Man, oh, man, it's been a whole friggin' year since I updated my portfolio! Kinyewbeleevit? Crazy. Well, that's been taken care of. Please do kindly go and take a look at my portfolio in all its updated glory. Glory.

Now...I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I have a new page of The Makeshift Man! Hooray! The bad news is that for some mysterious reason, it isn't linking up with the rest of the comic. We're not sure why, yet. (Though it's showing in the RSS feed.) Most curious, most curious. I was gonna wait until that was fixed before announcing it here, but, well...I guess I'll just go ahead and link you here, and we'll just keep working on getting that beaten forcibly into submission.

This is page sixteen, wherein the number sixteen is of some significance. Fabulous coincidences!

I'm making splendid progress writing the second issue and getting things designed for it. It's going to be set in Watertown, South Dakota, and Andrew and I will be taking a research trip down there as the time draws closer. And he's actually going to be filming a documentary on the process of making this crazy lil' independent comic! How awesome!

And here is some more good news! A new shirt for sale, following our habitual monthly custom! I call this one "Feed My Rabbit". Inspired by equal parts Electric Six and Lewis Carroll, the white rabbit comes screaming into your consciousness for a fabulous tea party. :D

And! Oh! A gift! I received a gift! How wonderful! Miss DemonLordOnigawa just recently became a new Dis reader, and when she got all caught up, she drew me this sketch of her, um...meeting Hades. IT IS ADORABLE. :D <3

Ya-a-a-a-a-ay! Here is some other art that I have made in the past...month?:

...SO MUCH. GUH.
But I'm caught up on things, now, besides a couple outstanding commissions that I'm working on. This is good, because now it's February, and you all know what that means!...Keep it tuned for here-tell of my annual Valentine's Day Sketch Catch Extravaganzapalooza... ^__~

All right, back to work. Keep it frosty, cats n' kittens!
~ √JoJo

Status: Busy!...Listening To: Alice Cooper on the King Biscuit Flower Hour (1975)...Been Reading: Charles Dickens - Nicholas Nickleby...Been Watching: Mystery Men

Been in this wicked art slump, lately, feeling all kinds of awful things about me being without skill and having a stupid, unmarketable style, and how I shall die a poor failure, and thus a shame to my father the engineer who is very concerned with my finances even though I otherwise wouldn't really care all that much about it, honestly, and that my stories are idiotic and probably will get everyone in the world hating me.

Anyway, I've gotten over it, and I am back to my usual and preferred state of feeling like I could play checkers against a Bengal tiger and punch out the Sun. This is because, well, heck, getting people all riled up is what I should be doing. In the right way, of course. But boy howdy, I ought'a be unconcerned with that. All I've gotta be concerned with is my relationship with Jesus Christ, dig? Everything else will just work itself out one way or another, and who cares.

On the subject of my newly scaled-back hours at the day job, in order to have more time for comics, commissions, and other art, I was thinking about signing up as a provider on Elance. Have any of you had experience with this site? Was it awesome or heinous? Did you get swell results? Is it totally legit-ass?

Anyway, here's a groovy-as-buttons collaboration I did with Juno Blair B. as a poster for Absinthe Junk's recent Chicago show.

So, uh...CafePress is selling things to benefit Unicef's relief efforts to Haiti. I submitted a design to them for the purpose, but I don't know if they're gonna use it. I'll let you know if that happens. But please think about making a purchase (all proceeds go to the cause) or making a donation directly to Unicef (which is what I did.) Even a small donation will make a big difference to all the people who were affected by this terrible event. :(

~Peace

Status: Better...Listening To: Skillet - "The Fire Breathes"...Been Reading: Charles Dickens - Nicholas Nickleby...Been Watching: Space Ghost, Coast to Coast

Hmm...Yes...If you haven't figured it out yet, I've found myself taking a slight comic hiatus for the holidays. I'm not gonna lie...It's been really nice; I've been playing a lot of Rock Band. But I'll have new pages soon. In the meantime, here is what new art I've put together so far in 2010.

Got some forum Christmas gifts:

And other stuff:

So-o-o-o-o-o... I've been entertaining the notion of beginning a larger painting series, with the intent of having, after about a year, enough material to fill a solo gallery exhibition. But I'm not quite sure what I want to paint! Right now, my three main ideas are
1. Golden Age inspired pulp literature...We are talking UFOs and dinosaurs and true crime and Lovecraftian monsters. Probably in a variety of media.
2. Fairy tales...Traditional tales of magic and wonder and scaring the snot out of small children all over the world, with my own kind of visual shenanigans going on. Probably in watercolor.
3. Something for which I think the working title--though not the final one, for obvious reasons--would be "Amerifuckingana". Basically, a continuation of what total balderdash I started in "Young Love in the Sherbert Ripple". Would be acrylic.
...Or do you have any even better ideas for what I should spend a year painting? Please let me know!

In other news, I am seriously considering the purchase of a laptop computer. I would use it for the purposes of writing, and store my various story notes upon it, and take it with me hither and yon to seclude myself in places without distraction (such as a coffee house) and get into the habit of serious writing. Make shit happen. I think this might be a really good change to my lifestyle. I will perhaps get this for myself as a birthday gift to me. (February 15th, if you'll recall.)

News today that is good and doesn't have to do with what I'm doing:

1. The Zombieland writers have been hired to write the screenplay for the Deadpool movie. They intend to be totally true to the character in the comics, and they plan to listen carefully to Ryan Reynolds' input.

2. There's gonna be a David Bowie tribute album to benefit War Child UK, probably in May, and MGMT and Duran Duran are contributing.

3. Sir Christopher Lee is recording a symphonic metal album about Charlemange.

4. Daybreakers opens in two days.

(P.S. Support the radical hijinks!)

Status: Fwee!...Listening To: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes...Been Reading: Jane Austen - Persuasion; Stan Lee & Jack Kirby - The Avengers...Been Watching: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; Rock-A-Doodle

Status: Mm, Yeah, Pretty All Right...Listening To: Led Zeppelin - "Whole Lotta Love"...Been Reading: Jane Austen - Persuasion; Japanese Love Poems...Been Watching: Clone High; Dead Snow

Whoo-hoo! It's a brand-spankin', shiny-ass new year, y'all! And as it is now January, it is time for a new shirt-of-the-month for sale! Hooray! This is also my first art of 2010! Oboy! I decided to kick-start this year off right...with monkeys! Monkeys in masks! I hope you like it. The design itself is available in three different color schemes, and you can get each one printed on, like, a bazillion different colors o' cotton. The amazing possibilities, you guys!

Also! My "About" page has been update-ified. Be aware of this.

...So, uh...You wanna see my last art of '09? It's not much, since I've been wicked-busy with the holidays, but here are the Christmas cards I designed for my day job, and a picture in response to the horrible blizzards we've been beset with, 'round here, and also a picture of myself as an X-Wing fighter pilot:

Plus! Something special to celebrate the completion of a decade*, and a whole decade of Onieros with still not a satisfactory finished comic page to show for it...here is the evolution of my art** through ten years, traced through a single character.

So, what are your resolutions? I'm resolving to draw my comics on something akin to a schedule, to draw more, and to handing out more money to other people. Here's to the bright and glorious future! *toasts with a glass of pomegranate 7-Up*

* Yes, John, the new decade technically starts with 2011. However, when that penultimate digit rolls over, we all start thinking of it as the breaking point. And it makes a lot more sense conversationally!

** Yeah, yeah, I used to draw in animu-style when I was thirteen. I've never hidden this fact!

Status: I'm wringing my hands...menacingly!...Listening To: The Who - "Substitute"...Been Reading: Jane Austen - Persuasion...Been Watching: Clone High

Hey you guys...crazy request, if you happen to have one a' them Twitter accounts.

Tweet my name here, please?

Some of us are desperate for inquisitive eyeballs. ^__^;;

Y'all are the best internet street team of any independent cartoonist, ever. <3

Status: Still Snowy...Listening To: Cream - "Tales of Brave Ulysses"...Been Reading: Jane Austen - Persuasion; J. Michael Straczynski & Olivier Coipel - Thor...Been Watching: The Duchess

Just a follow-up to my last notice, with some photos from outside, taken this morning as I left for the office. I am astounded that I managed to get out of my miniature garage; getting back into it might prove quite the challenge.

The roads are nice and dry...but it's kinda like driving through a maze, with high walls all around you.

Status: Igloo'd...Listening To: Emilie Simon - "The Frozen World"...Been Reading: Jane Austen - Persuasion...Been Watching: The Muppet Christmas Carol; Fargo

First! All five pages of the guest comic I did for are online. Go read them!

Second! Some photos I took a few minutes ago. A view of my living-room door, which opens out onto a small wooden porch, perched precariously some five feet from the ground:

From my kitchen-slash-dining-type area:

And my studio window:

Status: Fa la la la la...Listening To: Lita Ford & Ozzy Osbourne - "Close My Eyes Forever"...Been Reading: Jane Austen - Persuasion; J. Michael Straczynski & Olivier Coipel - Thor...Been Watching: Rocko's Modern Life; Animaniacs

Just a couple notes, my sweet jellybeans.

First, the third page of my guest comic for is up, and you should go read that. It's, ah...squirrelsome.

Also on the subject of squirrels, the days are ticking down for you to be able to snag yourself the December shirt-of-the-month shirt, which is a giant albino squirrel!

Next, I will totally be deferring my Hamlet decision-making until 2010, because, of course, some of my potential colorist applicants have expressed concerns over their December school finals and also these Winter holidays. I totally understand this; no worries! You'll just have to make sure that you'll be potentially available to handle coloring one page a week for the next few months, dig? If you need to refresh yourself on the job application details, they're right here. (It helps me if you let me know you're interested. Just say, "Hey, JoJo. I'm interested, and I think I will apply," because then I will probably not make a decision until I've seen your work. And if you already expressed interest, and you changed your mind, maybe let me know that, too, for similar reasons.)

How 'bout some art? Would you like to see that? I have some. These are they:

...Unrelated to all of that, I would like you to know that I have been re-reading Straczynski!Thor, and for some reason I've been reading Thor with the most ridiculous flat Fargo accent. I'm pretty sure it's entirely awesome. Whaddaya think? Maybe Kenneth Branagh should take this approach for the Thor film?

Speaking of films, you know what I'm excited for? This:

Dig this...It looks like it's basically The Matrix, except friggin' everybody is a vampire, and Willem Dafoe (<3!) is runnin' around fightin' them with a crossbow, and his character's name is Elvis...! This is the best film concept I've heard since Outlander, which is a beautiful story of how a Viking and a spaceman get to be best friends because they're fighting an alien tentacle-puma-dragon together. <3

Welp, back to work with me. Y'all stay classy, now, and think about pickin' up a link banner on yer way out, and spreadin' the good cheer, now, huh? Y'all are my radical freedom fighter street team of great groovitude. <3

Merry Christmas, all! Glory to God in the highest, peace on Earth, and good will toward dudes and ladies,
Your JoJo <3

Status: Space Begorrah!...Listening To: Anberlin - "Godspeed"...Been Reading: Frank Herbert - God Emperor of Dune; Yoshihiro Togashi - YuYu Hakusho...Been Watching: Animaniacs; VeggieTales

Oh, how silly of me! I completely forgot to mention it until just now, but I've done a five-page guest comic for The Path, and you should maybe go read it! The first two pages are up thusfar, and I shall try to remind you when the other three go up. It is in color...and I titled it for a David Bowie song. Naturally.

You would maybe like The Path. It is about an alcoholic priest who is the reincarnation of King Arthur and maybe the son of Ishtar and he has to fight Cthulhu and the forces of darkness, along with the help of a teenaged witch and a six-year-old werewolf who speaks entirely in Transformers quotes, and other colorful characters like that. If that summary isn't enough to get you to want to take a look at it...then I'm sorry, but I just don't know about you, yo.

Oh! Un-or-tangentially-related to that, thanks to everyone for the suggestions for what I should draw for this two-page comic for the magazine! I decided to do a pulpy science-fiction piece...in spa-a-a-a-a-ace!

Status: Comicking...Listening To: Red - "Fight Inside"...Been Reading: Beatrix Potter - The Tale of Peter Rabbit...Been Watching: Dinosaur Train

A gentle reminder, friends and neighbors, that it is December, and my fabulous commission sale is only lasting until the end of the year!

If you want a sketch for only $5, an inked drawing for $10, or a full-color painting for only twenty friggin' dollars, then you need to place your order before January 1st!

Additionally, if you want to order from the Dead Squirrel Shop and have it arrive before December 24 with economy shipping, it's the last day to do that for orders to most places in the world! If you're in Australia, you've got 'til December 10, and if you're in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom, you've got until December 13! Please be aware of this!

(JoJo would point out at this time that custom art and Caligulociraptor t-shirts make for excellent holiday gifts for your loved ones!)

~Peace <3