I can’t believe that we announced this at PAX almost a year ago. Back then we were certain we would launch within a couple of months. But it turns out that comic strips have a longer gestation cycle than anyone expected. But the good news is that our brand new Webcomic has been born and both comic and creators are doing fine.

The Trenchesfocuses on Isaac and his life as a game tester. As the comic goes on you’ll get introduced to his friends and the hell that can be QA. The comic will be updated every Tuesday and Thursday. Along with each new strip we will also be featuring a story from an actual tester about their experiences in the industry. So if you have your own horror story that you’d like to share (anonymously of course) you can hit this page and get it off your chest.

It’s been so strange working on this project with Mike and Jerry. At first I felt weird trying to write with them. It felt like I was intruding. But I think we hit a comfortable place and found a way to benefit from each other’s strengths.

It’s really fascinating to see these guys world-build, by design, from strip one. They’re not new to it obviously, as one can attest from the greatness that is The Lookouts and Automata. They can write stories. They just don’t choose to on purpose all the time.

I think the Trenches has the potential to be something really special. And I think that we’ll break some new ground when it comes to how creators present and package an ongoing comic. If you look at the menu bar at the top of the new site you can see we’re already thinking in “seasons.” Interesting huh?

I also want to give a shout out to Erica Greco who did an amazing job designing the site. It’s just gorgeous! And to Kenneth too. He did some coding or something. It involved numbers I think. I don’t really get the backend stuff.

No surprise, these Ren Faire strips are inspired by a trip I took with Jamie, Erika, Levin and friends to an actual faire down in Bonney Lake, Washington. The main purpose of our vist was because one of the vendors at the fair, who happens to import hungarian horse bows, is a family friend of Jamies. And we wanted to shoot these bows.

Back up a bit. During the infamous Fehlauher bachelor party/survivor challenge weekend we had a chance to fire off a compound bow. And a bunch of us got really excited about archery because of this. So a group fo us went to an archery range near Lynnwood and got some lessons and basically had a ton of fun. Now we’re all bent on buying our own gear and taking archery up as a hobby. Once we get the time and some extra cash.

The bows we shot at the range were modern recurve bows. The bows we shot at the faire were ISTVÁN TÓTH horsebows, handmade and imported to the US. And MAN were they a ton of fun to shoot. I still want to get a contemporary recurve, but I gotta get my hands on one of these handmade re-creations. They lacked a shelf, so you kind of had to shoot them sideways, which made us feel like badasses.

If you are interested in archery, let me link you to Seven Meadows Archery. They make the bows that we shot at the faire. Kim Fox, who owns the company was a real sweetheart and has a baby on the way. She was super-preggers when we saw her at the faire. So I would love to send her some business if you’re in the market for imported Istvan Toth horsebows and or adornments.

Either way, you should try to find an archery range near where you live and try shooting a bow and arrow. There is something very primal about it. And there’s not better feeling that when you release that string. It’s pretty cool.