Wednesday, December 31, 2014

6 years old! + New Copper Road!


Six years ago, the first Precocious update went live. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was happy to do it! Today, I... well, that hasn't really changed. (The comics are better drawn now, though!) Thanks to all of you for keeping me going! Shall we aim for seven years? More???

To celebrate six years, I've done a little update with the Precocious store!  As long as I'm feeling festive, copies of book 3, and the book combo pack, are on sale for $5 less that usual!  (For those just starting out, or looking to indoctrinate others, the colorful book 3 is meant to be an ideal starting point.)

I'm also testing the idea of an original comic art grab bag. For a reduced price, you can get random piece original comic art from my "these are special" pile.

(All other store updates will wait until the end of the Kickstarter fulfillment, likely at the end of the month. For the backers who are still waiting, make sure you've been checking the campaign updates. I'll need some feedback from the art burst orders soon!)




Since this is the first of the month, there's a new Copper Road too! Vote here to see it!  (Even if TWC seems to have failed to reset, you get your comic on time.) One of the positives of me being fully unable to move through live without bumbling even the most basic things is that my constant failures often translate well into Copper Road scripts! I wrote this script a couple months back, but it gets the new year's duty because I managed to do the spice move again this week. Man, I'm glad 2014 is dead. It was mean to me. I spit on its grave!

As it's a new month as well as a new year, that means last month's Copper Roads are now in the Copper Road archive! Enjoy them again, folks! If you're looking for the Cylon sub bonus strips, all you need to do is scroll down the front page to see them.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

New Bonus Scene! 12/29/14


So where *is* that 7th copy, anyway?  I set up the scene to add a little mystery... Was there one covering the exit?  Are these Ms. Timid's sisters, letting her stay home and safe? Did Quincy kidnap one? I suppose this is as good an answer as any!  Vote here to see it!

By the way, can you figure out which copy is which?  Also, a Tiffany hunt is a great way to thin out the herd! ("The six Vengeneers assumed it would be a simple mission... None survived.") Nah, I'm not that dark.  Unless Carl draws that one comic he keeps threatening to draw. Then it's ON.

EDIT:  I'm putting the deleted scenes from this story here in this post, since it's already on the front page with a snazzy picture! These three bonuses are all *maybe* canon, so they're here for fun jokes, even if they don't get immortalized as official plot points.

2106, part two:

2115, part two:

2122, with bonus ending:

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The Double-cross(over)!?


It's a Chrispmas miracle!

After I goofed around and threw something inspired by Ginger from Ginger's Bread in my comic, a version of Autumn then showed up in Ginger's Bread. And then I went silly with the Gingers in Precocious. And now there's a silly Ginger's Bread bonus comic about me being silly with Gingers in Precocious! We're just having fun with people trying to find cross-comic continuity now. (No, the universes aren't actually connected.)

Oh, and if you're one of those monsters who don't check the front page news constantly, a new bonus scene of my making went up on TWC this week!

Monday, December 22, 2014

New Bonus Scene! 12/22


Since this story hasn't had enough Autumn-taunting yet, extra bonus comics were needed! Vote here to see it! (I hope TWC is displaying this one properly. If not, check back in the morning.) Turns out that trying to sell out classmates doesn't win hearts and minds as well as bribery and 'Stand and Deliver' motivation.

A reminder: Bonus/Deleted scenes do not go in the online archive. They're bonuses made for active supporters who help bring new readers to Precocious via voting - and, later, those who invest in me by purchasing the books, which contain these extra comics, along with piles of other bonus material. (Also suggested methods of support: Word of mouth, disabling ad block and buying books for people!) I'm not sure if these extra comics for this story will make a book, though, so I'll probably put them on the front page for the January 1st news post.

Friday, December 19, 2014

New Copper Road! 12/20



UPDATE:  It apparently showed up at midnight west coast time! That also happened the last time this glitch appeared. Interesting! Especially since the TWC people claim they don't use the west coast time anymore! Woop woop!  Anyway, I'll leave the original post as it was, below:

Hey, folks! Apparently TopWebComics is still glitching on me, so my new incentive isn't actually appearing yet. Still, I'm going to post this and ask you try voting anyway.  (Vote here to MAYBE see the new comic.) Every time the site has glitched on me, the incentive did eventually appear. I'm curious about WHEN it actually shows up. (Is it only after a certain time zone passes over to midnight?) If you vote and see the comic, post a comment under today's comic to let me know!  ("It's still not there!" comments are only useful once an hour.)

For the record, I uploaded the new Copper Road at 8pm eastern US time. It works from my TWC incentive control panel, so I know it's there. Somewhere the code isn't making a connection correctly. I've sent another email to TWC about the issue, and I'm hoping this time I'll get a reply more helpful than, "Tech support says nothing is wrong." Because all the complaints are just us having a mass hallucinations? (It's hard to be optimistic about a support staff when sending messages to their email address returns an automated error message.)

I guess a tech support nightmare is a proper way to end my little "nightmares turned reality" series of Copper Roads.  I hope you've had fun watching lives be ruined!  (By the way, my wake-up jolt this morning was a wasp flying into my face... in my bathroom. That's a good summary of my 2014, the year when my nightmares became my everyday reality!)

Saturday, December 13, 2014

New Bonus Comic! 12/13/14


Now that TWC has de-glitched and is displaying the bonus, I can make this post! And you can vote here to see me being silly!

So here's a brief recap of the origin of the Gingers: Cartoonists put little in-jokes into their work all the time, and in this case Carl from Ginger's Bread and I ended up with some sort of character trade thing, with him taking Autumn. They are not meant as direct ports from one universe to the other, as those universes aren't connected. We each have control over our borrowed character and do whatever we want with them. (Within reason, and it's always proper to run it by the other first.)

I sent Carl and email previewing the story when I made the joke that became this bonus comic. Proper Ginger has a last name that makes things awkward, as it's MINE TOO.  I sidestepped it, with extra-cleverness, for this Precocious story - but I wanted to make a quick nod to the name thing anyway. And thus a bonus comic was born!

Back to the character trade thing: Carl went and wrote a story for Autumn and put her into continuity. As for me?  Meh. I started by being reckless and threw Ginger's iconic hair in as filler on whims - and so the myth of multi-Ginger began.  Is it all coming together now?

Monday, December 1, 2014

New Copper Road! 12/1/14

First off, a plug for the guest star in today's comic. The *original* Mat (and Precocious guest strip artist) is rebooting his comic, Badly Drawn Kitties, starting today. Bookmark the site and enjoy the fresh introduction! (By the way, BDK can deal with adult themes, so you've been warned.)


And now for the main event: The living nightmare that is my comic continues! Vote here to see the latest deep dark fears of my cast made manifest!

UPDATE: The Copper Road archive now has last month's comics in it! Go and enjoy them again, or catch up if you're a monster who didn't vote enough.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

New Copper Road! 11/29/14


Finally, another one! A lot of roadblocks were thrown in my way, but I'm continuing with my Copper Road story-ish thing! Let the nightmares fly! I've got two more comics in this series coming up. While my Kickstarter obligations demand I draw and post them both in the next 24 hours, I'm going to have to bank that owed work and instead focus my weekend on... other Kickstarter stuff. (I'm pushing when I can, everyone.)

I really hate to admit it, but my health problems have taken a huge toll on me the past few months. I've hit a lot of rough setbacks recently, and it's pretty scary, but I will keep working when I can. As someone whose reputation is largely based on reliability, it kills me that the fall in August, and resulting complications that included re-triggering another condition, has wrecked that part of me. I assure you, I'm drawing hard every day I'm able, and I REFUSE to let Precocious miss an update. Things may be very uncertain now, but I'm incredibly stubborn when it comes to my work. You can slow me down, but you can't stop me.  (Tomorrow marks the 2-year anniversary of the initial botched surgery that started this cavalcade of medical nightmares, by the way. Do you hold a party for such an event?)  As long as I'm hung up on old work, I can't take on new work - and considering my income is entirely based on the amount of work I do, this is not good at all. I'm very motivated to put the bad stuff of this year behind me and return to glory, but it will take time and a little luck.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

New Copper Road! 11/5/14


UPDATE #2: Is TWC working again? I got the correct comic to appear when I tried voting this morning, so I hope it's good for you too!

You know what can really mess a person up? Writing a comic about nightmarish scenarios and then falling into unplanned slumber while working on it. (Thanks, new medication I will not be using any more!) Good lordy loo, my subconscious loves to do HORRIBLE things to me when given such an opportunity.

Those who follow me on Twitter should know the inspiration for this particular comic, and I expect them to thank me for not setting this comic in the location where the real-life surprise happened. Anyway, vote here to see the new comic!

(I'm debating expanding this comic into a mini-story thing for this month's Copper Roads. DO I DARE?)

Saturday, November 1, 2014

New Copper Road! 11/1/14!


It's a new month, so today is the big Copper Road update!  By the end of the day, The archive page now has last month's Copper Roads on it, and here's a new comic to make your life better! Vote here, on TWC, to see it!

For today's comic, it's pretty simple. I said I'd draw it when I *could* draw it, and so it has come to pass! Precocious is set in Virginia - or at least based on a Virginia/DC outskirt location - so I was stuck with Virginia's dumb restrictions. Of course, I think they still have some weird rules about officiants I might have overlooked, but whatever. Let's be happy about any progress in a state that's had a recent history of being a laughingstock with the horrendous laws it tried to pass! (The governor that enabled that was promptly convicted of corruption, so you know how great his time in office was for the state.)

(By the way, I'm having trouble connecting to my RCSI server. I can't update the graphic over to the left on the front page yet, but I assure you the comic is new! I'm not gonna mess with anything while I'm out of town this weekend.)

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

New Copper Road! 10/21/14


I do believe this is coffee week! This is therapeutic for me, as it's that golden period of awesome seasonal flavors and I'm currently on medication that forces me to limit my caffeine. (It's just not worth taking in the sugar burst if it's decaf.) I love my pumpkin spice lattes - and toasted marshmallow or gingerbread lattes even more! This year I might not get any, so I shall let them flow for my characters! Vote here to see the new comic!

By the way, as you might guess from the medication talk, I'm still struggling with health stuff. I've survived a lot of bad fortune with health already, and I'll get through this too, but I'm gonna flail and go very slow for a while longer. No one's been forgotten! I just keep hitting setbacks. I'm sorry!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

New Copper Road! 10/13/14


Since the camp story is over, the camp deleted scene must be rotated out. GUESS I HAVE TO DRAW ANOTHER COPPER ROAD!  Vote here to see it!

About time I made a followup to this comic. I would like to believe that all sheltered children end up adorable like this. It's my universe and I can do that.

Oh yeah, and here's the Johnny saga comic, since it probably won't end up in the print version of the comic. Click it to make it bigger!


Thursday, October 9, 2014

New Deleted Scene! 10/9/14


So what happened with Johnny? That's a question... nobody seems to be asking. Well, too bad, you get to find out anyway.

Originally today's comic was to be a triple-sized one, giving everyone a little wrap-up, but I decided to play with Johnny's panel and extend it a bit. You can see extra Johnny (you know you want to) by voting on TWC here!

If you missed a deleted scene, you'll have to wait until that story appears in the books - which are 3 years behind the comic run. (See? It pays off to read the news section regularly, and to vote even MORE regularly.) Well, this one probably won't make the book due to size issues, so I'll make it viewable somewhere when its time has passed.

One last thing. I think I put in a workaround for The Precocious Store messing up with emails. Life is easier now!

Sunday, October 5, 2014

New deleted scene! 10/5/14!


I've been trying to do the #Inktober challenge over on Tumblr/Twitter, in which I ink an extra piece of art for every day in October. My challenge is do lots of little comic fanart pieces, usually based on what I was reading five minutes before I started drawing. Well, I already blew it. I had a planned piece, but the black hole that is DC sports managed to suck my evening drawing time away to the point where I didn't get home until after midnight. I must atone for my sin, so I decided to draw a bonus comic! Vote here to see it!

My scripting files have lots of little extra tidbits in the notes that don't make it into final comics - stuff that isn't essential to the story, or weird little jokes I make to amuse myself. For example, in today's comic, rather than waste time by explaining why the director chose who to ditch at the lodge I just make Jacob put a "that's the term he used" emphasis on the word 'worst.' Readers figured it out on their own anyway. (Mat saw one counselor who was actively yelling about rioting, and one ringleader camper with two presumed main henchmen.) I hope extras like this extended phone talk comic will enhance your reading experience, but the story is fine without it.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

New Copper Road! 10/1/14


So the first of the month is hitting at an inopportune time. I'm out of town, which means packing for travel instead of packing Kickstarter boxes and no access to a scanner to digitize any newly-drawn comics. I made a joke about this on Twitter a few days back, and, well... when life gives you lemons, do something stupid with those lemons! Vote here to see the new comic!

Aside from meta-silliness, this one is fun because it's a chance to show kids being so very kids. (As the last member of the "I didn't grow up with the internet" generation, and someone who must work traditional because he can't use a digital tablet at all, this stuff also stings a bit.)

As with all first-of-the-month updates, the Copper Roads from the previous month will be added to the archive page. It probably won't come until the evening, as I'm leaving the house as soon as I post this, and I'll be gone for much of the day. (Remind me if I forget!) UPDATE: Last's month's comics are now archived, starting here! Go enjoy them again!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

New Copper Road! 9/28/14


I didn't mean to squish this update and the first of the month update so close together. Sorry! Blame technology - and the 14 hours I had to spend dealing with tech support because of it. (Of course it was all a complete waste of time and nothing is fixed. Of. Course.)

Anyway, it is here now, ready to take you on a spectacular and amazing journey! Eventually! Vote here to enjoy the new comic!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

New Deleted Scene! 9/23/14


I hope you enjoyed today's realistic portrayal of brain trauma! For a followup to this fateful event, vote here to see a deleted scene!

When I cleaned up my story outline, this comic ended up being cut since it doesn't actually add anything new. And I felt bad for Darcy again getting the short end of the jousting stick. (Aka: Big Angry Q-tip?) Well, hey, I suppose I have venue for cut scenes, don't I? Enjoy this look into the girl's duel!

(Would a 16-year-old like Colleen know about Cobra Kai? Maybe, but I can bet a certain 30-something dude giving her orders would.)

Oh, and Kickstarter backers - especially those who ordered cupcakes - should take a look at the latest campaign update! Things are moving again! If a book is coming in late, I will be putting in *something* extra. (It varies, but it should all be excellent!)

Thursday, September 18, 2014

New Copper Road! 9/19/14


If you took at look at today's Precocious, it's pretty easy to know where this Copper Road came from! It was a good enough bit of silliness, so how could I resist illustrating Kaitlyn's little trick? Vote here to see the new comic!

And, no, I'm not really familiar with that franchise... nor do I actually understand how it's played on a Wii U. I've never seen a Wii U in action. I'm not concerned about accuracy here. (My full experience is choosing a certain character, learning to turn into a weight, having the weight make the character fall to its death, and having people sigh and change the game we were playing so I would stop embarrassing myself.)

Saturday, September 13, 2014

New Bonus scene! 9/13/14!

(First off, DC-area people should look for me (and my books) at tables E10 and E11 this weekend at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD!)



Once again, I went to bed last night before the update happened - and once again doing so meant not being around to do comic work when it was needed! There is a bonus companion joke to today's comic, and you can see it by voting for Precocious on Top Webcomics!

This started out as a the alt text joke, but mirroring Bud's speech is part of the humor, so I had half of this comic already done! Why not go ahead and finish it? The master recruiter would have wanted it that way.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

I'm at the Small Press Expo!


As the time is upon us, this is moved from the post below to up here! DC-area friends, you can find me at the SpiderForest Webcomic Collective table at the Small Press Expo in DC! (Well, Bethesda.) Find me with the cool kids at tables E10 and E11!

Since it's a crowded table - lots of awesome SpiderForest books for you to buy! - I'm just bringing my books and the strip #1000 cast post cards for sketching. SPX peeps will get a small bonus sketch in every Precocious book they buy, though! Buy multiple Precocious books, get goodies! Buy my book(s) *and* a book from another SpiderForester, get more goodies!

With a bunch of us behind the two tables, and my health *still* being problematic, I might rotate out from the table for stretches this weekend. (I prefer hanging out at the table, though, so I'm fighting!) Keep watch over my Twitter feed for updates!

(By the way, while my internet situation may be dicey during this trip, a new bonus comic is scheduled to go up this weekend!)

Monday, September 1, 2014

Copper Road + Lots of News!

Quick rundown, for those with low attention spans:

-Vote here to see the new Copper Road comic!
-The epic Precocious/Curtailed crossover reached an amazing end! Go read it!
-I'll be at SPX in DC, Sept 13-14, at the SpiderForest tables, E10 and E11!
-Oh yeah, I reached 2000 comics. And I updated comic 1000 into a cast poster!


EXPANDED NEWSING: It's the first of the month, so a new Copper Road is here for your enjoyment! Vote here to see it! Also, since it's the first, that means the Copper Road archive was updated with last month's comics, starting here. (The bonus Precocious comics from last month can be found here and here.)

The new comic is another one taken right from my life. Read it, then imagine me answering the door and finding the woman brought her young daughter with her.


I hope you've been reading along with Curtailed! Every week, Mandy and Fox have surprised me with a new epic Precocious crossover! I cannot thank her enough for this incredibly experience. If you want to re-live the glory, start here. (And if you click the "previous" link on that page, you see the guest strip I made for Curtailed!)


So, I hit my 2000th comic a couple days back, and that's kinda a HUGE DEAL - but I had to spend the day in bed after re-aggravating the injury that took my August away. (You know, it turns out you need your hip to do JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING IN LIFE. This has really sucked!) So here I am celebrating it now! Wanna rock strip 2000? How about celebrating it with strip.... 1000?  I reworked that fancy comic with the post-1000 characters for an 11x17" poster! Don't like that? Look around the store for art cards, charms and the Precocious books!  (Yes, I know there's already a banner on the front page for this, but I have a LOT of doctor bills piling up, since I'm super broken at the moment.)

Friday, August 22, 2014

New Copper Road! 8/22/14


Oh yes... this one is autobiographical. Painfully so. Vote here to see my shameful recent history represented in comic form!

August is my busiest work month of the year, and I seem to be spending ALL of it laid up a back (and hip) injury. If you know how that stuff goes - first, I'm so very sorry you do - you'll understand that it makes everything far more difficult than it should. (An alternate, more depressing, script had Hi trying to pick up something he dropped on the floor.) I can move around if I want to, but it means spending the next day in bed trying to rest off the ache.

As you might guess, I am moving incredibly slow with work due to the whole not being able to sit (or stand) at the drawing table. I'm doing all the doctor things I should, but this is mostly a rest thing. It's not *that* bad, but it's at that last healing stage where I can either let it heal, or keep myself perpetually hobbled by aggravating it.  It is SO BORING staying in bed. I want to draw!

(On the plus side, I've put plenty of work into my Animal Crossing town, and that Simpsons Tapped Out game on my phone.)

Edit:  Oh yeah, I should put the last bonus comic here, since it probably won't show up later:


Sunday, August 17, 2014

New bonus comic + more Curtailed invasion!


UPDATE: Oh, look, the Precocious invasion of Curtailed is continuing! (This has been a wonderful surprise for me every week! I love it!)

I promise a deleted scene on Sunday, and I am (sorta) a man of my word. As the week went on, I realized the comic I was going to use for a deleted scene had juuuuust enough plot relevance that I really should put it into the main story instead. (You'll see it Monday.)

So now I needed a new deleted scene - vote here to see what I came up with! In my scripting notes, I had a dumb joke about Cole that would happen around, oh, the comic for Sunday.  Sure, why not? The joke also had the opening for copy/paste art - and even though it helped the effect this time, I do get worried if I have to do that in an official comic.  This will probably go on the silly, not-making-the-book pile, along with my "Give a Canadian a gun" indulgence, but I hope you enjoy it!

Monday, August 11, 2014

New Copper Road! 8/11/14


(First, if you haven't been paying attention to other news posts, I suggest you go look at Curtailed!)

As for Copper Road, this may be well-worn territory, but it's topical! For me. I have come into possession of a blender. Since eating solid food causes me pain, it would be wise of me to turn my diet more to liquid/soft stuff... but I've never liked smoothies. So... anyone want to share a recipe that won't make me sad? (You can click the title of these news posts to visit the blog and post a comment if you wish, or find me through the contact page.)

This is, again, a small Hi/Shii Ann moment to be a cute bit before the next deleted scene from the camp story rolls in for Sunday's update. Since the previous deleted scene probably WON'T make it to a book, I'll put it in this post. (Thanks again to Mat for lending me the director's design, and I apologize for doing horrible, potentially friendship-ending, things to him!)


In OTHER injury news, I hurt myself recently in a random and entirely embarrassing accident. I'll heal up soon, but I'm spending most of the past and next week on bed rest. That makes it awfully hard to do all my work, but I'm grinding the best I can in small doses. I'm someone who is very bad at doing nothing, so this has been odd. I actually WATCHED a movie from bed - like, not drawing during it, so I could read the subtitles - and that was neat! Anyway, I may end up missing August deadlines by a week due to this - so I'm sorry if I do! Know it's all coming soon still!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

The Curtailed Invasion Continues!


So my unsolicited Survival Sphere bombing last week tore a hole in comic reality. Oops! Apparently Mandy had a Precocious-influenced script sitting around, but is it responsible to merge a fictional comic with an autobio comic? *gets Jacob-bombed* I guess that issue's taken care of now, huh?  I abused her comic and I benefit! This is the best! Read the new Precocious cameo here, then pray they find a way to banish the demons back to the vortex from whence they came.

More background for all this is in the news post directly below!

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Bonus comic + I drew a Curtailed!


First the links, then the backstory: Vote here to see a bonus Precocious scene, featuring everyone's favorite camp director. And click here to read a guest comic I drew for Curtailed!

It's a happy coincidence they both popped up at the same time, since they were born of the same idea.

One of the high-end tiers for the book 3 Kickstarter was to influence the design of a Precocious character. This tier was tied to the current camp story, and certain important character slots in the arc were kept open just in case. Once the campaign ended, I went forward with the characters *I* had ready to fill the roles - except for one.

The default story had the counselor (which became Cody) taking on most authority roles, with the camp director as a secondary, off-panel entity. BUT, I decided I'd go ahead and do the Kickstarter thing anyway, giving the character part of the reward to one of my comic buddies. And that's when I discovered my friends have a bunch of kid-hating, non-viable characters. Well, if it wasn't reasonable to bring THEM into MY story, what if I put MY characters into THEIR comic?

And that's why I drew a Curtailed - and why it has the theme it does!  Creating it was a comedy of errors - my favorite drawing pen isn't marker-safe, making Curtailed-style illustration a mess - but two 11x17" pages of mishaps later I ended up with a strip-sized comic!  Thanks to Mandy for tolerating my scribbles! (She was not aware of my plans until it arrived in her inbox, along with some manic, it-made-sense-at-3am rambling.)

The reason why the Kickstarter tier was so expensive is that, aside from the originals and extra art stuff, the character was far more than a cameo. The role was collaborative, and would become part of Precocious continuity, with a chance to recur. That's big for a control freak like me! With outright character-stealing off the table, I turned to stealing MY FRIENDS. I had just returned from Anthrocon, where Mat (of Badly Drawn Kitties fame) was, once again, my highly-excellent table assistant.  I asked him if it would be OK to work a Precocious version of him into the story, and he said yes.

The director's role was very open at this point, so we had a small discussion about it. I asked him how someone like Precocious Mat would end up as camp director, and he replied that something must have gone horribly wrong in his life. That was all the prompting I needed! Now, as the reward tier intended, Mat gets to play a solid role in the camp story, he's tied with Precocious history AND that also means the character lives in the area, so he may be called upon again! (If you like this reward, start saving now! There will be an opportunity to grab it next year!)

As for this specific bonus scene, I'm going ahead and calling NON-CANON on it. It's too over the top, but the idea of giving a polite Canadian a gun was too tempting to pass up! (That means that, unlike most deleted scenes, this one probably won't end up in a book.)

Friday, August 1, 2014

New Copper Road! 8/1/14


New month, new incentive! Depending on how I order the scripts for the summer camp story, I could have a deleted scene rotating in as an incentive early next week. That means this Copper Road may end up burning bright, and burning fast - soon to be pushed away until it shows up in the archive at the start of next month. (By the way, if I forget to upload the Copper Road archive with the new month again, let me know! June and July's comics are now in there, starting here.)

Today's entry is a little slice of Copper Road comfort, with our friends acting as you'd expect them to act. Vote here to see it now, in all it's simple, silly glory, while you have the chance!

By the way, this is a reminder that deleted scene comics used as incentives during the month don't go into the online archive. (Even I wanted to do it, the archive system I use doesn't let me shuffle comics like that.) They will pop up later as book bonuses, though!

And, if you're still reading, August is a big month for Kickstarter fulfillment, as artist editions are heading out! (All July orders should either be with you already, or on their way. International shipments take a few weeks, so don't panic yet!) If you're one of the few who haven't sent in your surveys yet, please do so! Of course, if you're not the type to check your Kickstarter emails, you're probably not the type to read this deep into a news post. I REMAIN OPTIMISTIC!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Vote to see a deleted scene!


Since there's a good chance the camp story will end up running long, I'm making some of the comics into deleted scenes! For today's bonus, have two extra Colleen-centric offerings stuck together into one update (because doing rapid-fire updating for vote incentives is silly)!

The rule with deleted scene stuff is that they exist as a vote incentive - so vote here to see it - until the next incentive rolls in - likely August 1st in this case - and once they're gone they do not get posted to the website. They usually don't show up again until the books.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

New Copper Road! 7/20/14


Oh no, this is the last finished script in my Copper Road file. I have to, like, THINK again for the next one. Boooooo!!! Anyway, vote to see the new comic!

While I have done Kaitlyn's mission for individual albums, I can't say I've tried to flex my tracking muscles that way yet. (Time for a new task!) As for Hi's part - I'm with you, dude! My car is from the last millennium, so advanced future tech like CD players were not part of its package. I kept the tradition alive for a long time!

By the way, the next bonus item will likely be a double-dose, and I intend to count it as two items towards my Kickstarter-fueled bonus obligations!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

New Copper Road! 7/11/14


Trying to cram thirteen kids' summer vows into five comics (thanks, adults, for taking up TWO DAYS) is a tough task, so enter Copper Road to be a savior!  Vote here to see the new comic!

This one I feel bad about, as you either have to assume everyone is horrible, or that at least one of them is joking. (Do remember that Precocious is known for having some deeply, darkly sarcastic parents.)

In other news, thanks to all the Kickstarter backers who have returned their surveys so far. I'll be tallying up everyone's responses through the weekend and preparing my fulfillment checklists. I haven't reviewed all the surveys yet, so if there's a special note I'll respond to it when I see it. A few boxes will be on their way tomorrow, though most of the basic orders will be departing midway through next week. (I have someone coming in to help with the labeling and packing.) Book sketches and other backer bonuses will begin once July orders are taken care of!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Back in town! Time for booooks!

I had yet another wonderful weekend at Anthrocon! Super power thanks to my lovely roomies for this trip: Mat Sherer and the Bittersweet Candy Bowl Team! Having you as my captive audience was as fun for me as it must have been hell for you. *Insert evil Tiffany smile here*  I cherish this con, as it's my one chance a year to talk with so many people I adore. I'm pretty sure I spend far too much time as a grinning zombie - unable to contribute to any conversation going on, but loving that I was there to witness it!

Thanks also to all the brave ones who came by my table and got to hear my dumb stories. The kindness, acceptance and generosity of convention-goers allows me to keep going to these shows.  Thanks to luck of the draw and scheduling issues, Anthrocon ended up being my last con of 2014. (I'll swap out the con graphic on the main page soon.) For next year, I only have three conventions planned so far - so who wants to give me a reason to apply to more shows?

While I'm exhausted and playing a big game of post-con catch-up - I currently have no Precocious buffer - it's time to begin Kickstarter fulfillment!  Surveys are going out THIS week, thanks to delays caused by travel and poorly-timed internet outages. Fulfillment for basic orders should begin as early as next week.  (A few already have their goodies!)  Kickstarter backers take priority, so I'm not offering the books for general sale until I'm deeper into fulfillment.

Or I might just sleep for seven days straight. In that case, just mentally change the post date for this post accordingly and try to forget all those days with no Precocious update.


Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Copper Road! Anthrocon! Kickstarter!


New Copper Road, but more on that in a bit...

It's time, everyone! I will be at Anthrocon this weekend, with the debut of the super-pretty book three! The birthday cake gift boxes will be back for all who get a badge or art card commission, and I will have a few Cupcakes of Bliss! Another debut will be Precocious cast poster!  Lots of other good stuff will be there - including my assistant, Mat of Badly Drawn Kitties - so come to table L18 and buy many things!

Ok, *now* we can Copper Road it up! I could have easily made this a comic raging against June only having 30 days  - I may know the calendar, but I could REALLY use that 31st day with con prep! - but instead you get another rant about something more important: HOW COULD KEEBLER DO SOMETHING THIS TERRIBLE!?!?! Little Debbie can pull it off! We need an emergency Bud visit to make life worth it again. Vote here to see the new comic!

Finally, for you Kickstarter backers, I sent out my pre-survey primer! Surveys will start going out tonight and tomorrow, and they'll likely finish arriving once I'm back from the con. (As always, show mercy to the artist coming back from a busy weekend. I will be fully zonked for most of next week. THEN the fun begins!)

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Funded! Thank you!


How's that for neatness? EXACTLY 200% funding! (And only... 700 backers shy of Bud's street address.)

I cannot thank all you backers enough! This is amazing! I am going try lose my mind for a little while, but imagine a pile of more thank yous!

(And, yes, I managed to refresh the page during the final countdown - so I got to watch the last three glorious seconds of this!)

Monday, June 23, 2014

New Copper Road + FINAL PUSH!


First off, THE KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN FOR BOOK THREE IS ALMOST OVER. We are now counting down in HOURS - and there's a pretty giant stretch goal. Get the world involved! They need to know about this comic!

Also, new Copper Road! Calendarwise, it's a little late - but it fits with the current comics, so deal! Vote here to see it! Quincy, you are not allowed to watch Game of Thrones, but, hey, it's pop culture. You don't need to watch to know.

Speaking of comic continuity, prepare to end the school year (for reals) in style - with double-sized comics for the whole story! You're welcome. :-)

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

New Copper Road + FINAL WEEK!


So, yeah, SEVEN DAYS LEFT IN THE BOOK THREE KICKSTARTER!  I love my book. This book is amazing! I have held a copy of it in my hand, and I probably achieved Nirvana. I could have been on a higher plane of existence - BUT I CAME BACK TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE WONDERS OF MY BOOK!

Anyway, my annual Kickstarter perk is allowing me to get custom dolls and play with them - and the only way you can stop me from having fun is to buy my silence!

But, yes, these foreign dolls - Duae Design dolls - may keep the doll theme, but they might just be a betrayal to a certain doll maker. I am a MONSTER.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Precocious profile/interview on TGT!


Recently, the folks at Two Geeks Talking approached me for an interview, and I was happy to oblige! Click hear to read the end result! Any excuse to post a selfie and promote the Kickstarter campaign, right? ;-)

Speaking of the Kickstarter, the final list of stretch goals has been unveiled, and I've shared some information of the formerly-secret Precocious book I want to create. This book, titled "Children at Play," is intended to be a Precocious companion - with an original comic story designed as both an introduction to new readers and a something very rewarding for established Precocites. (You'll have to fund its creation before I let you know what I mean.) The book will also contain background information to the Precocious universe, character bios and various comics and tidbits to make it a useful resource. It will be smaller than the annual collections, and printed in black and white to keep costs low.  I do know that a project like this is a luxury, which means I can only embark on it if I know I have the support from the readers to create it, and the funds to help cover the huge time investment needed.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Copper Roads are unlocked!


While I was off enjoying my family time - my baby brother got married! - the book three preorder hit another stretch goal! More Copper Roads!  You get a new one today, and another shall come soon! (Plus more!)



As for the Kickstarter campaign, I still very much need your help - and there are more stretch goals to unlock! First of all, look at that. That is an awesome book that will enrich your life. It has lots of special stuff you can only get in book form, and you want it! Second, the stretch goals represent projects that I want to do - ones I believe others will enjoy - but these things won't happen unless I can justify them financially. There are so many stories left to tell, and it's up to your to make sure I can tell them all!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

New Copper Road + Kickstarter Update!


New  month, new Copper Road! Vote here to see the comic! Want more Copper Roads? Get to pledging for the book 3 Kickstarter! But more on that below - let's talk about this new comic first!

I'm a sports guy, and there's no denying the madness that comes with that turf. Everyone has some sob story, since only one team wins at the end. DC teams, at the moment, are pretty darn shameful. Recently, I've watched the National lose most of their starters to injury and go on some pretty painful slumps. When I snarked on Twitter about it, two oblivious people decided to engage me about how bad their problems were... and this comic is a sadly accurate retelling of how that went.  In both cases, they had to be pitied because their team ONLY made it to the championship last year. (And this year too.) Seriously, sports people. You gotta have some perspective!  Boston overloaded on so many championships in the last decade or so that no one's gonna have sympathy - even if it's fully deserved.  On the other end, it doesn't matter if you like the teams or not, you don't give a Cleveland fan a hard time.  Let's think about context here, and all agree that sports fans from Pennsylvania are terrible, and all the suffering in sports should be channeled to them.

Now, on to the Kickstarter update! The good news? WE'VE REACHED THE BASE FUNDING GOAL! The followup news? That was merely step one. We've now paid for printing the books, printing the current bonuses and shipping it all. That's it.  I'm aiming big this year, because I need to aim big to survive - and that mean I gotta make the best bonuses I can. Everyone gets what they want, and maybe I get to keep my house!

The first bonus is above: A window cling that will go out with every physical book order! The list of stretch goals is up, and I can't wait until they start popping! And I have greater ambitious too, if we can all pull it off.

The campaign is being finessed and adapted as I go, to match up with the needs of the people.  We're very close to unlocking the next wave of tier options - including Copper Roads, Cupcakes of Bliss and digital book add-ons!  Updates should be coming in regularly, both with new tiers, new goals and art updates for the bonus items.  Just give me the rest of Sunday off from updates. I gotta take time to make some Precocious comics. Those are important too! (Monday, though, should be fun!)

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

The book three preorder is LIVE!


It's been a long time coming, and it's something super-special! Book three, Party Crashers, is ready for you to make it a thing!  Grab the new book, which is in BEAUTIFUL COLOR to match the comic's transition into color updates, and build your Precocious collection with lots of neat stuff!

The books cover the range of comics from #618 to #1015. Since I strive to make the book and online experiences unique, book three contains special print-only goodies - just like the other two books! (Books one and two have been revised and are being reprinted, so make sure to complete the set!) Keeping with the birthday theme, this year's bonus story covers the saga of Jacob's birthday party. You will also find a cast page and background information - yes, the book gets a cast page update while the website doesn't - and lots of tidbits about the stories with commentary introducing each story.

Artist editions are back as the Precocious highlight, and they're beautiful as ever! This year's bonuses include a new Jacob magnet (I'm hoping for bad-shirt Jacob!) and window clings! (Thank Darc of Code Name: Hunter for giving me that idea!) I shared early sketches in this comment thread, and you have a chance to guide me to the final designs as the campaign goes on.

(On that note, make sure you tie your Kickstarter account to an email you check regularly! You don't want to miss out on updates and offering as the campaign evolves. Use those accounts, friends! If you message me there, I have them right on your order profile and I can easily check to see exactly what you want!)



In addition to offering the book, I am having a big sale on Precocious comic originals! You can now hold your favorite gags, and some of Precocious' defining moments, in your hand, and display it on your wall! Here's the master list of originals available. I can add to it at your request! This is the time to grab your piece of Precocious history, as prices go back up once the campaign ends.



Printing in color is expensive. Shipping went up across the board over the past year. It takes a lot to do the bare minimum needed to make this book happen - but if we can hit that goal early, that means there's time for STRETCH GOALS! Cupcakes of Bliss are waiting for a chance to return, with new doll designs! There will be chances to unlock new goodies, or extra Copper Road comics! At the end of this funding rainbow? A SECRET PRECOCIOUS BOOK!  Can you enable its creation?

I've put it all out there for you! Let's make this campaign a success! GET YOUR COPY NOW!