Disallowed Key Characters

Friends! For the past couple of months, a handful of you have been encountering a "disallowed key characters" error when trying to load the S&F site in certain browsers. It took me a long time to figure out the issue, because I couldn't replicate it, and it was only affecting a small number of people. But I have figured it out!

If you've been getting the error, clearing your browser cache should now permanently fix the issue. The problem was a cookie from a specific ad, which used a particular character in it's filename that my website code didn't allow. That's why only some people were getting it! But it shouldn't be an issue anymore.

We return on Friday with a new comic and a new round of "Q and A"! As always, if you've got a question you'd like me to answer, just pop it in an email with "Q and A" in the subject line. Woo!

-Sam Logan

Back to Brain Damage

And we're back... back to the Brain Damage story! Here's where we left off, before we took a break for seasonal programming. Buckle up!

Meanwhile, I wrote the latest issue of Invader Zim! It's out now, at your local comic book store or on digital comic services like Comixology! This one features some really fun cartoony art by Maddie C. And also death!
You can read a preview by clicking the image below:

Invader Zim #38 is the 4th issue I've written, after #28, #33, and #37!  One of my favourite things about the Zim series is how it can jump between silly high concept sci fi, goofy non sequiturs, and creepy stuff... so for my first three I tried each of those things. But now I've done that! So for this one, I killed Gir. Enjoy!

I also wrote issue #39, which arrives later this month, and some more issues that will be coming out throughout the year. Woo!

-Sam Logan

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

"You draw so much color now... shivers... What happened to the good ol' days when S&F had stark contrast and proud of it? The days when "hues" were swept under the rug to be forgotten? Now it's red this, blue that, and light grays toning everything down like it's afraid the prismatic demons will find it." -Lemma

Haha! I always enjoy working in black and white. I think it has a really distinct look, and distinct strengths that I try to take advantage of in Sam and Fuzzy.But I also like working in colour! And since the main comic is not in colour, I enjoy using it elsewhere when I can.

As a side note... you might be surprised by how hard it can be to get people to read a black-and-white comic in this day and age! There have been countless times I've seen a con attendee pick up one of my books out of curiosity, open it up just long enough to see it's in black and white, and then immediately put it down in disappointment and move on to something else. Generally speaking, the only people who get really enthused about it as a stylistic decision are people who come from a background of manga and/or indie stuff... people who are used to the look. I think other people just see it as a sign that something is low budget, and therefore less likely to be good.

Which is sad, because I really like black and white comics! Like, I'm definitely one of those people who'd always prefer to read the b&w verion of Bone than the colour one. But in this day of cheap colour printing and the "free" colour of digital comics, it's kind of a niche audience decision, for sure.

"This current storyline with the tar and the Ninja Mafia empire has been a long time in the making and executed very well. Now that everything is all coming to a head, do you already have plans for an entirely new storyline? Any plans to return to more silly, shocking Fuzzy gags? I just re-read the one where Fuzzy punches the reporter in the face to get Nic's demos back, only to say that *not* punching her would have been sexist. I almost forgot just how absurd Fuzzy's humor could be (in a good way!)" -Ryan

Haha! Well, I guess I actually managed to do a couple of those kind of Fuzzy gags during this holiday break! I hope you enjoyed 'em.

I still haven't decided exactly what I'll do once this big story is finished! It'll be the end of the current S&F saga -- one that began way back in 2009 with Fix Your Problem. Once it's done, I'll most likely take a break from "big" stuff for a bit and focus on smaller things and gag strips. But I'm not sure which characters I'd like to use for that. We'll see!

"Is the Ninja Mafia a product of the tar? Unlike the rest of the council, they do not seem to have anything particularly supernatural about them, but things don't have to be supernatural to have been from the imagination. They have recruited members from the human world (Aaron and Candice among others), but their presence is as confusing to humans as everything else. Maybe their origin and special members like original Emporers and Blankfaces came from the tar, but the numbers have been diluted over time. This then leads to another question: how many current ninjas are safe from the tar?" -Kyle

There are actually quite a few factions of the Committee that aren't inhuman or supernatural in some way! Many of the members are just the human leaders of important surface organizations or companies. (Although some of them, like former member Natalie Graves, have worked with inhumans like Mr Sin to do some weird stuff.)

I think the Ninja Mafia is one of the many criminal organizations that took advantage of the creation of the Underground to operate beyond the eye of traditional human society. So while I don't think they come from the tar directly, they have benefited from the secret "second world" that was created as a result of it. There are also certainly some rank and file ninja mafiosos who are inhuman, both historically and currently.

That's a wrap for this week, team. Come back on Monday, when we dive back into our current big story!

-Sam Logan