News: March 2001

         

Friday, Mar. 30, 2001
    ESN IS BACK!!!
    Also, thanks to Lazy for starting up the Webcomics From Canada list! Since everyone knows that Canadians are funnier than anyone else (c'mon, throw us a frikkin' bone here), you'll want to check out this page for more quality webcomics stuff. At the very least, you might find out that some of your favorite artists are Canucks, and you never suspected a thing...

Wednesday, Mar. 28, 2001
    First, I want everyone to know that the Cast page has... wait for it... UPDATED. Yes, Deirdre is now on the page, along with her parents. I wasn't able to update the links on every other character, unfortunately, but that's what the archive is for. ;-) You can, as always, find the Cast page under About.
    Next, there are two new webcomics on the scene that you gotta check out: first is Burning Moon, a dark mystery/thriller by Stupid Fool and our very own Forum/IRC mainstay Coota. If you want something a little more lighthearted, check out Kayla by Alan "DaFalcon" Carr (and if for no other reason, you have to check it out for the site design).

Monday, Mar. 26, 2001
    After the poll that just went too darn long, it seems about 80% of Avalon readers are unable to attend any possible Avalon convention at Anime North on May 25-27. However, about 8% of readers could definitely make it. Plus, about 3% are going to Anime North anyway (and might stop by), and another 3% are undecided. If an Avalon convention does happen in the future, there will be info here well in advance. In the meantime, vote now in this week's poll!

Sunday, Mar. 25, 2001
    In this week's Guest Artist Sunday, J A "Dusty" Sayers gives us his prediction for Avalon's final comic strip. I can say with great certainty that his prediction is wrong. ;-) Check out his online game, Rescue the Princess.

Wednesday, Mar. 21, 2001
    Confused yet? :-) Some readers may want to review the backstory a little bit by reading through these two major chapters: Whither Phoebe, and Love and War, Part 1. Then just sit back and enjoy the ride. :-)
    Meanwhile, you may want to check out The New Adventures of Bobbin (not to be confused with Bobbins), by Joycelyn Yik. It's a character-driven high school comedy, so if you're getting sick of Avalon's melodrama, you might as well give it a shot. ;-)

Tuesday, Mar. 20, 2001
    First off, huge thanks to Kitsune76 for her quasi-cameo of Ceilidh and Phoebe in yesterday's C.Ulture Shocked! Kitsune rules. ;-)
    Secondly, I have chosen to jump on the bandwagon: Avalon is now accepting donations. Like several other webcomics right now (and Keenspot itself), I've provided a mechanism for readers to donate money to Avalon. Donations are completely optional, and Avalon will always be provided for absolutely no charge. Your donations will help to provide contest prizes, to help create an Avalon presence at various conventions (like the San-Diego Comic-Con, Anime North, and the Canadian National Comic Book Expo), and to help me with the costs of university.
    If you would like to make a donation, click here, or use the Donation link along the left. It uses the standard PayPal service to transfer funds between Internet users. As a Canadian, I can't use services like Amazon's Honor System or PayPal's Web Accept, so this is the best I can do for now. It costs nothing to join PayPal; a credit card is not required; and aside from a currency conversion fee, you pay nothing beyond what you choose to donate.
    You may also notice that I've finally made a link to the Avalon Store! Feel free to peruse the items available over there, and support Avalon while getting some cool stuff!

Sunday, Mar. 18, 2001
    This Week's Guest Artist Sunday comic is brought to us by Consul! I'll apologize on his behalf since the humour is a little base...

Friday, Mar. 16, 2001
    Since I'm lagging a day behind this week, Friday's comic will be up tomorrow. Also, it would seem that CRFH has surpassed Avalon in the Planet Cartoonist Top 100 list... I'm thinking, if everybody chose to just click on that link there, or on the Top 100 button below, we might be able to set things straight again. ;-)

Wednesday, Mar. 14, 2001
    Here we have something that any true Avalon nut will love... The Avalon Code! It's like the Geek Code, but this one allows you to describe your Avalon fan status in a fun(?) and succinct way. Once you've created your own Avalon Code, go check out some others' (including my own) in this thread in the Avalon Forum. And big thanks go to JHU Battousai for maintaining the code!

Tuesday, Mar. 13, 2001
    The Four Toon Tellers (which seems to include that Damonk guy... :-) ) have written a review of Avalon! Check it out here.

Sunday, Mar. 11, 2001
    Thanks to S-D, a regular from the Avalon Forum and from the #avalon IRC channel (on the NightStar network). The first one had me laughing for quite a while. The second one still confuses me to no end. :-)

Saturday, Mar. 10, 2001
    My apologies continue, as Friday's comic won't be around until Monday now. This has been a particularly hectic/stressful week for me, and I'm just trying to keep up with sleep right now. :-) There will be a Guest Artist Sunday tomorrow, as usual.

Friday, Mar. 9, 2001
    I apologize for the delay, but Friday's comic is going to have to wait until Saturday. Meanwhile, in my usual attempt to appease, I present you with some amazing fan art of Phoebe by mzacher!

Thursday, Mar. 8, 2001
    Today's comic is part of the First Place prize from the 2000 Avalon Hockey Pool, awarded to Gabe! Yeah, it took me a while but I finally fit him in. :-) He also has an original cast drawing coming his way yet...
    And fret not, there will be a 2001 hockey pool. :-) More info on that will be coming out the first week of April, when the playoffs roll around, so keep an eye out.

Tuesday, Mar. 6, 2001
    Now this was a pleasant surprise... Zachary Houle, the freelance journalist behind the Ottawa Citizen article featuring myself and Gisèle Lagacé (of Cool Cat Studio) has brought us another newspaper article examining the net phenomena we all know and love. ;-) Click here, for great justice.

Monday, Mar. 5, 2001
    Last week's poll was pretty definitive... 73% of voters want to see Ceilidh and Joe together as soon as possible. A distant 20% say it would be better if they got together at the end of Avalon. Finally, 7% of people think they shouldn't even bother with a relationship. Let's wait and see if this latest storyline ends up pleasing anyone. ;-)
    I should give some detailed explanation for this weeks poll: it's apparent from discussions in the Avalon Forum that there are a good lot of Avalon readers going to Anime north, and anime convention taking place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from May 25 to 27 (click here for more info on the convention). It was a natural conclusion that we should get together during the weekend so everyone could meet each other in person. This week's poll is an attempt to see if there would be enough demand for an "official" Avalon mini-convention... if enough readers want to make it to Toronto for that weekend, we could try to organize something decent in advance. So for now, just let us know if you would attend such an event, and then we'll know if some heavy-duty planning is in order.

Sunday, Mar. 4, 2001
    Thanks to JokerMage for today's Guest Artist Sunday comic! Also, some relief for those of you with slow connections... the Archive and Art sections have been optimized for quicker viewing (it was just a subtle alteration of the tables). And I start drawing comics again tomorrow. :-)

Saturday, Mar. 3, 2001
    And so concludes the reign of terror. :-) My infinite thanks go to (Not) Damonk for filling in this week... and for proving that twistiness is good for us all. ;-)

Friday, Mar. 2, 2001
    Make sure to come back tomorrow, for the grand finale to Not Damonk's reign of terror! And then come back on Sunday to see what the next guest artist has for us!
    Thanks to all the people who reminded me that the name of the game depicted in Jed Cruz's fan art was Samurai Shodown. Yesterday's fan art of Ceilidh was brought to us by Alex Rodriguez, artist of Shadowing. And today's fan art is a collaborative comic written by cloudhibiki and drawn by negativeZero, two Forum/IRC juggernauts.