I'm not dead, just busy. I'm working on some new advertisements for the page. We also just wrapped up a one page comic for Empire Earth II that you should see soon. Then I've got to crack out the cover for our next book. After we settled our legal bullshit we were free to sign with a new publisher and that publisher is, drum roll please...Dark Horse! That's right, Dark Horse will be making books and toys for us. How fucking awesome is that? Expect more announcements as we get closer to the San Diego comic con.

You might have seen that slice of Merch on my "desk" over on the right side of my photo above - that was hand-made by Cathy Keeble and given to us at SakuraCon. I have a number of one-of-a-kind items of this sort that should be given a greater degree of exposure on the site, I'd imagine. That is the new policy.

The disparity between our working areas could not be more pronounced. Observe how Gabriel gets it done:

When I was grabbing the Serenity trailer yesterday, I noticed another snip up there as I continually refreshed the page - a preview for something called "Night Watch," an upcoing Russian series which bills itself as an epic horror trilogy.

Gabriel has been largely inconsolable since he heard about this new Star Wars television series. I told him because I thought it would make him happy, but he's so accustomed to the current Star Wars dosage schedule that he has no mechanism with which to grapple this bounty. I think he's mostly afraid that the realities of television will creep in at the edges of that revered context.

The trailer for the Firefly movie is now available. I don't know if I have ever been more excited in my entire life.

The site has essentially been eradicated and reconstituted over the weekend, and it looks like the worst of the trouble is over for now - loads have been significantly improved. This should hold until the dedicated database server arrives - a nontrivial piece of hardware which was obtained at crippling expense.

A few days ago we discussed SOE's "Station Exchange," their plan to bring game auctions of items and currency under official auspices. The long and short of the piece was that:

It took the merger of Gamestop and Electronics Boutique to make us put aside our differences and get back to what really matters - profanity.

The old Penny Arcade would have posted a link like this with the following text:

Somewhat hesitant talks between Gabriel and myself have begun to occur, talks which may ultimately lead to a cessation of hostilities. These discussions are characterized by a halting manner which sometimes erupts into a glossy airline catalogue of real and imagined transgressions. For example, he has suggested that I either borrowed or misplaced a treasured hat at one point. I'm not at liberty to discuss the particulars of this scenario, other than to say that he is wrong and I know the French word for hat.

This is his fiery response? Snakes and birds? Saints preserve us. This "thing" he sent me couldn't me more pedestrian if it walked down the street.

Upon re-reading the above - my glorious emancipation from all things Gabriel - I saw that I had spelled the word "monocle" incorrectly. Just what a monacle could be is currently a mystery, but I hold that it has now become a word and simply lacks a definition. A single shackle, perhaps?

Now I've unsealed the gleaming Ark of the fucking Covenant and revealed the treasures of ancient Judea.

It seems to me that they should call it Take All Of Your Money Spot instead of Keenspot, because of how they take your money all the time.

As of today, I've pretty much had it with Gabe. The strip you see here every other day is the result of my pure gold being forcibly commingled with his utterly tragic shit. For example, I know a seven syllable word for a common mental condition that he never lets me employ in the regular course of events. Come Monday, you're going to see Penny Arcade as it was always meant to be - with my own sure hand at the rudder. Erudite sailing analogies are just one more thing I bring to the table.