And I guess that answers any doubts.

Hey, if any of you are in the NJ area, you should go check out Manga Next this weekend. Come visit us, we’ll be located in artist alley. Bill will be doing sketches all weekend, and we’ll just be having a good time hanging out.

We’ll also be on two panels. The first is on Friday, from 1-2 pm, talking about what it’s like to collaborate with a friend or significant other. We’ve learned a thing or two, so we’ll be talking about our experiences with that and answering any questions.

On Saturday, from 5-6, we’ll be having a webcomics Q&A. Any questions about webcomics, ask ‘em here. We might know the answers, or at least we’ll do our best to fake it. (I’m not promising anything. I might outright lie. – Bill) (No, I promise I won’t. – Bill)

Hope to meet some of you there!

- Dani

(Forgot to upload the blog! Fixed!)

All New Issues is a bit pulpy today, brought to you by the phenomenal Rafer Roberts of Plastic Farm! He’s got a perfect “comix” style that brilliantly suits the many publications he’s done work for. Pick up all the issues of Plastic Farm here, or find out where you can get a copy of the free comic ‘zine Magic Bullet put out by DC Conspiracy!

Join us back here on Monday for #201!

- Bill

I believe I opened my inbox and exclaimed, “Are you kidding me?”

This beautiful artwork comes from Yellow Peril creator, Super Art Fight gladiator, and all-around awesome guy, Jamie Noguchi! He’s even been nice enough to create a brand spanking new character for Lobster Boy’s rogues gallery. Don’t be surprised if Cephalogirl shows up sometime in the future.

Go check out Yellow Peril. It is wonderfully drawn, cleverly written… and look! It even comes in a handy, portable analog version! Dani and I have our own copy of Back to the Grind: A Yellow Peril Collection, and we love it.

While we’re all here, I need to express my gratitude to everyone for reading these past 200 strips. Reaching this milestone and seeing comment after comment appear underneath, the cries of surprise, the hearty congratulations… I knew it already, but it really becomes apparent that I’m blessed with a deep well of the most compassionate and downright awesome family, friends, and fans that any guy could hope for.

Truly, thank you all.

We’ll have one other guest update on Friday, then pick back up with #201 on Monday.

- Bill

And here we are, strip #200. I can’t believe we did it. It’s been an incredible ride and I can’t thank Bill enough for tricking me into writing this. I love these characters so much, and it really is a delight to work with your significant other on a project you both love. Even when we scream, yell, and want to kill each other. I think we occasionally question our sanity, but in the end, it’s worth it. We both love what we do, and that’s all that matters.

Were you surprised? Was it a good surprise? Can you believe it’s Todd?

I can’t believe how many people were expecting the mystery person to be Karen. And sorry to all of you who were hoping for Jason. You know we couldn’t make it that easy.

This was actually one of the first plot ideas that was tossed around in the beginning of the strip. Funny story, this is how strip 100 was supposed to end. The plan was always supposed to be, strip 100, we wake up to Robyn and Todd in bed together. But the characters have a way of writing their own stories and we realized it just wasn’t possible to have that happen so soon. So, we decided that’s the way 200 would end. It took some planning, but I think it came out well. I can’t wait to start writing out the fall out.

For the rest of the week, and maybe Monday, we’ll be featuring guest strips from some friends. We wanted a small break to regroup and figure out where we are going from here. Plus, now it’s time to start hardcore prep on the book. It’s going to be a very busy next few months.

Make sure to come back Wednesday for awesome guest art. And trust me, it is so bad ass!

-Dani
PS…I love you Bill, and I’m so proud of everything you’ve done.

I had to post this strip with just the flat coloring done for now. I’ll do the shading a little later on Friday. Sadly, I’ve taken this as far as humanly possible right now, and I have to get up for work in less than four hours.

Still, I’m happy with how this turned out, and I can’t wait to put up #200!

- Bill

Holy Crap! Strip 200 is on Monday. Monday!!

I’m so excited. I can’t wait.

See you Monday!

- Dani

It really saddened me to break those two crazy kids up. I love writing Molly and her bitchy, awful ways. I was half tempted to not break them up, but we have a story we want to tell, and their break up was on a schedule.

We all knew it couldn’t last.

I can’t believe we are two strips away from 200. I can’t wait for you guys to see what happens. I’m so excited, but terrified.

- Dani

A large portion of NJ is celebrating right now because the Giants won the Super Bowl. We both come from Giant loving households, but have no real interest in football. Really, my only interest in the Super Bowl is the numbers I have in the football pool. I may have lost in the pool at my dad’s bar, but I did win the first two quarters at our friends house tonight, which was neat. (Giants 9, Pats Zero?! Incredible! – Bill) I also really enjoyed the halftime show. I didn’t care about Madonna’s new song, but it was fun to hear the older classics, plus Cee Lo. There might have been a small group of us dancing and belting out Like A Prayer.

Also, Holy Crap The Avengers Trailer!! I can’t wait for that movie. We watched the extended version when we got home and just drooled.

- Dani

I love that everyone wants to read the imaginary dissertation in Wednesday’s strip. You’re all such smarties. Our friend Chris actually came up with the title. He’s a history teacher, so he was the perfect person to come up with a fancy sounding paper. Thanks Chris.

Just in case you guys didn’t know, we will be guests at Manga Next in New Jersey on February 24-26. If you are in the area, you should come see us. We’ve never been guests at a show, so we want to make sure it’s extra awesome… and we want to meet you! What’s the point of doing a webcomic if you can’t meet the cool people who read the strip.

Speaking of conventions, we will be attending the Super WildPig Show in May. Trust me when I say this show will be amazing. Our good friend Chris is running it, with the help of our other good friends, over at Comic Geek Speak. It’s right in our backyard and it’s going to be a blast. We’re hoping to debut our first book there, so another incentive to want to go. He’s taking pre-orders for the tickets now, so if you want to go, please buy now. And if you do pre-order a ticket, you’ll be put into a raffle, with one of the prizes being a sketch from our very own Bill Ellis.

Since I’m in a pimping mood, I’m gong to throw out some links to some other friends.

The lovely and talented ladies over at Namesake are raising money through Kickstarter for their first book. They’ve already raised their goal, but this is the perfect opportunity to pre-order their book. We snagged one, and so should you.

The real life Gavin, our friend Myke, has a wrestling podcast with our other friend Erik, who was featured in Wednesday’s strip. If you dig wrestling and want to here what Gavin sounds like in our heads, check it out.

Last, but not least, you should check out our friend Tim Steven’s January Project blog that just wrapped up. As he writes in the tagline, 31 Days. 31 Songs. 31 Original Works of Writing. He’s also doing one for the month of February, with other writers, about heartaches.

I think that’s enough pimping for the day. Have a nice weekend everyone!

- Dani