Time for another installment of our Saturday-Only Storyline! For those followin’ along, here are the previous installments: 1 , 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

After literally hundreds and hundreds of e-mails, we’ve gone ahead and added shirts and buttons to the Sheldon Store! Huzzah!

(The new book will be going on sale in a few days, though — so you may want to save on shipping by waiting to order your book/shirt/buttons all at once. No need to spend more money on shipping than you need to.)

Have you heard of the PBS show Roadtrip Nation? The concept is pretty fun: they put three college students on the road across America, and ask them to interview artists and entrepreneurs, musicians and leaders…to find out how they got to their ideal career…to see how they found their calling in life…how they pursued their dreams…and what failures and successes they found along the way.

Well, tonight…Roadtrip Nation pulled up to the ol’ Sheldon studio, and I had a great time with the interview. We laughed a lot…and hopefully I had a few useful tidbits to help students find their dream career. But maybe not: I did a section of the interview in a jokey Thurston Howell voice from Gilligan’s Island, so that part’s probably unusable on national TV.

I’ll give you the heads up in Fall when the segment is up, but for now, here’s a shot of me at my drawing desk with the awesome, awesome interviewers who dropped by. Thank you guys for the laughter-filled night!

Also! Today’s strip is the start of a few days of Shakespeare jokes. After Sunday’s motorcycle strip, I hope you’ll indulge me in a little literary humor.

But an idea popped into my head tonight – actually, during the interview – that struck me as funny: every time Discovery Channel does their “Shark Week”, I think I’m gonna do a “Shakespeare Week” of comics. And the logo could be a Jaws-esque Bard swimmin’ to the surface.

Today we resume with our Saturday-Only Storyline! For those followin’ along, here are the previous installments: 1, 2, 3, 4,, 5, and 6.

1.) My Con recap, with pics, is still a-comin’! I haven’t forgotten!

2.) After many, many hundreds of e-mails from folks, I’ve decided the shirts and buttons will go for sale up on the site. We sold through darn near all of ’em, though, so it’s gonna take me a little bit to get them on the site. I’ll try to time it for when the new book goes on sale.

3.) Speaking of which! The new book! Will be for sale! On the site! In just a little bit! And! Clearly! I’ve developed! Some terrible! Exclamation-based disease!

I’m currently putting 250 awesome sketches into 250 awesome Artist Editions, and then the whole shebang will go onsale. Time for me to get crack-a-lackin’!

And remember: folks who have signed up for the Sheldon newsletter get first crack at those 250 copies. (If you’re subscribed to the Sheldon-by-Email service, you also get the newsletter.)

Quick! Write this down! The book launch party for “62% More Awesome” is comin’ up: Sunday, Aug. 19th, from 7-10 PM — with free drinks from P.I.N.K. Vodka and Vitamin Water.

The party will be held at the very, very cool Crescent Hotel in Beverly Hills. We’ll be in their luxury lounge — the one with the awesome, double-sided, indoor-outdoor fireplaces. The signature drinks are free, sketches are free, and high-fives will be handed out at near rock-bottom prices.

If you live in Southern California, this is a fun, free night out that you won’t want to miss. Come on out!

Sketches Torvak Flaco High-Fives Lucky Ducks Hobnobs Brad and Kris

There’s lots and lots of news to report from San Diego Comic-Con on Wednesday, but for today, I want to give a quick welcome to the new readers joinin’ us from the ‘Con.

To get acquainted with Sheldon, check out the welcome page for new folks…which explains the characters, settings, and more.

Another good guide to check out is our audio tour [MP3 file] of the site, which works like a museum auto-tour-guide…and is kinda fun.

And lastly, let me give you my personal e-mail, in case you have any comments, questions, or problems with the site. I try to answer every e-mail I get.

Anyway! Welcome to Sheldon!

And tomorrow! Pics and fun wrap-ups of the goings-on and what not and what have you!

Four quick bits of news:

1.) Snap-a-doo! 160 copies of the new book, 62% More Awesome, are being specially shipped to Comic-Con, and should be there on Saturday by late mornin’! If you’re at the ‘Con, make sure you head over to booth #1330 and grab your copy before this early shipment goes!

2.) The Saturday-serial and the normal Sunday strip are both being replaced with two special Comic-Con strips. Have no fear…both will return next week!

3.) LOTS of folks at the ‘Con are telling me I need to do a Flaco/Squee shirt. Based on the similar sketch requests, I’d say Flaco’s the new favorite among Sheldonistas.

4.) Pics of the ‘Con should be going up in the blog early next week!

Aaaand, I’m off! San Diego Comic-Con! Woo-hoo!

I’ll be on the road until this coming Monday, so forgive me if I don’t answer your e-mails or post much to the blog. I’ll be a busy li’l cartoonist.

But! For those that can make it to SDCC, and do swing by booth #1330, here is the awesomeness you can expect:

– Three Comic-Con-Exclusive Sheldon shirts: “Coffee: It’s What’s for Dinner”, “Lucky Duck”, and “WWAKD?” Each made from super-soft American Apparel t-shirts (the best around!)

– Eight Comic-Con-Exclusive Sheldon buttons!

– $25-off all Sheldon original art! Dailies! Sundays! The whole shebang! $25 off!

– Free sketches in any Sheldon book you buy! Pick your favorite character, and watch ’em come to life at the hands of a cartoonist who (by that point in the day) will have eaten 9 churros!

– Free, Commemorative 2007 SDCC High-Fives to anyone that asks for one! Make sure you get yours, so you can prove to your grandkids you were there!

– The new book! (It’s not 100% guaranteed that it’ll get to the ‘Con in time, but I’m feelin’ pretty confident I’ll have copies by Friday! …Saturday? …Lord, I’m not sure! Who doesn’t love the fickleness of life’s uncontrollable details!)

Head to booth #1330, under the big “Blank Label Comics” sign. I’ll be the one handin’ out high-fives like they were goin’ outta style.

And if it’s helpful, download and print out this handy map: map (PDF)