In the 9 months since the new Sheldon site launched, we went through and replaced each strip with larger, brigher, more confident, 900-pixel version of itself. That doesn’t sound like it took much doing, but Lordy did it: Even though a majority of the strips are the same size, and could be modified by a batch-action in Photoshop, a good third of them had to be done by hand.

So! Along those lines: Please let me know if you see any weird cropping, off colors, odd sizing, or anything unusual with the larger strips.

Note: We already know these 18 strips, so feel free to ignore these ‘uns:

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Thanks so much and enjoy the archive!!

I’m in Seattle all weekend at Emerald City Comicon at booth #1105! Come get a free Drive sketch!

Guys! I’m in Seattle all weekend at Emerald City Comicon at booth #1105!

We’re starting a little Flaco-centered storyline, today, called “Go to Bat.” Haven’t seen much from the little guy, in a while, so this should be fun.

I’m parting ways with my my favorite piece of drawn art: A really large, pen-and-ink drawing of the entire Sheldon cast. Rarely are all of them in the same piece together! And I’m not kidding: This is my favorite drawing that I’ve done in recent years. I love, love, love how it came out: The inks and gray washes just look awesome.

The cardstock measures 17″ x 11″ inches and the artwork measures approximately 17″ x 9″ inches. It’s drawn in lightfast, archival inks on acid-free, vellum Bristol stock. There are no mistakes or corrections in the artwork itself, so it will frame up especially nice.

This original art will be shipped for *FREE*, anywhere in the U.S.A! (And just a flat $5 to any point outside the U.S.A.)

Also! For the lucky Sheldonista who snags the artwork: This piece can be signed and personalized at the winner’s request. This could include a personal note like: “To the coolest person I’ve ever met, with thanks for saving my life from sharks that one time: I totally owe you forever. All my love, Dave.” Something like that. Or maybe something totally different! Maybe you’d prefer it to say “a T-Rex” instead of “sharks”. TOTALLY YOUR CALL.

— Dave

A note to PR people everywhere: Oh man maybe it’s time to find a new catchphrase.

It’s my birthday week!

And to celebrate, here’s a way to give you AND me a gift!

Through Friday, the Sheldon three-packs (books 1-3, and books 4-6) are just $30. You get 3 books for the price of 2, AAAAAaaaaand, I get to pay my electrical bill. It’s a birthday win-win! 🙂

Thank you guys for continued support of the strip. You make Sheldon possible, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me.

Let’s look at all the ways today’s meta Sheldon breaks normal conventions:
– We’re seeing backstage, which is weird.
– We’re seeing Sheldon with his glasses off, which is also weird.
– We’re seeing Flaco talk, which was super weird to draw.
– We’re also seeing Arthur get along with Roger…and we *know* them two just ain’t never got along. Lookit the quiet contempt on Roger’s face.

For those of you wondering, this is indeed the “end” of Season 13 of Sheldon. It’s been online 13-14 years, now. (If you’re curious, you can read this blog post, explaining how Sheldon is in its 14th year, online.

For those of you concerned that I might be ending the strip…worry not. But! I will have a blog post in the new year about my changing project priorities. As we finish up the film over the next few months, I think I’ll be changing things up. But all for the better, I assure you!

U.S. Sheldon readers: Wednesday is the last day to your Sheldon order in, if you’re using Priority Mail shipping for Christmas delivery. I was gonna make it Thursday…but we’re a mom-and-pop organization, round these parts, and I wanted to make sure we get all those last-minute orders out the door one time.

And if you’ve never picked up a Sheldon book before, try it now: Thanks!

So, I’ve seen the Hobbit six times already. Huge nerd, over here: Huge, huge nerd. And while I love it, and will watch it four dozen more times over my life….it…ain’t great. Not like Jackson’s LOTR trilogy, which in so many ways was a near-perfect execution of three very dense books.

There’s a good movie *somewhere* in The Hobbit — but it’s clear that nothing hit the editing room floor. If there was a scene where Bilbo picked out socks in the book, it became a 20-minute montage-with-song in the movie.

But! That being said…I’ve already seen it six times. And will watch it umpteen more times. They’ve got my money…rest assured. And in a lot of ways, the Lord of the Rings was so note-perfect, that Jackson can kinda do whatever he’d like with The Hobbit. He’s earned it, in my book.

For my fellow Tolkien fans, here’s some of my favorite past “Rings” strips….

The Balrog
The “new” Tolkien books, part 1
The “new” Tolkien books, part 2
The “new” Tolkien books, part 3
The Silmarillion
What it takes to be a fantasy novelist
Fantasy Authors, cont’d
The Balrog’s motivation
Throw It In, Mr. Frodo!
Tom Bombadil
The Battle of Minas Tirith (read forward from here)