Hey, Pungirls fans. I've got new news for you. Not to be confused with the Noo-Noo. Those are two entirely different things.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, I gave some thought to the comic and the site, and for awhile I have been increasingly bugged by the way that we've been using a blog to display the comic. I'm starting to run up against the limitations of the blog format versus an actual html site, it makes updating into a complicated mess of entry-editing, and it's just...unprofessional. And I'd like to have pages for the cast, links, pages for "about Pungirls!" and "about the Pungirls! team," all that stuff, but there's no convenient way to do that with Blogger. Since just about day one, Dwight and I have been talking about moving the comic to an actual site, but I think it's time we really got that juice underway.
So there's one reason why I'll be taking a break from actual comics. Another is to devote more attention to bringing t-shirts to the masses--designing shirts and hunting down the cheapest printing possible so I can cut you some sweet deals. Do you like sweet deals? At best you are apathetic, for no one has negative feelings about sweet deals. Such an attitude would simply be illogical, and humans never behave irrationally or in a fashion contrary to the dictates of logic. OH NO, WILL SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME, I HAVE FALLEN INTO THE SAR CHASM.
Anyway, yeah, so I hope to have an actual website and a t-shirt available soon. But this means that for a bit I won't be doing Pungirls! strips. Another reason I want to take a break from the comic is to give some time to my other creative endeavors. RPGamer's got a fan art contest going on that I want to get an entry in for, and there's a few stories of mine that I want to work on. Also, I recently finished reading Moby-Dick because I'm so hardcore, and I think it would be cool to draw some of the key figures in the crew of the Pequod, Captain Ahab and the mates and the harpooneers all standing together. So maybe I will do that too.
But does this mean that you, my readers, must go cartoonless? Well, perhaps not! I have quite a backlog of cartoons that I've done in the past, like for school papers in high school and college or sometimes just for fun, that I could scan and post up here while we're Moving Into the Next Phase. Would you like that? Drop me a comment to let me know if you would.

SERIOUS MOMENT AT THE END WHERE I TALK TO YOU GUYS
Hey, thanks for your input. And thanks for tuning in to read the comic, especially if you've come back after checking it out the first time. It's really great to be able to share my cartoons with you, to create something that hopefully is funny and visually pleasing and in some way, you know, true to life. I don't mean true to life as far as going on dates with cordless power tools is concerned, of course, but I do hope that there's something about Pungirls that you can identify with, or something that on some level engages you as a human being. I know it's just a comic strip, but I don't think it's too much to expect for humor to do that. So I just wanted to say thanks--your willingness to enter into that relationship with the strip is what makes it something special, and the art really wouldn't be the same without you.

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KAREN'S NEW LOOK



You know, I was thinking to myself just today: it's been far too long since I did a Pungirls! strip that was actually bad.
For a limited time only, Pungirls! will be presented in a unique vertical format rather than its usual horizontal orientation. We will resume normal strip orientation on Monday, November 27th, when Jackson returns from Thanksgiving vacation during which he will visit relatives in Virginia and not have access to his usual Pungirls! production facilities. He tried to get ahead and produce this week's comics over the weekend, but was prevented from this by playing several hours of Suikoden V, which he has borrowed from Anthony Clark. Thank you, Anthony.
When I say, "Thank you, Anthony," I am actually only being 33.3% sarcastic. Only the vowels are sarcastic. I had forgotten how compelling an activity it is to uncover more and more of the plot in an RPG.
Anyway. You all have a Happy Thanksgiving, and until next comic, ciao.

MEETING NEW FRIENDS COMICS III: THE RETURN OF MEETING NEW FRIENDS COMICS



I like the social dynamic in this comic, and the subtle commentary on the vicissitudes of social interaction. "Vicissitudes" is not the best word to use right there but it sounds right if you don't know what it means.
We are accumulating quite a collection of cameos by key figures in the development of Western thought. Nietzsche, Descartes, Robert Boyle...um, Superman...anyway, what happened to the good ol' days of surreal encounters with inanimate objects? Do you remember when I would create comics and be funny without some sort of gimmick? I do. I remember those days, Mike. And I miss those days. Those were good days... {sniff} good days.
Anyways: yo, don't be shy about leaving comments! I love to hear what you think of the comics.

RENE DESCARTES, BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

Pretty satisfied with this one. It's fun to draw caricatures of superheroes.
In other news, I forgot to set my alarm last night and missed the bus. Now I will have to drive to work (gas money!) and pay ten bucks for parking downtown. In case I had forgotten: yep, it's Monday.

EDIT: Pretty satisfied, but not totally satisfied. Something just kept bothering me about this comic. The stone wall has shading. The stone floor has shading. There is the coffin with the reflection on its surface. There is the torch and the torchline in the wall sconce or whatever it's called. And right there is the Man of Steel, with no shadows, standing there like a cardboard cutout. That bothered me. So I took a sec and I fixed it.

MEETING NEW FRIENDS COMICS...AGAIN!



I've certainly had my funnier moments, but the important thing is that I'm establishing a theme here. Right? I mean, that's what comic strips are about: establishing themes. Also a coherent and compelling narrative. And symbolism. I'll try and incorporate some symbolism into Monday's strip, I swear. Really.

MEETING NEW FRIENDS COMICS!



I fixed some ramen for dinner, to eat while I worked on the comic. But here's the crazy thing: I got so into coloring the comic, I forgot about the ramen! I just left the bowl there beside the desk until it became room-temperature.
It's been a kind of crazy day in general. This morning I got up, got breakfast, got ready to go out the door, and the car battery was run down. I had left the lights on all night and the car was out of juice. I couldn't catch a bus, the last bus that goes downtown and has a stop within walking distance had left already. So I called the AAA guy, who came after about 45 minutes and charged my battery up, and he said that I needed to let the car run for about 20 minutes before driving off or anything, and also that I needed a new battery. The car smelled funny and I'd seen the corroded deposits on the poles when he charged it, so I decided to take his advice and get that fixed right away.
So on the way to work, another detour to the auto parts place, where they hook me up with a new battery etc.. It's thirty minutes, the guy at the counter says. Very well then; so it goes; I read a few chapters in Moby-Dick while they're doin' their battery-putting-in thing. The charge is some $130 or thereabouts. I put it on the credit card. By now it's about 1 PM, and we're off down the highway again with a new battery, late as all heck and praying the lyrics to Less Than Jake's song "Bridge and Tunnel Authority": "Please pass some sanity, Saint of Mediocrity." 'cause I'm goin' crazy here.
I get to the hospital parking garage where I park when I drive to work, and I drive up and down the parking garage, following long chains of cars, and there is no place to park. There is absolutely no place to park. I note a few places that would be places to park, if the people who had parked next to them had not parked about a tire-width over the line; the spots at the hospital are already outrageously small. after driving up and down, up and down, up and down and up once more, with my brother's mix CD playing everything from Rammstein to Utada Hikaru to Jimmy Eat World to Love Songs With Mr. Lunt, I finally find a parking space. Maybe.
Let me tell you, I should get the Congressional Medal of Parking for maneuvering myself into this space. There was about two inches of clearance on either side, I kid you not, and I slid my behemoth of a van in there without so much as touching an atom of either car on my sides. Getting out of the van proved difficult, as there was no space whatsoever to open the doors, but I solved the problem by going out the back of the van.
I got to work and stayed until 7:30 to make up the time I'd missed in the morning. Whug! Long day. And that meant that I missed most of tonight's Thirst meeting at church--at which I had hoped Ash and Anthony would show up, but of course they didn't. So then I came home and made this comic, and now you are up to speed.
At any rate, we now return to your regular schedule of regularly scheduled comics. You can come back here on Friday, and if you come too early there will not be a comic up. But if you come on Saturday, I will have posted the comic up at some point on Friday and you will be able to see it. Sometimes I like to come on Fridays just to heighten the anticipation, but you're free to come whenever you like. You can even come more than once, that's just how we roll.

We here at Pungirls! would like to wish a very special happy birthday to Chris Todd, the president of the Pungirls! Air Conditioner and Fan Club. And now, it's time for a well-earned sabbatical! New comic coming up on Wednesday of next week (11/8), but until then, I will be maxin' and relaxin'. Who knows...maybe even giving some thought to a Pungirls! t-shirt design! Or creating some non-Pungirls!-related art for a change. Or working on my writing. Or maybe just chilling out.
But right now, I've got to pack my lunch for work tomorrow. Some sabbatical, eh? Back to the forty-hour weekly grind!