Web Comic of the Week!
Inspired by a thread on the Comixpedia Forums, I decided that I would choose one web-based comic each week to highlight and hopefully bring to the attention of a few more readers. There is no voting committee, just a personal choice from what I like to read or from what others put me onto. I hope I can remember the regular updates (those of you who know me evenly slightly will doubt this).

But what on Earth do I choose as my first Web Comic of the Week? It could be... Or... There are so many good ones. In the end I decided that the first honour would go to Johnny Public by Sean Frost and Wendi Strang-Frost, a husband and wife team.

There are three reasons that I chose this:
Sean's writing works so well. He understates in a rather dramatic way and knows exactly how and when to let the art do the work it's meant to do.
Wendi's artwork is superb and if you get the chance to also look at her illustration work, it's well worth it. Her visual story-telling is wonderful and the range of expressions she endows her characters with gives the comic a real-world grounding that complements the developing strangeness of the story.
Sean and Wendi are two very friendly people who have been very supportive of my own efforts in the world of web comics.

Please take a look - I'm sure you won't be disappointed. If you enjoyed it, please let Sean and Wendi know.

Christmas Story
Quite a number of years ago, I was on a bus with a friend when we heard a little lad on the seat in front talking to his mother: "Will you unlock the bedroom door early on Christmas morning, Mam?" We looked at each other and didn't know whether to be horrified or laugh.

Christmas is coming
Why on Earth didn't someone tell me? For goodness sake, it's December on Monday and I haven't even started to think about it.

Except when my mother asked me a couple of weeks ago what I wanted and without an idea of what I really wanted suggested that she could help replenish my fading stock of underwear (there's a limit to how big the holes can get before they're unwearable). Now, on reflection, I begin to wonder if that was such a wise move - what if she buys the type of underwear that a person of advancing years might be expected to buy? Could this be the biggest Christmas blunder ever?

My son, Shaun, mentioned something about putting up his tree and decorations this weekend. For me this is way too early and we won't put ours up for a couple of weeks yet. I always feel that if you put them up too early you get sick of the sight of them before the grand day arrives. Traditionally, the tree only went up on Christmas Eve, so how did it happen that the period of having trees and decorations decking our homes became so extended?

I've always enjoyed Christmas a lot, even though I don't consider myself religeous in any way. It is quite a magical time and the idea that people go out of their way to buy presents for other people is quite admirable in many respects. Even if all it means is that you think about your family a little more than usual and pop a few coins in the charity boxes you pass by, then it's definitely something worth prolonging.

When I went out for the meal last night, the Minster in York was illuminated in a strange purple colour as part of the ceremony of turning on the Christmas lights. Seeing such an old, religeous building lit up in such a vibrant colour made a very refreshing change.

Old Friend
I went out for a meal with an old friend from school last night. It's strange that with some friends, even though you don't see them as regularly as you should, it doesn't seem important when you get together and chat like crazy. It was good to catch up again.

June's Badly
Though she's beginning to pick up, my partner, June, has been a little under the weather the last two days. One of the reasons I went out to the shops was to get June some pamper food to make her better. The recuperative powers of wine gums and digestive biscuits are amazing.

Dane & Joe
I updated the Dane & Joe page with last week's strip. There will be no new strip this week on the Just Adventure site because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Frosty morning
I thought I'd take a walk to the shops, even though the morning is rather a frosty one and I'm glad I did. It was rather bracing and refreshing and in spite of the cold it's a lovely morning. The sun is out and the sky is clear - it's the sort of day that makes you feel good to be alive. The only downside was that the wooly hat I wore made me look a little like Joe (from Dane & Joe). :)

My Website as a Film Script
A bit of fun over at astonishingtales.com. If you put in your website URL it will come up with a screenplay based on the site. Pretty funny and thanks to Fembat for pointing me to that one. Here's a bit from Juniper Crescent, the script:

WINONA RYDER and JUNIPER-CRESCENT.CO.UK are shopping for new crockery. A message comes over the loudspeakers.

WINONA RYDER

What did that just say?

JUNIPER-CRESCENT.CO.UK

Juniper Crescent and The Sapphire Claw appear in the Nucomix anthology comic.

WINONA RYDER

Really? This large department store's management decisions are questionable at best.

She looks up to see RICHARD GERE standing there. He is the manager of the department store.

RICHARD GERE

Hello, WINONA RYDER. Perhaps you could offer me advice on how to run my store.

WINONA RYDER

I don't think so, RICHARD GERE. I took an instant dislike to you when we first met.

JUNIPER-CRESCENT.CO.UK

The fonts I use in my strips were downloaded from the Blambot site.

WINONA RYDER

Yes, JUNIPER-CRESCENT.CO.UK, good point. So you see, RICHARD GERE, we can never fall in love.

Doctor Who
The BBC have created a new online Doctor Who series which is rather good. Or the first episode is, at least. I shall certainly be returning for more. I wonder if they'd be interested in doing The Sapphire Claw... :)

More colouring
I've just coloured two of the black and white Sapphire Claw episodes, episode 7 and episode 8.

Hellboy
Just seen the trailer for the Hellboy movie and was pretty impressed by the way that they'd retained so much of the feel from the comic, particularly when you consider the way that Mike Mignola's is so stylised. Certainly one to look out for. :)

New Sapphire Claw
Just pencilled, inked and coloured the latest episode of The Sapphire Claw which is now up on the website for your enjoyment.

More colouring
I've just updated another one of the archive pages, replacing the old black and white versions of the Juniper Crescent strips with newly coloured ones.

New Juniper Crescent
I've just posted the latest Juniper Crescent strip to the website. I'm particularly pleased with the colouring of this one. :)

New files
I've just added a new desktop image to the Downloads page of the site. Poor old Scout's in trouble. :)