Peach the Destroyer: Issue 014

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...and with this UNBELIEVABLE CLIFFHANGER, Peach's Day off comes to a close. Not much to say about this week's issue. It's one of those ideas that's been floating in my head for weeks, so it's nice to finally get it out. Next week it's an ALL-NEW ADVENTURE! Anything could happen!

Moving on to my Ten Favorite Webcomics, this week it's Dr. McNinja. He's a doctor. Who's a ninja. I really shouldn't have to say anything else, you should already have clicked the link. Actually, truth be told, it took me a few tries to read through the archives...it's a lot of plot to absorb and it can get so surreal it makes what I do on Peach the Destroyer look completely sane and rational, but if you get past stuff like the good Doctor having a gorilla receptionist and a pet velociraptor (named Yoshi, naturally), you're in for one of the best rides in webcomics.

Peach the Destroyer: Issue 013

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Whoa! Six panels of non-stop action! Well...four panels of non-stop action and two panels of Peach being a little bit of a fangirl. But still, just look at how far we've come in 13 issues, gentle audience. Plus, hey, there are even some backgrounds! Will the evolution ever cease?!

Overall, I'm pretty proud of this one. Don't worry, we'll be seeing more of this mysterious new figure (who, yes, is very blatantly based on my favorite DC Comics character) in the future.

Moving on to this week's entry in my Ten Favorite Webcomics, I'm picking something a little more random today...Brawl in the Family. My wife found it via a tweet from ThinkGeek, she told me about it, and I've been hooked ever since. Yes, it's more than a little silly. Yes, it's nerdy as all get-out. But y'know what? It's darn good fun. Matthew's Brawl in the Family keeps things light, with great Nintendo-flavored comics starring the entire pantheon of Nintendo characters (yes, even some from NES games I never got to play when I was a kid...fortunately, he likes to explain things in his commentaries for people like me). At the time of this entry, the latest Brawl comic shows the unexpected consequences of Link smashing random pots for money in all of the Zelda games.

It's just awesome.

Peach the Destroyer: Issue 012

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Whoa! What's this?! A different layout? A new character?! WHAT COMIC IS THIS, ANYWAY?!

Oh, right. Still mine.

Okay, this was one of those slow burns of an idea that was rattling around in my head pretty much since the start of this story arc. See, back when I was initially sketching everyone out before I started the comic, Peach's backup in that storyline was going to consist of the well-meaning duo of Mittens and an unnamed cat with a bow and arrows. That archery-themed cat stayed in my mind, waiting for the right time. Then, as I was plotting Peach's Day Off, the idea of that archery cat swooping in to save the day with the "A NEW CHALLENGER HAS APPEARED!" caption box just would. Not. Leave. My. Head. So I had to draw it.

Yeah, we'll be seeing more of this new cat next week.

Up next, I'm still going through my Ten Favorite Webcomics (which, believe me, is a harder task than you'd think and that's without me bothering to form it into a countdown). This week, after a lot of hemming and hawing, I've settled on The Laugh Out Loud Cats.

Now, for the five of you on the internet who don't know what a LOLcat is, I'll just direct you here and ask you to come back in a few minutes.

All caught up? Well, as Adam "Apelad" Koford tells us, his great-grandfather Aloysius "Gorilla" Koford created the tales of the Laugh-Out-Loud Cats, which chronicles "the exploits of one Meowlin Q. Kitteh (a sort of cat hobo-raconteur) and his young hapless kitten friend, Pip." This comic is just a joy to read. It's cute, sweet, has an occasional anti-smoking message, and the large poster-sized comic for every hundredth comic is always a treat. Check it out, it's sure to make you laugh out loud (see what I did there? ...I'm shameless).

Peach the Destroyer: Issue 011

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Not much to say about the comic this week. I apologize for the massive dialogue dump, but things are slowly getting into place and there is a payoff coming (the payoff is better than off-panel fighting and Peach solving things by yelling the name of the comic, by the way).

On to exciting things, like my Ten Favorite Webcomics. This week, I'm highlighting Wayward Sons: Legends. No, not this...I'm talking about this.

First, some backstory: last summer, my wife and I went to San Diego Comic-Con. I literally have no idea where, why, or how, but somewhere on the show floor I got a promo copy of Wayward Sons. I read it on the flight home, looked it up online, and I was instantly hooked.

My painfully oversimplified explanation of the comic is imagine the Greek pantheon battling the Egyptian pantheon, except everyone's aliens. Who have superpowers. I'm probably killing my own fanbase by handing you a link to these guys. Once you see the fine, professionally-crafted beauty of their DAILY updates (who ever heard of such a thing?! Clearly not me...), you'll probably be reluctant to come back and see my silly cat doodles once a week.

Wayward Sons, for me, is the golden standard of webcomics. There's layer upon layer to the story, the artwork couldn't be better, and it's something I look forward to starting my day with.

As a (nerdy) aside, I'd like to say that Benny Powell and the crew at Red Giant Entertainment (the team responsible for Wayward Sons) are top-notch guys. When I first went to their site, the layout was different, and there was no RSS feed. I emailed them about this and within 24 hours, I had a reply assuring me upgrades were coming. Not only that, but months later, I got another email because someone saw my old email and wanted to make sure I knew that they DID have an RSS feed now. Great guys all around.

Well, that's all for now, kids. I'll see you next week!

Peach the Destroyer: Issue 010

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Good morning, destroyers! Okay, I'm going to point out stuff in today's comic because I have LOTS to geek out about. First off, I really like doing gag comics. I think this is one of several instances where "Peach's Day Off" is superior to the Chupacabra arc because I have a good sense of where everything's going, so I know how the story ebbs and flows a lot better. Also, this gag has been sitting around in my brain since the conception of "Peach's Day Off," so I'm glad I finally got to do it.


Second, I'm in an especially good mood today. Why? Well first off, this is our tenth consecutive comic! Also, Tuesday marked the 2-month anniversary of Peach the Destroyer! Woo! (I'm assuming people other than me are happy about this) Yes, it's a mild hallmark, but know what? It's mine.

Finally, to celebrate this occasion, I'm going to be listing 10 of my favorite webcomics to coincide with the next ten updates. Note that I don't say "top ten." It's not out of paranoid fear of David Letterman will come after me, but it's just that I'd have a hard time ranking these into a system and, frankly, I think it would keep me up late most nights with worry. With that disclaimer out of the way, I hope you'll all be back next week to see what happens next in Peach's Day Off and to see what I have to say about some of my fellow webcomic creators!

Peach the Destroyer: Issue 009

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Good morning, destroyers!

Look at this, 5 panels without our title character! How can this be?! Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be getting back to Peach very shortly...

For panel 5, I swear, those are Siamese cats, not bats. Though I can see how you could think that. I swear I had a reference photo for them (reference photo = photo I glanced at twice while drawing).

Well, not much more for me to say about this one. Have a good week, everybody!

Peach the Destroyer: Issue 008

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I like today's issue. We have backgrounds on half of the panels and panicked/confused Peach in panel 4 feels extra-adorable to me (I think it's because I gave her my patented "unnecessary rubbing of my head while panicking" move). Also, 7 comics later, I finally found a better way to do static than what I did in the first issue.

So yeah...now we get an ounce of plot going with the evil robber birds. Will we ever see them? Are they real? Are they a figment of Peach's imagination? These are all really good ideas that I hadn't thought of before! Will we get answers to these questions? Maybe!

Also, this week's update feels like the right time to highlight one of the several webcomics that helped inspire Peach the Destroyer, The Adventures of Superhero Girl. It's good fun and how Faith Erin Hicks managed to turn Blogger into a decent webcomic setup is (obviously) beyond me. So check her comic out, it's pretty awesome (just for the record, I am in no way the inspiration behind the strip I linked to and I'm pretty sure Superhero Girl doesn't know Peach or any of C.A.T. Force exists).

Peach the Destroyer: Issue 007

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Well...that happened. I was excited that, for one brief, fleeting moment I got to turn Peach into a simple gag comic like Garfield.

Also, hey, check it out! A background! Sure, it's only for one panel, but it's proof that Peach exists in a physical space and not just an empty white void!


EDIT (5/13/11) - Hey, look! After what I'm lovingly referring to as the "Blogpocalypse," Blogger finally found my long-lost post! If you want all the nitty-gritty details of why Blogger decided to (temporarily) explode (and get my Peach the Destroyer update caught in the crossfire), you can read all about it here.