Enjoy!

As such, it was nice to see my publisher, Joe Gentile of Moonstone Books, tackle this very problem in his latest Newsarama column.

I may be biased, but he’s got a great point. And keep in mind, he’s a retailer running four comic shops, not just a publisher, which I think gives him a much broader perspective on these things than your average small press publisher.

What more can a newb comics creator want?

Okay, so he wasn’t talking about the MySpace online community, but it applies. While I realize some musicians and writers have had some success leveraging MySpace to promote their work, just about every page I’ve ever visited is an eye-stabbing, stroke-inducing, browser-choking piece of shit.

Just because you can include every color, font face, video, and music clip to ever grace the ‘Net on your page does not mean you should. The next one of you bastards to kill my browser with your crap is going to get kicked in the crotch, even if you are a superhero.

First up, the February Previews catalog hits stores on Wednesday, and this will include the ordering information for Werewolves: Call of the Wild. I’ll be posting the order code here once I have it.

Work is just about completed on the first issue, so everything is on track for the book’s publication in April. Today I’ll be putting the finishing touches on the script for the second issue, and we’ll have a second-issue cover for you soon.

Order numbers will determine the book’s future: if it doesn’t do well, Diamond won’t list it in Previews, thus making the publisher less interested in keeping the book alive. I’ve got several story arcs in mind for the main character and his family and will be happy to keep them going, so please, shoot on out and order that first issue. If you like it, tell your comic shop to keep on ordering! Pretty please?

I’m later than I intended on the second part of Bastard Precinct. Sorry about that, and I’ll be correcting that either today or tomorrow. The final keys for the future of the story fell into place, so now I know how soon I want to introduce certain elements. Expect part three of Down Vendetta Road by next weekend as well.

Another feature I hope to launch soon is a Muy Mal podcast. My good friend John Roling has recorded the first episode of Down Vendetta Road as an MP3, and we’ll be presenting the series as a podcast. John’s a former college and professional radio DJ and did a great job with the reading, and we’re both looking forward to hearing what you think. If that goes well, I may read Bastard Precinct myself. Keep an eye on Asphalt & Alchemy and right here for news on this front.

As Muy Mal in general, what do you folks think of the pictures included with the stories? I haven’t been able to devote as much time as I hoped to getting out and taking pics, and may or may not turn to Flickr for content as Weston has done. Tell me what you think: keep ‘em, leave ‘em, or doesn’t matter?

I just had a dialog with a publisher about the final part of the cycle started with “To Fight With Monsters” and To Travel Among Men. He’s interested in the plot outline I provided, so I’ll start writing that one very soon. My plan is to present all three parts in one book, so fans will not need to track down 4×4 or New Dark Voices, both of which are out of print. My plan is to turn that one in by March so I can keep rolling on The Malice Engine.

Long story short: I’ll be chained to the keyboard for a while.

But that’s a good thing.

The video looks a little odd because they squished the widescreen to fit into the standard format, but it’s easy to get past.

If you have a laptop with wireless built in, you need to disable the wireless connection when you’re not using it, especially if you’re in a busy public area. Otherwise your laptop is broadcasting an identifier and waiting for connections from anyone with a sniffer/scanner.

Microsoft is still living in the warm, friendly, early days of the Internet before people started taking advantage of alleged features, and it shocks me they haven’t learned their lesson.

I inherited a subscription for Microsoft’s TechNet Magazine at work, and there’s a column in the back called “Windows Confidential”, the latest installment of which was titled “The Resourcefulness of Annoying People”. The author laments how Microsoft developers put different features into the system, only to have spammers and spyware creators (not to mention virus writers) take advantage of them. This then, of course, ruins the feature.

My question, then, is why are Microsoft developers not anticipating this? They’re going out of their way to make convenient features for home users, but all they’re doing is making it more convenient for other software programmers — be it legit or spyware vendors — manipulate the user’s system. In the end, instead of figuring these problems out for themselves, they’re sending these bullshit “features” out into the wild and getting a black eye when the “problem” goes public.

Dumbing systems down is not a solution. I know this sounds elitist, but we’re at the point end users need to learn more about their systems. They can’t be holding everyone’s hand.

Otherwise these virus and spyware problems will never go away.

And there was much rejoicing.

Brian frickin’ Azzarello! I need to know these things!

If you’re not reading 100 Bullets or Loveless, you need to get your ass to a comic shop right now. Looking forward to his forthcoming work on the classic Sgt. Rock, too. I wish I had half this guy’s ear for dialog.

And get this: it has a religious angle that supports nudity.

I think I just heard a Republican faint.

It’s worth a read, and I admit, I’m with him most of the way. Watchin’ three guys take a woman airtight just doesn’t do much for me, either, but there are people with some really bizarre tastes out there. To each their own.

And like some comedians have said, if you think that’s reality, you’ve got another thing coming. Just try and do some of that bizarro stuff with your wife/girlfriend; you may never be able to do it again. Heh.

Come again? Look, I can’t stand Bush’s politics, either. But I’m not about to pull a Jane Fonda, nor do I think the terms tyrant and terrorist are accurate.