Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Aaron Edition
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"Does Aaron like the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution or does he burst into flame with rabid jealous rage?" -Tom

I'm not sure Aaron ever made it to Deus Ex! After all, his available video gaming hours are pretty firmly committed to Ages of Swordworld.

I think he might also find the stealth mechanics a bit confusing. There's always a learning curve with stealth games -- you have to "learn" what kind of suspicious activity the game's AI is and isn't programmed to recognize. Deus Ex is certainly no exception. Consider how a typical Deus Ex goon reacts to the following situations:

Creak of door opening twenty feet behind him - INSTANTLY ALERT

Sight of a wide-open door that was firmly closed when he passed by the previous time, 10 seconds earlier - NO BIGGIE

Sound of very quiet footsteps 20 feet away - FREAK RIGHT OUT

Sound of another goon being violently slammed into the desk directly behind him - NO IDEA IT HAPPENED

Sight of a quick, tiny blur of movement in the far off shadows, while they were clearly busy looking at a computer screen - HYPER AWARE

Inexplicable systematic disappearance of every other member of the massive, chatty team of goons who were searching the room with him, silencing all their conversation and leaving him totally alone - THEY PROBABLY JUST WENT TO THE BATHROOM

It's fine, and super fun, once you learn the rules. The rules are just kind of goofy!

"When Aaron was first introduced as Jackson he was a [sot of] awesome ninja who kicked butt and took names under after Fuzzy had taken over. But now he seems pretty much useless. Why did he change so much over the course of the comic?" -John

Aaron can kick butt when he wants to, but his truly defining traits are probably his generally indifferent laziness and dislike of responsibility. That said, there is a bit more to it than that. You'll get to learn a bit more about life from Aaron's perspecive in our next chapter, actually.

"Do you think, after having made a grandiose story-arc like Noosehead, you'll be able to follow that up again? Please let me elaborate. In Noosehead, there was a definitive beginning, middle, and an end. During the current volume, it feels like there's a very slow mounting of tension that may be leading up to something huge, but the story is far more complicated than before. It feels more like a continuing crime-drama than an epic. Please don't feel that I'm trying to insult your work, as I mentioned before, I love it, but why the stylistic change from the Noosehead volume to the current volumes. Was it a conscious decision? " -Vincent

No offense taken, Vincent, I understand what you mean! As you said, the stories are structured very differently. Noosehead was really one big tale of a long, fairly singular journey. Fix Your Problem and beyond were conceived as more episodic series of interconnected but relatively self-contained separate books. The comparrison to a continuing crime-drama is probably an apt one!

The change was done partly out of a desire to do something different, just like Noosehead was very different from the story that came before. It was also partly out of necessity... Noosehead could hit the ground running because so much of it's plot was set up in the previous story, whereas Fix Your Problem was really starting from scratch.

But despite the differences, there's still a singular, major arc that's been building since Fix Your Problem -- as I'm sure many of you have noticed -- and there are some pretty major turning points coming up. I like to think that it's all building towards a climax that will be every bit as epic and satisfying as the end of Noosehead, but... well, it's you guys who will be the ultimate judge!

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

-Sam

Oh tah wahhhhh

Ottawa! There is snow here. But despite being wussy Vancouverites, we are coping! Why, already Shannon and I have experienced the authentic traditional Ontarian experience of getting up early to pick up the collector's edition Mass Effect 3 at Walmart. I also went to a Costco, and then stayed inside drawing comics all day. It's a whole new world, man.

A native Ottawanian (Ottawan?) on twitter asked if I would be doing a fan meet-up here. I've never actually done a fan meetup before, since I travel so rarely without doing a convention appearance anyway. Do I have readers here in our nation's capital? Would you like to do a "meet up" when we swing back through town on our way home around the 26th or so? Let me know if this is you.

-Sam Logan

PS: If there anyone out there who still hasn't recieved our latest book club bonus pack, but should have... just drop me a line and let me know! (And if there's anyone who accidentally missed the deadline, fear not... just place your order now and let me know, and I will work my magic.)

A place to stand, a place to grow

Detective Morris is, of course, referring to when she told Sam to keep out of the Sinpresto factory. When was that again? Oh right... a few moments before Sam snuck into the Sinpresto factory.

Today, Shannon and I embark on a month long experiment of living in Ontario, discovering what it might be like to live and work a bit closer to our east-coast comicing comrades and the Topatoco hivemind. Truth be told, there are a lot of potential advantages for someone in my line of work to move out east. But on the other hand, they have this strange and alien thing called "weather" over there. So, uh... we'll see how it goes!

But worry not, west coasters... we will be returning to our sacred pacific homeland just in time for Emerald City Comic-Con!

-Sam Logan