News: April 2001

         

Sunday, Apr. 29, 2001
    How's that for a Guest Artist Sunday? :-) The first two are from Slappy the Stick, already notorious for his cut-and-paste antics in the Avalon Forum. If you like those two, you should be in the Forum looking for more. :-) Then we have a slew of comics submitted to us by RevSam, one of the veterans over at #avalon (on the Nightstar IRC network). Big thanks go out to both of them!

Thursday, Apr. 26, 2001
    Well, there's Tuesday's comic. If I have time tomorrow, I'll see about getting two (or even three) comics up to make up for the delays, but more than likely there will have to be a new one on Saturday.
    Now then, Hockey Pool stuff. Today is the last day to make your picks for the 2nd Round (entry ends tonight at 7:00 pm Eastern time). There have been a handful of people e-mailing me to say that they couldn't add their picks, nor did they appear in the big scores list. In each case I was able to quickly plug them back into the system. If you're having a similar problem, feel free to e-mail me, so I can fix it as soon as possible. Please make sure to send me a copy of the confirmation e-mail(s) you received when you previously entered.
    Also, if you have already made your 2nd Round picks, please make sure you can find yourself in the scores listing. If you don't see a '0' by your name under the 2nd Round, something's wrong and your picks haven't been registered. Again, e-mail me if you're having troubles.
    Finally, I notice there's a good number of people who have registered lately, but haven't yet made their picks! These people exist in the scores listing, but they don't have any numbers under the 1st or 2nd Rounds. Remember, making your picks is a process separate from registration... make sure you get your picks in before tonight.

Wednesday, Apr. 25, 2001
    Wow, aren't I a picture of reliability? :-P This week has not been my friend, and all I can do is apologize for delaying yet another comic. On the up side, my exams are over this Saturday... So, as usual, I thank mzacher and his masterful work for bailing me out. :-)

Tuesday, Apr. 24, 2001
    Sorry there's only one comic today... I know I said I'd have two up today, but that was before I developed this abysmal cold. :-P I'll catch up sometime this week, I swear!
    In the meantime, the 1st Round of the NHL playoffs ended yesterday, and that means it's time to enter your 2nd Round picks in the Hockey Pool! Remember, if you registered during the 1st Round, you don't have to register again - just make your picks. The deadline for this round's picks is Thursday, April 26, at 7:00 pm Eastern.
    Didn't participate in the 1st Round? It's not too late to join in! Remember, you earn double points in the 2nd Round, so there's still a chance to catch up!

Monday, Apr. 23, 2001
    As much as I'd like to pass off today's comic as a "change in artistic style," I have to admit that I chose today's EM Waves exam over today's comic. Sorry. :-/ In the meantime, John Campbell (#avalon god-type person) presents us with Alison getting a little "insider info."
    Anyways, after my exam, I'll see to getting two comics up here on Tuesday.

Sunday, Apr. 22, 2001
    Big thanks to Brian Daniel (the guy behind the webcomic Hapless Joe) and TODCRA Productions for this week's Guest Artist Sunday contributions!

Friday, Apr. 20, 2001
    Well, I said I'd make an announcement regarding the Avalon book today... first of all, there's gonna be an Avalon book! :-) Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Study Here is a print collection of Avalon's first year (up until September, 2000). There's also a bonus comic at the end that hasn't been seen anywhere on the web. The book will be published by Maverick Camel Publishing, a brand new company specialising in webcomics.
    Remember that discussion a few months back about printing colour comics in the book? Well, it turns out that most of the colour comics are going to be printed in colour (including the memorable full-page New Year's Eve comic, and the Barq's parody). The bonus comic also exploits full-colour printing.
    There's no word yet on cost of the book. It will be sold directly from the publisher's website. There will be no preorders, but sales will begin sometime next week. When it becomes available, trust me, I'll let you know. :-)

Wednesday, Apr. 18, 2001
    I fixed the sorting in the Hockey Pool scores... now all we need are some series to end so people can get some points! Also, there was a bit of a bug in the server yesterday that prevented CGI scripts from working, which resulted in the poll not showing up. It's back now, so vote right this instant!
    Meanwhile, there's going to be a very important announcement this Friday regarding the new Avalon book. Make sure not to miss it!

Tuesday, Apr. 17, 2001
    Yay! I'm all caught up! Except there seems to be a minor bug in the Hockey Pool scores; the scores are meant to be sorted alphabetically, but they're doing that Unix trick where uppercase letters end up after lowercase letters. So if you couldn't find yourself in the list, chances are you have a username that starts with a lowercase letter, and you should look in the second half of the list. I'll be working on making it truly alphabetical during the next few days.
    And hey, I changed the poll! :-) As for last week's election poll, Nancy and Helène almost ended up in a tie for first, but Nancy barely came out on top. Far behind were Ahmed and Larry. Ironically, the two big losers of the poll ended up getting acclaimed in the real student elections. I apologize for the lameness of this week's poll due to lack of good ideas, but vote now anyway! :-)

Monday, Apr. 16, 2001
    The fan art means Josh is taking a day off! ;-) I decided to take a government holiday today, and get some sleep. And since I have today off, I'll be able to get two comics done for Tuesday.
    Also, player scores are now up for the Hockey Pool. Of course, they're kinda boring, since none of the playoff matchups are over yet. :-)
    And finally, IRC mainstay Alex Rodriguez (aka ChaosReactor), along with Eric and DnaError, have started a new webcomic called ShadoWing. It's a dark drama featuring very unique watercolour art. Check it out right away!

Sunday, Apr. 15, 2001
    Big thanks to both Sara Lynn (of #avalon fame), and Steve Hastings for their Guest Artist Sunday contributions!
    And if you missed it, make sure to check out my guest stint from last week over at Framed!

Thursday, Apr. 12, 2001
    Thanks to the 360 people who signed up for the Hockey Pool! 1st Round entry ended yesterday, but it's not too late to get in on the action -- register now, then keep an eye out in two weeks for the start of the 2nd Round. Coming soon are the player listings (which will become useful after people start earning points from their picks), and team standings.
    And just a reminder for you to check out Framed, where since Tuesday I've been having too much fun at Damonk's expense. :-)

Wednesday, Apr. 11, 2001
    Today is the last day to make your 1st Round picks in the Hockey Pool! You can enter until 7:00 pm Eastern.

Tuesday, Apr. 10, 2001
    Registration for the Hockey Pool continues today! Remember, you only have until Wednesday at 7:00pm Eastern to make your 1st Round picks! Over 250 people have already signed up... don't miss out!
    Also, I apologize for the problems with the e-mail confirmation yesterday. Some people may have gotten script errors while registering or making their picks, and others didn't receive an e-mail confirmation at all. However, this did not affect the registration process... everybody's picks made it into the system just fine. If you really want the e-mail confirmation, feel free to make your picks again -- it's working now. :-)
    Oh, and what's this? Could it be... REVENGE?!? ;-) I return Damonk's multiple favours this week over at Framed!

Monday, Apr. 9, 2001
    The 2001 Avalon Hockey Pool has begun! It's absolutely free to enter, and you could win some great Avalon prizes! Register now, and make sure you've made your 1st Round picks before Wednesday at 7:00 pm EDT!

Sunday, Apr. 8, 2001
    Huge thanks to Julie Miyamoto -- better known as Jen Aside -- for today's Guest Artist Sunday comics!

Friday, Apr. 6, 2001
    There's Thursday's comic. Friday's will be up tomorrow.
    And if you're curious about the strange temporal weirdness in Avalon since New Year's, you might want to check out the brief timeline on Page 2 of this Forum thread.

Wednesday, Apr. 4, 2001
    Several people brought it to my attention that April 13th is Good Friday, and is a holiday in high schools. Naturally, a Student Council election couldn't take place on that date, so I had to change Monday's comic to reflect that. Nothing big, just forget it ever said "thirteenth." ;-)
    Oh yeah, and it's high time we had a new poll. Last week's poll tells us that Ryan and Deirdre make the cutest couple in Avalon, followed not-so-closely by Joe and Ceilidh. A select few think that Alison would make a cute couple with anyone, and finally, a small resistance group thinks Alan and Helène do well together.

Tuesday, Apr. 3, 2001
    Here's something that should pique your interest... The Lynch Vault! Maintained by JHUBattousai, this site is a collection of all sorts of stuff that's useful to any Lyncher (aka. ardent Avalon fan). It's got colourized strips, character statistics, and The Avalon Code, so go check it out now!

Monday, Apr. 2, 2001
    Sorry for the continued delays... in my usual guilt-ridden style, I'm appeasing you all with some more amazing fan art by mzacher, this one of Deirdre. So Monday's comic will be up tomorrow, and then hopefully there will be two in one day later this week.

Sunday, Apr. 1, 2001
    A thousand thanks to Clan BOB for today's Guest Artist Sunday comic! Okay, I did ask them to change the team name from the original "Florida Panthers"... but I claim no responsiblity for what the Leafs have brought upon themselves. ;-)