Hi everybody. I use a Wacom Cintiq Pro to draw the comic, which is a fantastic tablet that I would recommend to anyone in a heartbeat. I mean, it’s not Wacom’s fault that I bent the lovely USB cable that connects the computer to the tablet, that is 100% on me. And it’s not Wacom’s fault, either, that the knock-off USB cable I bought on Amazon to replace the broken one… uhh… it worked, but never quite the same way as the old one. For example, if you held the tablet at the wrong angle or picked it up or put it down, things you’re going to be doing all the time, the whole screen would go black. And not just a flicker, either, for several seconds at a time. Far from ideal, but we got along fine for a couple of years. Increasingly, it’s been black for no reason, like I’m just sitting there drawing and my screen switches itself off for half a minute.
Now, the cable has finally broken. It is just black all the time, and flickers of life are the exception 10% of the time. It’s not even like losing an old friend, more like losing a hated co-worker but one you sat next to for years. As much as I hated that damn cable, I simply can’t draw the comic without it, not even a little bit. The tablet just isn’t usable until I get a new cable, and hopefully this next one will work a little better. Delivery estimate for the replacement replacement cable is 11th March, at which point comic-drawing will resume. So the comic is on short-term medical leave until mid-March, I suppose. Thank you, random indifferent universe, I was doing a thing but whatever.
Listen, I get it. I know with my recent health issues and various personal stuff, the updates have become somewhat sporadic from your point of view, but over on my end there’s been a flurry of comic activity. Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time kicking the updates back into gear. Not just drawing one page from start to finish and throwing it up on the site, either, doing things the right way, working smart. I’ve been doing the background tasks that speed up the whole process — things like formatting pages and panels, storyboarding, finalising the script. I had a production line going, it was great. Now there’s smoke coming out of the conveyor belt.
It’s a real shame because I just found out today my kids have Covid-19. They’re fine, we just can’t leave the house for a week. This was great news, because what else was I going to do with all that time spent at home isolating if not drawing? I tell you, these USB-C cable failures don’t care how many lives they ruin.
Right, enough whinging. Let’s look at the positives. The conveyor belt is already loaded with comic pages, so when the comic comes back next month, it’s going to be an unstoppable juggernaut. So while you spend the next couple of weeks eagerly anticipating a return to regularly scheduled updates, I’m going to spend that time working on some exciting but super secret writing projects I’ve been putting off for too long now. This isn’t exactly how I wanted it to happen, but I’m not going to look a gift fortnight in the… mouth? Do fortnights have mouths?
As always, check out my Twitter for more updates. And, I don’t normally do this, but I have a Ko-fi now if you want to throw me a quid to cover the cost of the new cable. But, seriously, no pressure, please don’t feel you have to. See you in March!
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