Straight Ahead Comic BLOG

2009-07-05T13:43:00.001-05:00

** SCHEDULE CHANGE **

My partner's mother passed away on Saturday, so there will no comic this week. We'll resume our usual schedule on Tuesday, July 14th.

2009-06-30T06:27:00.001-05:00

Poor Phil, in EP346, it's hard to be outdone by a little cat.

2009-06-23T08:04:00.002-05:00

I don't know if noticed, but in last week's episode (EP344) I mistakenly drew Phil in his regular clothes instead of his pyjamas. I was going to leave it, but thought it would look strange if Phil is in his pyjamas, and then suddenly appears in his clothes. I compromised by just drawing poka dots on his shirt. You can still see the collar of his shirt. In this week's episode (EP345) you can see he has the pyjama collar back again. By the way, that's a girlie drink in the D'BAD Queen's hand. It's almost too small to see.

Just checking to see if you're paying attention.

The company I work for, Nortel, announced that it is going to be broken up and sold in pieces. Let's hope I get "traded" to the new owner. Nothing will be for sure until the fall.

Summer vacation is less than 4 weeks away!! I will post the summer schedule soon.

2009-06-09T08:36:00.001-05:00

Spring time is allergy season. Looks like the D'BAD Queen has it bad in EP343.

2009-06-02T08:06:00.000-05:00

Of course the line in the last frame of EP342 is taken from Mae West: "Is that a pistol in your pocket? Or are you just glad to see me."

2009-05-15T12:13:00.002-05:00

Schedule Change...

Since there was so much trouble with the server that hosts my comic last week, and I'm catching a cold to boot, the next update will be a week later on Tuesday May 26th. We'll stay at the current episode (EP340) so we get a clean start on the new storyline.

For those of you in Canada, have a good and safe Victoria Day long weekend!

2009-05-12T07:46:00.001-05:00

We begin a new storyline with EP340. The note at the bottom of frame 4 says "As Time Goes By, words and music by Herman Hupfeld, 1931". I should know by now not to use such small print. You can't see it on the computer screen. To me, Casablanca is one of the most romantic movies ever made. And "As Time Goes By" is a timeless song.

If you were trying to access the Straight Ahead website, the Comicgenesis server was down for most of last week. It looks like this has been fixed. Thanks for your patience.

2009-05-07T08:03:00.000-05:00

And so ends another storyline.

EP339 shows that Sgt Ruff will be with us for a long time, if not forever. My partner actually witnessed this happen in a local mall here in Ottawa. When he told me the story, I knew I was going to use it to end the storyline.

I checked the archives and was surprised to find this story started almost 2 years ago on June 5th 2007 !! I definitely need to shorten the storylines. I promise the next one will be shorter. Didn't I say that last time?? I can't remember, it was too long ago.

2009-05-06T08:53:00.000-05:00

** SERVER DOWN**
The Comicgenesis server has been down for the last couple of days. This week's comic will appear as soon as the server is fixed. Thanks for your patience.

2009-04-28T07:48:00.000-05:00

As you can see in EP338, Sgt Ruff actually has eyes. But now what are we going to do without Sgt Ruff???

2009-04-21T11:57:00.000-05:00

Sgt Ruff sure got a surprise this week in EP337. Will he learn to make love not war ??

2009-04-14T07:40:00.002-05:00

I wish I had a nickel for each time I saw the phrase "no fats or femmes", or straight looking, straight acting, etc. I'd be rich. So now Stg Ruff has come to torture Phil in EP336. The magazine picture in frame 4 didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. Lots of erasing on that one. But in the end, it got the point across.

2009-04-07T07:50:00.001-05:00

Like in EP335, sometimes once your labelled with something, for some people it doesn't matter what happens, the suspicion will always remain. They always tailor everything to fit their conclusion.

2009-03-31T07:46:00.000-05:00

EP334 is a little bit of an inside joke. You have to go to all the way back to EP44 (July 16th, 2002 in the archives) to see the connection to Phil when he's buying his "magazines".

Here is the link to EP44...

http://straightahead.comicgenesis.com/d/20020716.html

2009-03-10T12:07:00.000-05:00

You didn't think Dave would do all that paperwork in EP331 and not have something that was on-line, did you?

2009-03-03T12:13:00.003-05:00

You can see in EP330 at Joe's the kind of guy that takes the path of least resistance when it comes to homework.

My computer is all fixed and working better than ever. No more viruses (or is that virusi?)

2009-02-24T08:53:00.005-05:00

I'm having trouble with my computer, but I managed to get my comic uploaded. I think my computer has a nasty virus. I'll be getting that fixed right away. Anyway, we're back on schedule with EP329. In frame 6 you can see the difference between Arnie and Phil's bedroom doors.

P.S. I had a really good time with my Mom last week. We skated on the canal and visited some museums.

2009-02-10T12:58:00.002-05:00

Delays, delays, delays...

We're back on schedule with EP328. Isn't Phil's pink striped jail uniform cute?

As for delays, there will be no comic next week (Feb 17th). My Mom's coming into town for Winterlude, so I'm going to be spending that week with her. We'll resume our regular update on Tuesday Feb 24th. Thanks for your patience.

See you then.

PS. I had a great time in Mexico. The weather was wonderful.

2009-01-27T10:16:00.002-05:00

Like a good gravy, the plot thickens in EP327...

Work is still rolling along a best it can while being in bankruptcy protection. I'm still getting paid. But I'm on the market looking for a new job in Saskatoon or Ottawa. If you come across anything or know of any contacts, let me know. My public profile can be seen on the linkedin website at:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/murphyneil

I'm also on facebook.

Next week there will be no comic. I'll have a special in it's place. I'm off to Mexico for a week to forget about Nortel and work. This will probably be the last hurrah for awhile. I can afford it this year, but next year will be another story. Our regular schedule will resume on Tuesday, Feb 10th.

See you then.

2009-01-20T09:26:00.002-05:00

Nortel, the company I work for, filed for bankruptcy protection last week. So there will be turbulent days ahead on the job front. I think the job hunt will start sooner than later. Anyone need a good used Engineer? I had a feeling 2009 was going to be a year of change... but I didn't think it was going to start so early.

Phil's looking a little nervous this week.

2009-01-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

I'm back from holidays and had a great time. It was cold in Saskatoon (~ -20C), but we got outside and had a lot of fun. Ottawa has been getting a lot of snow and we have a bus strike too, so it's challenging to get around.

I forgot to mention that in November we've been "on the air" for 7 years. So with 2009, we proudly begin our 8th year!

We now return to our regularly scheduled comic programming... Is Phil going to spill the beans??

2008-12-17T09:13:00.000-05:00

Christmas time is here again and I'm heading out to Saskatoon for the holidays. So here's the holiday update schedule:

Tuesday, Dec 23rd - Christmas Special
Tuesday, Dec 30th - New Years Special
Tuesday, Jan 6th - Faces Special, maybe some photos from Christmas.
Tuesday, Jan 13th - back to our regular schedule programming.

Thank you for your support and all the best in 2009 from Straight Ahead.

2008-12-09T09:33:00.000-05:00

Christmas is near again. Where has the time gone??

I'll be publishing the holiday schedule soon.

2008-12-02T09:57:00.002-05:00

Isn't it a great feeling when your writer's block suddenly breaks and everything flows so fast you can hardly get it all down on paper? It seems Arnie is experiencing the same thing in EP322.

I'm slipping. I forgot the crumpled papers in frame 2 and didn't notice it until I had scanned and assembled the episode. My backgrounds are so sparse, I've got to watch those details. Oh well, next time.

2008-11-18T13:22:00.001-05:00

The fourth frame of EP320 shows Arnie staring at the infamous blank page. I'm sure we've all been there - a deadline looming and all you have to show is a blank page (or computer screen). I've certainly been there drawing a weekly comic.

Also, in the second frame it's hard to see, Dave has a big fat cable that connects to his desktop computer. There is a label on that says "Mainframe". The cable connects his computer to the mainframe in his parent's basement just in case he needs some extra computing power.