Yeah, this does not bode well.

As some of you have better things to do over the weekend, this is probably your first encounter with the new Atomic Laundromat site! A year in, the site was due for a revamp, and the design is a lot less cluttered. There is still some work to do, like bringing back the donations page (hint, hint) but the site migration overall is done – with all comics and comments intact. Phew! One of the newer things that some of you were asking for was to subscribe via email – so if that’s your cup of tea, knock yourself out.

Also, I’m pleased to present the Spanish version of Atomic Laundromat! That site has its own URL and RSS feed, so the two experiences won’t overlap. The translation project is mostly done (and it has been an interesting experience to say the least) but it should be good to reach new audiences that way.

If you were away at Comic-Con or otherwise – make sure to catch up on the comics. You missed some explodey minion fun.

Bye bye minions.

Next week! An intense Angela moment, trial + party prep and … new site design????

The Messiah’s great secret was revealed not that long ago…

I realized that Atomic Laundromat is officially one year old. It actually dawned on me at some point last week, but I hadn’t articulated exactly how I felt about it.

It is humbling to look back one year at the conditions and motivations that spawned the strip. I’ve loved comics all my life, but for reasons too varied to go into this post, suffice to say that I had been away from any kind of creative work for a while. A little bit over a year ago, revisiting old papers and notes and detritus from a life spent doodling, I decided to take up pen and paper again (with a little help from digital tools, too!) and just draw. Atomic Laundromat was born with one simple reason in mind.

I had a story to tell.

It may not be the most complex story, the most intricate or necessarily the most original – almost a century of superhero comics have left behind fields sown with clichés.

And batsuit nipples.

Some strips are a hit, others a miss, but through it all, the one redeeming quality I’ll defend in my work has always been heart. It has made me happy to do the strip, and I know it has resonated with some people out there. As long as there is one person reading out there, I plan to keep telling my story, and seeing it through to its conclusion. Yes, there is an end to the Laundromat story, but it’s so far into the future it’s not even worth discussing now.

With my story to tell, I did set up some goals and targets to hit with the strip. Number of visits, hits, etc – those are easy things to measure, and suffice to say that the strip has been successful beyond my modest expectations by a WIDE margin. Given I don’t publish those stats out, these achievements are private and satisfactory – a simple gauge on the reaction and loyalty to the strip, not an instrument of gloating. But these cold numbers have nothing on the reaction to the strip, and how many of you, dear readers, come back three times a week to take a gander at my random scribblings. I’ve been blown away by the outpouring of support that has come to my inbox, how you guys remember details in obscure strips and panels that even I have to go back and re-check, how you keep me straight when I do stuff that’s “out of character”. You are as heavily invested with the characters (yes, even Doom Udder) as I am, and I have nothing but gratitude because you have opened your heart to my creations. This is a really big commitment.

I was tempted to do a big celebration for year one – guest comics/pinups, that kind of stuff. But as a wise man (Admiral Ackbar) once said – stay on target. One of the very few nuggets of wisdom I feel I can impart from a position of confidence is that webcomicking is all about consistence and commitment. You keep reading, I keep posting. I have yet to miss an update (except for that one that was 4 hours late) and I intend to do everything in my power for it to continue being like that. It’s the least I can do.  Besides, you all want me to get to the Trial and David’s sister’s sweet 16 already. Those minions just stand in the way!

Besides, 99% of my cartoonist friends are in San Diego anyways. But if you guys read this eventually and want to send guest strips to run between strips… just sayin’, you know where to find me.

There are several goals that I have in mind for year 2. New targets in site visits, attending a few conventions (Spokane Comic Con and San Diego fell thru this year, unfortunately), merchandise, some non-Laundromat long form projects, new site design (migrating this weekend, kinda nervous about that!) and some more stuff. I also want to continue improving on my art – it’s still miles away from where I want it to be.

But in the end, the main goal is continuing to tell my story.

Hope you stick around for the ride.

It was either this or a lemonade stand, apparently. Henching licenses will only get you so far…

UPDATE: Two kind readers alerted me of a security situation with the site – seems like overnight I suffered a code attack that was redirecting people to malicious sites. I have corrected the situation, but to play it safe I will be disabling the news section for a little while.

UPDATE 2: I have cleaned out the whole site. Turns out that somehow, every post in the site was updated to include malicious code at the end of it, trying to do nasty things. I have locked down Javascript on the site, cleaned the DB and I’ll continue to monitor the page. If you see anything weird, please drop me a line. I’m terribly sorry for any inconveniences this attack may have brought you.

Yeah, these guys are kinda expendable.

More henchmen!

I love the henchmen. It’s really, really hard to make henchmen jokes without infringing on the brilliance that is the Monarch’s henchmen in the Venture Brothers, but I’m quite happy with how the next few strips turned out: hope you feel the same when you get to see them.

Also, a reminder! Tomorrow Tuesday, July 13th, starting at 6:30 PM Pacific Time (9:30 PM Eastern), come watch the uStream at the Atomic Laundromat Channel. I will be inking some strips from the next two weeks live , chatting and answering whatever burning questions about the strip that you may have and streaming some tunes. You won’t see the strip fully finished as I won’t stream the lettering or the shading, but should be fun and non-spoilerish all the same.

Also, can you believe it? Next Tuesday (July 20th) is the first anniversary for Atomic Laundromat! I don’t think I’ll be breaking the flow of the story with a “season break” or guest strips, since I’m really excited about the following arcs — but I just think it’s amazing the strip is almost at this milestone.

Take care y’all!

Update: Blacked out the actual spoiler at the bequest of some die-hard Muggles. Wikipedia is your friend if you live under a rock and you’re not planning to either read the books or watch the movies.

The duck is in shock. And even worse, he was a Harry/Hermione ‘shipper. Poor little thing.

Anyhow, I had a little impromptu live stream the other day, just to try out, and it was quite fun. So we’ll do it again! Next Tuesday, July 13th, starting at 6:30 PM Pacific Time (9:30 PM Eastern), come watch the uStream at the Atomic Laundromat Channel. I will be inking some strips live (come get your sneak peeks!), chatting and answering whatever burning questions about the strip that you may have and streaming some tunes. I’ll post a reminder Monday! Also, you should follow me on Twitter for these late-breaking updates.

Lastly, I posted some new sketches at the Atomic Laundromat Facebook page – I’m defining the look for David’s little sister. Wondering about her peculiar appearance? Hint: she takes after her mother.