This was the last comics page I completed for eight months.

I'm sorry it was a cliffhanger but at least it was a high note. The use of handcuffs (FBI authority and BDSM all in one), the snarky sound effect, Rikk's departing "orders" and, above all, the rapid-fire rhythm of that last panel all sing to me.

What followed was not an easy eight months. My comic book had failed. My dream was dead.

I tried to replace it with a new dream, telling a longtime crush how I felt and, when she was initially somewhat encouraging, making plans to build a new life with her as part of it. That ended messily.

I was stuck in a city I hated living in, taking courses that had nothing to offer me, and trapped doing Web design that made me dislike myself. I quit, moved back with my parents, and gave up on art school entirely. I finally started to turn things around when I got hired as a search engine marketer. At the time (1999-2000), this was honest and interesting work, and it played to my strengths in a way Web design never had.

About two weeks after beginning work, I started posting pages of my old comic book online, 5 per week. That would be enough for almost half a year, and I figured two or three months in, I'd decide whether to post any new pages...

It's oddly appropriate to be posting this page again, now, because I have to take a break once again, this time from annotating.

A few weeks back, I asked whether you guys would prefer me to keep annotating the series or work more on new scripts, including a new Fans story. Most of you pretty much gave me carte blanche to do as I liked, with a slight lean toward encouraging the new Fans tale.

So I'm doing that now.

This site will take next week off while I set things up, then start running the rest of the series with HOURLY updates until we've gone through all our old material, by which time Jason and I will launch into our new story. Still deciding the posting schedule, but we're already cranking out the first few pages of "The Swarm," and I think you'll be pleased.

I may take up the annotations again at some point-- hey, some of you have got to love 'em if you've read this far! But for now, priorities must shift. See you soon!