Jeremy: And we’re BAAAAAACK! Well, I’m back. Jeff was here all along. And I was actually hanging out in the dark corners or the website, watching the goings-on and commenting on the comic blog. Many, many thanks go to Chris Williams, who did a really awesome job filling in as artist on the strip for the past month (Chris’ 5-strip run started with this strip right here). Please be so kind as to check out Chris Williams’ great journal comic about life as a new father at www.christophercomic.com and say hello!

Man, it is GOOD to be drawing this comic again! Some of you may notice a bit of a difference in the characters, particularly in Bal and Stan. While I had the time off, I didn’t really take ALL the time off. Here and there, I worked on drawing Stan in different styles. It was just an exercise, really, as I never really solidified Stan’s face to my liking, and wanted to see if I could pick up anything from which his character design would benefit. I ended up coming up with a way of drawing Stan that I actually really loved, the results of which you can see in this strip (and in the coming strips). I liked the way my “final” Stan looked so much, I took some cues from his design and carried it over in bits and pieces into the other characters, starting with Bal, and then making some facial adjustments to Elle and Chester, too. Overall, I am really pleased with the results. Hope you all like the new looks too!

Jeff: A-yup.