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(7 October) Here's a look at the latest poster I created for Spirit of Newfoundland:

Here's the extra-cool part: Not only did I do the poster for this show, I am co-writing it, along with Peter Halley and Michael Power!  When Peter asked me if I wanted to help write this show, I was knocked for a loop-de-loop!  Writing a comic strip is one thing, but writing a stage musical is quite another.  But I couldn't resist the opportunity to give this a try!  So far, it's been a blast!  I can't wait to see what it's gonna be like to have actors on a stage perform dialog (and songs) I helped write!  I just hope we can do Dr. Seuss's work justice, lest I get nnaught but a lump of spoiled Who Hash in my stocking this year!

I should also take this opportunity to apologize in advance, as I won't have any strips ready for next week, due to my upcoming visit to Connecticut to attend the annual Otherworld Event (see below).  But hey, you're getting the very first triple-sized Bruno strip this week, so what more ya want? :-)  Still, I may try to find something to run for next week...perhaps some more "Behind the Scenes" material.  Stay tooned!

(8 September) My apologies for not having any new strips this week, but Bruno will be back in action on the 15th, I promise!  And now, on to the news...

ITEM: First off, there's been a lot of work done on the Bruno the Bandit board game!  Bet you thought I'd forgotten about it, didn't you?  I've had a lot of help with the game from my friends Damien Spracklin and Adam Bragg.  Damien and Adam have a lot of experience in designing board games, and they have been invaluable in helping shape the game into something playable.  For one thing, they showed me that the rules I had written, which I thought were crystal clear, would probably be as clear as mud to most people.  Plus, many of my rules were, well, not very good, so they got jettisoned.  They gave the rules a proper re-write, and added several new elements to the game.  They then created a working version of the game, and last Friday night, the three of us play-tested it.  So far, not bad, but right now, we need to make the board smaller, and the rules need further tweaking.  But I think we're off to a great start, and before too long, this game will be ready for you to play!  I'm hoping to have it ready before the end of the year at the latest.

The plan is to make the game available here on the site.  You'll be able to print off your own copy, preferably on the heaviest cardboard stock your printer can handle (or print it on paper, and glue the necessary parts to cardboard if you' d like).  A small donation via PayPal will be encouraged, but not absolutely necessary.  This will be the "basic" game, with expansion parts to follow.

ITEM: In addition to working on the Bruno the Bandit game, the rest of the year should be pretty busy for me.  For one thing, it looks like I may be visiting the good ol' U.S. of A. again, this time in October!  I have been invited to attend the annual Otherworld event in Connecticut, by my good friends Tom and Kim Ricket!  Otherwold is a Live Action Role-Playing event, where you get to dress up as a fighter, thief, cleric, what-have-you, and participate in a story straight out of your favorite fantasy fiction.  Tom and Kim had a free pass to this year's event, and asked me if I wanted to come.  After reading up about the event, I knew I couldn't pass up on the opportunity!  That said, I don't have a whole lot of money these days.  Fortunately, Tom and Kim agreed to front the travel expenses for me.  I'll be able to pay them back via processing Sluggy Freelance t-shirt and book orders.  So, if you're a Sluggite, please order something from the Sluggy site!  The more orders they get, the more I get to process, and the quicker I can pay Tom and Kim back! :-)

Speaking of Sluggy, I spoke with Pete Abrams recently, and, while he won't be attending the Otherworld event, he said he'd like to come down to Connecticut so he can hang out with Tom, Kim and me for a little while.  Hey Pete, maybe I'll teach ya the finer points of chess while I'm there! ;-)  I've beaten him in two games of e-mail chess so far, but I will admit, he's winning the current game we're playing.

Right now, this trip hinges on how soon I can snag me a new passport, so's I can cross the border.  These days, getting a passport all but requires a Note from God, so I could be cutting it close.  Please keep your fingers, and all other crossable parts, crossed for me!

And speaking of Tom and Kim, I should take this opportunity to congratulate them on the birth of their second child, Evan Gregory Ricket!

ITEM: There's a good possibility I may have a new job in November!  Don't want to give out too many details just yet, however.  But I can say It would keep me pretty busy for the next few months, so much so that it may cut in to Bruno's publishing schedule.  I may have to reduce my schedule to one strip a week yet again! :-(  I'd like to try to build up a buffer, but that's easier said than done!

ITEM: Bruno got another good write-up, this time thanks to Brunatic Mathias Norman.  Mathias had this to say about my strip (scroll down a bit).  Thankies for the kind woids, Mathias!  And remember folks, if you have something (hopefully) good to say about Bruno on your blog/webpage/whatever, or if you see a write-up about Bruno somewhere online that I should know about, please let me know and a link to it could end up here!

ITEM: Is anyone else as hooked on the TV Tropes websites as I am?  For those who aren't familiar with it, it is a site that covers all the plot devices and cliches that can be found in all our favorite fiction (not just TV, either).  Nobody escapes the watchful eyes of the Tropers who contribute to the site.  Not even webcomics.  In fact, I was surprised (and even a little gratified) to see that Bruno the Bandit has its own page on the site, though I'm pretty sure they missed a good 20 to 30 more tropes I've used.  Gratified because hey, anybody who's anybody has a page on that site.  I don't think there's any work of modern fiction is not guilty of using at least at least one or two dozen tropes.  (If you do know of any modern work of  fiction that you can honestly say is trope free, let me know, so I can check it out!)  That said, the next time I ever get stuck for ideas while writing for Bruno, I'll head over to TVTropes, and see what tropes I can add to the strip! :-)

ITEM: Any of you ever heard of the band Promon?  On the Amazon.com page I found for them, their genre is defined as "Dance & DJ/Trance".  On their album Funky Fumes (released in August 2002),  they have a track called "Bruno Bandit"!  You can listen to a sample of it here.  Just wondering if the name of the track is a coincidence, or maybe something more.  The sample doesn't really remind me of anything in my strip, so I'm inclined to believe the former.  Still, I can now say that Bruno now has a theme song of sorts!

ITEM: Hate to end this column on a bit of a downer note, but, er, I'm going to anyway.  While things have been looking up for me lately, my girlfriend Danielle took a teaching position that is, alas, many leagues from St. John's.  Teaching jobs here in the city ain't exactly plentiful these days, so she is now living and working in Flowers Cove, on the island's Northern Peninsula.  Sweetheart, I miss you bunches of lots, and lots of bunches, and bunches of bunches, and lots of lots.  No matter where you are, you'll always be my S.S., my C.C., my F.F., and my V.C.P.C.O.L.C.D.!!!!  (Note to everyone else: you should probably thank me for using abbreviations here! ;-))

(25 June)  Not sure how many of you are still with me after my effusive praise of Zoey 101 in my last entry, but for those still remaining, I have good news.  The reason today's Tribune is so short is because I want to spend more time on Bruno.  The reason for that is because I want to kick it back up to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, starting next week!  I feel I'm ready to get back in to a bigger schedule these days.  That said, I can't promise there won't be breaks in the schedule, and I do worry I may need to go back to a once a week schedule, but for now, I feel confident I can put out 3 strips a week for ya!  I'm amazed at how many hits I'm still getting even with this super-reduced schedule.  Youse people are the bestest fans in the world!!

In other news, for those of you looking for Bruno: Mad As Hell, my third book, now out of print, have you tried eBay?  Someone is selling the book, and at a bargain price.  Not sure how many they have available, so you'd best hurry if you wanna snag your copy.  To get you started, here's the page I found.  Good luck!

This one was a bit more of a challenge, as it went through a couple of changes before they were totally happy with it.  I swear though, while drawing the bee-hinds of the two ladies on the steps, I felt like I channelling the ghost of Robert Crumb!

What?  Crumb's not dead yet?  Well, that's a blessed relief!

Turning now to other news, I'd like to pay tribute to a show that recently ended, after a 4 year run.  You probably would not guess in a gazillion years that the show I am referring to is Nickelodeon's Zoey 101!  The show is the TV equivalent of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes: made for kids, but which grown-ups can enjoy too.  Well, this grown-up liked it.  Then again, who says I've grown up yet?

Four years ago, some of my acquaintances (who shall remain nameless, in order to protect the innocent) and I started watching Zoey on a lark.  It starred none other than Jamie Lynn Spears, younger sister of Britney, as Zoey Brooks, teeny-bopper student at Pacific Coast Academy, an exclusive school of the type we all wish we could have attended.  The show followed the often quite predictable (mis)adventures of Zoey and her friends (Chase, Quinn, Michael, Lola, Logan, Zoey's little bro Dustin, and a few others who have been part of the show's four seasons).  We thought the show would be so lame as to be laughable!  And indeed, most of the first season, and part of the second, was pretty much what we expected.

But here's the thing: even the earliest episodes had their moments, and made us laugh with the show, as opposed to at it from time to time.  As the series progressed, the truly funny moments increased in frequency, right 'til the episode where Sushi Rox (PCA's sushi bar) burned down.  This was for us the turning point in the show.  With this episode, the writing in Zoey went to a new level.  In fact, this was literally the opposite of "jumping the shark" for the show.  My acquaintances and I have a new saying: whenever a TV show/musical group/author/whatever suddenly increase the quality of their work, we say they "burned down Sushi Rox".

So, what made the show exceed our expectations?  Well, you gotta give credit to the young actors who played the main characters.  They had good chemistry together, and all of them did a great job in their roles.  Even Ms. Spears herself got off some classic lines.  My favorite: Zoey expressed an aversion to eating raisins, because they're so wrinkly.  As she put it, "It's like eating little tiny old people".  I dunno, for some reason, that just cracked me up when I heard it!  I'd say most of these kids are not going to be tagged with the "child star" curse, and will go on to have successful careers in TV and movies.

The show had a dynamite supporting cast, many of whom would steal the show.  My favorites include: Coco Wexler, the girls' dorm room advisor, whose personality could at best be described as a total train wreck (and who will forever be associated with the line OH GOD!!  WHAT IS THAT???).  Then there's Mark Del Figgalo, played by Jack Salvatore Jr.  Though still a teenager, this kid is a master of deadpan comedy.  One of the funniest things I've ever seen is the episode where Mark gets a free cup of coffee, which explodes on him (long story!).  Poor Mark looks like he had just come out of Dresden circa 1945, yet he turns to the vendor, and in one of the classic deadpan moments in TV history asks "Can I get another?"  And we can't forget Stacy Dillson, the cotton swab-obsessed/fall-girl/oddball classmate of Zoey and company.

To its credit, the show never got heavy-handed or preachy.  No episodes about teen pregnancy (the show wrapped before Jamie Lynn found herself with a li'l bun in the oven), drug use, suicide, Al-Qaida attacking PCA, etc. to be found here.  The heaviest episode was the one where Chase's grandmother died, and that was handled quite well.  The writers kept the subject material light and fun, though some of the show's plotlines were downright surreal in the last two seasons: a horse that starts following Michael around campus for no particular reason, and Zoey and Lola getting in hot water with a Godfather-like charity chairman, to name a few examples.  Furthermore, the show treated its young audience with respect, i.e. no laugh track.  Amazingly enough, Zoey's producers felt that the audience didn't need reminders to laugh during the funny parts.

No, Zoey is not up there with classic sitcoms like, say, Fawlty Towers, All In The Family, Seinfeld, and early Simpsons, to name but a few.  But no show has ever exceeded my expectations the way Zoey did, and for that, I gotta give it props.  So, any other closet grown-up Zoey fans out there?  C'mon, you can tell your ol' Uncle Ian! :-)  I just hope I can get Bruno the Bandit to burn down Sushi Rox one day!

(11 June) Not much to report this week.  With not much else to talk about, thought I'd show you the latest poster I did for Spirit of Newfoundland Productions:

Pretty snazzy, huh?  This time next week, I should have the poster for The Big R's Radio Show ready for y'all to see!  While meeting with the folks at Spirit of Newfoundland last week, they ran two ideas by me.  First, would I be interested in teaching a cartooning course to kids?  And secondly, they'd like to host an art exhibit of my work.  They want me to create a number of pieces in my own inimitable cartooning style, but with a Newfoundland-based theme.  They seem to think my work would really sell if I did this.  Much for me to think about, it seems!  But fear not, Loyal Readers!  Bruno still comes first... though it would be nice to do some artwork that earns me some real money some day...