I've seen reports coming in from webcartoonists who use Google ads on their sites that their readers are reporting various political ads being served locally, ads with which the artists didn't personally agree. I understand Google accepting ads from political organizations, but a lot of us tend to be pretty protective of the message our sites present.

The biggest offender seems to be California's proposed ban on same-sex marriages, Prop. 8. Personally I disagree with this ban, and am very much in favor of marriages of any kind. I feel like if there's one thing this world needs more of, it's expressions of love between people. And if getting married is something that people (any consenting legal adults, at least) want to do with each other, more power to them. My apologies to any readers who looked through the archives and saw an ad supporting such a ban. I'm not aware of any such ads on my site, but I see the potential was there. If I lived in California, I assure you I would have totally voted against such a ban.

I'm not sure what ads you all are seeing in the Ellie Connelly archives, but the ones I'm seeing here in Oregon are placed by Defend Oregon, a group that seems to agree with me politically, which I suppose is pretty lucky for me. Just to be safe, though, I'm going to disable those archive ads until after election day.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some actual new art or something! We can only hope.

For Change!

Hey! I just found out that I somehow made it into the final round of frumph.net's WebComic Readers Choice awards, in the Design category. I appreciate the nomination, and everyone who voted for me! That means a lot!

My only complaint is that people seem to think I'm a girl. It comes, I'm sure, from having chosen a name that's also a color, and having a female protagonist in my comic. Oh, and not having a bio/picture up on my site. hm. Okay, I can fix part of that...

Anyway, the winners will be announced tonight on a live podcast starting at 7:pm Pacific, 10:pm Eastern. Give it a listen!

Update! Hey, check that out! I actually won the award for Design! I want to say a quick 'Thanks' to the judges and everyone who voted. Looking at the other nominees, I still can't figure why I won, my site certainly isn't any better than theirs...

Hey! I've been a bit quiet lately, but I wanted to help spread the word about the Portland-area 24-Hour Comics Day events that are coming up in a couple weeks.

That's right - events! Two of them! Both Cosmic Monkey Comics and PNCA are going to be hosting separate, dueling events this year. Beginning at 10:00am Saturday and ending at 10:00am Sunday, dozens of Portland area cartoonists will be gathering at these two events to try to outdraw the other! Both are open to the public, so even if you're not planning on drawing, feel free to drop by and cheer us on!

I'll personally be participating in the event at PNCA, where I'll be working to finish at least a few pages of Ellie Connelly. Not going to try to do a full 24-page comic, sorry. I just want to try to get ahead a little bit. My buffer's almost out now, and I want to get back up to at least 2 or 3 pages in the can.

Just a friendly reminder, I'll be at the Portland Zine Symposium all day today and tomorrow. I'll be debuting the third pack of 8-Bit Tarot Cards, so if you've bought either of the first packs locally you can get your collection up-to-date. I'll also be promoting Ellie Connelly, and selling custom hand-drawn buttons! So come on down and say hello, won't you?

Portland Zine Symposium
Smith Memorial Ballroom, Rm. 355
1825 SW Broadway Portland OR 97201
Saturday: 10:00AM until 5:00PM
Sunday: 10:00AM until 4:00PM

The Portland Zine Symposium is coming up in about a week-and-a-half, and always has a lot of interesting minicomics, zines and one-of-a-kind art objects. And this year, it also has me!

I'll be tabling at the Symposium this year, handing out Calling Cards and postcards to promote Ellie Connelly, selling my comics and buttons, and I'll also have the latest pack of Tarot cards there at the table. So if you're planning on going, stop by and say Hi! I'd love to see you!

The Zine Symposium is Saturday and Sunday, August 23-24 at the Smith Memorial Ballroom (third floor) at Portland State University. It starts at 10:am both days, and admission appears to be free.

This is just a quick reminder that because of the size of Monday's update, there won't be a new episode this Wednesday. The next new episode will go up Friday instead. This is the last of the double-episodes for the time being, and I only did it for that panel with the stairwell. I suppose I could have split it into two panels, or changed the angle on it or something, but I really preferred the way the panel stretched up like this.

And hey! It's the beginning of the fourth week of comics here at Ellie Connelly! Things are going pretty well by me so far, what do you all think?

Just a quick little something from Comicon:

This excellent couple was spotted about ten minutes to the end of the Con on Sunday evening, strolling casually past the booth in full Victorian garb. They weren't all steampunk'd up, they weren't trying to pass as any particularly recognizable characters, they were just there in their waistcoat and bustle, top hat and cravat. It was quite charming, and they were gracious enough to stop for a quick photo after I chased them down.

With all the crazy prosthetics and foam rubber, skin tight vinyl and plastic swords, it's really nice to see some simple, authentic period costuming at Comicon, and it reminded me that when I start exhibiting regularly I want to sponsor a prize at the Masquerade for best Victorian-era costume. Anyway, enjoy the pic!

Hey, if it's Wednesday, I must be headed to San Diego for the biggest comics-slash-media frenzy this side of... everything. I'll be wandering the floor, spreading the word about Ellie Connelly, handing out calling cards, picking up a t-shirt or two, watching a few panels and hopefully getting an authenticated copy of the latest color Bone book for my daughter.

Also wanted to remind you all that there won't be an update until Friday. Sadly, this first episode is a double-height strip, so it counts as two updates. Don't worry, this won't happen a lot, in fact there's only one more double update coming up in the next couple months so far.

If anyone out there is a phpbb3 whiz, I could use some help wrangling the new theme structure. I've got a design worked up for some forums for the site, but I'll be deep fried if I can't get a handle on the new themes. I could do phpbb2 themes no problem, but for some reason the new ones just aren't working for me.

Hey! Welcome to my comic!

It's been almost two years in coming, and it'll be several years yet before it's completed (if ever). I'm really excited to be sharing it after all this time, and I'm looking forward to bringing everyone along on the adventure.

My planned update schedule will be one strip every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when I have new pages completed. Most strips will be 1/4 page, but some will be 1/2 page, such as this first update, actually. Those half page strips will count as 2 updates, so I'll be skipping a day on the update schedule. When it happens I'll be sure to mention it here in the blog, so look for that. So, at the moment, don't expect to see the next update until Friday.

I'll also be using the blog to share my interest in our strange and bizarre world, and will be sharing some of the odd news items I find every day at various sites around the web. Those headlines will also appear in the 'One Step Beyond' box over on the right. If you find something strange you want to share, be sure to let me know! I'll put contact information up here sometime soon.

The Curse of the Moon's Eye is only my first Ellie adventure, hopefully of several. It is a graphic novel, or at least it will be when it's done, in about 128 pages. I've got about 7 pages totally ready to be posted, and those will go up without interruption until at least mid-September, at which point I'll begin posting the pages I'll be working on in the meantime. At some point, and I'm not sure when it'll be, I'm going to run out of my buffer, and will need to pause updates until I can get ahead again. I'm apologizing in advance, but I'm afraid that's just the way it is.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the comic, and be sure to help spread the word!

I whipped up some calling cards for Ellie this evening, and I'll have them with me in San Diego to help promote the comic and the site a bit (don't worry, the url is on the back). I was pretty pleased with how the design came out, I'm excited to see the actual cards.

And yes, the Ghostbusters got their famous slogan from Ellie Connelly. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.