Monsterhood

I liked the idea behind the siren song in today’s strip and ended up writing a few verses. I could only fit one in the last panel, though, so here’s the complete siren song.

Doesn’t matter what we sing
Our voices are enchanting
On our album we just hum
And it still went platinum.

Yeah, because we’ve got magical voices
We could just make monkey noises
And you’d still buy our CD
Oo oo ack ack ack ee ee

Okay, so maybe I ran out of ideas in the last verse.

Wanna write a verse of your own? Leave it in the comments.

If you’ve ever looked at Facebook and thought, ‘more monstery please’, well, today’s your lucky day, because now you can become a fan of Monsterhood on Facebook!

Please hurry because right now I’m the only fan and it makes me look lonely with my little picture down there by itself and also a little vain for being the first fan of my own comic.

As you’ve probably figured out, the current storyline is based on Charles Dickens’ story, A Christmas Carol.

I wanted to read it before starting this week’s strips but didn’t quite get there in time, but I’m reading it now and enjoying it.

If you haven’t read it before, give it a go, even if you’re not into Dickens. It’s a great story. And being in the public domain, you can download it for free in a bunch of different formats from manybooks.net or read it online.

With the revelations about the Doubt-o-dome and Howie’s parents in this week’s strips, the mythology of Monsterhood is starting to come together. And when I say ‘come together’, I mean ‘get complicated’. Not sure if I meant for that to happen, but given my love for TV shows like Lost, it’s not surprising. When I say ‘love’, I mean ‘rabid obsession’.

I was a fan of the X-Files too, but it clearly lost the plot towards the end, and I Want to Believe was pretty unsatisfying as far as answering… well, anything. I’m really into Fringe, but it’s too soon to tell if it’s love. But Lost- I’m a huge fan of Lost. And when I say huge, I mean ‘seriously considering sewing my own Dharma jumpsuit.‘

Most people are pretty accepting of my infatuation with the show, but occasionally I’ll come across people who watched some of the first season then actually stopped watching it. I call these people The Others because they’re mysterious and I don’t understand them.

Oh, they tell me their reasons, but none of them are what I would consider legitimate. ‘Yeah, I watched it for a while but then there was this polar bear and I was like “this is stupid”.’ Remain calm, I think to myself as I politely explain about the Hydra station, and maybe draw them a copy of the Blast Door Map if I have a pen handy. But it never seems to do any good.

They roll their eyes when I explain about pushing the button in the Swan Station, and that’s when I snap. I start attacking shows they like. ‘Oh, you think entering the numbers is stupid? Well, you know what I think is stupid? Solving crimes with numbers, that’s what’s stupid!’ And then I throw them out for the Smoke Monster to judge.

What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, mythology. See, this year is the final season of Lost and while I’m looking forward to the new episodes, I kinda don’t want it to end. But it has to, right? Because they’re telling a story, and that’s what stories do. Which is one of the big things I admire about the creators of the show; that they pushed for a definitive end date, so they had a finish to work towards.

In the same way, I’m excited about filling out the Monsterhood world, raising questions and answering them, building the mythology. But does that mean that I have to end it some day? Because I don’t know how I’ll feel later, but right now, I don’t want Monsterhood to end. Like, ever.

I’m probably overthinking it. I mean it’s not like I have to worry about this now.

What do you think: are stories told through open ended media like TV shows and webcomics better if they have a limited lifespan from the start? Do you have your own special love for Lost (a.k.a the greatest TV show of all time ever in the world)? Or are you upset that I dissed Numbers?

Tell us in the comments.

As you know, there’s a new strip here on monsterhood.com, Monday to Friday. But maybe visiting a website five days a week isn’t your thing. Maybe you want the comic to come to you.

Also, I know a lot of you are from the United States so midnight on Monday over here in Australia is something like lunchtime last Thursday over there. That might not be right, I was never much good with that stuff. Then there’s the whole metric pixels to imperial pixels thing.

So it’s good to know that you have more options for keeping up with Monsterhood. And here they are!

1. You can subscribe via RSS.
Feed the monsters… to your feed reader. If you’re not familiar with RSS, here’s a guide that may help and lists some readers as well.

2. You can subscribe via email.
Sign up for the Monsterhood email list and have monsters delivered straight to your inbox.

3. You can become a fan on the Facebook fan page.
Make your facebook news feed more monstery with links to the strips and blog posts. I also plan to post bonus content in there from time to time.

4. You can follow me on Twitter.
OK, so lately my Twitter updates haven’t been so much about Monsterhood as they have… well, at the moment I’m ranting about Quantum Leap as I watch my way through the DVDs. But I thought I’d better mention it anyway, and maybe you want to know my thoughts on a twenty year old sci-fi show.

5. And, of course, you can still drop by the website Monday to Friday and read strips on monsterhood.com.
Just remember that if you don’t live in Australia then I may be in the future. Unless you’re from New Zealand, then you’re in the future, in which case please let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to put right that once went wrong, hoping, each time, that my next leap will be the leap home.

Thanks for reading!

Thought I’d make some wallpapers for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Hope you guys like ‘em.

Still getting the hang of colouring, but I’ve got one ready to go, so here’s Henry Poltergeist. (Click for full-size image.)

Next one’s gonna be Howie and Skunk-Ape once I colour it.

Let me know what you think and who else you’d like to see on your phone in the comments.

Here’s another iPhone wallpaper with Howie and Skunk-Ape! And the Henry Poltergeist wallpaper too in case you missed it.

Hey, check out the guest strip I did on Odori Park today.

Odori Park creator Chris Watkins is celebrating one year on the web this month, so while you’re over there, make sure you read through the archives of this great strip and pass on your congratulations.

And if you’ve come here from there, welcome to the Monsterhood! Perhaps you’d like to read from the beginning?

I was cleaning up my office the other day (newsworthy in itself but read on!) and found a few old sketchbooks.

Like any anxiety-ridden artist (tautology?), I consider drawings I did more than three minutes ago as garbage that must be destroyed, but I found a few early Monsterhood concept sketches and thought I’d throw them up on the blog.

Please note, these are presented here for archival purposes only, and are not actually meant to be, you know, looked at.

(more…)

OK, so I’m a little bit overdue on this, but check out the Friday fan art I did for Legend of Bill, David Reddick’s hilarious barbarian webcomic, last week. (See how I got around having to draw a dragon.)

Read the archives while you’re there and get caught up on the story.

Honestly, I’m not certain David Reddick sleeps. Not only does he work on all things Garfield during the day, he’s also the cartoonist behind Rod & Barry, the Trek Life, Gene’s Journal, and of course, Legend of Bill. (He’s probably started three more strips while I’m writing this). And he still takes the time to encourage other cartoonists around the web.

So thanks David for making the ‘net a cartoonier place to live.