News: June 2000

         

Thursday, June 29, 2000
    Some bad news: something's come up, which will have me out of town for the weekend. This means no new comics until Tuesday. :-/ I won't be able to respond to e-mail until then, either. I really apologize for this. In the meantime, the forum has become pretty active lately, so you can always head over there for some crazy Avalon fun. :-)

Wednesday, June 28, 2000
    Attention new readers: Thanks for dropping by! Some of you will have just discovered Avalon today through the Keenspot Newsbox, and since Avalon is in the middle of two big storylines, you might be a little confused as to what's going on. :-) I'll recommend to everyone who hasn't done so to start reading from the beginning! You can get through the archives rather quickly if you use the weekly view. If you can't do that, I'd recommend at least reading the storylines A Certain Lack of Chemistry, Valentine's, and The Dance. Also, check out the Cast section to get to know the characters a bit better. And feel free to e-mail me or post in the Avalon Forum!

Monday, June 26, 2000
    Thanks to ShadowGunz for sending me this awesome fanart of Joe! You can see other Avalon fanart in the Fan Art section (under Misc.).
    And if anyone's confused about "interlaced" and "non-interlaced" GIFs in this week's poll... as interlaced GIFs download, they appear sorta fuzzy and then become clearer. Normal GIFs just grow downward line-by-line. For examples, look at this comic (a non-interlaced GIF) and then this comic (an interlaced GIF).
    Oooh, oooh... I did a guest artist strip on Friday for ?! You can see it here.

Sunday, June 25, 2000
    Today's Guest Artist is Rainer Koreasalo, artist of Minding My Own Business. Just to avoid confusion: that's not Alan in the strip above; that's the guy who purportedly minds his own business. ;-) Thanks Rainer!
    According to last week's poll, 64% of readers never had to wear a school uniform, and are pretty dang happy about it. :-) 16% of readers didn't have to wear 'em, but these people thought it would've been cool. The remaining people who have been there and actually know what they're talking about ( ;-) ) include 11% of readers who wore uniforms and hated it, and the 10% who wore 'em and liked 'em.
    This week's poll is actually *gasp* serious! ;-) I'd like to know how many people would like to see Avalon in interlaced GIF format. Until last Thursday, I've always used non-interlaced GIFs, but maybe people have a preference (especially when reading a traditional-format comic strip). And all you GIF-haters have a choice as well. :-)

Friday, June 23, 2000
    I've got a couple of links to pass around... first is a new webcomic out there by Remi, called Too Fat To Be A Rock Star. Nice and eclectic. :-)
    And secondly, Alan "DaFalcon" is back with a new webcomics feature: It's a Webcomic World! You have to check this thing out. And not just because Avalon is plastered all over the front page. ;-) If Alan can keep this site going, it'll become a major player in the webcomics community.
    Damn, after this and that colouring job he did on a bunch of older Avalon strips, as well as that Avalon fan site he started, Alan's getting a Weenie Point. :-) Though I *still* haven't figured out what do with those things... I suppose suggestions are welcome in the Forum. :-)

Tuesday, June 20, 2000
    Got myself a new scanner yesterday! All is well. :-)
    Oh, and the poll has finally been updated. According to last week's poll, Joe won the seat of Senior Rep. with a landslide of 60%. Runner-up was Nancy, with 32% of the vote. Larry lagged behind with a mere 4%, and Ahmed took the remaining 3%.

Sunday, June 18, 2000
    Thanks to Zeddy for this awesome Guest Artist Sunday strip! By the way, the mug they're talking about can be found here. :-)

Thursday, June 15, 2000
    Well, back on Sunday, I went and stumbled into my first eBay auction. I'm selling off an old PalmPilot Personal (with 2 MB upgrade). So far the bidding has been less than fevered. ;-) You can check it out here. Bidding ends this coming Sunday afternoon. Yes, I'm a bastard for using my comic's news to advertise stuff for sale. ;-) Although, would anybody participate in an auction for original Avalon art? Hm...

Wednesday, June 14, 2000
    Thanks to Grant Goggins for adding Avalon to his Funny Pages Links! He's got a wide variety of web resources, ranging from comic books to artists to magazines to (best of all) web strips. :-)

Monday, June 12, 2000
    Well, the 2000 Avalon NHL Playoff Pool is over, and we have our winners! Finishing in Third Place, BoxJam wins himself a guest appearance in a future Avalon strip. In Second Place, Sam County wins the guest appearance, and his choice of item from the Avalon store (which is only about a week away from it's official debut). And finally, placing First overall, was gabe, who wins the guest appearance, his choice of item from the Avalon store, and a signed original cast drawing! Congrats to the winners; I'll be e-mailing them this week about their prizes. And thanks to everyone who entered! It was a rousing success, and you can expect the hockey pool to return next year!

Sunday, June 11, 2000
    Today's Guest Artist Sunday strip is courtesy of Nicholas Yu, the evil mastermind behind The Bad Boys of Computer Science. Big thanks to Nick for his second submission! Of course, he got in this Sunday because he linked to Avalon a few days ago and extorted pity out of me for not having a Sunday comic ready yet. But anyways, I've got a bunch of other excellent submissions lined up still, so keep checking back!
    Last week's poll results: hitting stuff around randomly won hands down with 45%. You pepole are so uncultured. ;-) Although that's usually what I end up doing when I'm playing 8-ball... which came in second with 25%. The next most popular game wasn't on the list - "something else" took 16%. 9-ball (my personal favorite) grabbed 11%, and snooker - the game that just won't end - took 4%.
    Oh, and we have our winners from the Avalon Hockey Pool... official announcements tomorrow!

Monday, June 5, 2000
    Well, here I am apologizing again... :-) I've been sleep-deprived for the past month, which is made even worse since Avalon is currently starting down a rather interesting path. I recommend you all start reading regularly, since there's gonna be lots of character growth, new relationships, and to-be-continued's during the next several months. :-) I've been dropping hints about a Summer Epic for a while now (esp. in the Forum), and I plan on following through... however, I want to make sure I don't start putting out any substandard strips since I'm so damn tired right now. Rest assured I'm working on improving my sleeping patterns. :-)
    So Monday's comic will be up tomorrow (sigh). And meanwhile, you all get to see Abe's Guest Artist Sunday submission up there. If anybody's been missing out on this, every Sunday I put up an Avalon comic written and drawn by another artist. Everyone is welcome to submit anything they like. You even have your own URL attached with the comic for posterity. :-) For more info on submitting, or to see what people have submitted before, check out the Sundays section.

Sunday, June 4, 2000
    Huge thanks to Abe Sterbenz for this very cool Guest Artist Sunday strip! I think it's my new favorite. :-)
    The last Avalon poll shows us that 45% of people believe that Student's Council is a waste of time in their school. The next 42% of people wouldn't miss it if it were gone. Ouch. :-) 6% of people don't even have a Student's Council at their school. Day-amn. :-) 6% of people find it really happy, and some amount of people which rounds up to 1% couldn't live without it. Now, vote in this week's poll!