GPF News Archive

Quick Update: Hey, gang! Not much to add this week, so I'll just do a quick update. But I will start out by mentioning that tomorrow, Tuesday, November 2nd, is GPF's sixth anniversary. I've been doing this blasted comic for six stinkin' years. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. :) There's still one more week left in the "Gochisosama Deshita" story line, so Year Seven won't officially start until next Sunday. I've got a lot of material to cover in Year Seven, but look for lots more light and fun stories to start off with.

I'd like to officially congratulate "wolfy_alex," the winner of our first ever original art auction! With a winning bid of $83.85 USD, this bidder got the original line art to the June 18, 2004 strip, as well as a full-color print to go with it. Thanks, "wolfy_alex!"

This means that I'm also officially announcing the second original art auction, which has already officially begun. This auction will be for the original line art for the November 24, 1998 strip, which was voted by you to be the most popular GPF strip of all time. The auction began Sunday night and will end on Sunday, November 7, at 6:09 PM EST. The starting price is again $25 USD, and we're opening things up some more this time to allow checks and money orders as well as PayPal for payment. I wish to express my deepest regrets to our international folks who didn't get to bid in the last auction (or this one, unfortunately); I'm hoping to add international shipping and bidding in the next auction, after I've done some research to make sure the shipping amounts are fair and reasonable.

Which brings me to the next tidbit: I've decided that since we're getting awfully close to the holiday shopping season, I'll hold off on the next auction until January or February of next year. I realize that bidding on comic art comes from the same disposable income as holiday shopping for most people, and I don't want anyone to have to make unreasonable choices. I should have started the auctions sooner, but that's my fault and no one else's.

Lots more relevant stuff below, left over from last week's update:

Greetings, Faulties! I'll start off with the prerequisite apologies for the lack of news updates (I seem to average them about once per month, don't I?). But I promise there's plenty of news to make up for the drought, so I urge you to pay attention and read them all thoroughly. I promise you won't be disappointed. ;)

Book #4 Pre-Order: First off, I'm sure you've noticed by now the big ol' link on the main page, above the strip. That's right, after almost two years of waiting, Book #4 is finally available for pre-order! Covering the entire "Surreptitious Machinations" story arc, this book weighs in at a whopping 160 pages and includes all 364 strips in the saga, full-color Sundays, and a special two page full-color sneak preview of the upcoming "Surreptitious Machinations" sequel/spin-off. Unfortunately, the price appears to have jumped a bit due to the size, but if you pre-order now, Plan Nine will whack $5 USD off the price. Plan Nine as assured me that these books will be shipping before Christmas. I'll also note that Book #5 is currently in development, so we're hoping to get caught back up and get current with the books as soon as we can. (Technically, we should be getting Book #6 ready, now that Year Six is starting to wrap up.)

eBay Auctions: Another thing you've been waiting for, and guess what? I finally got of my butt and did something about it! A while back, I asked you guys to vote on your favorite GPF strips of all time (the final results can still be found here). I promised I would then make the original line art for the top 25 favorites available for auction. I know, I know, I've been promising that for ages now and just haven't gotten around to it. But the wait is finally over. The first auction is now up, which is the line art for the extremely popular June 18, 2004 strip, where Fooker and Sharon are finally reunited. The auction will run this week and will end Sunday, October 31st, at around 7:24PM EST. The starting price is $25 USD. My plan is to offer up each of the top 25 favorites, once per week, until they have been exhausted. I wanted to do this before the holiday shopping season popped up to sap everyone's wallets, but unfortunately I just couldn't get things moving fast enough. Sorry about that. But at least we're off to a great start, and I hope this will be something we'll all enjoy through the weeks ahead.

Holiday Merchandise: Since they were so popular last year (our biggest sellers in the GPF Store of all time), we've decided to offer up two new GPF Holiday Card designs. Send non-specific holiday greetings to your favorite geeks with the GPF crew! There is one specific Christmas design (featuring two comics with a Christmas theme), as well as one generic "winter fun" design (think of what the Inventor's Gene would do with a snowball fight). In addition, the original 2003 Holiday Card designs are still available, and we've now made some of those designs available as prints. I should also point out that GPF merchandise would make great holiday presents for your favorite Faultie (or proto-Faultie, for someone you'd like to indoctrinate). Check out our books and other merchandise for ideas.

The Current Story: I'd also like to thank everyone for the overwhelming feedback I've received about the current story arc. Needless to say, this story has been very controversial, and has been an emotional rollercoaster for all of us—author, readers, and characters alike. I thank everyone for your e-mails and forum posts, which have ranged from the critical analysis to praise. I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to every message individually. Some questions and "nitpicks" have been answered by the story itself, so I didn't want to spoil any surprises. Other items have raised interesting questions, and I've decided to leave those open to interpretation. What's really surprised me are the number of you who have deeply empathized with Nick in this situation, telling me about how eerily similar your own experiences have been. Those messages have been especially comforting when I've been faced with criticism that the story has been grossly unrealistic. :) Anyway, as you might guess, things are wrapping up, and we only have two more weeks to go. Then it's time to start Year Seven... and a whole new year of surprises. ;D

Pocket Kingdom: Finally, I have one more interesting story to relate. To my great surprise, I have been selected, as an "Internet personality," to participate in an exclusive preview of Sega's upcoming game for the N-Gage called Pocket Kingdom. This is a massively multiplayer online game, part RPG, part strategy game, but played on world-wide scale using the N-Gage and global cell phone networks as the stage. The "Sneak Peek" is an special preview limited to 100 players who are either invited (such as myself) or who win small contests to be included. For my part, I get a free N-Gage, free cell time for the month of the Sneak Peek, a free preview copy of the game, and twenty free T-shirts to give away as I see fit. Okay, so I know it's all a marketing ploy to get them free advertising, but I get a free game system/cell phone out of the deal, and potentially free advertising for myself and GPF. If you're interested in watching me make a complete fool of myself in front of the entire mobile video gaming community, keep watching the news here as well as their official "Sneak Peek" website at thew0rdl.com.