finally, the first bit of purchasable material pertaining to this comic. Please look at it... please like it and consider buying it if you like it... Thank you.
I am feeling fairly bleak about the techno-futurism death cult trends happening all around me lately. "AI" "art" being so frantically boosted by so many terrible nerds is just hugely depressing. The absolute least-worst case for all that, as far as I can see, is the internet gets enormously more full of useless noise over the next couple years, and a large number of human beings doing creative work professionally lose their jobs. And then what do they do! It just feels like everything is wrung almost dry and everything that happens now is an opportunity to wring it drier. I don’t know how to parse this; I don’t know how to not become a totally hardened and cynical old man about this; I don’t know how to think about any kind of future. Anyway HAVE A GOOD DAY
May 1, 2023 Nine-page scene up today (here); I think that’s the longest one yet and it was a lot of work, so it’s possible but not yet certain that I’m skipping next week’s update. This is kind of a good transitory moment however; I would almost suggest that people who haven’t read the comic yet should read these first 125 pages now. The new scene is just another "quiet emotional conversation with some visual subtext" but that’s my favorite thing to draw so I love it.
It’s been raining a lot. I finished the art for a 3V poster this past weekend that will be available soon; I livestreamed inking it for the public internet which went pretty well. I hope you are doing well out there; thank you for reading.
April 17, 2023 Hey folks and welcome. 3V is in the midst of some genuine drama and violence with today’s update; I think it is going pretty well. This stuff is always very hard to draw for me, which is maybe why my comics tend to be so stage-playey, but I’m happy with this bit I think. In a lot of different ways I’m really trying to take this comic More Seriously, like I’m spending more time getting everything right, I’m not stopping myself from redrawing parts that don’t feel perfect, etc... So I’m happy with it and I’m tremendously glad to have the space in which to do it this way.
I’ve been trying to be more regular with this news-column thing but I truly do not know what there is to be said in it. I got a free tattoo of a little knife recently. I shot some cans last night with the BB gun I had earlier used as reference for Spondule & Navichet’s rifle. I have therapy later today. I’m considering going to see the Mario movie. I’m rereading Tales of Neveryon. These are much of the things going on with me. Please come visit the Discord sometime. bless.
April 3, 2023 Can you believe we’re almost to one Hundred pages of 3rd Voice. I guess that is pretty fast but I’m not balancing this comic with intense deadlines for contract work SO FAR so maybe it’s not very fast really. Incidentally if you like the comic you can support it on Patreon inexpensively of course of course.
Comic convention this past weekend... Next is VanCAF in Vancouver... I gotta figure out all of the logistics for that... and then CAKE in Chicago. Mostly right now though I am just at home working on the comic and rereading Achewood.
OH I remembered what I was gonna say-- the EXTRAS page is back up and functional. Almost all of the comics there are now at the site-standard width of 800 pixels. There is one previously-unpublished comic. I’ll clean it up a bit and add some graphic elements I dunno. The main thing is I want to keep this whole thing up as a clean and readable archive of all these comics, even if it is so old i can’t stand to look at it.
March 27, 2023 Heyyy folks; back in the groove with updates-- Between traveling and working through two fairly Hard to Draw scenes it made sense to take that break a coupleweeks back. This one (86-93) is CONSEQUENTIAL and I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. I’ve been working through the design of the character of interest here since early 2022, I think-- recently put a bunch of that development material on Patreon, were you aware of the patreon???
MoCCA Fest is this coming weekend in Manhattan New York City. I am going to be there with some books and stuff. It is still POSSIBLE BUT NOT ENTIRELY ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that I will have a small secret free 3V-related item for you, should you be there. Ask me about that if you want.
March 6, 2023 I am Happy with this scene (74-78), this whole little inflection point, though I apologize for the coarse innuendo. Exciting to have things finally In Motion, after a couple months of working on this and a lot of somewhat (intentionally) disorienting expository stuff.
that being said, however, I’m sorry to say that I really must skip an update. The next two scenes are fairly big ones and it’ll be helpful to do this. I have been moving at a good clip with this comic anyhow! Scene 14 will be up on MARCH 20th, ok? If I hear one word about how I’m doing a "hiatus" that will turn into an "unceremonious and total end to the webcomic," I will turn this car right around.
Seattle convention was fun if somewhat grueling. I’m doing MoCCA Fest in Manhattan next. Trying to get together maybe a new poster or something for it. Uhh I dunno yet. bless
February 27, 2023 Alright FOLKS I’m heading to Seattle for ECCC in mere days; I haven’t prepared extremely well and it’s possible most of my books won’t be there until Friday but I’ll be there. Please please come find me if you’re there; I’m with the "Cautionary Fables" table on the main floor, not artist alley... I think the floorplan has changed this year... I don’t know what to expect exactly.
Scene 12 up today. 13 is done and goes up next Monday as soon as I’m back from Seattle... And then I might have to skip a week!! It’s a pretty good break point and the following couple scenes are looking Difficult; I’m in the middle of thumbnailing them now. Anyway we’ll see but rest assured this thing is really getting moving.
Have to fix the "security certificate" for this website, something which I somehow still do not really understand. I got a new RSS running, so that is next thing. ok see you
February 13, 2023
ITEM! I have built a new RSS FEED from scratch. It should work. I regret that people who followed the last one might get left behind, but that’s what I get for relying on some external feed-generation website.
ITEM! The Failure to Launch anthology is going well; I have a story in it, maybe you would like to have a look.
ITEM! The fourth Vattu book is in production; taking a little longer than expected but no major hiccups; update with more specifics for backers of the Topatogo campaign forthcoming.
ITEM!I’m at ECCC in Seattle, MoCCA in NYC, VanCAF in Vancouver in the near future. Probably uhh two more this year.
ITEM! Second monthly Patreon livestream thing will be next Sunday, the 19th. Afternoon/evening EST.
February 6, 2023 Heyyy there’s an anthology from Iron Circus Comics going up shortly for preorder; it’s called FAILURE TO LAUNCH. I have a 20-page comic in it about Coney Island and Maxim Gorky, sort of. One of the things I was juggling late 2022 with Vattu and Last Delivery. Happy with it! Excited to be in another ICC anthology! Check it out.
Let me remind you again that I am gonna be tabling in the near future at EMERALD CITY COMIC CON in Seattle and the MUSEUM OF COMIC AND CARTOON ART ARTS FESTIVAL in NYC. Vancaf is coming together too.
Folks on the Discord have been getting really into figuring out some of the nerdier linguistic elements of 3V lately, you might be interested to know. And I think I’m gonna do another livestream thing for Patreon backers next Sunday. FAREWELL!!!!
January 30, 2023. fifty pages of 3rd Voice with today’s update. Moving pretty swiftly; figuring out how to work with slightly more developed drawing style in efficient manner; I guess 50 pages is a lot of pages to still be firmly in "expository" material but hey I’m gonna do it how I know how to do it.
I have nailed down TWO predictable comic convention appearances for myself for 2023. I am probably doing FIVE OR FEWER of them this year. On March 2-5, I’ll be in Seattle for EMERALD CITY COMIC CON. I’m on the MAIN FLOOR, not artist alley. On April 1-2, I’ll be in Manhattan New York City for the MUSEUM OF COMIC AND CARTOON ART ARTS FESTIVAL. Ok?? OK!
January 16, 2023. I am very enjoying working on this thing so far. I think I am really taking it seriously; I am a little daunted by certain premises I’ve set up for myself but if I can keep this comic as active in my brain as it’s been for the past year or so then I think I can make it happen reasonably well. That’s the "where I’m at" section of the news post.
I’m gonna be at ECCC in Seattle in early March. I am a little behind in nailing down travel specifics but I’m gonna be there. I keep missing deadlines or not being accepted at conventions in the city I actually live in, but I’ll keep flying across the country to Seattle every time. Anyway breaking from convention stuff for a few years has really helped me realize how I don’t have to be so frantic with them, don’t have to worry so much about doing as many as possible and getting as many books as possible to sell there, etc. So now it feels like more of a fun thing that I can probably not lose money on if I’m smart about it. God I am really just rambling here. Anyway if you’re gonna be at that show say hello.
I should make some sort of 3V print or paper product. Weird pouring all of my energy into this thing that currently exists physically in no way at all. More on that at some point probably. SEE YOU
January 2, 2023. New year, wow. Man I gotta figure out what I’m doing in the near future re: comic conventions. Getting mostly out of the habit of going to them for a few years has been kind of nice but now it’s somewhat harder to wrap my head around. Gonna do Emerald City in Seattle... Probably gonna do VanCAF in Vancouver... WEll more on that soon I think
I’m getting significantly ahead in this comic; I am figuring out the famously difficult drawing-a-bike thing. I’m happy with this, I’m nervous about it, etc.
The new Patreon tier, did you know, includes access to a once-a-month livestream of drawing and talking "or whatever." I’ve recently got a new laptop and document webcam thing, and am gonna do the first of these streams on SUNDAY JANUARY 8 at 8:00 pm EST. I haven’t nailed down all the specifics but maybe you’d be interested in being there for that... More details on Patreon of course.
happy 2023 to you I hope
December 26, 2022. 3rd update 3rd Voice. I like our little rhythm here now; I think I can come up with something to say for a news update too we’ll see how that goes. And the Letter Column is chugging along I’m happy about that! This is all feeling like a whole new world to me still even though much of it is the same sort of work I’ve been doing for years. Shortish update this week and longish one next time; I think it is probably safe to average 6 or 7 pages a week at the rate I’m working lately at least. Some parts will of course be more time-consuming to draw... But that puts us at 19 pages in three weeks, which is practically the length of one of those saddle-stitched monthly comic books you might be familiar with, so I’m happy with that.
Getting really into the nerd material with this week’s pages. Getting into the rhythm of these character voices. Thank you for reading. Thank you for subscribing also on Patreon of course!!! I’m gonna buy a new laptop any day now, with which to embark on a new monthly project of Patreon-only drawing streams starting in January. Pretty neat ???? See you
December 19, 2022. Second update is up NOW, here and on webtoon and elsewhere. I know I’ve done big serialized comics before but I still feel like I’m figuring out my rhythm with this one... So far it seems COOL to have updates be a whole scene; I THINK I can manage that based on the rate I can get pages done in this slightly-different style, and the length I tend to make a scene, or section of a scene.
On that note, the Patreon has been taking off steadily, and I appreciate everyone being there, and I’m optimistic that being able to lean on that a little more will allow me to keep up with this at a more steady rate than I’ve been able to in the past. Today’s update went up there two days early, too, and I think I’ll be able to do that pretty often in future.
I’m drawing this in a somewhat different way, using a real brush for the first time in years, and a G-nib pen for some texture. I am figuring out the balance here; I know I’m susceptible to getting sucked in to rendering too much with the pen. But I dunno so far so good. I think these pages look good. I am happy to have these two characters finally out there. I’m ready to get moving and I have a lot of ground to cover.
We got four hundo people in the Discord as I write this. PRETTY WILD.
OH and administratively-- I know the RSS feed is broken, I think because of an issue not on my end. I intend to set up a new one but it seems hard. Also by God I am going to update the security certificate on this website. Thank you for patience.
December 12, 2022. 3rd Voice is go; first scene is up RIGHT NOW here and on Webtoon; I am also putting pages up on the new twitter tumblr and instagram accounts. HOWS THAT???!!?!?
IMPORTANTLY, ALSO, I have put up the enormous 3rd Voice LAUNCH VIDEO and its MORE-DETAILED APPENDIX, after their premiere last night on twitch. Please watch these, or at least the first one!! As I put a lot of work into them and they will explain a lot of what I’m going for here. Tremendous thanks to Lewis Dahm, Mickey Zacchilli, and Andriy Lukin for help with components of these videos. This is a NEW THING and I’m trying SOME NEW THINGS WITH IT. Thank you so much for reading!!! I am excited to hear what you think.
December 5, 2022. Ok, we are one week out. This has been a pretty big chunk of time for me to not be consistently putting comics on the internet; nervous and excited to put a lot of new stuff on the internet on december 12, 2022.
Video material for the launch is finally presentable; I think it is safe to say "there’s a lot of it." And I’ve started actually drawing 3rd Voice can you believe it. I’m using a real brush again for the first time in several years and I’m feeling powerful. I’m hoping the anxiety I’m feeling about giving myself more of an improvisatory space for this thing will turn out to be mostly a productive thing. Shouldn’t say that out loud.
Let me remind you again of the Discord server I set up. Let me remind you again that you can email me anything you like for possible inclusion in the Letter Column. Let me remind you that I’m premiering the video launch material on the night (EST) of December 11 on twitch. How much bigger of a deal can I make about starting a new dorky little comic on the internet, lol. alright see you soon.
November 15, 2022. They said it could not be done but it has been done. Rice Hyphen Boy Dot Com is rebuilt and somewhat more handsome & functional than before. WELL MOSTLY; I still have to reformat and hook up the "short stories" in the "Extras" section, and there’s probably other stuff I missed too. But I think it all holds together pretty well and I have a better understanding of PHP than I ever have before-- that’s not saying much. It is at least a thrill to learn that CSS can make small caps.
I am getting together an awful lot of material for the 3rd Voice launch in less than one month.. I have launched a DISCORD SERVER to that effect (as well as designated social media accounts I dunno I just want to be in a good position to make noise about this thing). I am provisionally launching the 3rd VOICE LETTER COLUMN, though I have so far not answered anything there, but I am open to getting it running before the comic even launches if you’re into it. More on that in the section below this, on the homepage.
I am persistently having the feeling lately that web 2.0 is just death-spiralling in a million different ways, or it’s just generated so much money that the only way forward is for it all to collapse under its own weight. I’m trying to take more seriously that I have this simple little read-only space, and I love it, and I’ve been able to hold onto it for a long time exactly because it’s so simple and Cheap. Anyway it means a lot to me to have you here, whoever you are. I’m going to try to make this place easy and interesting, and mostly I am just very excited to get into this new comic with you on DECEMBER 12 2022. That’s all for now. sincerely evan.
News - October 6 2022
Couple of updates for you! I’m tabling at CXC, or Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, in Ohio this weekend. And I’m on a panel about webcomics on Saturday, whatever on earth "a panel about webcomics" means in 2022. Last comic event for a while and I loved this one the last I did it.
The preorder campaign for VATTU BOOK 4 ends in mere days as of this post. It’s gone extremely well, in fact better than all of the earlier Vattu book crowdfunding campaigns, and this time without Kickstarter’s support or infrastructure at all. Please if you’re interested in getting the book (or all four of them at once??) consider doing it in this way. We are probably gonna hit a STRETCH GOAL any hour now.
Otherwise I’m working working; not a lot of time to acclimate to finishing Vattu but I probably like it better that way anyway. I still haven’t had the time or appropriate mindset to read through all of Vattu as I have meant to do. Almost done with my next book for Iron Circus, getting into a short for an anthology that I’m probably a little behind on, and doing a lot of GEARING UP for some upcoming BIG MOVES. I should have an entirely clean slate in November, off of which to propel myself into the new thing. As the website doesn’t currently have a news archive feature (tho that also is being worked on), I include below the last paragraph from my previous post--
Look I know the thing’s done, and it’s sad(?) but it’s a relief too kind of; it’s exciting to me. I hope nobody thinks I’m going to stop doing this stuff, or that I have any plans (or frankly opportunity) to shift my work into some more lucrative & less obsessively self-directed industry or enterprise. I am feeling like I have carved out a little niche here and I have some momentum and I’m launching 3rd Voice in December. In the meantime some significant work will be done to the rice-boy.com site; make it a little bigger and denser. Anyway I don’t know what I’m doing but I got plans. Thank you folks.
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News - September 14 2022
Well I would be updating the comic today if it wasn’t OVER. Are you aware that Vattu just ended after twelve years? And that you can read it here (or download the whole thing right here for a few more days)? Anyway some other developments current & forthcoming:
The preorder campaign for the fourth/last book of Vattu hit goal in a little over one day, and will continue chugging along for quite a few more days. If you’re interested in buying this whole thing in print, this is a great way to do it, and also the earliest way to do it. Self-publishing a big thing like this is obviously tricky and I can’t be totally sure about what the future trajectory for Vattu in print is exactly, but it’s really something to have been able to put together these four books over such a long period of time. I have no plans to ever do an all-in-one omnibus; many people have asked me about this recently.
That wrap party stream was great; I’m gonna upload the whole thing on youtube sometime soon, why not. Included therein is the debut of the Vattu Fanzine, which is a really remarkable and enormous effort that a large number of people worked on. It’s beautiful work and it’s an honor to see it; I really can’t believe it. Please have a look, find some artists & writers that you like, download the thing if you like. I have heard there’s a print version being worked on but I dunno the details. Shortly I’ll have a download of it available here on the site "in perpetuity" if that meets with everyone’s agreement.
The SMALL PRESS EXPO in Bethesda, MD is this weekend, September 17-18. I’m tabling; I’m still getting back in the groove of comic conventions after spending a while convincing myself the world was fully over forever; it felt like I would never see SPX again and I’m looking forward. Vattu is up for an Ignatz Award. I look forward to this show extremely. I have a lot of free stuff this time. come say hi.
Look I know the thing’s done, and it’s sad(?) but it’s a relief too kind of; it’s exciting to me. I hope nobody thinks I’m going to stop doing this stuff, or that I have any plans (or frankly opportunity) to shift my work into some more lucrative & less obsessively self-directed industry or enterprise. I am feeling like I have carved out a little niche here and I have some momentum and I’m launching 3rd Voice in December. In the meantime some significant work will be done to the rice-boy.com site; make it a little bigger and denser. Anyway I don’t know what I’m doing but I got plans. Thank you folks.
*
Before you Read the End:
I want to let you know that, should you prefer, you can download the entire comic right now with Topatoco, in a package including some extras, which you can pay for, or Not, should you choose. That’ll be available just until September 20.
We’ve launched the preorder campaign for the fourth and final print volume of Vattu coincident with this update. Please have a look.
If you happen to be reading this on the day of September 12, 2022, itself, I hope you’ll join me tonight at 8 pm EST on twitch for a fairly densely-packed Wrap Party featuring a lot of video-essay stuff and call-in guests and what have you.
AND finally, again, if you’d like to vote for Vattu for an Ignatz Award it would honor me Tremendously.
It is a weird and exciting feeling to have finished this thing. Please help me get the word out about it, if you like it. I have loved making this comic.
More soon.
News - September 7 2022
Page 1272 of Vattu is up today. Next update is the last one: several pages on Monday, September 12. A lot of other stuff happening around then, too:
A crowdfunding campaign for the fourth & last print book will launch with Topatoco!
A couple of livestreamed wrap parties on the evenings (EST) of the 11th and 12th! Details here.
Vattu is up for an Ignatz Award and the window for voting closes shortly after the comic ends! Please get a ballot and vote for it if you like it!!! Thank you folks.
News - August 29 2022
First of all, a preliminary announcement. 3rd Voice is the next thing; though I’m of course lately trying to foreground Vattu-related promo. Two weeks left. On that note:
ITEM! Vattu has been nominated for an IGNATZ AWARD, the big independent comics award given out at the Small Press Expo in DC every year. If you like the comic, I must humbly tell you that you can request a ballot to vote for it at any time between now and middle September, right here. Some really excellent company too. And I’ll be at SPX, too, literally under a week after finishing this big comic book.
ITEM! On SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, I’ll be running an almost-after-party stream on twitch, including a rerun of my video essay "Making Vattu" from several months ago, and some talking & hanging out.
ITEM! On MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, the last pages will go up early in the day (EST), and a download of the entire comic will be made available from Topatoco, which will be free if you like. ALSO I’ll be launching with Topatoco a preorder campaign for the fourth and final print book of Vattu on that day. (Topatoco has handled getting the previous books printed and sold, if you weren’t aware).
ITEM! On THE EVENING OF MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 (EST), I’ll be running the actual after-party stream on twitch, including 1) new video-essay appendix material from the last few months of the comic, 2) Special Call-in Guests Kel McDonald and Carla Speed McNeil, and 3) just hanging out and question-answering for a while. SOMETHING LIKE THAT!
And then that weekend I’m at SPX in DC, the biggest indie comics thing in the country.
Talk to u soon folks
News - August 17 2022
Less than one month now, and just 17 pages left-- Vattu is ending on Monday, September 12, 2022. Last bit will go up here and on Webtoon on that day. 12 years 1279 pages.
ITEM! Vattu has been nominated for an IGNATZ AWARD, the big independent comics award given out at the Small Press Expo in DC every year. If you like the comic, I must humbly tell you that you can request a ballot to vote for it at any time between now and middle September, right here. Some really excellent company too. And I’ll be at SPX, too, literally under a week after finishing this big comic book.
ITEM! A collaborative Vattu Fanzine is being put together by friend Brian, who I’ve known for years and in whose capable hands I’m Thrilled to have this project. Submissions are open now for all sorts of media; I have always of course frantically loved seeing fanart & similar and im excited about this thing.
ITEM! On SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, I’ll be running an almost-after-party stream on twitch, including a rerun of my video essay "Making Vattu" from several months ago, and some talking & hanging out.
ITEM! On MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, the last pages will go up early in the day (EST), and a download of the entire comic will be made available from Topatoco, which will be free if you like. ALSO I’ll be launching with Topatoco a preorder campaign for the fourth and final print book of Vattu on that day. (Topatoco has handled getting the previous books printed and sold, if you weren’t aware).
ITEM! On THE EVENING OF MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 (EST), I’ll be running the actual after-party stream on twitch, including 1) new video-essay appendix material from the last few months of the comic, 2) Special Call-in Guests, and 3) just hanging out and question-answering for a while. SOMETHING LIKE THAT!
And then that weekend I’m at SPX in DC, the biggest indie comics thing in the country.
Talk to u soon folks
News - August 1 2022
Vattu is ending on Monday, September 12, 2022. Whether you’re following along here or on Webtoon, the last few pages will go up all at once on that day. 12 years 1279 pages and one fairly-cohesive beginning-middle-end story. Almost done, almost done.
On SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11,q I’ll be running an almost-after-party stream on twitch, including a rerun of my video essay "Making Vattu" from several months ago, and some talking & hanging out.
On MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, the last pages will go up early in the day (EST), and a download of the entire comic will be made available from Topatoco, which will be free if you like. ALSO I’ll be launching with Topatoco a preorder campaign for the fourth and final print book of Vattu on that day. (Topatoco has handled getting the previous books printed and sold, if you weren’t aware).
On THE EVENING OF MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 (EST), I’ll be running the actual after-party stream on twitch, including 1) new video-essay appendix material from the last few months of the comic, 2) Special Call-in Guests, and 3) just hanging out and question-answering for a while. SOMETHING LIKE THAT!
And then that weekend I’m at SPX in DC, the biggest indie comics thing in the country. PHEW. more details soon. I’m not done yet. thank y’all.
News - June 29 2022
I have finally nailed everything down enough to say that Vattu will end on Monday, September 12, 2022. It’ll be 1279 pages in length, or almost exactly that. No more writing or planning left to do. It is an entire cohesive thing and I’ve been working on it for twelve years and at the very least it’s "something"!!!!
Trying to get some PROMO going but I don’t really know how to do that since the entire middle apparently dropped out of the pop-culture-news world a few years ago. If you’d like to write or talk about this comic, or interview me or Anything at all, let me know and I can send you a press kit and make myself available. Is this tacky to do in public?? I’m still a self publisher and don’t have anybody else to do it for me!!! l-o-l
There’s gonna be a streamed WRAP PARTY sort of thing, shortly after the page drops. There will be some limited-time merchandise stuff. There will be a crowdfunding campaign for the fourth and final book of the story. That is all that’s certain right now. Thank you extremely for your interest in what I am making. adieu
News - June 15 2022
ALRIGHT FOLKS, 1239 up today brings us to the end of a somewhat "businessy" scene, and I’m off to TCAF in Toronto this weekend, so there won’t be another Vattu update until sometime next week. It’s moving along, I have the ENTIRE rest of the book thumbnailed and ready, and it’s been really lovely hearing feedback from folks as things start to bend towards an ending. I’m intending to get together some appendix material for that video essay to better articulate my thoughts. BUT ANYWAY IF YOU’RE IN TORONTO, please come see me at the show on the second floor of the reference library; it’s free, it’s always been one of the best shows of its sort and surely will still be even in this weird and tentative and careful period.
The third and final book of the Island Book trilogy I made with First Second Books came out recently, did you know? Nice to have that all out there; it is kind of one big story spinning out from the quiet fable-style vibe of the first book. I’ll have all of these at TCAF and am doing a signing with First Second on Sunday too.
I forget sometimes that I have a website I can put anything I want here; in fact I would like to start making the archive of news posts accessible and taking this more uh seriously. Much talking lately on twitter about the state of the internet and independent artists thereon; I’ve added a simple first draft of a "link" section to the bottom of rice-boy.com in an effort to make some small reminder that people making art independently can and still do build spaces for themselves outside of these various compromised & occasionally dehumanizing social mediums.
I am trying to effectively psychically grapple with the reality I’m making art in, lately, in advance of what I hope can be a productive reorientation with the start of "the next thing I’m working on." Will think and talk more about that soon I think.
May 18 2022
attu is BACK, after a short break at the end of that climactic chunk of the comic. I’m planning to keep a consistent update schedule going for the entire rest of the comic-- it should be COMPLETELY FINISHED in September 2022 but more on that later. As ever I’m constantly talking about such process stuff on tweter etc.
OH did you know the third book in ISLAND BOOK trilogy is out shortly, in fact on June 7, from First Second Books? Excited for folks to finally see this whole weird colorful project.
Coming up on TCAF in Toronto, June 18 and 19. Very excited, it has been a while. thank you for reading.
May 6 2022
EY, this is a big one. Eight pages of Vattu are up today, bringing us to page 1225 and a really big moment. The past 100 pages of this comic have been some of the most intensive comic-making I have ever done; it’s been really exciting to have all of this stuff coming together that I’ve been working on for literally twelve years. Anyway now’s a good time to reread some of the book if you’re interested. Thank you for following along and helping make this comic possible. UPDATES WILL RESUME after a bit of break, on May 16.
Putting up on Patreon shortly a whole bunch of thumbnail sketches, development script, and a new little video essay pertaining to the recent stretch of Vattu, also, for your information. Otherwise I’m lately juggling this comic with Untitled Horror Comic for Iron Circus Comics, and gearing up for TCAF in Toronto in June.
I’m really despairing at the state of the internet lately. It’s nice to have been able to hold onto this little lo-fi website, and I’ll continue to do so, but maybe it would be nice to have a mailing list or something. What will happen to the world and all of us independent artists once venture capital guts the social media internet?? well thank you for reading, hope you are well out there.
February 7 2022
ere’s an update I’ve been meaning to do for a while: every page of Vattu on this website is now at a HIGHER RESOLUTION than ever before: 800 pixels wide instead of 600. I have added LITERALLY MILLIONS OF PIXELS to this website today. I think it looks much cleaner and sharper and it finally seems like none of the details are lost. This is mostly spurred by my recent re-serialization of the comic over on Webtoon at that higher resolution. Incidentally with the recent updates (1181 up today) we’re entering into a part of the story with a LOT OF DENSE DRAWING.
This past couple of weeks I’ve been more intensely wrapped up in Vattu than I can really ever remember being. It’s all kind of COMING TOGETHER; I’ve never had the experience, obviously, of ending something so huge, time-consuming, and complicated. I will continue to not say anything about what’s gonna happen of course, but let me say at least that I’m feeling it and it will really be something. Keeping up with a pretty consistent update schedule lately, and trying to get a lot of things together coincident with the ending to really make it a BIG EVENT. Anyway stay tuned.
I’ve been juggling Vattu with Mansion X, an upcoming graphic novel with Iron Circus Comics, lately, if you weren’t aware of that. Going to try to steer the huge unweildy vehicle of my Attention towards that project this week, as I’ve gotten pretty far ahead on Vattu. (Oh and on that note, I’m posting pages slightly ahead on Patreon as I finish them lately)
More comics and website fixup forthcoming. If you’re for any reason interested in more of my thinking about working on these comic books, maybe you aren’t aware of my recent obnoxiously-dense video essay pertaining to these subjects. SEE U LATER
December 22 2021
O, for the past few months I’ve been working here and there on a big VIDEO ESSAY about my process for working on Vattu, and about a lot of other things too: independent art, pop culture, the Internet, "worldbuilding," and so on. It’s very long and dense and not very professional-looking and it’s a lot of me just talking in front of a screen. But if you’re interested in this sort of stuff it’s a lot of what I have to say about it. Here’s a little trailer.
If you’re around on SUNDAY DECEMBER 26, you can watch its live debut on twitch at 9 pm eastern, and we can TALK ABOUT IT. Thereafter it will be on youtube.
Thank you for reading folks. Hope you are having a nice end of the year.
November 29 2021
ey folks can you believe it, I’m going to Seattle in a couple of days for Emerald City Comic Con, the first comic convention I’m tabling at since covid started. It’s December 2 thru 5, at the big convention center downtown, and I’m on the main floor with "Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales."
No idea what to expect. These things were a huge part of my routine for years and now I’ve been a weird cave person since early 2020. So I’m just treating it as a low-risk first-time convention basically; I’ll have books and things but not a huge amount of stock. If you’re at the show it would be lovely to say hello to you.
Exciting to be able to move forward with Vattu at a good clip, and it’s been great to introduce it to a new audience on Webtoon lately too. Aside from that, I’m mostly just working on "Mansion X," a new horror-ish graphic novel for Iron Circus Comics. Chugging along. Thank you for reading folks
September 24 2021
ope you’re well out there; thank you for reading. As I write this page 1129 of Vattu is going up, and I’m several pages ahead of that, for the first time in a long long time. We’re in a section of the story I’ve been calling to myself "the trip uptown," a big intense sustained section I’m Very Excited about-- anyway things are going to ramp up as much as I can handle them in this comic, and it’s been great to be able to stick to a three-a-week schedule lately.
Updated my store with Topatoco recently, with an elaborate new print that took a long time to make, and some other new things too. This is where most of my books and physical things I’ve made are!! please have a look if you are interested!
September 17 2021
EY FOLKS, I hope you are well out there. I’m working a lot on Vattu-related stuff lately as I’m DONE with other comics work for now. You may have noticed I recently made a detailed MAP of the Sahta, the city in which most of Vattu takes place. It’s up on its own little explanatory page here, along with a newly-updated character guide. It might be helpful or interesting to see this context as we head into some big heavy stuff in the story.
Also I’m trying out webtoon and tapas; Vattu is being serialized there with a few scenes a week basically just as an effort to get more eyes on the thing. I don’t fully understand these platforms but it is absolutely true that the internet has mostly moved away from the old-timey webcomics Personal Website Era. of course I will continue to have this clunky and outmoded website until the day I die, probably.
The Other Stuff I’ve been working on and not posting here for the past few years has been the ISLAND BOOK SERIES with First Second Books. The third and last book in this series is now FINISHED, and it’ll be out in 2022, and you can preorder it now if you like! I really strongly support you ordering through a local bookseller (perhaps via IndieBound?? that might only work in the States tho).
THank you for reading!!!!
August 27 2021
hew I haven’t updated this news block in a while! Let’s do that. I’m really chafing against the shopping-mall social-media nature of the internet and I forget sometimes that I still have this little website I can do whatever I want with.
Vattu is back to updating with some regularity, and it’s exciting to be back in the groove with it and have a sense of the structure coming together for the last chunk of it. Disorienting to think that I started this thing TEN YEARS AGO; that I was probably 22 when I started building this thing I’ve been chipping away at since then.
I’ve had to slow down on Vattufor a few periods over the past few years, mostly on account of the Island Book trilogy, which is now in fact FINISHED. The second book came out this Spring (first one here), and the third one is out in 2022. I’m happy with them and I worked very hard on them.
Currently chugging along in a new and continually closed-off world; trying to figure out how to keep moving and get some stable comics work for the near future. Thank you for following along and I hope you are well and safe out there.
March 23 2020
Y FRIENDS. Things in the world have gotten a lot stranger, and more disorienting and anxious since the last thing I posted here. I hope you can work through this period as well as possible for yourselves and your friends and neighbors. I am chugging along and acclimating to something like a new normal as much as I’m able.
If you’re looking for something to fill your indoors hours, I’ve recently put up a download of almost every comic I’ve ever made, here. It’s free or pay-what-you-want, and includes the vast majority of stuff on this website as individual image files, and some other things and previews of things not released online. It’s been an incredible privilege to me to be able to make stories that people connect with. I am feeling very emotional about everything in this weird crystallizing moment.
love and solidarity, sincerely Evan.
January 17 2020
ello!! Vattu is BACK with page 1043! I’ve been really struggling to balance everything lately, but I just FINISHED the penciling-and-inking phase of Island Book 2, and am excited to get back into a more regular schedule for Vattu. Island Book 2 is out in Spring 2021; coloring it as of now.
I recently posted the last 15 pages of the short story "The Thinker." I started this story in 2011, and had gotten 12 pages into its last section before getting frustrated and stressed out about it. Weird experience to come back to something from so long ago, but it’s nice to have a finished story out there now.
Goblin Week starts this Sunday. New book available on Topatoco soon soon. thank you for reading
August 13 2019
everal new developments for you here on the home page, as Vattu chugs along into some big tangled plot developments.
I have a new book available, called Mere Vibration; it’s a collection of five short comics I’ve made over the past several years dealing with contacting the unknown. I’m very happy with how it all comes together!! And the third Vattu book will finally finally be available soon alongside.
Two sequels to Island Book have been announced, and I’m currently deep in working on them. Very excited to build this into a really enormous, overwhelming story. This was first announced in this big interview with Sloane Leong on The Comics Journal, which was very fun and which might interest you if you haven’t seen it.
Gearing up for Flame Con, Small Press Expo, and Cartoon Crossroads Columbus!! Running new ongoing creature-design-improvisation project on my Patreon! Operating as part of a new and slightly disorienting podcast project called Behemoth! THAT’s basically IT, thank you for reading so much.
May 29 2019
y new graphic novel Island Book is AVAILABLE NOW! In bookstores and online and everywhere; this is my first book with a major publisher and I’m super excited to have it out there.
Island Book is a visually-driven fantasy-adventure fable story about the ocean and the unknown & unknowable. It represents a distillation of a lot of my thinking lately about fantasy storytelling in general, and a deliberate attempt to reconnect with some of the ideas I was working through years and years ago with Rice Boy. I finished drawing it about a year ago; I’ve never had the experience of having to wait so long for people to read something I’ve made!! Very lovely to hear feedback and to hear that people are liking this thing.
Recently released a soundtrack album made by my brother Lewis that we’re very happy with, and I put together a pair of dense little art books a little while ago too. AND for a who-knows-how-limited time, many original pages are available.
Had a great time in Canada and hope to go back for TCAF & VanCAF next year; in the meantime I’m doing many more comic conventions this year: Heroes Con in Charlotte NC on June 14-16 is the next one. Hope to see folks there! Have a good day.
May 8 2019
y new graphic novel Island Book is finally debuting! It’s out everywhere on May 14th, and I’m about to go to comic conventions in Canada to herald its arrival:
TCAF is in Toronto May 11 and 12. Island Book will be available there, and a bunch of my other books and things, and I’m on a panel on Saturday at 2:45.
VanCAF is in Vancouver May 18 and 19! I’m on a panel there, too, on Saturday at 3:30.
I hope you can make it to one of those shows if you’re in the area!
February 17 2019
’m solidifying plans for the next few months of comic conventions and things; here’s some updates for you if you’re interested in that!
Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle is March 14-17; I’ll be tabling as usual with the Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales booth near the skybridge. And I’m on a panel about Iron Circus Comics on Thursday at 5:30!
MoCCA Fest is in Manhattan April 6 and 7; missed last year and I’m excited to be back at this one with some new stuff.
TCAF in Toronto on May 11-12 is the official debut of Island Book; it’s out in bookstores on the 14th. Going to bring a ton of new stuff to this show I love it!!
And right after that is VanCAF in Vancouver, May 18-19.
Much traveling!! I have a lot of new stuff coming out this year and want to get to a bunch of shows. In the meantime, working with printers for the new third book of Vattu, getting a book of black-and-white short comics printed, and chipping away at a book about hell...
I am out of town for this next week, and Vattu should resume on the 26th or so!
October 20 2018 - Vattu Book 3 Kickstarter!
ust launched the Kickstarter to get the third book of Vattu printed! If you’d like a copy of this book in paperback or hardcover, this would be the best way to get it I think! Also there’s a bunch of options to get the whole story so far, and some extra things. Thank you for having a look and thank you for your support!!
It’s going well so far, which is always a relief-- I really don’t often have a good sense of how many people read this thing and are interested in buying print editions of it, and it’s been a while since the previous book. Excited to see it in print; the print versions are what I have in mind as the final version of the comic throughout the process.
Did you see the nice new website header I did make. Island Book has its own little homepage now! Very bare bones but I wanted to have something visible. Thank you for reading.
October 15 2018 - Vattu Book 4
attu is finally back!! Posting the first three pages of the LAST BOOK of the comic today. Excited to get where this last book is going and excited to hear what you think of it. The free download of the first three books of Vattu is still available.
Starting Kickstarters is more complicated every time I try to do it, so the Kickstarter for the print volume of Vattu Book 3 will launch sometime this week but not sure exactly when! I’ll make a lot of noise here and on social mediums when that starts. Did you see the cover, by the way!!!
In the little hiatus here I’ve reworked a lot of structural elements to rice-boy.com, added a lot more miscellaneous extra content, and plugged along on Hell book and various other things! Thank you for reading.
September 10 2018 - Vattu Book 3 Complete
attu book 3 is finished, as of page 958 today. This book in particular has had some of the most ambitious storytelling I’ve ever tried to do, and I think I’m happy with how it’s turned out. It’s a weird feeling to be here at the start of the last book of this comic I started EIGHT YEARS AGO, that has been the main creative throughline of my life since I was 22 years old. I have changed and what this comic means to me has changed a whole lot in that time, but I’m excited to bring it to an end over the next couple of years. Thank you so much for reading this weird comic.
For the next few weeks while I take a break from updating Vattu and work on writing and other things, the entire comic so far will be available for download as individual PNG pages right here. This might be an easier way to read it and I want people to read it easily and for free!! BUT ALSO, I will be starting the process to get Book 3 printed sometime soon, and taking preorders for that. I’ll make noise about that everywhere I can.
OTHER STUFF! I’m tabling at the SMALL PRESS EXPO in the DC area this weekend, at table D8. Really looking forward to it, this is one of my favorites. Island Book is officially coming out on May 14, 2019, and you are more than welcome to preorder it right now! Looking forward to seeing what people think of this book; I’ve already in fact made a couple of art books in anticipation of it. AND ALSO finally, I have recently started working on a book for Iron Circus Comics called The Harrowing of Hell. This will be an unusual book for me, and scheduled in such a way that I think I can balance it pretty well with the next several months of Vattu.
Thank you for reading.
July 9 2018
e are really closing in on the end of Book 3 (of 4) of Vattu, and I can't believe I've finally gotten here and I'm very excited about the end of this book and the Enormous writing challenge that book 4 represents. I will survive; thank you for reading.
I just posted the (apparently) annual Vattu State of the Union, about where I'm at and where the comic is at. On Medium and Tumblr.
In the near future! A couple of new things will be available on my Topatoco store! I'd like to get the Kickstarter for Vattu Book 3 running pretty soon after the end of the book is posted! Flame Con in NYC, and SPX in DC!
April 2 2018
attu's back and over 900 pages now; I had to back off for the last chunk of working on Island Book, which was wayyy more work than I thought it would be, but IT'S DONE AND IT'LL BE OUT IN 2019. I loved working on this thing; I am pretty sure it's something like how I wanted it to be when I started but maybe I'm too close to it right now to say. Can't wait for everyone to see it.
Figuring out how my schedule works now that that's done, and for the moment at least I'm going to try to update Vattu with 3 pages a week. Also the Rice Boy Rerun Blog is back, and I'm working on a couple merchandise items that you'll see soon soon.
Thanks for reading this stuff friends; I'm excited to get back into focusing more fully on Vattu.
February 23 2018
ello friends! We're almost to page 900 of Vattu today. I've had to update a little less frequently lately, as I'm closing in on my actual final deadline for all of Island Book, the graphic novel I'm making for First Second Books that should be out in early 2019. Thanks for your patience; I don't normally juggle big huge projects at such length but having this be my career means I am always working too much. Back to more frequent Vattu pages in mid-March, I think!
Very excited to be going to Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle next week! I'm at table 208, with Kel McDonald, Joe Pimienta, Sloane Leong, Kory Bing, and Meredith McLaren. With a ton of books and prints and things. If you're around I hope you'll come say hello.
One more Big Development-- A new edition of Rice Boy was just published by Iron Circus Comics, a publisher dear to my heart and run by my friend Spike, one of the people in comics who I've known the very longest. This is the first major book I've had published by someone who isn't just me, and it'll be the first time anything I've made will show up in actual bookstores. Twelve years I've been doing this, and I've never seen a book of mine in a bookstore. (The self-published edition will still be available at Topatoco for the near future)
Thank you for reading~~~~~!!!!!!!
December 6 2017
lmost done with the year and in the thick of a big heavy sequence of Vattu that I've been looking forward to for a long long time. Thanks everybody for reading; I'm excited about what we're getting to.
A couple of topical items: I'm exhibiting at Comic Arts Los Angeles this weekend! A small & friendly & charming show that I'm excited to be a part of again. And shipping deadlines for the holidays are coming up, if you're interested in any of the books and things I have made. No particularly new merchandise for this holiday season because I am too busy to think, though.
Posting periodic updates on Island Book over on tumblr and elsewhere. Colors colors colors for the next couple of months! happy holidays to all of u
November 8 2017
ust put up page 877 of Vattu, ending a pretty huge and consequential scene, and beginning another: a sequence I've been calling 'Coming Home.' I have a little bit of preliminary work to do, and I'm working on a lot at once right now, so the next bit of Vattu will start going online a little late, on Monday, November 20th. Thanks for your patience. I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate you reading this thing and how excited I am for the moment we're at right now in the story.
Until November 20th, you can download for free the entire comic so far, as individual PNG files, right here. This might be an easier way to read it! Please feel free to pass it around.
I'm into the coloring phase of Island Book, and that's my other big project for practically this whole year so far; if you're interested I'm trying to keep some occasional updates going on Tumblr, twitter, etc. Gonna work on getting a little home-base page for it on rice-boy.com too! whenever I have... a second...
Getting ready for my last comics event of the year, holidays, etc etc. Hope you're well, thanks for reading.
July 12 2017
e're close enough to the 7th anniversary of my starting Vattu that I can use that as a pretense to post this bit of writing, which let's call the 'Vattu State of the Union.' I haven't put much of my thinking about the process out in the world, so this is something I'd like to do in the future. Hope you like it! No spoilers or any particular story details.
My illustrated edition of Moby-Dick is finally available for sale! Thanks everybody for your support during that big unusual project; there's tons of process artwork, writing, and photos of the finished book up on the Moby-Dick Illustrated Tumblr.
And the other big thing going on right now is prep for San Diego Comic Con next week! I'm tabling with Becky and Frank and Tyler and BigBud and Seibei and maybe other people I hope I haven't forgotten?? I'll have a few exclusive prints and all my other stuff. Table 1334.... I am virtually certain.
Thanks for reading everyone! see u
