Shaking Things Up!

In today's strip, I vicariously ask the reader's indulgence in fast forwarding the plot a bit, since summer is fading fast, and we have a lot of story to go yet. The idea would have been a great one, except for the fact that we aren't really fast forwarding! This strip was actually a lot more work than if I just told the story in a more straight forward way.

There's another big summer story going on right now, over at For Better or For Worse. Lynn Johnston has been running that strip daily for what? Over 25 years now? I've followed it from the beginning, and in a way will be sorry to see it end. My point is, though, that after that much time, there are occasionally a few not as exciting dailies. She has no choice in the matter, since she runs in your favorite newspaper every day, and I'm sure it is not always easy to plan a long story in a set format. She also has the bonus that she will be back again the next day, and the reader will forgive the occasional dull strip. Overall, it's the story that counts, and overall she does a great job.

Me? I've got to get your attention when I have it, and I was afraid that a few more straight forward strips to get through the next part of the story would not have been exciting enough. Especially when this strip is a week late, and I cannot promise another strip tomorrow!

So, I decided to have a lot of fun with the story, in the hopes that if I'm having fun, you will as well. :0)

Admittedly, it's a bit odd for me, so at the risk of seeming off my rocker, I present to you today's comic strip, puppets and all. :0)

Cheers, JOHN :0)

PS What's on my iPod today, tomorrow, all week? Fish, 13th Star. Fantastic album!

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: A Review

I got a gift card recently, and of all the things I could have done with that 25 bucks, I went and bought Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Season 1 dvd, the moment it came out. I don't buy every dvd that comes out, whether movie or tv, but I really love this show. I love this show so much that I wonder if there are subliminal messages within it, to make me love the show? I mean, can the acting and writing and sfx and producing and directing and photography... every bit of a television show, really be this good?

First off, I enjoy Sci-Fi, and always have. Once upon a time there just didn't seem to be enough of it, but it didn't take me long for me to realise that a lot of the blowing up robots stuff was junk, and put there to capitalise off of me and every other little kid who grew up with Star Wars. Even today there is a lot of Sci-Fi that I don't touch, and I would like to think that my tastes now cater to great Sci-Fi... stuff that rises above blowing up stuff, and actually tells stories based on characterization.

So here I am watching a show about blowing up robots, and it is so compelling that I've actually watched the same episodes several times last week, just because they came on and I couldn't turn them off! Sure sounds like subliminal messages, but I'm not susceptible to hypnosis, so maybe there's more to this show?

There is a lot more depth than you might think, and if you can, watch it from the beginning. There really is a whole lot happening, and from the start you can see the sacrifices the characters are forced into making.

You also see the love the mother and son have for each other, despite the difficulties they face. The family dynamic becomes much more interesting over time as Summer’s character (a troubled teenage terminator!)becomes, essentially, another member of the family.

The characters are in a seemingly impossible situation, being hunted down by time travelling cybernetic beings who can disguise themselves as humans, and have the knowledge of an ever changing future. Also in this series, the Terminators are branching out, and actually using strategy. The future is inevitable, but our heroes keep fighting it anyway.

Sarah just wants her son to be safe, John just wants to be a normal teenager, and Cameron just wants a heart. (Yes, Tin Man reference.) The true beauty of the show is in the characterisation, and the actors do it right. How many of us would continue a fight that doesn’t seem to end, that comes back just when you thought it was over, and sometimes comes back stronger than ever?

Imagine trying to be a mom or a teenager or just a normal human being when any minute of the day you can find yourself under attack, and you know that unless you do everything in your power, the world as you know it will disappear in a flash?

And yet the show gives us one thing... hope. As the inevitable future keeps coming, John Connor is learning, getting smarter and stronger, and gathering allies for the fight to come. The future keeps changing, and when it does, the good guys still have a chance of winning. Maybe. :0)

I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Cheers, JOHN :0)

100 Comic Strips

Today I am proud to announce my 100th comic strip of The Inquiring Minds! This is a big deal to me.

Okay, so some of you are saying, "but doesn't Take Me Away From All This!! have 226 Knight and Day comic strips?" Well, yes, but almost all of those are black and white dailies. "How about 3 Knights in India then?", the most observant of you ask. "Weren't there 101 comic strips there?"

The answer is yes, so this is the third time a comic strip of mine has reached such a milestone. The Inquiring Minds have been around a long time now, so it's actually hard to believe that there are ONLY 100 comic strips so far. However, right now they are all in color, and over a third of them are full sized color Sunday strips. Also, this 100 strips does not count illustrations, or strips drawn by Brian Hughes, or the dozens of strips drawn of the original Inquiring Minds.

I'm also doubly pleased that this 100th strip falls smack dab in the middle of the 2008 Big Summer Adventure currently going on. I honestly believe that when this is over, the Big Summer event will be my best work to date. I'm very pleased with the art and the writing both, and for me, this is something that's been a long time coming.

The original Inquiring Minds were the first to catch the interest of a Syndicate. If I had been more prepared for that then than I was, maybe the strip could have been syndicated! What it came down too, though, was that the Syndicate did not want a strip that told stories... they wanted gag a day humour. For me, The Inquiring Minds were made for stories, and now, finally, The Inquiring Minds as they are today are getting their chance to tell one heck of a story.

It's fun, and getting funner, and big things are yet to come!

If you aren't up to date with the story, please read through it before reading the new 100th strip below, as it is a culmination of what's been going on so far this summer. But this is by no means the end! Plot twists are a coming! :0)

See the whole story at www.HappyGlyphs.com/summer.html

Cheers, JOHN :0)