Tony Cliff's Blog, page 2
August 18, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Three, pages 160-163
This week, sweat among the candlelight as things get heated at Vignelli’s ball.
(These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.)
I’m proud to offer you this comic free from ads and cookies and the usual trash cluttering up our good, sweet internet these days. If you’re able to help support this endeavour, consider joining the Patreon, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, roughs and pencils and inks (oh my), the finished pages show up there first, and more! Thank you to this chapter’s generous patrons.
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date for a traditional book-book… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
August 11, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Three, pages 156-159
Last week, Alexandra impressed her mother with her carriage and presentation, only to spurn her mother’s affection. This week, she perhaps does not exactly revel in her victory.
(These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.)
I’m proud to offer you this comic free from ads and cookies and the usual trash cluttering up our good, sweet internet these days. If you’re able to help support this endeavour, consider joining the Patreon, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, roughs and pencils and inks (oh my), the finished pages show up there first, and more! Thank you to this chapter’s generous patrons.
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date for a traditional book-book… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
August 4, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Three, pages 150-155
While Alexandra and Katerina prepare for the ball, Alexandra’s mother is at home, having an absolute blast.
(These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.)
I’m proud to offer you this comic free from ads and cookies and the usual trash cluttering up our good, sweet internet these days. If you’re able to help support this endeavour, consider joining the Patreon, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, roughs and pencils and inks (oh my), the finished pages show up there first, and more! Thank you to this chapter’s generous patrons.
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date for a traditional book-book… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
July 29, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Three, pages 142-149
We begin Chapter Three with a double instalment, as Katerina helps Alexandra prepare for the Provveditore’s upcoming ball, where Alexandra believes she will shine so brightly and so independently that her mother will buckle under the strength of her character.
(These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.)
Read these pages on DelilahDirk.com!
I’m proud to offer you this comic free from ads and cookies and the usual trash cluttering up our good, sweet internet these days. If you’re able to help support this endeavour, consider joining the Patreon, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, roughs and pencils and inks (oh my), the finished pages show up there first, and more! Thank you to this chapter’s generous patrons.
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date for a traditional book-book… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
July 27, 2023
Thanks to Chapter Three’s Patrons!
The continuing work of making Practical Defence Against Piracy is only possible because there is a small group of generous individuals who help defray the months’ expenses by being part of the book’s Patreon Campaign. These are those people! (Or click here for a larger view.)
Practical Defence is a project that is taking a long time, not just because I split my time between it and looking after our toddler, but also because it’s simply turning out to be a long book. I do not specifically want it to be a long book; I want it to be exactly as long as it needs to be and no more or less. Thank you, patrons, for helping to offer the security needed to get to that point.
If you would like to become a patron, give it a shot! There’s a lot to enjoy — patrons see pages from rough pencils to the finished product, get to see goofs and sploops, enjoy book recommendations and thoughts on storytelling and comics-making craft, and more. And of course patrons are acknowledged everywhere the comic is published. The big names you see above are members at the “Benevolent Sponsor” level and up, but every post is available for less than the price of a floppy comic each month. I send out a post each week — email you can look forward to! Join us today!
July 25, 2023
Chapter Three of PRACTICAL DEFENCE is coming this weekend…
Dear Reader! This weekend — Saturday, July 29th — I’ll start posting the third chapter of Delilah Dirk Book Four, or Practical Defence Against Piracy.
Will Alexandra have her revenge for the cruel surprises with which her mother has hit her? Will Katerina get to go to a ball? How well are Vignelli and the Venetians living on the other side of the wall? Will there be pirates? Will Alexandra have to… dance?
Find out in Chapter Three of Practical Defence Against Piracy!
To follow along with the weekly instalments, there are three options:
Subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog. I’ll be posting each week’s instalments right here. Feed this URL to your RSS reader!
Bookmark DelilahDirk.com and follow along over there. It’s less automatic, but the experience is as close to reading a book as I can make it for you.
Or you can read the entire chapter right now if you join the project’s Patreon campaign.
If you’d like a weekly reminder via social media, point yourself to…
or Instagram.
See you this weekend!
May 17, 2023
Find me at VanCAF 2023!
Vancouver folks: I'll be at VanCAF this year (May 20th and 21st at the Yaletown Roundhouse), my first convention since 2019! If you're in the area and able to attend, please do so. I'm at table E-10 or, more usefully, just look for the stacks of Delilah Dirk books and/or the "Tony Cliff" banner.
On VanCAF Sunday, I'll also be moderating a panel on "Parenting and Creativity," featuring Kyle Vingoe-Cram, Natalie Pendergast, Aisha Franz, and Meredith Gran. I'm hoping to transition seamlessly from "which nickname did you give your kids' grandparents and how did you decide" to "tell us how you fend off the gnawing spectre of mortality."
Last night I tidied up my beard in preparation to emerge from my hermit cave, only to remember that I will absolutely be wearing a mask the entire time. Oh well.
Come say Hi!
Everything you need to know about attending VanCAF can be found right here!
( Thank you to Haley Boros for her assistance getting those Practical Defence postcards successfully printed up!)
Practical Defence Nominated for Will Eisner Award
I am pleased to inform you that PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY has been nominated for a Will Eisner award, in the category of "Best Webcomic!"
This is very exciting. The judging sounds like a difficult, exhausting process, and it feels like a huge relief that PDAP was able to shine through in such a situation. I am wildly grateful to the judges for selecting PDAP to be part of the Eisner award tradition. Teenage me — who spent so much time poring over Wizard magazine — would lose his tiny mind. Congratulations, as well, to my fellow nominees!
Voting is open to comics-industry professionals which might include you. If you're able, please consider voting for PRACTICAL DEFENCE.
March 10, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 132-137
This week’s big six-page update is the conclusion of Chapter Two! Will Alexandra say yes to the ball? Will she reconcile with her mother or her new friend Katerina, and how?
These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.
Want to read Chapter Three as it's being completed?
Join the Patreon! For less than the price of a monthly floppy comic, you get to see all the finished pages first, plus delightful updates every week (email you can look forward to!), and more, including the legitimately heart-warming feeling of helping to make this project possible.
Want to know when Chapter Three is posted publicly?
Easy peasy! Pick an option that works best for you…
Sign up for The Delilah Dirk Newsletter
Keep an eye on Instagram
Follow along on Mastodon
Or stay tuned on Tumblr.
If you've been enjoying this comic, please help spread the word about it. Be shameless and cavalier, jump in with both feet. For example, I never go over on Reddit. Do you? Is anyone talking about it over there? Or tell your librarian friends about it. Start a book club! Help this comic find all the weird adventure-loving readers like you and I, wherever they may be hiding.
Thank you to everyone who's been sending in kind messages, and thank you to the patron readers who help drive this work.
Read these pages on DelilahDirk.com!
See you in a few months for Chapter Three, when we'll discover…
What Alexandra has in store for her mother!
How Alexandra learns to dance!
What is up with her dad's mysterious bejewelled dagger!
And how effective, exactly, are the town's defences against pirates.
I’m proud to offer you this comic free from ads and cookies and the usual trash cluttering up our good, sweet internet these days. If you’re able to help support this endeavour, consider joining the Patreon, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, pages show up there first, and more… all for less than the price of a single floppy comic per month.
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date for a traditional book-book… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
March 3, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 128-131
This week: the penultimate update for Chapter Two! The Provveditore has returned. He seems upset about the British ship in his harbour. Will he find a reason to change his tune?
These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.
Read these pages on DelilahDirk.com!
The only reason for that link, “Read this on DelilahDirk.com,” is to offer you a maybe-nicer reading experience. There are no ads over there, no traffic counts or tracking nonsense. I have no idea how or where you’re reading this comic and I don’t really care. I just want you to enjoy it.
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
Work on this comic is supported by the generous patronage of readers like you, on ol’ Patreon Dot Com. If you are enjoying it and are able to contribute to its production, please do so, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, pages show up there first, and more… all for less than the price of a single floppy comic per month.
