QA time once again

Now that you’ve expanded your universe so much, do you find it difficult to write for Marten? How has your perception of him changed against the backdrop of other characters?

I don’t find him particularly difficult to write, but as the scope of the comic has broadened he has naturally become less of a focus. Plus, Marten’s got shit to deal with, and there are no instant fixes for him, so it’s gonna take time. And that definitely factors into how I write him.

Dude, does ear cheese really actually happen? Is that for reals a thing? I’m asking cause I want to stretch my lobes and need to know what to expect. Can this be avoided by thorough, daily cleaning?

All you gotta do is wash your ear-holes and it goes away. It’s gross but not a big deal, just a hygiene thing.

Hello! Big fan of your work! I have a question: In the Acknowledgements section of Holly Black’s newest book, “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown,” she credited Jeph Jacques as being a friend. Is that actually you?

Yup, I have been pals with Holly for some years now! That book is really good, thank you for reading it and supporting her.

I really enjoy how Dale doesn’t seem to be easily intimidated by Faye like how other people usually do. This isn’t so much as a question, I know, but I really wanted to say something about it because it is a nice change and makes me think Dale has faced tougher shat to not be so affected by Faye or something. Not saying that Faye’s ability to automatically strike fear into the heart of her enemies (and friends) is a bad thing, but another part of me hopes this thing with Dale doesn’t change.

Dale is pretty chill

sooo in comic 2550, why do Tai’s pants change from being full-length in panel 4 to capris in panel 5?

the singularity

In the event of your demise, are the final pages of QC drawn? If you were rendered unable to continue QC, I believe the final arc should be put up and the in-between should be left to the imagination.

I have thought about writing a text file called HowQCEnds.txt or something in case I get hit by a bus, but I’ve never gotten around to it.

Besides, it’d probably just say “AND THEN THEY ALL FUCKED”

You probably have been asked this before, but what kind of drawing tablet do you use/recommend?

I use a big fancy Cintiq but all the Wacom models are completely fine. Yiynova apparently makes good ones too but I haven’t tried them.

So I was waiting to get paid, so I could back the Deathmole kick starter, but then I missed the final date! How will I go about buying the album to support you after-the-fact? And will you put up any of the cool Deathmole gear for sale? Because I totally want a patch!

The album will go on general sale once it’s done and backers have received their copies. I’ll probably sell some of the other swag as well.

I know you have quoted both Kiyohiko Azuma (I’m reading through the complete Azumanga omnibus right now, my college library is so cool!) and Iain M. Banks as major influences on your writing. Are there any other authors who have particularly influenced you as such?

Charles Schultz, Bill Watterson, Berke Breathed, Frank Herbert, Alastair Reynolds, Danielle Corsetto, Sam Logan, Jeffrey Rowland, Rich Stevens, John Allison, Ryan North, Jerkcity, the guy who did Lucky Star whose name escapes me

why do anthropcs store their personalities in their physical units where they’re vulnerable to any damage they might incur? it would make much more sense to have a big computer somewhere which stored their minds and communicated wirelessly with the bodies, presumably with multiple backups elsewhere in the world just in case some natural disaster ruined the place.

bandwidth concerns, also cock latency

That “what flavor of trans?” question is horrible and as a trans* person, I’m deeply offended by that asshole. Thank you for not even trying to answer it and for making Claire a complete character, and not a cliche.

But I did answer it! She’s a redhead!

Around how tall would you say Dale is? Hanners has always struck me as a pretty tall girl and I noticed he seems to have a good amount of height on her

Dale is a pretty tall dude

Hopefully you have not been asked this 100000000 times already, but what are your thoughts on applications like Comic Life? I’m in a Writing for Graphic Novels class this semester, and we’re required to use it. At times it seems pretty neat to me because it has a lot of drag and drop functionality and simplifies putting everything together, but I’m worried that it’s either A) making me lazy or B) negatively impacting the quality of the product. Just wanted some thoughts from a pro that I admire!

Never used it myself. Tools are tools, it doesn’t matter what you use as long as you constantly push yourself to do good work and improve.

So are the Permanence tracks on Bandcamp now just demos or what?

I hesitate to call them “demos” since I’m quite happy with how they sound, but they’re not as good as the finished album is going to be. So I think of them more like “early versions” even though that’s largely a matter of semantics.

Would you ever consider a separate QC tumblr that updates with the comics at the same time the main site does? (It was a really pleasant surprise along my dash, and could see a lot of people getting behind it. Could expose the comic even more, due to reblogs and such, as well. Just a thought.)

If there was a simple way to automate this, sure. But I already have enough trouble remembering to keep the RSS up to date.