Oh yeah...NEW WALLPAPER! Chapter 2 paper is the new voting incentive. Same as the cover...only larger and for your computer. Ya want it? Vote!

OK

This one is better--that last panel still impresses me, and I think I made it sometime late june-early July, so that's a GOOD THING in my books. Even better thing is...this time you can see Shawn's mohawk. YAY! I was still trying to figure out how to get these done faster, and wanted to see what just a little color would do. It doesn't. This will also never happen again. It WAS faster, but I really didn't like it much. More news on that in a bit. Read on:

News: Repeat of yesterday's news update, as nobody probably read it (mondays are my slow days) Hurricane Katrina has pretty much kicked the living crap out of the US. Gulf Coast. It did not hit Texas, which is good news for most of ya'll, as that's me, but it's extreamly bad news for Lousiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I've lived on the Texas Gulf Coast most of my life, so I really, really hate Hurrican season, and that was one big storm effectively sitting on my doorstep. I'd say I was glad it missed me, but I'm not. I've got family in New Orlenes--who are now here, and safe, thank you God--so I paid close attention to what happened, and it was probably the first time I ever heard the National Weather Service make apopaleptic prophesies. Guys, that was a cat. 5 hurricane the size of Texas. Only the fourth EVER to hit the US, and the only way this could possibly have been worse is if it had stayed at 5 (read: 175 sustained winds, the same as a F3 tornado) and made landfall thirty miles west. NO is THE worst city in America to take a hit from a hurricane, and it just got hit by the worst this Decade.

In case you really were worried--a couple of ya'll posted in the fourm asking how I was--it was a beautiful day in Houston. Clear skies until the afteroon, when we got clouds and enough drizzle to make the rest of the day into a sauna. My relatives, however, probably don't have a place to go back to, same as several million other people. If you're a praying person, pray 1. that the people who stayed are able to get to a safe, dry place until the water goes down 2. that they'll get the water down quickly (as NO is 12 feet below sea level, they use pumps to keep the water out...and nobody can get to the pumps right now, to turn them on) 3. that the cleanup goes fast and 4. that there are no epidemics. And if you don't pray...do it anyway. People really, really need it right now.

Ok. Comic news.

Thursdays will be what it will pretty much look like for the next two months, after which I go back to more careful shading...mostly because I've got the time to spare. I'm covered. NaNoWriMo here I come. :) However, I won't do hair like this except for special occasions and covers. It's gorgeous and I love it, but it also adds an hour and a half to two hours to each comic, and in most scenes it doesn't look very impressive. So special close-ups and covers only.

Also...I'm starting to think I need to put subliminal messages in the comic to get people to go to the forum. Honestly, I'd rather have honest opinions/talking there than votes right now...

...ok yeah I still want votes, but I want to talk to you guys too! Get opinions and maybe hear speculation as to what happens next. PLEASE come talk to me. PLEASE? Pretty please?

*makes Abbot kitten eyes at everybody*

...with the noted exceptions of Kris, Ian and Vort. You guys are teh best. :)

- Chelsea Gaither