First, let's congratulate Laura on her cool new job.

Second, let's talk about Otakon. Yes, for the handful of people actually keeping up with us regularly (Thanks guys ^_^), Both Laura and I will be attending and we're working on some advertising stuff for the con. I don't think many people actually know about this place, and we're going to try and change that. I just hope the server doesn't get overwhelmed (Hang in there Hinoki!). Well, we'll probably have more to say about our schemes for world domination... er I mean advertising later.

Lastly, I guess I should actually talk about the writing of Radical Dreamers a bit. The format we have chosen presents some interesting challenges as a writer. Radical Dreamers isn't a comic strip; it is a coherent continuous story that is planned to span on the order of hundreds of pages. It's not a comic book; although it's organized similar to one with "issues" that are approximately traditional US comic book sized, each page attempts to be somewhat contained. I guess in the planning stage, it was orignally intended to be a print comic book, but it had to be altered because of the web format. Because the updates are a week apart, it didn't seem fair to make readers wait a week and not really get anywhere. So, the challenge for me is to pace the plot so that each page a sort of "mini-arc" in itself making it somewhat like a strip. This can get tricky sometimes. It's sorta like a puzzle, where you have to fit certain things neatly into strange sized containers. It gets even more complex when I have to take into account the bigger picture of everything.

Well, that's all I really want to go into right now. I guess Radical Dreamers is an experiment for me. I'm exploring sequential art as a medium for storytelling. We'll just have to wait and see what happens... Maybe something bad... Maybe something good.

Currently updated weekly every Monday Morning.

July 15

• Page 9 is up
• New Rants are up

July 8

• Page 8 is up
• New Rants are up.

July 1

• Page 7 is up
• Character page updated with info on Zed and his crew.
• New Rant from Joe (go see "Lilo and Stitch"!)

June 23

• Page 6 is up
• New Rants are up

I'll start with what is obviously the most important news of the week: I have a job! Yes, I am no longer unemployed; after a year of searching....well mostly searching......about 30% searching and 70% playing video games actually...uh nevermind. I have a job!

This week SCI-FI channel showed some Godzilla movies, which put me in the mood to watch my favorite G-movie, Godzilla vs Biollante on tape. Possibly the only G-movies that compare are Godzilla 1985 and the orignal Godzilla: King of the Monsters, sans Perry Mason preferably. I had to have seen Godzilla 1985 when I was fairly young and the reason those particular movies have appealed to me throughout the years was the approach in the movies, the horror aspect is more prevalent. Mind you, I still love watching Godzilla vs Megalon, but almost for a good chuckle really. With the other movies, it's almost like I can believe that it's happening in the real world, that it could happen. At least I believed it as a kid but it's something that's stayed with me. Of course, after Godzilla vs Biollante, Toho decided to descend back into the realm of campy weirdness: time travel, aliens, tiny singing women, and of course the return of Junior. The little bugger almost adds that kiddy feeling that was so prevalent during the 70's Godzilla movies that apexed with the horror that was Godzilla's Revenge. But I can forgive Junior for two reasons. One is that in his earliest appearances, he's just too damn cute. I can't possibly begrudge what he represents when he lets loose that little warble of a roar. Anyway, he's no Minah. Remember Minah? I do. Secondly, he grows up to be the bad-ass that is currently the star of the last two G-movies made (three if you count GMK).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this weeks page. I'm still fiddling around with my approach to the frame borders. I think the best approach might be a combination of last week's and the earlier pages. I've been looking at other mangas like DBZ and Inu-Yasha to try and get some inspiration. More about it next time. See you next week. :) (I have a job!)