Category: Blog

Do you remember the project we started about 9 months ago? The one to transcribe all 1900 Sheldon comic strips, so that you could search for your favorite strip…just by typing in a word, a description, or a scrap of dialogue?

Well, I’m happy to report that we’re very, very close to that final goal. As of now, all 1900 archived strips have all been transcibed! And of those, 1430 have been edited and approved by the official Sheldon editors — the crime-fighting action squad “The Grammarians” — and put into the system.

Special, HUGE thanks go to two Grammarians, Shalaina and Toby, who have so far edited 760 and 540 strips, respectively. They have gone above and beyond in the project, and I’ll be sending them both a Sheldon Original Strip of their choosing, as a thank you from all of us.

In the meantime, why not test out the fruits of their labor? Go to the Archives Search page, type in a word like “awesome” or “Klingon” or “jazz hands” or “Winston Churchill”, and see how many strips come up! Even with 500 strips left to go, the system works really well!

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!