This is the kind of ridiculous pseudo-story that’s fun to link to…if for no other reason than to talk about good name-construction. Specifically, what I’ll call the Cryptozoological Name-Construction System.

Basically, it breaks down like this: (Semi-Remote Nation or Region) + (Seemingly Harmless Animal) + (The Word “Fanged” or “Blood” or “Man-Killer” or “Deathmonger”).

Feel free to try it at home:

– “The North-Bolivian Fanged Rabbit”

– “The Lithuanian Blood Parrot”

– “The Nova Scotian Deathmonger Goose”

– “The Welsh Hooked-Claw Badger”

…feel free to submit your own, below! But be forewarned: You’ll be hard-pressed to beat “The Lithuanian Blood Parrot”. I’m proud of that one.

I’m behind on putting the photos up from the Pugs Book-Launch Party, but I wanted to take a sec to thank all those who came out and showed their support: Thanks to you, we ended up giving $150 to SPCA Los Angeles, which was great!

Dipping into the inbox for a minute, I thought I’d share two pics with you:

Sheldonista Erika C. sent in this awesome pic of her pug Boris as Darth Vader. I love the look on Boris’ face: I genuinely can’t tell if he’s acting tough for the role, or if it’s just that he can’t imagine a worse indignity than wearing this costume. Probably a little from Column A and a little from Column B. 🙂

Sheldonista Ryan P. sent in some pics of the recent framing of his Sheldon Original Art:

I thought I’d share this one with you since the double-matted black-and-white look is a particularly nice look around a cartoon. So for all of you who have a Sheldon Original but haven’t yet framed it up — it’s a good look to keep in mind.

Thanks, as always, for all the pics you guys send in!

I am so excited to announce this: The Savannah College of Art & Design has invited my buddy Scott Kurtz and I down for an awesome engagement. On Monday, October 13th, we’ll be visiting various art classes to give spot lectures, critiques, and some hands-on instruction on the creation of sequential art and comics.

Then, on Tuesday, October 14th at 8 PM, we’ll be giving a free public talk at SCAD’s 1,100-seat Trustees Theater on the art and business of Webcomics (…and more broadly, how all visual artists can build their career online).

Seriously: You have got to look at this theater…..

…What an amazing venue! And Scotty and I are pretty fun public speakers, so it should make for a good night all around.

After the talk, we’ll of course be signing and sketching in copies of “How to Make Webcomics”, as well as PvP books and Sheldon books.

Come on out if you’re within drivin’ distance — I almost never get to go to the South, so I hope a lot of Southern Sheldonistas will come out and say “hi”!

(Scott put together that fantastic promo poster, featuring Savannah’s Forsythe Park Fountain. Check out a full-shot of his fantastic background drawing.)

It’s just around the corner: Baltimore Comic-Con, Sept 27 and 28! I’ll be there exhibiting with my “How to Make Webcomics” co-authors at the Halfpixel booth. I’m especially excited, as this is the only time I’m heading to the Northeast this year.

I’ll have all five Sheldon books in tow, as well as shirts, buttons, Glornaks, and original comic strip art! (E-mail me if you have a specific strip you’d like, to make sure I bring it with me.)

And don’t forget to collect your big con-exclusive: The “Baltimore Comic-Con Commemorative High-Five.” Only 85 in stock!

Just a reminder: To make sure we order the right quantity, please have your manatee order in by Friday. I know there’s gonna be one dude or dudette that e-mails me next week and says “OhwaitholdthephoneIwantone”. Please don’t be that dude or dudette. 🙂

(Also, the store will inconveniently be down for an hour or so, Thursday, from 11 PM PDT to 12 or 12:30. So avoid shopping at that hour. College students, I’m lookin’ at you.)

It’s the small things that sometimes get you. Today’s strip, for example? My favorite part is that the elven character is wearing plaid on the cover of the “70-Foot Hobbit”. It’s a tiny little detail that probably only cracked me up.

The Eagle & The Child, by the way, is a real pub. My wife and I shared many a bitter in there, in the back corner where JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and others used to hold their “Inklings” meetings. For a nerd like me, it was nirvana. Also, the bitter was good. If you’re ever in Oxford…do swing by The Eagle & The Child (or The Bird & The Baby, as it’s also known).

Related note: I love how the English always have nineteen names for their local pub. When I lived in Canterbury, I swear my local had 500 different nicknames. You never knew what people were referring to when they asked you to meet up for a pint. 🙂

Your e-mails have been heard!

Over in the Sheldon Store, we’re taking advance orders for the “Mind of a Ninja, Body of a Manatee” shirt!

It’s the only shirt made for people who have crafted their body into a fighting machine. A fighting machine powered by delicious, delicious chocolatey snacks.

We’re taking advance orders this week so that we know how many to make. So please put your order in by Friday, Sept. 12th so that we can start shipping ’em out 7-10 days afterward. Also! There is free shipping on this shirt to anywhere in the U.S! Boo-yah!

Even though I write “Sheldon” for adults, I try to keep the strip family-friendly for all reading ages. I like the idea that folks could share the strip with their children, if they choose.

So it bummed me out to see “Sheldon’s” Google Adsense ads running a tad on the risque side, lately.

Advertising, as I’m sure you know, helps defray some of the cost of giving away two million “Sheldon” pageviews for free every month…but that’s not to say that ads should have free reign around here. Even though most of us (myself included) have an ability to filter out online ads completely, the fact remains that they do exist on the site.

Because of that, I’ve always opted for far less ad subsidy if it meant we could avoid annoying/offensive/cloying ads. Bad ads just aren’t worth it.

Going forward, I’ve decided to do a top-to-bottom change in ad systems and test out new ones over the next few weeks and months. I’m going to be testing out different systems from Yahoo’s Direct Media Exchange, from Tribal Fusion, from Gorilla Nation, from AdsDAQ, and from others.

We’ll find the perfect fit yet for “Sheldon”!

Lots of stuff in the ol’ mailbag to catch up on:

1.) Sheldonista Katy M. sent in this little adventure, which sounded very Flaco-esque.

2.)

Jan-Erik S. from Sweden sent in a pretty awesome wooden Flaco that he saw in an art shop. (Jan-Erik also mentioned that 123 Krona = about 20 bucks.)

3.)

Sheldonista Judy K. sent in this photo after reading her copy of “Pugs”. This pic cracks me up, because, oddly, my brain has put a Jersey accent to the pug, saying “Deeez are not da droidz you’re lookin’ faah.”

4.)

Barbara C. sent in this pic of her reading “Pugs” while on vacation at California’s Montana de Oro State Park. Apparently, the book has helped win over three of the four family members to becoming Sheldonistas. Dad’s the hold out. C’mon, pop.

5.)

Fellow cartoonist Krishna sent in this little gem for the gang. I like how the colors are rendered in 50’s/60’s flat tones. Nice! (And of course, Sheldon’s wearing a shirt from his favorite toy line: Starslip Crisis. In the Sheldon-verse: “Starslip” is a Saturday-morning kid’s show that’s been running since the mid-80’s. I’m not sure what “Sheldon” constitutes in the “Starslip-verse”. A2Z programmed by Sheldonsoft, perhaps?)

6.)

And finally, Sheldonista Karloman H., from Flanders, sent in a colored reworking of yesterday’s desktop image.

If you want a 2600×1500-size image that you can crop/fit to your monitor, here you go.

Thanks, one and all, for the e-mails! And I only have about 300 more unread in my inbox, so I’m catching up as I’m feelin’ better!