"Filler Is So Yesterday" Thursday June 12th 2008

Contrary to what you may think, you are not seeing filler because I just got a new PS3. The problem is that my video card died earlier in the week and I didn't get a replacement till Tuesday. So that pretty much put me about 2 days behind schedule. I was supposed to go play Rock Band on Wednesday, but I skipped out hoping to make up the time on the comic and got about within a day. However with a trip to Syracuse suddenly in the works the comic is just not going to be done on time. I apologize in advance. I was actually aiming to take next week off to enjoy my new PS3 and my birthday weekend. However with the unexpected problems I have moved the filler to this week and will have a normal comic next week.

So let's at least talk about the filler. I think the main thing I wanted to point out was the changes I made from the initial sketch to the final line art. The initial sketch was made well before I finalized the Chapter 6 character redesigns so that is why they are still in Chapter 5 mode. The other big change is that I ended up excluding Tenko from the final design. I felt that I wanted to keep it strictly the 5 ninjas and I also ended up sticking the NS logo in that corner.

One other thing I might not have mentioned is that I did go back and redraw the initial sketch into a final version which I then went back and inked over. The strange thing was that when I redrew everything, I hated how it looked. So I basically took the sketch you see in the first panel and redrew the lines in Photoshop using that initial sketch as a reference. I think it worked out for the better.

I would say something about Metal Gear Solid 4, but I haven't touched it. Beyond setting up my PS3 and getting my PSN account set up, and chatting for a moment with Rob, I haven't done anything with it yet. What I will say is that it is mad awesome and I am definitely happy with my decision to go with the PS3 over the XBOX 360. Just to be clear, that is definitely not a knock on the 360. I actually think that the 360 is better than the PS3 in some categories. I just feel that for what I was looking for in a next gen system, the PS3 fit more in what I had in mind. I'll let you know how I feel about it more next week when I actually get a chance to play some games on it.

I should also mention that my CTS is most definitely caused by me sleeping in some odd ass position. My hand and arm were pretty much back to normal at the beginning of the week so I stopped wrapping it in a towel when I sleep. The numbness returned last night when I woke up and found my left arm wrapped up around my neck as if I was grabbing the back of it. So yeah I'm back to using the towel for the foreseeable future. Though it's no excuse, that was also a factor in not getting the comic done for the week.

As I mentioned before, I am actually heading up to Syracuse this weekend to visit Rob and hang out. Actually it's a thinly veiled excuse to just make the trip up that way so I can have a Garbage Plate. Sorry Rob, I can't lie. I'll be leaving after work tomorrow and will probably get back Sunday night. It should be an awesome trip. My only wish is that my friend Tom couldn't be out there with us to have a plate at the Promise Land. So anyway I hope the all of you have a great weekend as well. Again I'm sorry about the filler and I promise the comic will return next week with a vengeance.

River's Top 5 Cool Things He's Noticed From His Initial PS3 Impression
1. The Power Button (Cool Max)
2. The memory card readers (Thing read my memory stick for photos quicker than my computer)
3. Dual Shock 3 (Hasn't changed much, but it's still the most comfortable controller ever made)
4. Chat (Voice Changing is a nice touch)
5. Trayless (I like kinda just nudging the cd into the slot and having it automatically eat the disc to play)