Our latest Book Club bonus pack is out, and making its way to member inboxes everywhere. If there's anyone out there who should have received one and didn't, just email me and let me know!

(And if there's anyone who accidentally missed the deadline, fear not... just place your order now and drop me a line to let me know, and I will connect you to bonus town.)

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

"What do you think about when designing a new character? Do you do some sort of research, or otherwise how do you come up with the style and personality?" -Agni

It can really depend on the project! In the case of an established comic like Sam and Fuzzy, it's all about coming up with new characters who will help drive the story by playing off of the existing cast in a new or unique way. Someone like Hazel is introduced not just to be interesting in and of themselves, but also to bring out a different side of an older character and to propel their story.

Once I've got the personality down, I try to craft a visual design that reflects it. It's kind of a hard process to describe... I just draw and draw until it looks right to me. A major secondary goal on the design side is to push myself to come up with really distinct-looking characters who contrast well with the existing cast and don't look too similar to anyone who came before them. (I am not always successful in this regard, but I try!)

I don't really do much in the way of research unless I'm creating a character with some sort of real-life cultural or professional background. (Which probably comes up less in a comic as surreal as Sam and Fuzzy than it would in a more grounded strip.)

"Played any good games lately?" -Chris

Yes! I'm currently about halfway through Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I'm really enjoying the flexibility of approach the game grants you -- most of the time, anyway -- and have been slowly working my way through the game using an all-stealth, all-non-lethal playstyle. But it's a very long game, and I don't have a ton of time to play it, so it might be another month or two before I wrap it up. (This is probably why I usually stick to 9-12 hour action games!)

I've also been playing through a 2-player playthrough of Rayman Origins whenever my pal Ashton comes over. Man, is it ever good. The original Rayman was beautiful for it's time, but was a bit too bland and generic on the gameplay side of things. But Origins is gorgeous AND has really solid gameplay and level design chops. Ten thumbs up.

"Once in a while I see the word "bloody" in a context that has no contextual connection with hemoglobin. Is this supposed to indicate an english accent? or is that just something you crazy Canadians say once in a while." -Anthony

"Bloody" is definitely primarily a British thing, rather than a Canadian thing. If I have a tendency to use it in dialogue from time to time, it's probably just because I'm kind of... slang absorbent.

-Sam Logan

Last chance for Book Club bonuses!

This is it... the last day to get in on our latest batch of Book Club bonuses! The new bundle will be emailing out tomorrow, so if you want in, place your book orders accordingly! (And remember, today is also the last chance to email in your desktop ideas for the poll to select our next bonus desktops, so get cracking!)

In other news, have you been following Rikk's new site? I think he's on a bit of an... unusual roll this week, so if you are a fan of Skull Panda (and honestly, maybe even if you're not), I encourage you to check it out.

Similarly, if there are any Oswald the Rabbit enthusiasts out there, may I direct you to my tumblr, where I have taken a real-life Oswald-related tale from my Disneyland trip and converted it into words and photos.

-Sam Logan

In media res

"Hmm," I said to myself. (Loudly, with great feeling!) "How many people still view the Sam and Fuzzy website on 800 x 600 monitors?" Fortunately, reviewing some Google Analytics data has yielded the answer. And the answer is "about 17."

So to you, my 17 friends, I bring bad news. I am redesigning the Sam and Fuzzy site right now, and I am making it a little wider than your screen resolution. I really don't mean to be a jerk about it, but Uncle Sam (the non-political one) needs those extra pixels to fit in some new features and make everything look pretty and spacious. Thank you in advance for taking one for the team and getting a little extra practice operating that horizontal slidebar. (Although something tells me you might have a lot of practice with it already!)

Our new bundle of bonus comics and desktop images emails out to all our Book Club this Thursday! If you don't have a copy of Sam and Fuzzy Are Very Famous yet, you can still get on the bonus action... just make sure you place your order on or by Wednesday, and you should have the bonus pack emailed to you automatically on Thursday. (Also, you'll get a book or something, I hear those are good!)

And Book Clubbers, don't forget: I am still calling on YOU to send in your ideas for our next bonus desktops, so email away! I'll be picking my ten favourites and including them in a poll with the Feb. 29 bonus pack, so members can elect the subject of our next bonus pack desktop using the power of democracy.

-Sam Logan