Butter building

Whew! It is max-productiveness time over here at Sam and Fuzzy HQ. I am a comic-making machine, powered primarily by carbonated beverages and repeated listenings XOC's Kirby's Adventure cover album. (Which at times is surprisingly reminiscent of Battles, of all things!)

We return on Friday, with a new comic and a new round of Q and A! If you've got a question you want answered -- be it Sam and Fuzzy-related, comics-in-general-related, or totally-unrelated-to-anything-related, just email it here with "Q and A" in the subject line and I will add it to the pile!

-Sam Logan

Astroman

My pal Michael Stearns -- he of the excellent webcomic Dawn of Time -- and his friend Daniel have just released a new game in the Xbox Indie marketplace. It's called Astroman, and as you'd expect with Michael handling the art, it's very cute. It's also pretty fun, so if you've got a 360, I recommend checking it out!

I love these little personal gaming projects... lately, some of my favourite games on both the consoles and PC have been from similarly tiny development teams. (Everything from projects VVVVVV to Super Meat Boy!)

I can't believe the 2011 con season is already creeping up! But there it is: Emerald City Comicon... just a bit over seven weeks away. Heeeeeeere we go again! (Cue laugh track, freeze shot, closing credits.)

-Sam Logan

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Thhhhhbbbbbtttt Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"In your Christmas Eve comic, I assume Fuzzy is blowing raspberries at the fish. This is a sound effect I have always seen represented by 'Thppbbbppbpbpppbbb' or something along those lines. Is this some strange cultural variation? Is the sound effect simply spelled different in Canada? Or did you make up a new sound effect all on your own?" Mike

It's true! In Canada, we spell "Thhhppbbb" as "Brrrrmmmmb". This is actually the first question on the citizenship test. It's also an important part of the second verse of our national anthem.

Just kidding! You're right. "Thhhpppbb" is definitely the official sound effect for raspberries. Fortunately, those weren't raspberries at all! They were motorboat sounds... you know, the kind you make using your lips and your mind and your pure, pure heart!

Personally, I was just proud of myself for finally making up a sound effect that wasn't overflowing with gratuitous Ks. KRIKKK! KRAKK! KHOOOM!

"Rereading the archives over the last day or two I noticed in this strip, this strip and this strip that Fuzzy says/was quoted as saying "These stupid pants". Yet in this strip Art calls Fuzzy the "These damn pants guy".

My memory is far from impeccable but I seem to remember the original line in all the strips being "These damn pants". Was this a retroactive change, a goof, or are all those crowbars I do slowing eating my brain?" -Matt

Good catch! The original strips indeed always said "These stupid pants". So unfortunately, the reason Art would say "these damn pants" is because I made a mistake he's a heavy drinker.

Don't worry! I'll go back and fix the mistake as soon as we've all had a little time to really dwell on my personal failures.

"My friend and I have started reading a few webcomics recently and decided to experiment with starting one since we have some free time. Any tips? Any specific advice about getting it online for the broke and technologically impaired? We'll probably use Blogger unless we find something better." -Anket

If you're starting up a webcomic for the very first time, Blogger is probably as good a way of doing it as anything! After all, the real challenge of webcomics is committing to the project and keeping those comics coming week after week. There's not much point putting the time into a website of your own until you're sure you're going to stick with it long term!

But if you do find yourself sticking with it, you'll definitely want to make the jump to your own real website... one that you can control and customize, and that isn't cluttered with the mandatory ads or other forced visual elements that come with free hosting.

When that time comes, there are plenty of great pre-existing comic website scripts like Comikaze or Comic Press that will help you build your own comic site without years of coding experience. And if you're a new webcartoonist with a small audience and a spare ten bucks a month, you shouldn't have much trouble finding a site hosting service that you can afford. (But if you do, just drop me an email and I'll see if I can help!)

That's a wrap for this week. See you on Monday!

-Sam Logan