News

Today (Friday, 8 August) all is dandy again, as we have a new comic.  This is based on a very real and serious conversation Polly (Lit) and I had Wednesday night.  This is the exact transcript.  I had to be the voice of reason and squash the madness while it was still in its infancy.


Total man-hours: 3

Total drawings: 4

Total days’ production: 1

Please note this page is forever and always a work in progress.  Until the time comes when I get hours upon hours of free time to perfect this abomination of web-design.

Durotards Latest

Alright so for weeks now I’ve gradually made decisions about how I want the comic to be, like visual style, content, presentation and the like.  As such I’ve decided I have named the thing Guild Chat for a reason, and will mostly do renditions of conversations I see or partake in.  Thats not to say I’ll never do stuff like Gales getting shot for having Mad Cow again, I’m just not going to force it.  The humor coming from you people is overwhelming; I can’t process it all.  That being said I’m sure some of you have no idea you’re being hilarious.


We’ll fix that.



                                                                  

I feel it’s worthy to note how these travesties are made.


Step one: Draw in pencil.

Step two: Ink the pencil drawing.

Step three: Take a picture with my digital camera.

Step four: Import the image into Photoshop for touch-up.

Step five: Add color to the image (?)

Letter to the editor I’ve written to Stars and Stripes about one of their opinion articles they ran.


Before you read:  This is written under the assumption that you read the article it is referring to.  I demand you go into this thing informed.  Read the article, then read this.


    This treatise is addressing the "Death 'Tally' doesn't help" letter printed in the Monday July 21 edition of Stars and Stripes by Major Mark A. Clancy.

    I'll start where he does by saying death is a factor of war.  Negative perception about violent death in combat is entirely justified.  That the press emphasize it at home is irrelevant to the deployed soldier himself, having much fewer resources (AFN, Stars and Stripes are about it) and a much higher priority on their task-at-hand.  As for the non-stop drumbeat, the only thing consistently mentioning the death tally in this paper is the only thing Major Clancy appears to have a problem with.

    He goes on to say "...you lead the story with the death toll and bury 'no deaths reported'...where most people do not take the time to read...creating...negative feel."  Those interested enough to read the four-inch column typically don't have trouble reaching the bottom.  Look at 3 specific places: the total, latest deaths, and identification and the whole read takes around 15 seconds.  The 'negative feel' I don't have much an issue with, as these are real consequences of a real war, however the Major wishes to sugar coat it.  Feeling bad about spending American lives for the greater good of a foreign populace is one view, feeling pride for the nobility of their sacrifice is another.

    For we do know the cost.  Many of us only know by reading Stars and Stripes.  We also read about the towns being rebuilt, the Iraqis controlling more of their own provinces, and the successes of our comrades that make up a good portion of this paper.  We also read the negative things.  Such is objective journalism.  That some would censor the total number of dead Americans in this conflict so a few can feel better is appalling and an insult to each individual that number represents.  I equate it to removing every name off the Vietnam Memorial.  This, until Operation Iraqi Freedom is ended, is our memorial.  I hope some of you read this far.


Specialist Justin Long

Camp Bucca, Iraq

The Art of Dave:

I’ve added a link at the top of this page to some of my non-comic related artwork.  Should anyone care to comment on it my email is [evilbum@mac.com]  and I do enjoy hearing from you guys.


I’ve wondered how many hits my site actually gets at any given point in the week, so if anyone could point me in the direction of a counter I would much appreciate it.  I’m relatively new to the web-design scene (if you haven’t noticed) and could always learn a thing or two from anyone who wishes to enlighten me.


                                           ~benzedrine