First off, SO sorry about the lack of a Tuesday post this week. I’ve been pulling my hair out over this downtime and am taking steps to ensure this issue never happens again. Basically, the hosting site changed the passwords for my FTP site so I couldn’t upload the strip, and I wasn’t notified until yesterday. After that, it still took another day to resolve the issue and get my new password set. Really frustrating. Anyway, the issue’s resolved, so I’m going to try and let it go while I still have hair left to pull. Moving on:
There are a couple of big things going on with today’s JEFbot, so let’s get to it!
First off, the Cornfather isn’t being written out of the strip (so you CornFans can put down the torches!) but it’s true that he might be moving out of the apartment he and bot have been sharing for the past few years. I’ve actually been meaning to do this for a while now; although the strip doesn’t directly reflect my life 100%, (heck, if 1% of the comic’s truly autobiographical, I’m in trouble!) I do like to bring some of what happens in the “Real World” into jefbot’s world, and the thing of it is, is that Michael Cornacchia (the Cornfather’s inspiration) and I haven’t lived together in over a year. Of course, we still talk and hang out, but it’s a totally different dynamic now, and I’d like to reflect that in the comic. Rest assured, he’ll still be playing a role in jefbot’s adventures, and there’s still much comedy, mayhem and drama to be had from him, but things will change.
Secondly, this strip marks the end of “Chapter 2″ in this comic strip! The first chapter – as represented in Volume 1 of the JEFbot book which I hope to have available to you all soon! – collected strips 1 – 203, and set up the world and characters of the comic. The second chapter includes strips 204 – 408, and expands the world and things get crazier. In the next chapter, I’m hoping to expand the world even more, and I’ll tell you now: things are going to get downright insane, so hold onto your butts! The next several strips will be relatively tame as the Cornfather starts moving out of the apartment, but soon after that, get ready for things in jefbot’s life to get shaken up, big time. I hope you’re all along for the ride!
Between my computer failing, the website hack and now my eye being infected with something nasty - all within the past few weeks - I’m starting to wonder if the universe is conspiring against me putting out the JEFbot comic on time!
Sorry for the lack of a strip last Friday; I was giving myself Thursday off to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family, and had every intention of working on JEFbot the next day and posting the strip late. When I tried powering up my MacBook Pro Friday afternoon, however, I found that one of its internal fans had died during my turkey binge. I immediately called the closest Apple Store, and, after being on hold for quite some time (due, no doubt, to the Black Friday sales going on) I was told that I would need to make an appointment and drop my computer off, and might need to leave it with them for 2-3 weeks, possibly longer. Since I don’t have a back-up computer, I really needed a fix right away, so started calling computer shops around town to find the fan. I didn’t find a shop that had the correct part (and was open for business) until Saturday afternoon. So, after I procured the part, I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon taking apart my laptop and replacing the fan (with the help of an online video that I followed along with on my iPad.)
If you’re in Los Angeles this weekend (November 5-6), come on down to the L.A. Convention Center for the first annual Comikaze Expo, where I’ll be selling JEFbot books, shirts and other merch at booth #3601! This is the first L.A. convention I’ve done, so I’m pretty excited to see friends that haven’t been able to make it to my other appearances, and local JEFbot readers I haven’t met face-to-face yet! As always, I’ll have a special, free BOTton (see image) for fans while supplies last.
