Get to Know Me

Here's another reason to follow me on Twitter. Sometimes I run contests. In the panel after this, Doc Karma talks to his receptionist. I needed a name for her, so I put out a Tweet saying "Next female who Twitters me her name gets the receptionist named after her." (Not to be all Mirror Universe District 9, but I had already drawn a lady, and calling her "Dave" just makes no sense.) The winner, Vaneta (yes, Newsarama's own Vaneta Rogers) now has her name in the next issue.

I'd show you that panel, put it's the beat panel. Besides, I really like the body language here with Doc Karma confused and whipping around, and Abby really does look smug.

I need to do three more pages before the end of the month to stay On Pace for the new issue. I've got a little holiday planned next week, so it's not quite as safe as it sounds, but I still think I can do it.

Trying to Win Some Equipment

I'm a big fan of the MacBreakWeekly gang, and certainly anything by Andy Ihnatko. Andy's a Geek Like Us, and regularly references comics and Big Bang Theory on the show. Now they've got a new site and coming podcast about Managing Your Digital Life. It's about backups and libraries and stuff like that. Ever since the Big Crash of 2005, I've been a big advocate of backing up, so I'm looking forward to the show.

I tell you all this because they're good people doing things that are good for you to know. But I also tell you because they're giving away a Drobo to people who link to their site. What's a Drobo? It's an awesomely awesome backup system that I covet greatly. So, if you click over to the Managing Your Digital Life site, I get entered to win this gotta-have-it-system. So, if you want to help a guy out, make with the clickety-click.

College Ain't Cheap, Fella!

So, my pals at Mental Floss are having a contest to give away five $10,000 college scholarships, as well as some free dinners, to clever and deserving college students.

Am I mentioning this because they promised to link to all of us who mention the contest and get the word out? Yes. Hey, I ain't gonna lie to you. But college tuition is a pet cause of mine. I had a lot of issues paying for my sojourn at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. My family did a lot of things to make that happen, my Grandma Maerkle (for whom my Maerkle Press imprint is named) among them. But because of that experience, I try to help put things that help tuition out, like Cleveland Scholarship Foundations and the Jimmy and April Malone Golf Tournament.

Fastest growing cost in America? It's not health care, it's college tuition. And I'm going to cut this short before I go into a screed about lowering tuition costs, rather than just increasing programs to pay for it.

It's a great program and a good cause. And Mental Floss is one of my favorite magazines that doesn't hire me to do artwork for them, and it's hard to get into that echelon, let me tell you. So go check it out.