The
Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit, VOLUME 2 (now
twice as brutal!) is now available!!
Scroll down for further details!! (October 4, 2011)
NEW
TO BRUNO THE BANDIT? Then you, my friend, are in for a
treat!
To get you started, we recommend you sample some of Bruno's shorter
stories,
like Pillory
or Sour
Ron! Then, when you're ready
to
tuck in to the archives, start
at the first strip!! *NEW!* Wanna
search for your fave Bruno the
Bandit strip? Click HERE!
Looks like there may yet be new life for Bruno
after all, though much of
that will depend on you the readers, as always. Currently, I
am
in the process of getting Bruno
back in to dead-tree format. I admit, I probably wouldn't
have
attempted this on my own. You should all give major props to
my
friend Mike Dominic,
who not only
talked me in to getting Bruno
back in print, but has also offered to help out in any way he
can. Finally, I have a henchman I can call my own!
The plan so far is to release a series of books via one of the
print-on-demand publishers who advertise online. The books
will
be in a sort of magazine-style format, entitled The Brutal Blade of Bruno.
We're gonna start out by re-printing the strips originally collected in
the first three Plan Nine books, before finally getting on to the
strips which have yet to see print. In addition to the strips
themselves, we're hoping to have some back-up features, such as bonus
stories, pin-ups by other artists, interviews, articles, Dear Eunyce
advice columns, who knows? Plus, we have legendary guest
artist
lined up for the cover of the first ish! Can't wait for y'all
to
see it!!
But wait, there's more! Take a gander at these:
What you are
looking at are some sample cards for the Bruno the Bandit
card game I
recently created. I know some of you may remember that I had
plans to create a board game, but for now I have shelved that idea in
favor of making a card game. To be honest, a card game was
much
simpler to design and write the rules for. As luck would have
it,
one of my readers works for Active
Products Inc.,
a small toy company (and creator of the Wallcoaster)
that is branching out in to card and board games. They have
agreed to playtest the game early next month, and if things go well,
possibly sell it! I like to think that my game is easy to
learn,
but has an element of startegy that belies its simple play
mechanic. I think you guys are going to have a lot of fun
with
it, and with only 54 cards in the deck, that leaves plenty of room for
expansion packs!
Depending on how well the first book, and perhaps the game, sells (and
Mike and I are hoping to do a lot more promotion for them), you may see
me back at the drawing board before too long, in order to finish
"Ambrose 2.0" and continue on with the saga. Once again, I
really
feel I need to apologize for stopping in the middle of the darn story
the way I did. I want to get back to it, once conditions are
right.
Many of you have
written in expressing concern over my
sleep apnea situation, as well as offering advice on how to deal with
it. My thanks to all of you who have written me about
it.
Anyway, tme for an update.
Since my last Tribune entry, I have indeed picked up a CPAP (Continuous
Positive Airway Pressure) machine, and have been using it (almost)
every night. When I got tested for sleep apnea, I apparently
stop
breathing over 40 times an hour. The machine has decreased
this
significantly.
But is it worth the $160 a month I'm paying for the thing?
For
one thing, I hate having to wear a bloody oxygen-type mask to bed every
night. It's amazing how itchy my nose and mouth suddeny
become
once I have the thing strapped on to my head! Furthermore,
the
machine is supposed to help me get better sleep at night, thus giving
me more energy during the day. Well, I hate to say it, but I
can't say I've noticed much of a difference. I still spend
much
of my waking day wishing I was in bed. Admittedly, I am
guilty of
removing the mask in the middle of the night when I'm fed up with it,
but I am getting better at leaving it on for the whole night.
For now, I'm going to stick with it, though. You see, sleep
apnea
can pit you in an early grave. Constantly having to gasp for
breath after you've stopped breathing for 30 seconds to a minute can be
hard on the ol' ticker, and can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and
even death. I've no wish to be a legend before my time, thank
you! Let this be a reminder to you too: if you experience
fatigue
during the day, and/or are told that you snore like a lawnmower, you
may wanna get checked out for sleep apnea. You the readers
are
precious to me, as if you were my very children, and I don't wish to
lose even one of you! Er, unless you plan to leave me
something
in your will! ;-)
Finally, if you're
an iPod
Touch/iPhone owner like me,
there are two sites you should know
about, if you don't already. These sites have fed my
addiction for downloading games on my iPod! There are so many
great games available for the iPod/Phone that I simply don't have the
time to play them all! But I keep checking these sites
religiously for the next addictive little app that'll keep me
entertained for hours. Many of the best apps will cost you a
few
bucks, but every now and then, the creators will release them for free,
for one day only. These two sites will keep you up to date on
what hot apps are free for the day. Check out Free
App A Day
and Free Game Of The Day
!
These sites should keep you busy until I'm ready to get my
ass
back to the drawing board!
(29 March)
Hello again, to the few of you
ever-lovin' diehard fans still checking this site, to see when/if Bruno
will be back. I feel I
must apologize to you all for taking so long to update this site.
The truth is, I'm not sure what I wanted to say.
And I'm still
not entirely sure, so I guess
I'll just hafta wing it as best I can.
I've started to receive e-mails from some of you asking what I've been
up to, and when Bruno
will be
returning. Have I been doing any writing/drawing, etc.?
I'm
sorry to say that I have not. I hate to say it, but I feel
zero
motivation with regards to returning to the strip. Over the
years, I poured my heart and soul into the strip, and I have to admit,
the response from so many of you has been tremendous. Without
it,
I doubt Bruno would have
lasted nearly as long as it did. The problem is, my goal was
to
make a living as a cartoonist, and I have fallen well short of that
goal. If I knew how to achieve that goal, I'd be back at the
drawing board immediately!
But can I at least continue to pursue Bruno
as a hobby? Well, I'd like to... but one thing that has kept
me
from doing so is that I feel tired all the time. I will spend
at
least 10 hours a night in bed, and the sleep I get is not very restful.
It turns out I have sleep apnea, and it looks as if I will
need
to acquire a special breathing machine to help me get the restful sleep
I need every night. Now maybe if I am able to get more
restful
sleep, I won't need to spend as many hours in bed every night.
Maybe I'll have more time and energy during the day to get
back
to work on Bruno.
But I
make no promises...
The fact is, I may not want to come back to work on Bruno
ever again. I may very
well have drawn my last strip. If that is the case, I will still
leave the site available on
the web, for those still interested in checking it out/re-reading the
archives, etc.
Another possibility I'm considering is seeing if anyone would like to
take over as Bruno's
cartoonist. Perhaps I could keep writing it, and a new
cartoonist
could take over the artwork. Anyone out there interested?
Bear in mind however that this will not make
you rich. You'd
make little, if any money at all off the strip. But hey, it
should look great in your art portfolio, and if/when you'd feel ready
to move on to bigger and better things, I would not hold you back.
In other words, I could see Bruno
as good practice for younger artists who'd like to hone their
cartooning skills. If you're interested in possibly becoming
the
cartoonist for Bruno the Bandit,
e-mail me,
and we'll talk about
it!
(17 November) Time
for a follow-up to the November 3rd
post. First, I guess I should apologize for underestimating you, my
fan-base. I figured I would get some e-mails regarding my decision to
quit working on Bruno
on a regular basis, but I had no idea how much
I would get! I'm still working my way through
the pile, so if I haven't answered your missive yet, fear not, I shall
in time. Your outpouring of care and support proves something I've
always said: I have the best fans in the world!
Once again, I want
to thank each and every one of you
for writing. Your kind words have really helped cheer me, and have made
me more determined to get back to the drawing board as soon as
possible. And again, I want to reiterate: Bruno
the Bandit is NOT
over and done with! I am planning to get back to the drawing board,
hopefully sooner rather than later. But from now on, I want to take my
time, and polish my stories, rather than be a slave to a weekly
schedule.
Some of you have
expressed concerns about my mental
health, and wondered if my depression hasn't kicked in again. Worry
not! The truth is, mental health-wise, I'm not doing too badly. In
fact, in some ways, this may be the best year I've had since my
pre-teens. Unfortunately, with regards to the strip, I ran out of gas,
and became disillusioned with the notion of ever making a living off
it. I suppose that could be a symptom of depression, but I'm still
feeling a lot better than I was during the crises of 2007 and 2008.
Right now, as I've told many of you, I just need to clear my head, and
recharge my batteries. And catch up on my reading, movie-watching, and
video/puter game-playing!
Some of you
wondered if maybe I'm getting tired of Bruno
the Bandit. Is it time for me to
end the strip, and move on to some
other creative endeavour? I don't feel that way. When I do get back to
work, I want to continue with Bruno.
Although there are a few
small side projects I have been working on, which I may turn my
attention to during my time off, projects I may share with you the
readers eventually. But Bruno
the Bandit is in my blood, and I
know I'm going to want to get back to it before too long.
It has also been
suggested I need to revamp my business
model... or at least, come up
with a business model, in order
to actually make some cabbage off this strip. Not being much of a
businessman, I'd hardly know where to start. I even considered putting
out a call for a business partner, to run the business side of things,
while I concentrated on the strip. We would then split the profits
50-50. But I'm not gonna, because I fear the business side of things
may take over. I'd rather just work on Bruno
in my spare time,
as a hobby.
In closing, I'd
like to turn this column over to my
friend Mike
Dominic,
the ol' Paladin Freelancer himself, who sent me
the following (slightly edited) e-mail, which I think should be read by
anyone out there who is either a) going through what I'm going through
with regards to theri webcomic/artwork, etc., or b) just starting out,
and is looking for ways to gt their name and artwork out to the public.
Take it away Mike:
I've just read the
latest Tribune and would like to make
a few comments, for what they're worth....
I understand the need to step away. I once took a break of about two
years from drawing altogether, just because the demands of family life
required that I either give it up or give up my sanity. I do regret the
time lost, but in retrospect, it was the right thing to do.
When I came back, it wasn't to try to push the same old thing again,
but to try a different direction. One of the sages pieces of advice
I've ever read (and I've read a LOT) is, "If you do what you always
did, you get what you always got." While I'm still far from my personal
goal of being able to create for a living, I do see myself getting
farther down the road, and I've definitely made more progress since I
gave up trying to sell Simon
Pariah
and
started diversifying my output. It's not that the book was bad, just
that I had put all my eggs in one basket, and was surprised when they
all cracked.
So if I have any advice for you, it would be to do something different.
Take your break, catch up on videos, games, or whatever you need, then
come back and surprise everyone, including yourself, by doing something
completely different. It will get the creative juices flowing again and
you'll be able to channel your experiences (good or bad) from Bruno
into whatever new project you take on. You might still work on Bruno,
just as I still do the occasional bit of unseen work on Simon, but it
will because you want to, not because you have to.
As for Bruno the dear old bandit, I would not say that you've failed.
The strip is good, and has a good history. The storylines get a bit
convoluted at times, and longer stories tend to be harder to follow
online, but it still has its high points as it always did, and the art
has only been improving. The lack of commentary from readers is not an
indication that nobody is reading as much as it is that nobody cares to
comment...or complain.
If I would say that you are lacking in any area, it is self-promotion.
I am fairly well-traveled on the internet in general and in webcomics
in specific, and it is rare for me to run across a mention of Bruno in
advertisements, reviews collections, etc. Nor do I see much mention of
you as a webcomic artist when the discussions turn around to who's been
doing it for a while, even though you've got one of the longest running
strips out there. I have to wonder what level of success Bruno might
have had if you sold yourself more, online and off.
Some suggestions for new directions (again, for what they're worth):
-create a new
strip/character, possibly in tandem with
another creator. Promote the ever lovin' $#!+out of said
strip/character. It doesn't even matter what the content of the work
is; treat it as an exercise in self-promotion.
-take on other jobs in the comics/art industry. Hit up the forums like Digital
Webbing, Drawing Boardetc. and
take art and/or color jobs. You've got as much, probably more, skill
with color than I do, and I know beyond a doubt that you're a better
letterer than I am. If I can pick up these odd jobs (even if it's just
for chump change), so can you. It's a great way to learn and expand
your skillset, as well as networking amongst the people who like to pay
real money for funny pictures.
-Create personal work for other media to create a passive income. (This
is sort of the stage I'm at right now, aside from another project
that's landed in my lap that I'll tell you more about another time).
Create T-shirt designs and sell them on CafePress.
Compile some
of your Bruno stories into proper comic books, graphic novels and/or
strip collections and sell them through DriveThru
Comix, IndyPlanet,
Wowio,
anywhere you can list them.
Sell them as dead trees, cbr files, pdf files...whatever you can. Sell
original art on Ebay
or Etsy.
In short,
take anything you have or can create and find a way to sell it. Once
you get the work out there, it becomes largely self-maintaining thanks
to the good graces of the people providing these services. You just
have to sit back and rake in the cash. Even if it's only a few cents at
a time, it's a few cents more than that art is making sitting on a
website that doesn't get promoted, or sitting in a file in your studio
space.
-Create a blog to support all or any of the above. Take some of your
best pieces and create a DeviantArtgallery. Post to the
Drawing Board. Post on any art
foum that will have you. Link back to your blog/website. If you want
feedback, get on Twitter,
Facebook,
and any other social networking site...and, once again, sell the EVER
LOVING $#!+ out of yourself. It's not selling out to sell yourself for
yourself; it's selling out to sell yourself for someone else.
Through trying to do this myself, I've been discovering that it boils
down to a simple idea that Warren Ellis used as the title of his weekly
column for Rich Johnson's "Bleeding
Cool"
website:
(3 November) Time
for me to take another break from Bruno,
gang! I'm really, really sorry that it has to come at this time, in the
middle of a freakin' storyline, but I have little choice in the matter.
Right now, my motivations for doing the strip, not to mention my energy
levels, are nearly at zero.
The reason is
simple: I failed with Bruno. My
ultimate goal was to make a living at this. But it didn't work out that
way. Yes, I kept telling myself that it doesn't matter that I'm not
making a living as a cartoonist, I enjoy doing this as a hobby. Which
is not entirely untrue, either. But deep down, what I really wanted was
to join the illustrious ranks of webcartoonists who are making a living
by publishing their comics online. That ain't gonna happen. I'm just
not that good... either at cartooning, or self-promotion, or both.
Furthermore, my
readership has been dropping steadily
over the past few years, though I've nobody to blame but myself for
that, due to all the "breaks" I've had to take. As well, feedback on
the strip has been at an all-time low. I rarely get any e-mail from
readers these days, and the Bruno the Bandit forum is all but
dead. I can't help but wonder if you the readers aren't getting fed up
with the strip. If so, I'm not sure I blame you. I can't help but
wonder if my lack of enthusiasm for working on the strip hasn't
affected its quality of late. Rather than plod along and churn out
comics I'm not proud of, I figure I should take a break and recharge
the ol' batteries.
Is this the end of
Bruno the Bandit? No. But
from now on, when I create new comics, it's because I feel like
doing so, not because I feel compelled to put them out on a
weekly schedule. As such, it may be weeks, months, or maybe even a year
or so between stories, as I want to work on them at my leisure. I will
probably complete each new story before I put it online, so that I can
work out each story's kinks, and avoid steering myself into plot
corners, as I've come dangerously close to doing so many times of late.
I know this is going to cost me heavily in the readership department,
and I hate to disappoint those of you who look forward to your regular
weekly dose of Bruno, but as I say, I have no choice in the
matter. If I was earning a living at this, I'd have no trouble keeping
to a weekly schedule.
In closing, I want
to thank each and every one of you
for reading Bruno the Bandit. And I'm sorry if I'm letting any
of you down. I appreciate your patience and understanding regarding all
my delays and breaks over the past couple of years. Though I may have
failed in my goal, it was the best road to failure I could have
experienced!
(26 June) ITEM: I got
one more YouTube video for you to see... or, more precisely, listen
to.
Remember a while back, I mentioned that a band called Promon
did
a song called "Bruno Bandit". Well, I found it a few weeks
ago,
and
thought I should share it with you. Some nice music to read
Bruno
by! :-) I can't really say the song puts me in mind of my
comic,
so I doubt my strip inspired it (unless anyone from Promon is reading
this, and would care to correct me), but, for curiosity's sake, here it
is! Get ready to shake your tailfeathers to this one:
Promon - Bruno Bandit
ITEM: Time for some more
awesome Bruno fan art! This piece comes to us from Danielle
R, aka Skelebug
on the Bruno Message Board! Danielle
is
currently working on a fan story about Numth'kul for me, which I hope
to
have on my site some time after it's completed. In the
meantime,
here's a Numth'kul pin-up that'll spook you out:
P.S. If you want to see more
of Danielle's art, click
here!
ITEM: Any Facebook
fans out there? Well, I have good news for you!
There is
now
a Facebook
page devoted to Bruno the Bandit.
Membership
is small at the moment, so hopefully we'll have a lot more of you "jine
up" before too long! Hey, maybe I'll have some exclusive
material
on this page some time down the road! Best become a member,
so ya
don't miss anything! :-) Let's all raise a flagon of
"Bandit's
Brew
(Finest Gulping Vintage)" to Mathias
Norman for creating this
page!
(1 June) Thanks again for
your patience, with regards to my reduced Bruno schedule! I
really
hated having to cut it to once a week, so I am really happy to be able
to go back to my regular "three times a week" routine, starting with
the
next story! That said, I expect to be doing a fair bit of
travelling
over the summer, so I may end up missing the odd week here and
there.
But I'll try to build up a buffer of strips, so this happens as little
as possible.
And my apologies for not
updating the Tribune recently. The truth is, I haven't had a
whole
lot to talk about lately. I suppose I could weigh in on
politics
and/or religion, as I am wont to do every so often, but at the moment,
I'm just not in the mood to do so. As for what's going on in
my
life,
not a whole heck of a lot, really. The truth is, I'm really
leading
a boring-ass existence these days. Have you seen the Garfield
Minus Garfield
website yet? It's scary how much Jon
Arbuckle's
life mirrors mine when a certain fat orange house cat is removed from
the
picture.
So, with naught else to talk
about, I thought I'd share with you six of my favorite YouTube
videos!
These are all great, but if you don't have enough time to watch 'em
all,
at least watch the last one on the list.
You will remember it 'til the day you die!! Anyway, without
further
ado...
1. Lia Sounds Off on For
Better Or For Worse
Like Lia
in the video,
I read Lynn Johnson's
For Better Or For Worse every day, due,
it
seems to some masochistic streak my psychiatrist hasn't been able to
root
out of me yet. Lia is similarly afflicted, but has decided,
as a
form of therapy perhaps, to share with us what she finds so appalling
about FBOFW.
If you're also hooked on, yet nauseated by FBOFW, you need to
see
this video:
P.S. If you want to see more
of the lovely Lia snarking off on FBOFW, click
here!
2. Peanuts "Hey Ya"
Two geniuses named Ryan
King and Dan
Hess took the Outkast
song "Hey Ya",
and
made a video for it, using clips from A Charlie Brown
Christmas.
What would Charles Schulz
have thought, I wonder?
3. The Muppet Show - Tit
Willow
Rowlf the Dog talks a reluctant
Sam the Eagle into singing a duet of Gilbert
& Sullivan's
"Tit
Willow". This is Jim
Henson and Frank
Oz at their
very
best!
4. Bert and Ernie, Casino-style
Still with Muppets, Henson
and Oz had nothing to do with this one! Instead, Bert and
Ernie
"re-enact"
a scene from the movie Casino. Warning: FOUL langage
ahead!!!
5. Saturday Morning Watchmen
If you love the Watchmen
graphic novel as much as I do, you don't wanna miss Harry
Partridge's
reimagining of the Comedian, Nite Owl, Rorschach and their pals as
stars
of a Saturday morning cartoon show! I'd love to know what Alan
Moore would think of this
video! Can you spot all the
in-jokes?
6.
Muscle
March
Okay folks, this is why God
gave us YouTube! Where else would we get to see the trailer
for
this
Japanese videogame for the Nintedo Wii! Mere words cannot
describe
what you are about to see, so without further ado...
Welp, those are some of my
YouTube faves, what are yours? Be sure to post 'em on Bruno's Message
Board. Then again, I'm
not sure I should be asking! I
could
easily spend the rest of my life surfing YouTube, if you let me!
