The stress of trying to find a new place has subsided. I’ve found the perfect flat in a nice area and it’s on top of a cake shop! Lovely.
Also after a disaster with the car dying yesterday, my sister managed to fix it and she’s here right now playing with the animals. She’s going to take the cats which will be nice as they have been doing my head in lately. The pretty one keeps meowing at me. Constantly.
Strip wise, I’ve finished 19 out of 21 now and today... It’s new strip day! Boom, boom, pow, right in the kisser! This is something I’ve been building up to for a long time and hopefully by now you should have an opinion or two about proceedings.
The only question now is, will Steve be able to hang on for another week?

So much has happened, I’m not sure I can remember it all and put it in a newsie bits. I’m moving to a flat hopefully next week so unfortunately I don’t think I’d be able to update the site for maybe a few weeks due to general organisation of life in general.
Tomorrow you’ll get to see ‘what happened next’. It’ll follow on from Steve dangling over a rather sizable pit created by one of Melissa’s home made bombs.
Yes, everything is getting a tad explodie at the moment, but it’s about time there were some explosions in Steve and Bob.
Other than that, a strange euphoria has spread over me. The usual euphoria that always emerges once I complete a series of work. Yep, I’ve completed Chapter 29. I’m going to enjoy the break and start working on the Thing 2010 Anthology.
I’m not entirely sure how I can incorporate dinosaurs into a Steve & Bob comic, but by heck I’ll give it a go.
Enough about me, how are you?

Doing these last few chapters have been a real eye opener for me. Especially with the response I've been getting from it. The original intention when I started the story was to make Steve as likeable as possible and it seems to have worked. Lately I've been working on making him fallible sooo he had a one-night stand with a random Swedish girl.
This thought has been met with indifference, people still like him. So much so that when Shelly takes her revenge on him, it's SHELLY who is seen as the bad person! Shelly has never done anything wrong before (Well, she's still young), but she does have a tenancy to let her anger get the better of her. Originally she was angry because she thought Steve had an affair with her best mate. When she found out he didn't, she felt guilty (and had an odd dream about owls) and she went back to being lovey dovey with him. Steve was quick to say he didn't sleep with Jo, but decided against telling her he'd slept with the Swedish lass.
I was surprised that when Radox mentioned his surprised that Shelly would take him back after what he did, that people were saying, "Oh, well, Radox has to redeem himself in the next chapter." Redeem himself? He did nothing wrong!
Then when Steve is asking Shelly for help, Alfie quite rightly said that Steve can get himself out. But this is an area that's a bit more interesting, he belittles Steve, telling Shelly what everyone has ever told her about Steve (no good, alcoholic, womaniser) and then kisses Shelly. Then, she can't help it. She had to kick him off, get rid of him from her life once and for all, no returns, no regrets.
Now this is when the big 'B' word gets thrown around, but does she really deserve to be called a bitch? Alfie stopped Shelly from helping Steve. He knows how edgy she is, tell her the right thing and she'll go over the edge. Despite the surprise he expressed when she turned to Steve in hatred, it makes you wonder whether this was something Alfie always wanted.
But then again, maybe not.
This is why I like this story. You don't know who the bad guy is. Sure if the story had started at chapter 29, then no one would care enough about Steve to have sympathy for him. Really, you all know who the real villain of this story is, but he's hidden in plain sight.

No broadband? For nearly a week? How am I going to survive?! I’m moving on Thursday and haven’t contacted the broadband people yet. Needless to say that next week’s strip might not appear... On time...
Which is typical as next week’s strip is quite a biggie. And when I say biggie, I mean pivotal to the plot for the future.
Still, at least we’re celebrating Halloween early! Four new skins so far, with two more in the pipeline. This time I’m quite fond of all of them, with not the horror theme of last year, but more of a dress up theme from telly and computer games. Steve as Niko Bellic is something I’m fond of as, really, he could be anyone. Even if you’ve played Grand Theft Auto 4, you might still not recognise him.
There’s Jo as Harley Quinn, my favourite comic book character since ever! It’s tricky trying to do your own spin on Harley Quinn as she’s pretty much perfect in the original Batman Animated Series, but when I saw the new design in The Batman I did fall in love all over again. Jo’s design is a mix between the two.
Then there’s Shelly in a spoof poster of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I thought it’d be a good idea to have a robot not filled with machine parts, but instead with random stuff. I asked my mate what he’d stuff in Shelly and, well, he nearly passed out.
Finally, it’s everyone’s favourite, Bob as Light Yagimi with Ryuk nibbling his ear. I have fallen in love with Deathnote and have recently gotten my friend into it. Ryuk is one of those characters I fell in love with straight away, which is strange considering how much of a passive character he is, but I have, ever since, tried to think of an excuse to draw him.
As well as that, there’s a picture of Razor Ray Gun with Dave Duff which I’ve finished, but now it’s done, I’m not entirely sure HOW I’m going to turn it into a skin. That and a Melissa character which I’ve just sketched and needs a bit of tweaking. All I’m going to say about Melissa is one word: "Chibi".
Until that’s done, enjoy today’s strip as you will be seeing it for a very, very long time. Well, I have several ideas as to how to get it online, but until then, I’ll start preparing for the internet withdrawal symptoms.

I am sorry. I really am.

Yesterday was the end of a fantastic weekend, and to prove that we had too much of a good time, we drove from Yorkshire to London. That's five hours. Not only that, but straight afterwards, we shifted my stuff straight into the new flat.

I did feel quite excited about moving the stuff there, especially after my weekend trip to Yorkshire (I've been practising my Northern accent.) Everything was easy until we reached the refrigerator and the washing machine.

Now the refrigerator was seemingly fine, but I did notice a twinge in my back afterwards. Later (and with a lot of delay) we took the washing machine last and that did it for me. My back was in agony. Luckily Nick was there to give me a hand, but if it wasn't for him and my Uncle's "moral" support, I wouldn't have made the last few agonising steps.

After a fantastic dinner and chat with my Mum after the move, I had a rather awkward nights sleep followed by a lot of pain in the working. Now, I'm not sure if I should go to the doctor or the hospital, as I'm pretty sure the doctor will do nothing about it and the hospital will take three hours to get anything done, but I'm only subduing the pain at the moment with pain killers and liberal amounts of chocolate (which is what I need for being a brave boy)

I am looking forward to unpacking, but for today, I'm going to have a rest just for my back's sake. If anyone knows of any hooky remedies, let me know as I'm up for doing anything at the moment to easy the pain.

Cursed spine and it's lack of might against washing machines! (shakes fist)

Flat’s done! Waaay! After a day of relentless unpacking and rearranging, the flat was slowly but surly turning into my own little den. It’s the toys really. That and the comics and books, that is the best thing about it at the moment. It is looking a bit empty at the moment, so I think it’s poster time. Anyone have any suggestions?
After Mum made my favourite Macaroni dish (proper Greek style!) Nick and I gave her a lift home and, well, it’s odd seeing the old house echo so much. My Mum’s off to Cyprus tomorrow, so I was very sad to see her go.
In other news, the response to this week’s comic has been pretty unanimous. Everyone was surprised. Okay, this is very fair, especially since the death of a character usually happens at the end of a chapter. Another phrase that has been thrown about is the rather ominous “Black Widow”
This is a fairly dark chapter, but it’s also a very vital chapter as a lot will still be revealed about the plot to come in Steve & Bob (especially strip 639!)
The moving process is still complicated Internet-wise, but there’s always a chance the next strip’ll be released next Monday. It’ll have a very interesting fighting sequence.

I had this great idea for a panel! Basically, the first panel wouldn’t be a panel but a series of fighting stances and kicks and punches. Brilliant! The problem with it is, it doesn’t translate well when shrunk to 700 pixels wide.
Buggerations.
So hopefully, if lethargy hasn’t taken over, you’d be able to see a bigger version when you click the strip (or popping over to DeviantArt)
In many ways, this is my favourite strip visually. I like Melissa’s rosy red cheeks, I like the glow of the bomb on Bob’s back and the bomb took a lot of effort to get right, which I think paid off.
My favourite thing about this strip is the last panel. It was a lot of fun shading each of the rings in the background and when I was finished with it, it looks very effective.
Also, there’s more talk of the esoteric Ernie Field. I think I’ve given enough clues at the moment to give you an idea of what’s happened to Ernie and what’s caused his demise.

Virgin Broadband I mean of course. Apparently the only way I can get Virgin Broadband is if the engineer wires it over the roof or through my neighbours flat (which involves a kitchen, and having a wire through there is a sin apparently) so the lifestyles of the broadband super fast lifestyle will now be a distant memory. Well, for a year or so at least.
That said, everything else seems to be going okay. Nick and I went to see Dara O’Briain the other night. He was on stage talking about his book, but also about the Albanians, David O’Brian and the English Aborigines (Nick Griffin anyone?).
We also saw "The Informant!" which would have been a normal film if it wasn’t for the amazing music throughout (and Matt Damon’s hairpiece) and "Up In The Air" which made me giggle throughout and had me pining to go on American Airways for some strange reason.
I also saw Up! which just had me very confused emotionally. I was either laughing, sobbing or very excited. Don’t let all the ads that seem to be EVERYWHERE put you off, this is a brilliant film, and being the cinema enthusiast that I am, you have to see this on the big screen. In 3D if you can.
Also, can I just say I couldn’t have hoped for better company. Nick’s been there for me in so many difficult times lately and I would have cracked up if it wasn’t for his kind heart, his wise words and his Dominos pizzas!Right, the strip! This one was a tricky one to make (yes, I know, I’ve been saying that a lot lately but it really was!) Not only does Bob get out of an impossible situation, but he leaves giving his trademark evil laugh.
Should we feel sorry for Melissa? Maybe. Should we dance in delight over the return of Brian the Pigeon? Definitely!

So yeah, I hope you enjoyed Halloween. I did. I just chilled out on a couch, eating pizza and watching Juno. I was giving out life advice to the characters in the TV. Out loud. So that I could be heard. Nick pitied me.
So now I’m adjusting to my new home, my new area and my new bus routes. Apart from a short bout of depression, everything’s been fine (thanks to Nick and Sam and Max and Bosco the cow).
Also, Brian is in chapter 29! There’s something glorious about seeing the mice ride a pigeon with an abundance of freedom and happiness. It’s just a shame about the Shelly bit.

The biggest news this week was the fire in the shop downstairs. I just remember looking through the window and thinking, “Hmm, there’s a lot of smoke outside.” Then I thought, “This barbecue doesn’t seem to be stopping.” After looking for the source, I saw it was coming from a metal chimney OUTSIDE my room! Then I got a knock on the door with someone saying, “FIRE! FIRE! Grab your valuables.”
After about fifteen minutes of packing away the essentials (if it was a serious fire, I would have been a different shade of toasty), we all evacuated from the flats. During which time I took the opportunity to grab a new toothbrush and wax for styling my hair (result!)
Everything turned out fine, and I got many texts back saying, “OMG, is your flat okay?” Yes thank you, I’m fine... Tuh, seems that this flat is more precious than me!
In other news, I went to the Tate Modern on Saturday with Nick. The trains and buses were against us, but we got there in the end. I saw Kirstine Dunst with bright blue hair singing, “Turning Japanesa!”, a Picasso I wanted to steal and a giant table with giant chairs which I REALLY wanted to climb on. The whole thing really did inspire me, and I really want to get started on drawing out some ideas I got from the thing.
There’s some other things that happened in the week which I’ve conveniently forgotten and should have newsied them up when they happened, but that’s the main thing. Now enjoy as Razor Ray and Duff exchange words of discomfort.
Yataa!