They haven’t made an appearance in the strip for a while so it’s understandable if you aren’t familiar with their characters, but that’s Xinda’s daughter, Akira, and husband, Ted, talking to jefbot in today’s strip! Here are some of their past exploits:
• JEFBOT.29_Bad Uncle
• JEFBOT.38_Parachutes
• JEFBOT.98_Chain Reaction

And although I’ve tried to “keep things real” over the course of this storyline, I must tell you that I had to tone down my sister’s “terms of endearment” for my niece and brother-in-law. When I asked her what her pet names were for them, her answers could not be shared in a “PG” comic. Or even a “PG-13″ one. Heck, they’d even be pushing the boundaries of a hard “R.” Anyway, enjoy!

Hope you all had a great time ringing in the new year – this strip is literally how my family does it. Yep, we have an old bell we all ring every New Year’s Eve at midnight, and we’ve had that tradition for as long as I can remember. Us Schuetzes might not get as serious about it as the strip makes it appear, especially with guests, but I think we can all use as much luck we can get, and ringing this bell has worked for us. Mostly. Besides, you wouldn’t want us talking smack about you behind your back later, right? Recommendation: If you spend New Year’s Eve with us, just ring the dang bell. Happy 2009!!!

Oh, and for new readers: The character with the mouth is none other than jefbot’s niece, Akira. She hasn’t been seen since she vowed revenge almost a year ago in JEFBOT.29_Bad Uncle.

click to enlarge.

I’ve been so busy lately the date just kind of snuck up on me a day ago. That’s when I checked the archives, just to be sure I still had a month or so until the anniversary, and there it was, the date of the first JEFbot strip, Axis Powers: August 6, 2007. Upon posting that first strip, little did I know that 364 days, 64 strips and hundreds of thousands of pageviews later, JEFbot would still be going strong and would become such a big part of my life.

I love writing and drawing this strip, I wish I could put one out every day (or at least 3 times a week) but JEFbot still has a long way to go before I can quit my day job. With any luck, by this time next year, I’ll have even more great readers, I’ll be posting more comics a week and I’ll have published my first JEFbot collection in book form. I’ll also accept being a regular in an acclaimed TV series or starring in an awesome movie, like TR2N or Akira (as Tetsuo, of course).

Not much else to report just yet. Like I said, this whole anniversary thing kind of snuck up on me so I haven’t done anything to prepare for it. I’d like to do something, though. Actually, maybe you, the readers, can help me out with some suggestions. A new shirt? An officially licenced JEFbot coffee mug? An original sketch giveaway? A videogame-themed party at a bar in Hollywood? Send me ideas or you’re getting the mug.

Seriously though, I want to get a bit mushy and say how much I’ve appreciated all the love and support of you readers. It warms the valves of my fusion-powered heart when I think about how you’ve embraced the strip and the characters in it (especially since most of them are friends or family). Also, a special thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment on the site or send me an email. That stuff really keeps me going when a deadline’s approaching, it’s 4:30 in the morning and I’m only on the second panel. Thanks for that.

So happy anniversary! I’m ready for cake.

Another strip, another family member. Meet my niece, Akira. This nickname was bestowed upon her many years ago, due to my being completely enamored of the groundbreaking Japanese animated movie, Akira, when I was a kid. Airica, my niece, was not as thrilled with the movie as I was during those times, perhaps because it contained excessive amounts of violence, gore, drug use, and a particularly disturbing near-rape scene. Perhaps it was also because she was six at the time. Anyway, that’s material for a future strip. The material in this strip is pretty much real. I like to think the scenarios I spun for her during her formative years gave her character and imagination, and because she later developed into a poet, I like to think I had a little something to do with that. Especially since her poetry is pretty dark. Maybe I can convince her to let me publish them here for you, someday.

ALSO
I was listening to this week’s Webcomics Weekly podcast and was convinced by Brad Guigar of Evil Inc. fame to the importance of branding your work with a signature. As he puts it, it’s a way for an artist to step out and “take a bow.” So, if you noticed the sig, that’s the explanation.