Posts Tagged ‘lotr’

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Gang's All Here

by K on September 14th, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Gang's All Here

We were just happy to make a sale.

The Small Press Expo was an interesting experience. It was my first out of state convention and my first non-anime related convention. William and I attended Anime Boston for a couple of years and, needless to say, we didn’t quite fit in. SPX was a very different time, starting with the drive. It was eight and a half hours.

We live in the Boston area and driving all the way south past Baltimore was a nightmare. Luckily for us, we were rewarded with being able to watch the Fellowship of the Ring on television in our swanky hotel room after the drive.

Our time at the con was largely spent manning the table, ill-positioned though it was. We were situated in some kind of vortex where even people looking for us had a difficult time finding us. It was totally amazing to meet people that had read the comic or seen it on stumble upon, I felt…strange somehow. It’s like this whole thing wasn’t real until that moment. I can look at web site traffic stats all I want but that’s not real in the same way that meeting a living human being is. Hearing people’s stories about which comics got them started and seeing people laugh when they flipped through our portfolio book was just amazing.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and thanks to everyone who reads the strips. You guys and gals make this thing I do feel significant.

Thanks also to Liz, William, and my brother Jonathan for always helping me when I need it and for offering their input on strips. You are all awesome.

Now to mention some folks from the con! I got to meet some incredibly talented people sitting next to us. Melody’s comics were incredibly beautiful, I had to pick a few up for myself. There were some adorable buttons and handmade crafts from motobus there as well. I talked to the dude who does Desmond’s Comic (which appears to be down right now?) and grabbed one of his comics. I almost got to meet Kate Beaton but just as I got to the front of her line, she had to go to a panel (gahh!). We spent some time talking to the exuberant John Folk, who inundated us with pins, and talked to the folks behind Omonomopoeia.

All in all, it was a great experience. We learned a lot and got to meet fabulous people and I’m glad I had the opportunity to do it, even if I was a nervous wreck the entire first day. Once again, thanks to everyone who stopped by, you all made my day!

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Lord of the Class

by K on March 19th, 2010
Posted In: Comics
Lord of the Class

If the Elven kings have 3 rings, the Dwarf Lords have 7 Rings, mortal men have 9 rings, and Sauron has one ring, how many rings does it take to rule them all?

This is why Balrogs need solid math fundamentals.

While not mythological, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is pretty legendary amongst fantasy enthusiasts and authors. Nearly everything about it has been ripped off, altered, or outright copied by later authors due to its success and widespread appeal. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but as far as books go, I’ve always preferred the Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings. There’s something about a good solid story with a strong character and plot arc that I find vastly superior to a sort of rambling epic designed as an exploration of a created world. That’s not to say that Lord of the Rings is bad, just that its predecessor is a better work of narrative fiction.

I am both hopeful and terrified at the prospects of the Hobbit movie.

Anyway, Balrogs are pretty neat. William helped come up with this idea and I had to do it. It took me a while to figure out how to do it well and I still feel like this would make a better animation than it does a comic, but I’m happy with it.

I haven’t got time to animate happle tea anyway.

Oh yeah, the Happle Tea iPhone game is hitting the iTunes store on Saturday I believe. It’s a very simple little pixel-art game that I made for school last semester, coded by Lajos Kamocsay and with music by William. I think its working pretty well now and if it isn’t, well, it’s free.

It is also on par with that bike race in Battle Toads in terms of difficulty. Savor it.

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Don't Pawn The Ring – Part 2

by K on October 13th, 2009
Posted In: Comics
Don't Pawn The Ring – Part 2

The dramatic conclusion of Don’t Pawn the Ring is here! Don’t miss it! This is, technically, only the third Happle Tea strip that does not feature Little K. How odd it feels to do a strip without him in it.

In keeping with improving our websites and our studio page, we now have forums. I am not sure what unsavoury characters will one day come to inhabit this zone of loose morals and communal horror. Perhaps it will be you?

The forums along with many other things are in their infancy. I plan to work on them a bit more over the course of the week and organize them nicely for everyone to use. I am also going to have a new print up in the store by this weekend, I think.

Thursday is my birthday. How exciting!

IMPORTANT:

Saturday marks a 24 Hour Charity Gaming Marathon from the folks over at RPGamer.com. My good friend, Victor, who’s name rests forever engraved on some of these very strips, is among them. Please think about donating to their cause, this is a 24 Hour gaming session for the Texas Children’s Hospital. ALL OF THIS MONEY GOES TO HELP KIDS WITH CANCER. If you can not donate, please tell your friends and family. It is a wonderful cause.

Around Christmas, I believe that William and I will be doing a charity comicing marathon. 24 Hour comics for Child’s Play is the current thought, but we have not quite worked out the details. Keep it in mind!

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Lil K, Don't Pawn the Ring

by K on October 9th, 2009
Posted In: Comics
Lil K, Don't Pawn the Ring

Rings of Power, priceless though they may be, are a difficult sell to any discerning pawn shop owner. This strip is a direct product of my strange subconscious mind and the unintentional misquoting of a movie line coming together. Hilarity ensues, or at least I hope it does, for you.

I recently reread The Hobbit, something I have not done since I was about 13 years old. Growing up, my mother read me very interesting books like The Lion, The Witch, and Wardrobe, as well as The Hobbit and other such fantasy classics. It is something I think has inspired me to be such a weird person, hell-bent on creating things and writing stories. I could be a great argument for or against reading to your children. Do you want your child to grow up to write and draw incredibly ridiculous comics? If yes, read to him or her. If not, skip it entirely.

Maybe I am extrapolating too much. I suppose my peculiar experiences and lifestyle can not be used as a measure for other lives, but I do honestly think that reading to kids a great deal at a young age can produce some strange results. Most of the people I know that were read to have a desire to create, at least at some fundamental level, even if it does not enter into their daily or working lives. It is an interesting thing to think about.

Maybe someone will read Happle Tea to their tiny children some day.

Maybe those children will be completely traumatized.

One can dream.

Oh yeah, I made you some nice new wallpapers for various screen sizes. I hope that you like them. In case you missed it, the store is now open for print sales. You can buy any Happle Tea strip on high quality paper for 5 dollars right now. Also, if you have any Happle Tea fan-art, please email me so that I can add it to the new fan-art section!

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