HAPPY 2009 EVERYBODY!!
To say the last 12 months were crazy would be an understatement. So many things happened in our personal lives that this place was sparcely updated in order for us to get our act together. But with the new year here, now is the right time to stop monkeying around and actually accomplish some meaningful things creatively. That's why either Tony or myself will be checking in here every week if not to post some new things up, but at the very least share with all of you how things are progressing. We know that a small group of you check in here regularly, and for those folks especially - we hope we can pay your continued interest back. There's no reason in the world from our lack of updates why we should still be getting ANY traffic on a daily basis. But we still do and for that I personally thank you because even I have to admit, I'm getting pretty sick of starting every rambling on this page with an apology.
So what do we have today? How about a new commitment to finish up last summer's movie gallery with our homage to the excellent Pixar film, "Wall-E". Not to let the cat out of the bag early, but it features Tony at his peak and me at a low point. But I leave the final call to you. Hopefully next week's picture will have me back with my "A-Game".
As he's done for several years now, I was once again the proud receipient of a personalized Pat Loika holiday sketch card this holiday season. I've talked about Pat many times in the past; how he's one of the nicest guys on the internet and how you'd be hard pressed to find someone who can say one bad thing about him. But it deserves to be pointed out that this year alone Pat did an astonishing 383 cards! Each one was specifically drawn with the person in mind. Now whether you want to focus on that or come up with how much the man spent on postage alone - it deems saying again: Pat is the man!
Now there are few people I know who could trump Pat's gift, but today we have that very thing happening. It's been a few years but once again this site is graced with a contribution by Tony's talented and funny daughter, Kaitlin. Yeah, I know I'm bias and I realize everything I say about her could be construded as things an uncle probably would say about their niece. But it doesn't make it any less the truth. Katie is one of the brightest kids I know and I was so happy to receive this drawing from her.
Well, that's all for now. But be sure to come back in seven days when the Summer Blockbuster Gallery ventures into a very dark place few men dare to enter. I'll give you a hint..."See that girl watch that scene".
Yep... we're going to go there. - Jake

Sometimes you just can't plan for everything.
This past week Minnesota had the coldest tempertures on record in the past five years: temperatures that fell well below -20 degrees. To say that kind of climate is a pain in everyone's arse would be an understatement. But unfortunately it was a even bigger pain for myself because while this was going on, my car was in the shop for repairs. Now with very limited transportation opinions available to me, there were several days where I found myself with no other choice than to walk four miles to or from work in said -20 degree weather. And it was cold; really, really, frakkin' cold! By the time I got home every night, I was so drained and shivering I just wanted to go to sleep.
So I should have expected early on with all that was happening, the next scheduled picture wouldn't be completed in time. It's not for lack of trying though - I have been working on it nightly. But it's been tough when the elements are against you and your body just wants to quit. However now with things starting to warm up again and I have my car back, expect the next picture to debut this time next week if not much sooner. And there's a great chance it will be sooner.
Before I go back to the drawing board (literally), I just wanted to take a moment to mention the recent passing of two extraordinary actors: Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montelban. I was a big fan of both men and of their work.
While "Dr. Syn" was cool and I liked his performance as King Edward in "Braveheart", to me McGoohan will always be known as Number Six in "The Prisoner", a television show he also created and wrote. Every time I sit down to watch an episode, I'm bombarded with the sophisticated writing and trippy visuals; not to mention the mind-boggling mystery (and it is mind-boggling) of what 'the village' is and who is Number One. I admit no matter how closely I follow along with each viewing, there's still layers of hidden methaphors I'm ignorant of. It's a testament to McGoohan that 40-plus years after the show's 17 episodes aired, they're still considered to be ahead of our time.
However, I cannot label Montelban with just one role. The fact is no one but he could have played Mr. Roarke on "Fantasy Island", or the sinister Khan Noonien Singh (KHAAAAN!!!!) on "Star Trek", or hundreds of other performances spanning decades in movies and television. And he did each one with such commanding presence that it was impossible not to take notice and believe everything he said with the utmost conviction; even if it was to point out 'fine corithian leather' or be the ultimate badass with a plastic codpiece to up against William Shatner. With any other actor, those last two examples would be jokes. With Montelban, they were simply excellence. - Jake

Hey guys! If you're reading this, then you're going to be one of the lucky few to have this special conversation with me. See, things are really hectic at the moment and while I posted everything else up and changed links and all that other boring stuff, I haven't had a chance to sit down and write a proper rambling. Now I know I'll have more than enough time to do that later tonight (the downside of living alone is the highlight of your Saturday nights being getting past the Brumack stage in "Gears of War 2") but instead of having you all wait for me to get my butt in gear, I thought I'd raise the curtain now while this update is in transition. That means if you click on this page tommorrow, we won't be having this conversation. It'll be like we got really drunk and told each other dirty little secrets and the next morning we're nursing the mother of all hang-overs with no idea how we wound up in a cornfield. Hopefully when I do get a chance to sit down again, it'll be something exciting. But let's face it, the odds are against that.
Anyhow, I'm here to point out the latest entry in the 2008 Summer Blockbuster Gallery. Yeah, I know it's 2009 and near the end of January; I'm not stupid. I know how ridiculous it is to have an update six months later about a film that's now available on DVD and Blu-Ray. But it's the principle of the matter! We're trying to see something we promised get completed and in the hands of you, our loving supporters. And besides, show of hands - who really saw "Mamma Mia" when it was in the theater? That's what I thought! Admit it, most of you caught it for the first time just last week when you rented it from Netflicks. So in that regard we're extremely current!
But I digress. Today's picture is based on the movie that was based on the elevator music from the song library of the famous '80s pop band, ABBA. We promise "Sinister Occult of Sweden" does not feature Pierce Bronson or Meryl Streep, but it does feature a plant man. You've been warned! - Jake

(NOTE: As a practical joke, Jake has been locked out from ever changing this rambling.)

* Although it's almost February now, we still have four movies left to honor from last year's Summer Blockbuster Gallery. Both Tony and myself plan to collaborate on the remainder of them, but there might be a picture or two where we could be going solo. Of course the sooner this is done, the better - and hopefully long before THIS summer comes around.

* I've recently sat down and begun work on the final two request pictures from last year's poll: Frankie from "Fosters Home of Imaginary Friends" and Powergirl from "Justice Sociey of America". Once these are done, we'll start thinking of better ways to handle it in a more timely manner. However, given they involve characters from other properties, we might just disband the idea altogether (again, something to e-mail your thoughts to us about.)

* And finally we're cooking up something special for Valentine's Day this year that we hope you'll like. If things work out the way we plan, it will be something quite refreshing for a change.

Well, that's all for now. But before we take off, we'd like to take a moment and sincerely congratulate Michael Avon Oeming and Taki Soma who got married last week in a small ceremony. We wish them only the best on their new life together and can't wait to see all their upcoming collaborations. It'll certainly be worthwhile.
Next week we WILL have something new to debut. So until then! - Jake

I have a rather embarassing confession to make.
After a long hiatus working on other things, I've finally completed one of the two remaining 'request' pictures that won by poll way back in December of 2007. That's right: 2007. It's been more a year since the poll ended and I started posting the first results. A poll where six pictures were chosen by all of you and all I had to do was draw them. Honestly, I had no idea it had been that long and I cannot begin to say how sorry I am for that. I really dropped the ball on this one, huh?
Of course, today's debut was also involved in some confusion. When the voting was still going on, one of the choices was "Frankie". Now for some reason I thought the choice was Angelina Jolie's character in "Sky Captain" so I listed it as such (I know, I know... what the hell was I thinking?). It turns out the nominee was actually Frankie, the red-headed character on the cartoon series "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends". In my defense, I didn't know what her name was on the show and when the suggestions came in, all I received was "Frankie"; not "Frankie Foster". Regretably by the time I was corrected, the voting had already ended. So to make amends, I decided to include it with last year's winners; just in case it would have swayed the votes.
Long story short: we present to you my rendition of Frankie Foster. All I can say is I'm really sorry it took so long. I'm hard at work on the #1 pick and will have that up in the not-too-distant future.
By the way, if you're wondering what's the deal is with that picture below, or you haven't figured it out, that was me when I was only five years old. Supposedly, as the back of the photo informs, it was taken during the St. Charles Marti Gras celebration back in 1979. Heh. It looks like the comics bug bit me at an early age. I just thought I'd share it in case any of you were looking for a good laugh.
Well, that's all the time we have for today, but we'll be back in seven days with another update. Unfortunately our original plans for next week (a flash animation!) went sour and looks like it won't be a reality anytime soon so we'll be debuting something else in its place instead. And yes, I know full well what next Saturday is. Let me just apologize in advance for any ugliness that might result. I'm on some new medication so who knows - maybe I'll behave myself this year. Maybe.
Catch you all in seven! -Jake

If there was one day out of the year we shouldn't be judged too harshly to miss, it'd be Valentine's Day. It's the one 'holiday' I dread a lot only because it continually proves to me how much I'm missing out in life. Sure, there are people who prefer to ignore February 14th as well; "it's just a commercial holiday that doesn't mean anything". But mark my words, the people who say that are either currently dating or married or have dated or married in the past. For the slim number of us who can't claim to have ever been in that camp, it's absolute torture!
But with that said, I had flowers sent to me at work from an anonymous source. That's right - I'm as shocked as the rest of you. I'd be the last person to expect receiving a vase full of roses and carnations, but while I was busy toiling away cleaning surgical instruments, a lady came to the door with a delivery. Talk about a very nice gesture! So this year was pretty bearable. And hey, I even went out and socialized without killing anyone. I still wouldn't say I had the greatest Valentine's Day, but I can't lie and say it sucked. So whoever the mysterious person who cared enough to send me flowers; if you happen to be reading this right now; THANK YOU very much for brightening up my day. It was really awfully sweet of you! :)
But that's why we didn't have an update on Saturday.
Aside from working a 16-hour shift last Wednesday that completely threw off my schedule, there was an accident at the hospital where my left hand got slammed between two metal carts. Nothing was broken but it did get bruised up pretty badly; so much so that doing anything with it for more than five minutes (like drawing or playing videogames) gave me a tremendous amount of pain. So I apologize for not getting anything done in time for Valentine's Day but several people can back me up on this: I really was unable to do much was my left hand.
So while I'm on the mend, let's jump into some of the e-mails we've received on this special Wednesday update.

You should have the Spandexic Four battle the Sinister Occult of Sweden. - George Earley

Short, sweet, and to the point. Thanks George! Unfortunately both groups are just jokes we used for the Summer Blockbuster Gallery. Neither one of them are actually part of Plight cannon. However in this day and age of "Freddie Vs. Jason", "Aliens Vs. Predator" and "Gator Vs. Mosquito", I wouldn't say it'd be impossible for a "Fantastic Four: The Wraith of ABBA" flick; just very unlikely. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Jake,
With such emphasis on the female form in explotation (which I feel neither for nor against), I do take stock in your lack of defining and improving the male characters of your cast. They have very feminine characterists where it appears you've placed a male's head on an undeveloped young woman's body. Some of us wouldn't mind to see some decent male eye candy in your work. I for one would appreciate it. Continue to strive for improvement. - Barb Rennco

Thanks for your honest critism, Barb. That is something I can't disagree with you about. My males aren't as developed as I'd like when it comes to muscle and tone. I've tried to make a conscious effort to 'beef them up' and add differences such as giving them square jaws as opposed to the women I draw mostly having pointed ones. But it all comes down to me improving on my anatomy. Males don't have slender hips so I should stop drawing them like that. I'll keep working on it. Thanks!
And speaking of art critiques, I also received this jpeg from Cartelli7.

What can I say except I agree with every point you've made, Cartelli7. I'm happy to say when it comes to the lips, that is something I have gotten much better with. My arms are starting to be more defined too. But nevertheless, I see exactly where you're coming from and appreciate you taking the time to send me this. Honest critiques like this always help me out.
And for our last e-mail today, we have a comment based on a similar theme....

Forget bullets bouncing off Superman's eyes... Kari's breasts can withstand scorching hot coffee spilling on them! HAWT!! - Poppin' Fresh Croe
(P.S. Any chance we can see the whole picture?)

Thanks for pointing that out, Poppin. As funny as it looks, she's not spilling coffee on her; it's just the steam coming out of the mug. Looking back on it now, I probably should have drawn the mug more straight. But no, she's not having an accident and I'm afraid there isn't more to that picture than what's shown. If I did, and given how her robe is opened up, chances are the coffee mug would grab the least of your attention. But maybe I shouldn't encourage you like that!

Well, that's all for today. I'll do my best to get something done for Saturday; but either way, we will be back in a few days with a new update. So until then, thank you to everyone who's sent us e-mails. We really appreciate it and look forward to hearing from more of you in the future. Later! - Jake

Friday marked the first day of Spring and it's certainly been feeling like it. The snow has started to melt, the temperature has been really nice out with an occasional appearance by Mr. Sun, and people are confident enough to pack the thick coats away. Granted, most Minnesotans have that nagging doubt it might be foolish to trust winter being over this early in the year. But we do it anyway because we miss the experience of the grass between our toes and the cool breeze coming off the lake during a stroll. We want Spring to be here because we need it to be.
Which makes posting a picture based on a film that came out last August feel all that more silly. I mean, two entire seasons have come and gone between then (when it was the third biggest movie to open in theaters that weekend) and now (where it's currently in the discount bins of Best Buy.) But like we've been saying ever since coming back to this site more frequenly, Tony and I aim to see all our projects through completion. And besides, after this debut, it only leaves us left with one movie remaining.
So let's get down to business: today we have another collaborative drawing featuring Tony's pencils and my inking/coloring on something we never thought we'd see get made in our lifetime again: a new Star Wars movie. "Sleep Number 66" is our homage to the latest entry in the expanding universe; an CGI animated feature film that launched the television show now airing on Cartoon Network. Sure, it's directed more towards younger viewers and John Williams terrific score is very sparce in it. But make no mistake, it captures the spirit of the original trilogy much better than the ones that came twenty years later. But that's the MSTie in me talking; the one still reeling from the horror of Jar Jar screaming "Annie! Little Annie!"
Next week we'll be back with the pin-up of last year's character request poll winner as well as a little something unexpected. So until then, go out and enjoy the nice weather before we realize we packed the jackets up way too soon! - Jake

Hey everyone. You know, it seems like just last week when Tony and I were putting to rest the last picture of the 2008 Summer Blockbuster Gallery. "Pineapple Express" I do believe. Wow, it sure was fun. And it's funny how time has a way of going by fast like that because guess what? That time of the year has once again come upon us. That's right, after virtually counting the mere hours - today we kick off the NINTH ANNUAL PLIGHT SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER GALLERY!
Just as it has been in times past, luck would have it the first big blow-out of the year happens to be a Marvel comics property - "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". It's always a challenge to design something that we can homage without flat-out using Marvel's actual characters. But I think we pulled it off quite nicely. So without further ado, we present a little piece called "Mutual of Omaha Presents". We hope you like it even if Tony and I happen to be a little too hard on ourselves.
But that's not all. After nearly five years, Tony has graced us with a pin-up he'd like to debut that doesn't involve summer movies or other famous properties. That's right - we have an ACTUAL pin-up to show off and one that's taken directly from continuity to boot! It's called "The End of the Beginnining" and it's just one of many things we'll be springing on you guys unexpectedly in the next few months. And while you're looking at his newest contribution, why not familiarize yourself some of his older works on the page as well. There's some good stuff in there!
Well, that's all for today. We hope you're all hitting your local comic shops for "Free Comics Day" today and we'll see you back here in 7 when Erik and the gang go where they've never gone before. Until then! - Jake

It seems more than I'd like, I'm always apologizing for something in these ramblings. A picture is debuting late, Tony and I haven't updated this site for awhile, we've been injured or life has just been doing a number on us. The explainations have been various and they've lived for as long as Plightsite has been around. And while this is just a silly little place a couple of people have some fun in, we still feel a little sore when we don't post stuff up in a timely manner. It's not a big deal but nevertheless we still try.
Well, I have no apologies today. Without getting into it, I dealt with quite a lot this past week. And had we followed history, Tony and I would probably have skipped a week or two to allow us to get back on our feets. But here we are only two days later with a new picture to debut. Amiss all the changes I'm dealing with right now, the fact I was able to get a picture done.... it's such a stupid unimportant thing and yet, I'm feeling pretty darn proud.
So without further ado, our next blockbuster picture is called "Follow the Reviews", inspired by Ron Howard and Tom Hank's latest opus "Angels and Demons"; the cinematic sequel to "The DaVinci Code" (even though "Angels" came out as a novel before "DaVinci" did.) We hope you get a chuckle out of it.
We hope you all take it easy. We'll be back next time with a look at "Terminator: Salvation" (no pun intended) as well as debut a long-delayed pin-up and answer some of your e-mails that I said I'd do last week.
Damn. Looks like I have to apologize after all. - Jake

Hey everyone, I'm afraid to say we're taking the week off. Again.
Yeah, I know there hasn't been an update for two weeks and I feel bad about that. I really do. My plan was to be all caught up that when it was time to write this rambling, I'd have something new to debut. But there's no new artwork today. Between some personal issues, my hours changing around at work, not to mention I haven't had a lot of chances to run artwork over to Tony's hands... whatever little time I've had hasn't been enough to complete everything (just taking one look at our "Terminator: Salvation" picture once it's finished will show you what we mean). So instead I felt it was time to address some of the e-mails we've received recently including a couple we never properly addressed. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for another edition of:

Thank you for the e-mail, Kai. I was unaware the ending to the children's book was changed so I've corrected that. However, I'm still not convinced the song is innocent with just a happy coincidence to drug usage. No offense but your 'many examples' you listed off only came from one source: Peter Yarrow. If I'm not mistaken (because I did a little research of my own), it turns out he wrote the song based on a poem written by Leonard Lipton when both of them were roomates at Cornell University. Are you seriously telling me two college students in the 60's were just sitting around their dorm room substance-free coming up with stories of little boys riding on dragons? With how big drugs were back then, are you telling me Yarrow had no idea his song could easily be misconstrued like that? Furthermore, what lyricist in their right mind would ever step forward and admit a song that has become a staple in children's music worldwide is really about smoking weed? And rather than persuade me, you brought up another example (dragon = dragging) that hadn't even occured to me.
Perhaps you're right and Yarrow only set out to write about the loss of childhood over time. I admit I could be wrong here, but to be honest, I don't see any solid facts that are causing me to go down that road. Please feel free to reply back because while I disagree, I have nothing but respect on your viewpoint and appreciate you taking the time to bring this to our attention. Thanks!

Did you hear 3D Realms shut down yesterday? I can't believe after working on one game for a decade they shut down. Years and years and years of anticipating one game and it'll never come out. Gee, if 3D Realms did comics, they'd be called Plightsite.
- Poppin' Fresh Croe

That was a low blow, brotha. More fair than I'd care to admit, but still: Low. Blow.
For those who don't understand, 3D Realms is a videogame company that has been working on a title named "Duke Nukem Forever" for, well, forever. The problem is they kept working on the game for so long on one console (like the Sony Playstation) that eventually the next generation of consoles (like the Playstation 2) came out in the meantime that they decided to scrap their work and build it for the current generation of machines. Well, the next thing they know the technology they were using became outdated so they'd start over again. And then the next consoles of machines (like the Playstation 3) came out so they'd start over again. And so on and so forth until just last month they ran out of money and were forced to close their doors.
Croe, I realize we don't have any new pictures of debut right now but unlike 3D Realms, we're still here! So your analogy is flawed. Haw!
All joking aside though, I get your message loud and clear. It really does play as a cautionary tale for this website, doesn't it? Man... I've got to get my butt in gear.

Jake,
Please make a picture of Plight in a M and M (blue one). Thanks! Plighsite rocks. - Kaitlin
P.S. Don't e-mail back; just call for questions or concerns

Okay, that's all for today. If you have a question or comment on your mind, feel free to send it to us at either jake@plightsite.com or crimsonpug@comcast.net . Regardless if we put it up on the website or not, we always appreciate hearing you out and we do respond back to each and every one. As for a real update, we'll be back next Saturday (yes, for real) with our take on Disney's "Up", most likely "Terminator: Salvation" and 'maybe' "Land of the Lost". So until then, we hope you're all enjoying the summer! - Jake

Hey everyone! While we had a rambling last week, this is our first real update after weeks of being off-line. Once again Tony and I are very sorry for the inconvience. It was out of our control but nevertheless we know how frustrating it is when websites seem to 'disappear'. If there's any good that can come of this, at least we won't have to worry about this again for another 12 months. Um... that's my weak attempt at making a joke. It's okay - I can't bring myself to laugh about it either.
Unfortunately this latest issue with Yahoo (as well as some things we've had to deal with in our personal lives) has thrown our schedule on the Summer Blockbuster Gallery a little off track. I'll be honest - very little work on the gallery was done during our downtime because we were saving and copying everything in Plightsite.com in case we had to move to a new web hosting server. But now that the problem has been resolved, we can get back to the fun stuff.
So today we're going to skip a little ahead and debut our picture for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen". While it's kind of sad we've got to resort to this while the season is still going, we promise we will be returning and debuting our homage/satires to the movies that premiered before and after "Transformers" in the coming weeks. Hopefully we can be caught up before the season is over because, perhaps speaking for myself, I feel the need to still make up for the way last year's gallery went.
That's it for this week, But before we take off, we have a little bit of geeky show and tell to share with all of you. While character creation in a videogame is pretty much commonplace, it's rare when one comes along that allows me to create characters from the Plight universe. Strike that - just some of the hair styles alone like Erik, Kari or Daryl make it impossible! But once in a blue moon comes along a title which give me the opportunity to do just that. Such is the case with the "Rock Band" series of games. Now I'm a huge fan of the series that if I wasn't able to do this, I'd still be playing it until it burned out my X-Box's hard drive. But like a sweet added bonus, I have spent my whole virtual band career rocking out as Erik. And if that wasn't cool enough, Harmonics (the creators of the game) allow players to create actual merchandise from their website with your own creations such as t-shirts, key chains, mugs, and.... action figures!
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you an honest to gosh Erik collectible figure. - Jake

.... .... .... ....

I’m sitting here on a Saturday afternoon; lights off; laying down on the couch with laptop in hand. Above me, the ceiling fan pushes a slight breeze on me. The only illumination coming from the room is from the shades of my patio window only open a quarter-inch. Outside I hear the screams of little children playing. I draw a collective breath which manages to exhale into a sigh and I tell myself “Seven days. I can’t believe it’s been seven days.” I know very soon the military will send for me; requesting me to hunt down Marlon Brando.
Sorry for the “Apoklypse Now” comparison but with the problems I’ve had with my internet lately, it’s easy to feel like my phone company has forgotten me. Last week there was a bad storm in my area with a few reported tornado touchdowns. Trees got knocked over and for a few days I was without power. When the power finally came on, I discovered the phone lines were still down. It wasn’t until two days later they got the phones back up, but for some reason my internet was still not working. So I tried everything I could to fix it: reinstall the software, reboot my modem box, change my USB and line cords. Eventually I heard back from the phone company who said I wasn’t the only one reporting this problem in my building and that a technician would have to come out and rewire the entire building next week. And once he began, I would have no phone service for a few days; a week at the most.
So I’m sitting here on my couch having a white Russian, cut off from the world, and typing a rambling no one is going to read until I have a chance to get online. And I wonder why I have a strong urge to pop in my “Best of the Doors” CD.
Anyhow, today’s summer blockbuster entry is based on the already forgotten children’s film “Aliens in the Attic”. I know, I know… but with all the pictures we’re working on for the gallery, we’ve decided it best to debut whatever we get done first. It just happened that Ashley Tisdale’s new *cough* movie got completed before everything else. So check it out and be sure to send us your feedback on it.
Next time we’ll have another blockbuster picture to debut as well as a long-awaited pin-up. So until then, try to stay cool and we hope you’re enjoying the dog days of summer! - Jake

Happy holidays, everyone! Before we get to the updates, I need to take a moment to explain what's been going on.
Even though the main page has been reading "Last Updated: August 14th, 2009" for the last four months, the truth is I was busy on a very big project. Back in August my co-hort Tony was just undergoing treatment again for cancer. His spirits were high but there was little things he regretted not being able to do anymore. Helping me out with this website was one of them. So after completing the homage to "Star Trek", he decided it would be a good time to retire. He felt a little bad he was leaving me to tackle the rest of the gallery all by myself, but we both knew his health and well-being were far more important than a silly little website.
And that's when I came up with a idea for a nice present for his birthday (which later morphed into a christmas present instead). My plan was to finish the remainder of the pictures and collect them all into a nice hardcover book. But it wouldn't just be the 2009 pictures. No, I would also fill in the gaps of two movie entries we missed in years prior, completely revise all the ramblings so they were up-to-date, go back and rescan and color several pieces of artwork that looked poor printed out, add a few new "Deleted Scenes" pictures, include artwork we couldn't post (such as a Tony pencilled / inked myself picture of Erik and Spider-Man fighting Doctor Octopus), and top it off with new artwork breaking each year into chapters, a written introduction... well, it was going to be as close to a professional hardcover book as you could get.
And guess what? I did it!!! By the time November was over, I had every page and scrap of art done with a little help from some guest artists. I even threw in a back page listing them and all the other artists who ever contributed to the gallery with a photo of themselves and a little biography. All that was left was to print out the pages using the laser printer at work and then send them off to Fed-Ex Kinkos to get bound (which Tony's better half was going to help me with.)
But in typical Plightsite.com fashion, something got f'd up.
The machine I was using wasn't built to tackle a 140-page double-sided job on 60 pound paper so half-way through the run, the machine severely jammed up; breaking a coil and the paper feeder in the process. This was on a Sunday so a service contractor had to be called out and in the end I was responsible for a $1,500 repair bill. Add to that the $20 I spent on paper and the $100 for toner.... well, I had to regretably cut my losses right there on what I thought would have been a really great present. I'm pretty ticked off about it even now, but I know I did everything I could. Sometimes things just don't work out as planned and this was a perfect example of that.
However it's not a complete loss. True, Tony is going to be getting something store bought for Christmas instead but I still have a stack of new artwork to debut. And so for the next SEVENTEEN weeks, I'm happy to announce Plightsite is going to be updated on a weekly basis (which was also something I had planned out.) I'm sorry for the long delay, but the truth is, many of you were in on my plan from the beginning so you already knew. For everyone else, I apologize and I thank you for still checking this site out even when it was collecting virtual cobwebs.
Anyhow, on to the updates!
Because it just wouldn't be the same without one, we have this year's holiday picture up featuring Erik and his continued adventures with a certain pair of boxer shorts. Is it the same pair after all these years or has he gotten new ones? You be the judge!
Plus once again I had the honor of making it into the Pat Loika's Christmas card list. Every year the man goes out of his way to draw personalized greetings to everyone he knows and this year his list included over 400 people! But then, Pat is just that kind of guy who's generosity and good-nature has absolutely no bounds. So do yourself a favor and check out his message from "Rulk" and while you're at it, take a gander at all the cards he's sent me in the past.
And finally while we'll be debuting the next Summer Blockbuster picture in seven days, like I said earlier, many of the rambings from the previous 108 illustrations have been revised and brought up to date. Plus several illustrations such as our homages to "A Knights Tale", "Atlantis", and "Planet of the Apes" among others has been touched up and corrected in one form or another. But don't worry - we tried to keep it as close to the original as possible.
Well, that's all for today. We hope you all have a great and safe holiday season. May the times be merry, the memories long lasting, and we'll be seeing you back here next Saturday. - Jake