Dang, I haven't posted any news for awhile. Hopefully you've all enjoyed the comics in my absence. I'll start posting some news again soon. I'm sure.

One bit of news I have is that I'm going to be at the Wellington Armageddon Pulp Expo/Comic Con on Saturday April 21st and Sunday April 22nd. On Friday night (The 20th) I'll be at the comic store Graphic (also in Wellington) to display some of Becky's art at the launch of Pictozine #2, a comic that we contributed a little piece to.

At the con I'll have some wares, such as proper colour comic books and some ghetto photocopied stuff. Come see me on Saturday and make me happy, for it is my birthday on that day.

Good morning readers! You may be wondering what happened to that whole Pokemon storyline we've been running since the start of the year. We were seeing how things would pan out for Becky's wrist and as it turns out it isn't doing exactly awesome. You may remember we had some wrist issues about 6 months ago and that resulted in a fairly sporadic schedule. This time, we have a wealth of "non-CO" comics that we can put up here while Becky is taking care of the wrist. I don't think the break will be as long as it was last time.

Anyway, here's the first episode of a woodland friends comic. Episode 2 is GUARANTEED next week, so we're keeping to an update schedule. There's also going to be a story about meeting the power rangers, one about Puss in Boots (and how much he hates birds) and miscellaneous other pages that you haven't seen.

It might get a bit weird, but you'll still have comics.

As a sort of booby prize, I've put up another hip hop podcast, the last got such a good reaction I just couldn't contain myself. Grab the Hi Quality (24mb) or the Lo Quality (9mb). Here's the tracklist:

01) Mestizo & Mike Gao - Redden Rise
02) Wax Tailor ft. The Other - Walk The Line
03) Mayday ft. Devin The Dude - Nothin
04) Panacea - PULSE
05) Motley - Track Like This
06) Z-Trip & MURS - Rock You / Hard Work

There's some rough cuts in there, but I think you'll all enjoy it.

I also have a rock CD recommendation, so you don't all OD on the hip hop. You should pick up a CD by a group called The Robocop Kraus called Living With Other People. They have Robocop in their name, so how could it be bad? The answer to that rhetorical question is that it can't be bad. It simply can't.

In other news, my band played a gig in a barn on the weekend. The drum rise was a pick-up truck. How was your weekend? e-mail me or add me on AIM (My SN is drspides).

Never was there cleverer than,
P-Frank the Endeavourer

In reference to last week's comic: What's funnier than your mum having sex with a 9ft tall man on dialysis? Man it is a miracle if you could even see her under that beard. That is a ZZ Top beard. Also, do you think ZZ Top are on the "No Fly List", that keeps important people (such as senators and 7 year old girls) off planes? How political!

Also, the first Combustible Orange musical podcast is up. I figure since we've got no comic for you, I can at least give you something to list to. For those who don't know, I host a weekly radio show on New Zealand's own FleetFM every Thursday from 1-3pm (you'll have to check The World Clock to get your local times). I also had a shortlived podcast over at my blog (how many web 1.5 buzzwords can I fit into this paragraph?) called S200 Radio. Named after my late, great Canon S200 typewriter. Anyway, I got the itch again. There's no talking as my microphone is on holiday, but there's half an hour of great tunes.

You can download the high quality (30mb) version or the low quality (10mb) version. It's mostly some underground-ish, smart hip hop, which finishes on a nice instrumental note. Here's the tracklist:

01) Sole - I Don't Rap In Bumper Stickers
02) MF Grimm - Do It For The Kids
03) Brixx ft. Mos Def - If It's Alright Y'All
04) Kankick ft. M.E.D & Oh No - Live As It Gets
05) The Pharcyde - 4 Better Or 4 Worse
06) Hieroglyphics - Halo
07) Belief - Dedication

Also, I've got some new Becky art for you to check out. The front page is pretty full of thumbnails right now but here's a test painting of Stephen Colbert and an entry for the Adventure Time meme. If you haven't seen Adventure Time yet, it's time to visit old YouTube. It's one of the finest short animations I've ever seen.

Since we haven't updated, I figure I'll turn you onto some cool comics that I've been reading lately. First is a comic by fellow goon (goony goon) Spike called Templar, Arizona. Spike is most famous for being a gothy goth and mummifying her dead pet rats. But that doesn't really do the comic justice. It's simply fantastic.

Another that deserves some name recognition are Life Sucks, which first grabbed on on Comicspace because of their nice animated flash logo. Usually I hate flash with a passion (mostly because I can't do it and because it's bloaty and also entirely terrible and without any redeeming features), but for some reason I dug it. Oh wait, turns out it isn't flash at all. Animated GIF. That's why I didn't hate it, apparently. The art is fun and it can be quite sharp. By the way, we're on Comicspace and you should check us out here: http://www.comicspace.com/combustibleorange

And here's a comic everyone must know, and if they don't they simply should. That comic is Silent Kimbly. I can't really say anything much about it, it's just a visual feast. To top it off, it's also very funny and sweet. Check it the hell out. You must. I also feel bad for saying the word "hell" in this paragraph. Silent Kimbly makes me feel like the peddler of filth that I am.

Anyway, it's past 3am. I'm out of juice, hoping to get a new comic to you soon. Check out Becky's step mom's Etsy store, you can buy some hand painted pieces of art ON T-SHIRTS there for ridiculously low prices. Do not pass this up!

I pass Go but I never collect 200 dollars,
Franklor the Magnificent

Took a couple of days, but we put the new Pokemon comic up. There was a delay in lettering, but I'll try make sure that doesn't happen again by actually sending the script to Ben. Nice one! I'm writing what may be the final instalment of this saga (with the exemption of the epilogue) right now. So it may be a day late on Monday, I know for a fact that Becky has a lot of assignments due and I have a lot of laziness due.

Before I get launch full bore into one of my self-indulgent and, with the exemption of this particular post, obliviously arrogant rants. I should alert you that more handpainted t-shirts with dogs on them have gone on sale at Funky Quail. Becky has done some great work there. I'd also like to give belated props to the CONvicts lads. We ran into them multiple times (including once at Ralph's, where I bought some nasty supermarket sushi. Which, as it turns out, is not quite as bad as gas station sushi) at San Diego Comic Con. Great guys who produce a great comic. Currently I am loving the lettering. This also reminds me I never finished my fucking San Diego report, but it started with food poisoning and ended with me losing my wallet, with a whole bunch of awesome stuff inbetween. Maybe I'll get back to that tale at a later date? I hate leaving things hanging like that... (that ellipsis denotes my voice trailing off)

We also just completed a brand new Super Demolition Christ adventure for Squid & Ink magazine. It was my first adventure with lettering (usually Ben handles such things) and it is horrifying. Adobe Illustrator is wonderfully counter-intuitive. You think you know Photoshop? Think again, pal. The learning curve was steep, although it did give me a chance to do a second and third draft on the script, allowing me to further play off Becky's drawings. And by playing off, I have to first state that my writing is 90% dialogue, since I am a bit of a hack. I have to be careful because the authorial voice that comes through is rather condescending, since sometimes I tend towards simply narrating the actions of the characters. It's something I'm working on. A parallel I can think of is Elton John's soundtrack to The Road To El Dorado, which is a great animated film that Becky introduced me to earlier this year. The entire time he's just singing the plot, which is also the title of the film, "They're goin' down the road to El Dorado," indeed. I should probably insert the Family Guy gag featuring Randy Newman just straight up singin' about what he sees, but Family Guy got pretty shitty as of late. And too many bastards have lame Stewie avatars on both forums and their MySpace. Cut it out guys, we get that Seth McFarlane is funny. Don't over saturate my feeble senses like that ever again.

What else is news? Today is New Zealand's biggest annual music festival, the Big Day Out. Being a New Zealander, I used to frequent such a gig but the last few years I've just been depressed about the whole situation. I don't find bands like Muse, The Killers and Jet to be compelling. Hell, I don't know who the fuck Trivium are, but apparently they are American and therefore famous (and therefore talented?)

Maybe they're like the Drowning Pool ("Let the bodies hit the flooooor") calibre guest that they seem to import every year. Tool are the headliners, but I've seen Tool twice and their latest album is very... Tool. And by that I mean it's like they took the blandest elements of all their previous albums and just threw it in a blender. There are those Tool moments of greatness in it. But it's just fucking Tool being Tool. I'm bored of it now. I wish I got to see the Violent Femmes, but Becky bought me a t-shirt from a gig of theirs about a year ago. So I can wear that and listen to their self titled album, that's practically like being there in person. Sob.

Would have liked to have seen Diplo, who was playing a side show (after performing at the Big Day Out during the day) this evening, but I planned on having a gig of my own out of town, so I didn't procure myself a ticket. And I'm pretty dirt poor right now, making the whole scene even more depressing. I plan on checking out awesome NZ band Die! Die! Die! tomorrow evening, which should be good fun. And also only 10 bucks, maximum.

So how did I spend my Friday night? I played Monopoly with my mum. Thankyou for asking.

- Frank the Bank!

(Honestly, I'm the banker, I be sellin' hella property all up in Monopoly)

Snap, crackle and pop! Just put a placeholder comic up as Ben isn't finished lettering today's Pokemon adventure. Why are we doing Pokemon comics? All will be revealed eventually.

But as far as placeholders go, it's a pretty great comic, yes? It's the first of this year's Combustible Orange: Newspaper Edition, which will start running on the site in addition to the regular comics very shortly. For those who go to Savannah College of Art & Design, you can get it in the district paper. If anyone else wants to re-print it in their college papers or zines, drop me an e-mail.

Becky's done a series of hand-painted t-shirts (as well as a couple of screenprinted ones) over at her step-mum's Funky Quail store. They're fairly amazing and they are one of a kind shirts, so you should definitely have a look.

And cheers to Sean from Twisted Kaiju Theatre for giving us a shoutout. I've been reading Sean's comics for years and everyone should check it out. Even your parents. I've also been enjoying the fine comic stylings of one Danielle Corsetto, whose Girls With Slingshots is consistently one of the most clever and visually pleasing comics running online. You are doing yourself a disservice by not checking it out. I really must upload my updated links list to the sidebar, but I planned on putting that up when I completed the New Design That Never Arrives.

Anyway, check back next day or so for a Pokemon comic. Word up!

- Frank!

Jesus christ, people. I think you gotta start spreadin' the word that Combustible Orange is all back up in this webcomic piece. Kickin’ ass and takin’ names. Best comic your mother never read, for real.

Ugh. It gives me a fucking headache writing like that.

I've been feeling pretty hardcore the past couple of days and decided to revisit my angsty teenage years. Undoubtedly (without doubt) this includes watching Nine Inch Nails DVDs. I've managed to steal three off the Internet so far. But it's cool, Trent Reznor wanted it that way, since the releases are currently tied up in legal wrangles with his previous manager John Malma Fett. Actually, his name is John Malm, but to me he sounds like a sell-out Bounty Hunter who is going to get his shit iced by Han Solo. Man, I'm not even sure if I've watched a Star Wars film the whole way through in 10 years, other than shitty Episode 2.

Yeah, so download torrents of Nine Inch Nails DVDs. Even if you don't like their music, their live performances are quite memorable. Their new one, Beside You In Time, comes out in February, which will be worth a look simply because Trent Reznor now looks like Henry Rollins.

Now, music. Music is where it's at. I've been listening to this pretty hardcore band of fellows called Young Widows. Their album Settle Down City is fan-fuckin-tastic. Reminds me of Steve Albini bands and also Jesus Lizard. Also I've been coming to terms with my gangsta side, thus the first paragraph in this newspost, thanks to a musical album donated to me by a Swedish chef named Mr. Madsen. Ghostface Killah insists this isn't just an outtakes album from his most recent release Fishscale, and he ain't kiddin round. More Fish is really, really great. I find some of the beats to be quite superior to those on Fishscale, so you best check that out too.

If you're bored you can also check out some tracks from my band Phony Bone over at our Internet website. There's two up there, do e-mail and tell us what you think.

Hope you're enjoying the Pokemon exploration that's been goin on, there's another fortnight of it I think.

Word life suckas, I'm out like sauer kraut. For real,
P-Frank

Even I don't know what to think anymore.

We've come to the end of a 14 page storyline that took us 6 months to get through and this is the pay-off for you all. God damn Pokemon fanfiction. I mean what the hell, Frank? What exactly are you thinking?

I figure a nice booby prize is three bonus newspaper-style strips. One of my main goals for 2007 is getting these into other publications, because I think it is amongst some of Becky's best work. People also like it that I can't write too much in such a small space. Brevity is not a strong point of mine. Now get to clicking some links.

- Who knows what this comic is about?
- First appearance by The Girl from Action Datsun
- Reminds me of KMFDM Lyrics for some reason?

The Flamingo one is a bit sketchy because I had to re-letter it and I'm honestly not good at that yet. On the flipside, I can cook the hell out of a lebanese bread pizza, which makes up for that in my eyes.

It also seems that Jack Datsun, that pesky writer protagonist in our comic, is updating his Livejournal again. You can find that at http://jackdatsun.livejournal.com/
here's a-hopin' he's more prolific this time around. I hear if you comment on the journal entries, he will reply and also occasionally stalk you.

Sleep, now,
Frank-on-fire

Three months without a newspost when I promised one "tomorrow". Ouch. That speaks volumes about my reliability, specifically the lack thereof. Anyways, we updated on Christmas Day, because that is how we roll here at Combustible Orange HQ. You count us out and then bam, we are all up in your grill with bright colours, Chewbacca and a bad attitude.

Jivin' aside, I thought I'd treat you all to Becky's sketchbook. We went deep undercover inside the heart of California, from Thanksgiving through into December sometime. We've both been back for about two weeks, so it's time to show what we got up to. Becky drew some pretty pictures and I watched her do them. Now I'm going to show them to you. She seems to be particularly into a Pokemon named Skitty. Our Skitty has pretty low accuracy though, which is sad. I forget whether you need protein or carbos or WHAT to improve the accuracy of a Pokemon. Send me an e-mail if you know. Without further ado, click the images for the full-size versions.

Barky investigates some prawn nigiri.

Skitty all up on a hill, looking precious and such.

A baby griffin, drawn in rainbow pencil.

Skitty sketched.

Skitties like icecream and we're better off as a result.

Bears are great even though Mr. Colbert dislikes them.

My girlfriend gave me a present (A skitty!)

That's me about done for the day,
P-Frank