SOPA

Barring a couple of server malfunctions beyond my control and one unexpected sudden onslaught of appendicitis, Sam and Fuzzy hasn't missed an update in its nearly-ten-year lifespan. It's a personal compulsion. Rain or shine, a comic has to go up. The thought of not updating the site on schedule makes me feel physically ill.

Is that a sissy reason for me not to participate in today's "internet blackout", where countless websites are taking themselves offline for the day to protest the ridiculous and potentially internet-damaging SOPA and PIPA acts? Yes, probably. But add that to the fact that I'm Canadian, and that I feel a little awkward about using my website to so brazenly "butt in" to an American political issue... well, the end result is that you are not getting a blocked site or big protest graphic. I totally respect and 100% support my peers who are participating but, well, I guess this particular reaction just isn't my style.

But you know what is my style? A self-effacing yet honest newspost in which I politely tell you that I don't like SOPA and PIPA. So here we are.

Online piracy is a real problem. But SOPA and PIPA are horribly broken... rushed and ill-thought non-solutions that would do almost nothing to slow or deter actual pirates. But what they would do is grant the ability to block any website -- including the one you're visiting right now -- without trial or notice, just on the unproven suspicion of copyright violation. If these powers were used, how could any small independent artist or businessperson fight back... let alone someone like myself, who isn't even an American citizen at all? The answer is: they couldn't.

American friends, I am not going to tell you what you should think about your government. But I encourage you to learn more about SOPA and PIPA and make up your own mind. And If you find yourself coming away as concerned as I am, consider contacting your senator and letting them know how you feel. Independent artists like myself need an uncensored internet to bring you the work you love.

-Sam Logan

YOU

I suppose the flip side of the "two-strips-in-one effect" you sometimes get in an update to a story comic like mine (as mentioned in last Wednesday's newspost) is that you also occasionally get strips like today's: stylistic indulgences that are admittedly pretty light on plot development. I do try to keep the story moving as much as I can, but sometimes you have to dial it back a bit for the purpose of good overall pacing. Well, and for the purpose of drawing lots of caves.

But completely coincidentally, Wednesday and Friday's comics are both extra long... three-pagers, instead of two. (I know they were big because I'm still exhausted from drawing them.) Come back in two days to oggle the first of them!

-Sam Logan

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: First of 2012 Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"Is Conscience Cat a real cat person who lives in Catopia? Or is he a real mythical creature? OR, is he just a crazy hallucination that only a few people can see?" -Julie

The real answer... is inside your heart. Which is a fancy way of saying I deliberately avoid answering this question in the comic, and will continue to do so!

"When Dev tells Conscience Cat to 'buzz off', her tongue sticks out in a style eerily reminiscent of Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes. I find
it hard to believe that this is a coincidence, but... well?" -Joel

It's an unconscious similarity, but I love Calvin and Hobbes and read a ton of it as a kid, so it wouldn't be surprising if I had absorbed some of Watterson's stylistic iconography.

I can actually think of one other example! Those partial-circle exclamation symbols I draw sometimes to indicate shouting, like over the walkie talkie in panel two of this comic, are something I'm pretty sure I got from James Fry's work in the old Sonic the Hedgehog comics I read when I was 12 or 13.

"My question doesn't pertain as much to the comic/storyline as much as others do and I hope it isn't too personal to ask. I know aside from merchandise sales, advertising can be a large part of making income off of running a comic. I did notice though that you don't have any. I was wondering if that was a personal choice to not have them or for some other reason? Thanks!" -Andrew

No, that's a fair question! Once upon a time, I didn't have advertising on the site for two reasons: a) I was keeping the site completely black and white and didn't allow any colour images, and b) I didn't think the comic had the kind of traffic needed to generate enough ad revenue to worry about it.

These days, neither of those things are really true, so don't be surprised if you see the introduction of one or two basic, unobtrusive ads added sometime in the future. After all, anything that helps generate more revenue and grant me the ability to spend more time on the comic is a good thing! But there are some changes that need to be made to the site design first, which I have been dragging my heels on getting them done for... oh, about half a year now. Whoops!

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

-Sam Logan