Merritt's Mansion of Madness

Singularity Chapter 2 Thread

2010-03-19T04:56:00.001-07:00

Rather than have each comic have its own individual post, each chapter will have it's own thread. Why? Because it's easier to code. (Read: I am lazy)

Page 1-Midterm Skip

Okay, I guess I should bring it up now. Yeah, there is swearing. And I mean swearing that would be bleeped on FOX. I think it goes with the characters. Lysander is a politician, he would swear when at his wits end and not much more in fear of a hidden camera. Regent is a college student. Contrary to popular belief, we college students rarely substitute swears for more PG terms when we mean the swear.

And in all rights, Regent skipped a midterm. If I did that and my folks found out there is no end to the hell I would be in.

VOTE

2010-02-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

Episode 33: Plan B

2010-02-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Iris isn't finished yet things are looking up for Brigadier! Right? Chapter One will end this week but I have no idea what I'm going to do for Chapter 2. No I mean I have it written out I just don't know if I want to take a week off in between chapters or what. I most likely will chill for a week after Chapter One is finished but I don't want to leave y'all completely without something so yeah.

Oh, and you should check this link out. I think you'll like it.

Thank you guys for voting. I'm now in the top 200 on The Webcomic List. Y'all are inching closer to those bonus comics so KEEP VOTING!!!

Episode 32: Still Boned

2010-02-18T11:39:00.000-08:00

I feel bad for Brigadier. Since he's been introduced to this comic not a single good think has happened to him. He's screwed up an espionage mission, got beat up and now he's being fired with Superhero Immunities being removed (Immunities like if he breaks a building crime fighting normally he wouldn't have to pay for the building. Now he does.)

For those of you who faithfully read I've noticed the updates have been a sliding Mon-Thur-Friday thing lately. Sorry, first exams this week. I'm getting you three comics a week still. The days and times just aren't normalized yet. That's all it will get regular eventually. Also thank you guys for voting. I'm now in the top 200 on The Webcomic List. Y'all are inching closer to those bonus comics so KEEP VOTING!!!

Episode 31: Null and Void

2010-02-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

This is the most unnerved we've seen Iris and strangely the calmest Lysander's been. And what happened to Brigadier while all this conversation is taking place?

Something you may have noticed is my lack of backgrounds in these last couple of pages. It isn't so much a laziness thing as a "I-don't-see-the-point" thing. Just like in Super Drama I draw backgrounds to show where you are when the scene changes, but after that I just use the background color. The walls are still gold and there are still chairs so obviously they are still in the Mayor's office. Right now the focus should be on the characters and their dialouge and right now where they are isn't all that important. So...yeah just thought I'd point that out.

See you Wednesday.

Mansion Minutes #5: The Seven Projects of SUTB Comics

2010-02-14T03:37:00.000-08:00

In the site redesign I discussed earlier I had plans to make some comics and do some other stuff as well. I have narrowed down everything to seven projects here are their names but not what they are.

Project Aries
Project Cepheus
Project Orion
Project Cygnus
Project Vega
Project Corona
Project Regulus

I will say four of the projects having something to do with comics and the four comic project names have something to do with their future comic counterpart. For example: Project Corona. Corona is Latin for "crown". The main character of Singularity is Regent Royals. A regal enough name and a royal usually wears a crown. So Project Corona is the codename for Singularity during the redesign. Tada.

You can attempt to guess the others if you'd like and I'll post logos and character arts of the comics/other stuff as I create it.

Mansion Minutes #4: The Future of SUTBComics

2010-02-12T17:48:00.001-08:00

SUTBComics stands for Set Up The Bomb Comics. COMICS. Plural.

Yes that means Singularity is not the only comic I will do. Yes that means I have plans to redesign the site again. Yes that means I have a bunch of other things I want to put on SUTBComics.

No that does not mean any of this is happening soon.

Y'see the size of this move is...well huge. Singularity likely would cease to be the front page of SUTBComic.com (again) and probably move back to hero.sutbcomic.com or singularity.sutbcomic.com or something I don't know yet. There are certain steps that would be taken for this to happen.

1. I would like to be back to a daily Singularity update first.
2. I would need to have about a 20 page buffer on Singularity ready to roll while I redesign.
3. All the comics that I plan to post will have at least a five update thick buffer.

So yeah. This is a move that is a bit down the line and most likely will happen AFTER I start advertising so that's a concern too. This requires a bit of work and effort that I sincerely hope I can put into it because these are great comics and they've been good to me. The least I can do for them is to be good to them.

But here's a little preview of what I'm thinking about doing.
1. Super Drama-Probably my favorite thing I've ever drawn and I love these characters and feel a closer connection with them than anything I've ever created in my life. I want them to come back and they will. RETURN LIKELIHOOD: 11/10

2. File Not Found-My first webcomic ever drawn. It was a gaming comic and it provided alot of the background for Super Drama's characters. The main character Nick Turbowing (not that one) was the basis of the character Leo Maxwell while his little brother Lawerence Turbowing became the design for SD's Nick Turbowing. While I'm not sure how crazy I am about doing a gaming comic I want to bring FNF back. For nostalgia sake. RETURN LIKELIHOOD: 7/10

3. Nocturnal Transmissions- The story is great the characters are great and are completely independent of my previous works. I didn't give it a fair shake in the 24 Hour Challenge. I like it's chances of coming back. RETURN LIKELIHOOD: 9/10

4. Roswell Invasion- My Tecmo Super Bowl coach mode challenge. It will be at the redesign. Hell it'll be here before then.

Some past works that definitely won't be around include Coming Soon, Assassins Anonymous and Set Up The Bomb. Naturally, Singularity will still be around. A tenative schedule would probably have Singularity at MWF, A Comic on Tuesday and a Comic on Thursday and a Comic on Saturday with the Roswell Invasion playing on Sundays. But we shall see. Oh and the individual pieces of the puzzle may go up before the finished product. Just an FYI.

Mansion Minutes #3: Disappeared

2010-02-12T17:37:00.000-08:00

That picture rather nicely sums up just where I've been these last couple of days. After a great night of Improv at Wooten Hall me and the Comedy Club ate pizza and watch some movies and relaxed until about 2am. Aaaaand that's when it hit me.

"Shit! I have a Data Analysis exam tomorrow!"

And then it hit me again

"Damnit! I have Business Calculus homework due tomorrow!"

And then it hit me an unprecedented third time

"FUCK! I HAVEN'T DRAWN SINGULARITY YET!"

A subnote about not having slept in approaching 30 hours was also bothering me so I went to bed with the intention of waking up at 6am. My alarm didn't sound until 9. Forced into skipping Accounting to do Calculus I then had to skip Calculus to prep for my Data Analysis exam. I think I did really good on it so it was/should be totally worth it. Buuut...well I don't really understand anything in calculus at all and that's a problem since I'm quickly approaching the first exam. Well I was going to get tutoring on Thursday at noon so I went to bed and got all ready for tutoring and then Denton threw me for a loop.

It snowed. In fact when it was all said and done it was the most snow Denton had in history. (12.5" breaking a previous record of 12" and the previous Feb. 11 record of 1.5") So school gets canceled, my tutoring ends, and my astronomy lab which I went over hell and high water to schedule...canceled.

So ideal time to work on the comic right? WRONG! IT'S SNOWING! IN TEXAS!! So I took part in several epic snowball wars including one at the Denton castle in which about 300 people lined up in rank and file and charged at each other. The rest of the day was spent sliding down hills, back and forward flipping in the snow and knocking snow of my baby, Gwen (2000 Nissan Maxima. Friend of mine named it Gwen.) I lamented alot about soaked clothes but eh whatever. It was completely worth it. Another Mansion post is due soon about the future of SUTBComics but that can wait for a second.

Episode 29: I Wish The Titles Were Interesting Again

2010-02-08T16:25:00.001-08:00

Lysander's speech is the only reason I can think people would live in cities like Gotham where the Joker runs around blowing shit up every ten seconds. As long as Batman will
save them they don't care.

A city with a crime rate as high as Gotham should be a fucking ghost town. Chapter One is rapidly coming to a close and I'm excited about Chapter Two. I think I may do a little one week/three comic intermission in between Chapters for the first week of March. The first one will answer some questions that have come up with chapter one and the other two...Dunno what they will be.

See you Wednesday.

Oh and congratualations to the New Orleans Saints on their first Super Bowl title

Super Bowl Champions

2010-02-07T21:54:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on winning Super Bowl XLIV.

Colts, hey tough luck but you had a hell of a season and played a hell of a game. Heads up blue guys, take pride in this, a season many thought y'all wouldn't see the playoffs.

Roswell Invasion #1

2010-02-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

Coming soon to the Mansion.

Episode 28: Termination

2010-02-06T18:43:00.001-08:00

I meant show up Saturday for an epic plot changing blah blah blah. Okay I fucked up. But hey my car is fixed! I mean sure that's 530 bucks down the FUCKING DRAIN but at least I don't have to worry about being stranded in the middle of nowhere when I drive anymore. But yeah sorry about not posting this on Friday. At least next week is pretty much drawn and inked. I better finish Monday tonight though. The Super Bowl is tomorrow and I am willing to bet I'm not going to get much accomplished after kickoff.

Still playing with this art style. See ya later. Go Colts.

Mansion Minutes #2: Mean Green and Race Cards

2010-02-04T23:29:00.000-08:00

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST IS PRETTY FUCKING LONG. AFTER THE UNT PART IT TALKS ABOUT RACE IN MY PAST COMIC ENDEAVORS! SO YEAH.

Okay first thing is first. UNT beat Florida Atlantic. We're in a fucking logjam for second place in the Sun Belt conference and we really fucked ourselves by getting swept by Arkansas State and I know that will hurt us come tourney time. The top three teams get bye and right now that's Middle Tennesee, Arkansas State and Florida Atlantic. Bad news we lost to MidTenn and ASU. Good news, UNT is currently the sixth seed meaning 1) we host the first round game at the Super Pit in Denton 2) We would play the 11th place team round one which right now is the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks who we drubbed earlier this season and 3) The winner of the 6-11 game plays the third seed which is FAU who we just slaughtered. So first two rounds? Not worried. Am I concerned we'll lose in the Conference Championship game again? Eh. A little.

Okay on two thing number two and it's something that is a little more...eh, risque? I am of course talking about the race card. Now if you read this for God's sake please read the whole thing and try not to get to up in arms. I'm just noticing something okay.

Okay, lemme lay it out there. I'm black. No. The little characters I drew to represent me in this last two journals aren't some kind of silly avatar. That's me. I wear glasses, I always wear that hat I wear the Fry-style-black-long-sleeve-over-other-shirt thing frequent, I have three stupid chin hairs and can't grow a damn thing more to save my life and well you get the idea. Now this in the past has shocked people who don't know me as Eric Merritt: North Texas Sophomore but know me as Eric Merritt: Webcomic Artist. Why? Well as a friend of mine pointed out during my Super Drama run my main characters tend to be white. In fact I went through EVERY comic series I've ever drawn. You can't count the number of African-American, Black (or as controversially placed on the Census) Negro, characters ON ONE HAND.

Lexington Houston of Soul Siphon. The main character of Assassins Anonymous (forgot his name) Zachary Powell from the Super Drama series and of course, Regent Royals from Singularity. Now of those, only two were main characters. The other characters? White with the exception of Toshi in Coming Soon who was (admittedly) a trope heavy Asian. (Not to the point of racism but to the point where he wasn't an interesting/believable character) and I guess technically Roulette counts as Myanmar but he's a red panda so eh? Other than that. Overwhelmingly white. For people piece this together, that's right. MIDNIGHT MASTER IS NOT BLACK. I have no idea what the fuck Lysander is to be honest. This bothered my dad a little when I first started out as he asked me "Where are all the brothers?" Now this was during the Coming Soon era, which was the two guys on a couch story but a little dumber I blatantly told my dad I didn't want to write dumb black characters. But it made it okay to write a dumb white guy and a trope heavy Asian? Techincally the answer is no, it's not okay but it gets done and whether it's right or wrong or what's the line is something Family Guy challenges with every episode. Not my battle. Not my point. But it got me thinking about two things.

1) Why didn't I write black characters?
2) Why should I be pressured to write black characters?

Yes this is a LONG post. Sorry.

Okay question 1: Why didn't I write black characters. Well I guess it was my perception of people in general back then as far as the media goes. Okay. Let's not bullshit here: I was pretty atypical of the African-American/Black guys I knew in high school when I started drawing. I was a member of the debate team, I held proper usage of the English language in highest of regards, dancing and rapping were not my forte, I was not very athletic and I was a huge fucking Mario/Sonic/Pokemon nerd. Should any of that mattered? Eh maybe. Maybe not BUT what it did do was create a disconnect between me and black folk at Bowman/Williams/Plano East (middle/9-10/11-12 schools respectively).

I was labeled nerdy and (what pissed me off the most to be called) white. Not that I have anything against white people but to be disowned by my race (or a select few of them in school) because I wasn't a fucking stereotype was annoying. So I felt that I knew more about the nerdy kind of guy or that person so I could write that better. Case in point, my first comic File Not Found--gaming comic. Cast? All white. Why? I didn't know any brothers at, I think I was at Williams when I did FNF, who sat around playing RPGs or anything like that. They were, for the most part-not all but mostly, trying to be ghetto in Plano.

Okay pause. For those of you who don't know my hometown is Plano, Texas. The median income of Plano is alomst $85,000. Ghetto we ain't. We were ranked the wealthiest suburb with more than a quarter million residents in the FUCKING USA in 2008 for fuck's sake. Not the DFW area. Not the state of Texas. THE ENTIRE FUCKING NATION. Now I will temper this and say the city is broken down East, Central and West and the West families make on average $100k or so and the East families average around 65k-70k with Central making up the middle group. But yeah, side note over. The point is I understood 1) I wasn't poor 2) It was fucking ridiculous to act like I was from a poor place 3) The majority of the black males at East acted in such a manner so I didn't associate with them. That simple.

Now this created a bit of a Uncle Ruckus side of me where I didn't like black folk acting ghetto in THE FUCKING RICHEST SUBURB IN THE NATION. But that's what was there so I stayed away from alot of African American influenced things. BET? Hip-hop and R&B? Soul Plane? To this day I don't listen to any music that was created after I was born. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five? Yes. Michael Jackson? Yes. Stevie Wonder? Yes. Earth Wind and Fire? HELL FUCKING YES.

Who the fuck is Nelly? Lil Bow Wow? Lil Wayne? My parents called me Lil 'E (I'm a junior you see) and I fucking hated it. Who the fuck wants to be little anything? Against rambling. There was a disconnect. I didn't feel I could relate to black people therefore I wouldn't be able to write a compelling black character and so I didn't even try. White characters in comics are allowed to run the gamut to be whatever. A black character like me? Didn't make sense to me at the time. No one would read it. No one would find it believeable. So they weren't black. I don't know shit about Russian culture. A Russian character would end up like Toshi did, trope heavy because that's all I would be able to run on.

When I did start debuting black characters with Zach in Super Drama (AA didn't get much attention. Neither did Soul Siphon) people automatically assumed Zach was my Author Avatar.

Me: Why?
People: Well he's the only black guy.

Okay. You are partially right. Zach was me. But so was EVERYONE that wasn't Victoria in Super Drama. Leo was my rational desire to be normal. Zach are was my happy-let's-have-fun side. Nick was my hopeless romantic (who unlike me gets the girl) and Dexter was the side of me that can be a be of a prick, arrogant snob and really only gives a damn about (my/him)self. Roulette was my fascination with things just being odd and really out of place. So he was my love for comedy which made since why he was Zach's pet.

But that leads me to my second question: Should I be pressured into making black characters? The majority of comic book artists and characters are white. Spiderman. Stan Lee. Jack Kirby The Incredible Hulk. Batman. Whoever the fuck draws DC Comics (I'm a Marvel Guy). White. There are only two black comic artists I can think of off the top of my head: Ray Billingsley and Arron McGruder. Their two comics are Curtis and The Boondocks respectively. Their cast? Predominantly black. So when I tell you, at times I feel there is a slight pressure to have more black characters, don't say "Oh that's only something white comic artists worry about" because that's bullshit. But I mean should I just create black characters to create them?

The answer of course is no. Brigadier Battery, while he takes elements from the mannerisms of my great grandmother and grandfather, I made him white. Why? Because that's how I view him. When the concept of Brigadier first came to mind he was white. I couldn't have made him black/Asian/Canadian if I wanted to. The same goes with Regent. Since the Fallout days, that character was going to be black. Was he going to be some hip hop singing, troped out, pants sagging athlete? No. Was he going to be a revolutionary Black Panther, Black Power character? No. But he was going to be black? Yeah. What kind of black guy. I dunno. Normal?

It's the same fucking thing we hear in the media all the time about stereotypes and blah blah blah. Black characters by in large tend to play out some sort of role. They're the Revolutionist (Huey Freeman), they're the gangster (holy shit not enough space, but Riley Freeman for brevity), they're the man that left his wife for a sexier younger woman (Pick a Tyler Perry movie and blindfold yourself. Throw a dart. You found him). What about me? I'm just a guy who happens to be black. That's what Regent is. Yes he's an athlete (not very good one but he made the team. Oh by the way spoilers). He plays videogames. He's just a college student. Like I've said before to people asking me about the comic or my little brother: Regent Royals is basically me in the situations he's in. There's a little attitude variances (at times we're a little more confident than the other. He's a little more business minded than I am and he has a beard the lucky bastard) but that's that him being black is just a part of him and really shouldn't be a point one way or another.

But it is

WHY? I dunno. I guess the question I was answering was why are the majority of the character you create white. The answer is just because they are. I don't have a fucking chart and said oh shit this guy needs to be white or this guy needs to be old. Now yes, my main characters across the board are males around my age. Because that's what I know. I couldn't write a female lead because that's not my experience. I wouldn't grab female readers because she'd just come off as artificial. All I can promise with Iris is that she's not fanservice (sorry guys). But is she secretly the star of the show. No, she is a self-describe talent scout. Is that the depth to her character? Eh, more or less. Is her character that (shallow/deep) because I can't write women? No it's more because of what her role in the comic is. She is a talent scout and an agent. Her job is business. Don't expect her to be this motherly person. She is about the business of staying in business. That's what she does. Lysander is a politician. He cares about his constituents but knows he can't serve them unless he gets reelected. So best believe he's going to do what will get him reelected. Brigadier is an old man who all he knows is being a hero. Why is he a hero? You'll find out later. But that's his motivation to help people. And Regent is a college student. He's about graduating, making money and having a good time all the while. Boom. That's it. The races and genders aren't what makes them that. They made themselves that. You hear writers say it all the time "I didn't write the story, the story told itself to me"

Guys I won't lie: there really is not much of Singularity written down in pen on paper. An INCREDIBLE amount of this story is made up on the fly. Big example you've already seen: Midnight Master wasn't going to be a supervillian. He was just going to be an ordinary thug. But suddenly my mind said, "No this story's going a different direction." I don't control this shit. It happens. My mind turns on with a character or plot device or whatever. I write it down so I don't forget and go from there. Do I have chapter two written out? I have major plot points in my head and I think and outline somewhere with my stuff from last semester but storyboards? Nope. I storyboard about a week in advance. Yeah, very rarely do I have an iron-clad storyboard drawn for a comic more than two to three days in advanced. Fact.

So long story short, the character are whatever they are because they couldn't be anything else. And well fuck if you read the whole damn thing you're pretty fucking awesome.

Now I need to go draw tonight's Singularity.

UNT, Until Next Time
Eric W. Merritt

Mansion Minutes #1: One of Those Days

2010-02-03T16:49:00.000-08:00

You know how some days you got it and others you don't? This was a day where I didn't.

So today started with me finishing the Singularity at about noon. The coloring probably would have be done at around 5am if I didn't fall asleep at 2am. So I finish coloring to comic and then realize I've missed Accounting and I fall asleep again after posting Singularity causing me to miss Calculus. I then proceed to be late to Data Analysis and when I got to class I discovered that I had left all my papers and my accordion file at home.

And I still haven't got my car fixed.

For those of you not following me on Facebook, the car situation cropped up on Saturday.

While I was driving back from Plano to Denton, all these random lights started flashing off and on my display. Needless to say I was scared a little shitless. Turns out the harmonic balancer of my car fell off and as a result my alternator belt had been rubbed smooth and as a FURTHER result I now no longer had anything charging my battery while driving.

Long story short today was jam packed of fail. I steal can believe just how off I was. Bah, well tomorrow is the Astronomy/Philosophy/English cycle of class and HOPEFULLY I will be a little more...with it. I sincerely hope so.

Episode 27: Louder Than Words

2010-02-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

Oh, I colored the whole comic without using any fills. Well coloring this page proved exactly what I thought it would on the onset. It has potential to be a really good coloring style (evidence by Brigadier's pants and Iris's bow and the file cabinet) but it takes a while to color a whole page in. But I think I want to keep with this style to see if I can't get better with it. So I apologize if anyone is thrown off by the different coloring styles from comic to comic but I'm still trying to nail down a good style I like to see Singularity in.

Also as a minor note, that I probably should have left up to you guys to notice is Iris's bow. It changes with her mood (happy in panel 2 so it's perked up and has a light filter and down in panel 6, wilted looking etc.) The jewel was originally going to change colors but I like this better.

See you Friday with a BIG story changing shocking twist of epicness!

Episode 26: Zodiac Fail

2010-01-31T17:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, one month of Singularity is in the books. I'm still playing with the art and coloring styles until I find something I like. But hey, one thing is back: the footer bar that you'll recognize from our Super Drama days. So this weekend I had three goals: Finish storyboarding chapter one on Friday, draw and ink this week's comics out on Saturday and color them all in on Sunday. I'm happy to say Friday's goal was a success. Uh...about the other two. On Saturday after going to Plano to see the family on the way back to Denton all my dashboard lights kept flashing off and on randomly. So I go to see the mechanic. He figures the thing that did it in was my battery is shot b/c the alternator isn't charging it. So Saturday I spent all day dealing with my car and Sunday I colored this. Thankfully I finished early enough where I can have Wednesday done by closing orders on Monday which makes Friday easier. So...yeah even though my plan to get ahead was thwarted, everything is still on schedule. Relatively speaking.

On a drawing note, it is semi-frustrating to draw Iris. In every incarnation of Singularity except this one she's worn glasses. So in all my storyboards she's wearing them with large notes next to her eyes saying "NO GLASSES!"

Well this was a long post. See you cats Wednesday.

Episode 25: The Call

2010-01-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

And Singularity is back! The 24 Hour Challenge yesterday was in short a failure. I only got three pages done. Yikes. I can already tell doing that every month may NOT work out so well. But I want to create something other than Singularity to have a SUTBComic tradition. But what? I dunno. Hopefully I can figure it out soon.

Another thing, just a minor technical thing, I'm switching the pages to JPEGs instead of PNGs like they were for the first 24 pages, so maybe that will allow for quicker load times. I dunno, we'll see.

That's all see you Wednesday! (remember the schedule is temporarily changed)

The Gameplan

2010-01-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

So as you already know, SUTBComics is less than 12 hours away from it's first 24 Hour Challenge. There's a few things I should stress before I talk about my gameplan

1) This is NOT a 24 Hourly Comics challenge.

I know this may sound odd to those of you first tuning in but there is a slight difference in the two. 24 Hourly Comics means you post one comic every hour for 24 hours. The 24 Hour Challenge just means I have 24 Hours to draw 24 comics. How I break this down is totally up to me.

2) I don't have any bit of this comic written down yet

One of the main and original rules of the challenge. I have no storyboards or character designs drawn. While ideas buzz in my head I'm not allowed to write them down until I start my run. The only personal amendment I have towards this rule is that a week or so before the run I will do a title drop or something (like I did this month with Nocturnal Transmissions) to do two things.

1-Force me to stick to an idea
2-Get you guys excited about the upcoming run

3) I live in Texas

So the run will start at 12 midnight United States Central Time. Just an FYI

Okay...so here's the gameplan. Since this is the first one I may elements of this that work and don't work

PreRun Prep

At about 11pm, I'll get water bottles tea and pizza cooked and on standby to eat and be near me. I already have set aside 36 sheets of paper (12 storyboards and 24 comic pages) to use. I'll use this time to prep any music or the like before starting my run. I will also send a Tweet and a Facebook status to get you cats on the notice that we're about to start.

PHASE ONE: Storyboards
At midnight, I will begin with the story boards. I don't think I'll draw a cover page for NT, but I dunno we'll see. But I will completely pencil out the story in the same manner I do with Singularity. Estimated Time: Maybe an hour. After the story boards are finished a tweet will be sent and a status will be updated.

PHASE TWO: Drawing and Inking
Here's where it starts coming down to trial and error (and will probably end up being something I won't know it's effectiveness until the run is over). My prerun strategy will be to completely draw and ink the story and scan them up to my computer all at once. When each page is drawn and inked a tweet will go out. When the entire phase is completed (with all 24 scans up on my computer) I will send out another tweet and status update.

PHASE THREE: Text and Color (?)
I haven't decided whether this run will be in color. It will depend entirely upon how much time is left. I may or may not. But obviously there will be text. As soon as a page has its text, I will put it up on the site. And a tweet will go out telling you to see the new page. In something slightly different compared to my other comic, the entire January 2010 run will be on one page tonight with newer comics being on the top. I'll break them up into their respective pages at a later date.

PHASE FOUR: Sleep
Hopefully after phase three midnight hasn't struck yet. I'll post the Monday Singularity and SLEEP.

UNT, Until Next Time
Eric W. Merritt

"If you work really hard and you are kind amazing things will happen"
Conan O'Brien

What Conan O'Brien Taught Me About Webcomics

2010-01-22T22:19:00.001-08:00

We knew it was inevitable. We heard the rumors. We watched the news. We read the headlines. We talked about the future. And yet somehow turning my TV on at 1033, waiting for the news to fnish, it still didn't quite hit that this was the end. Even with the band blaring and the crowd cheering almost unceasingly, it still hadn't sunk in. And then all at once it did.

The Tonight Show was over.

I've lost a couple of shows that I'm upset about: Code Monkeys and Futurama are the two that come to mind and while I hate these new bullshit cartoons on Cartoon Network and am a FIRM believer the best cartoons were the early 90s Cartoon Cartoons, I've never cared so much for a show as I did with the Tonight Show.

Since my dad watched Leno when he was younger, I sorta assumed I'd sit my son down one day maybe when he's 16 or something in the 2020s or whatever and say "That's Conan O'Brian, this is the Tonight Show" and he could share that legacy.

It wasn't to be I guess.

And so the curtain closed and the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brian came to an end exactly five years after Johnny Carson passed away.

And all I am left with is one of Conan's final line (more or less verbatim)

"If you work really hard and you are kind AMAZING things will happen to you"

I know this hiatus came out of seemingly nowhere and I know this is how webcomics start their slippery slide to self-cancellation, but I refuse to let it end so soon. It's been almost two full months since December's first comic and at the end of the month I'll have 27 comics. We're--yes "we", me as the story teller and you guys as the readers--are still young and early into our run. This past week was the first hiccup. I can't promise smooth sailing the rest of my run with Singularity and I'd be a jackass to do so, but I will promise I'm going to work harder on this comic. I can't make it trump my college work but if I'm not working on college I'll be doing my damnedest to work on Singularity. Because I want to believe Conan. I think my work with Singularity can be the biggest Team Conan tribute I have. So thanks for the support so far and stay with me because there's a lot more comic to do.

"Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record it's my least favorite quality, it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard--and you're kind, amazing things will happen"

Thank you Conan. Singularity returns Monday. 24 Hour Challenge Sunday

Singularity Status

2010-01-21T23:56:00.000-08:00

I want to reiterate how sorry I am about this week's hiatus. I was not expecting semester to hit me in the teeth so hard and so soon. Singularity will return next Monday, but as previously stated it will be temporarily only be updating Monday-Wednesday-Friday, barring bonus comics which will work as originally drawn up.

Also do not forget that Sunday January 24th is the first SUTBComic 24 Hour Challenge which will start at midnight Central time and run until midnight on Monday January 25th. I've already got the 36 pages (12pages of storyboards and 24 pages of actual art) set aside in my living room table so I can begin almost immediately after the clock strikes midnight. Whether this comic will be in color or not, I dunno yet.

The best way to stay up to date on the 24 Hour Challenge is to either follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/SUTBComics) OR subscribe to the Mansion's RSS Feed.

So in review: Singularity returns Monday January 25th, 2010. There is a 24 Hour Challenge Sunday, January 24th, 2010. I apologize about the hiatus and, of course, FUCK NBC.

January 2010 Preview

2010-01-21T08:29:00.001-08:00

It's coming...Sunday January 24, 2010.

http://24hour.sutbcomic.com

It's gonna be a dream.

Weird Ass Dreams

2010-01-21T04:44:00.000-08:00

So last night I have a dream. The beginning is a little hazy, but I remember Mr. Burns and the people of Springfield getting angry at each other in a musical. And a little before that I was playing either a Gamecube or Wii with my little brother at my Plano house.

Then I saw a large plumber who apparently knew me and a girl I was with. She was supposed to be in Nacogdoches, Texas for whatever reason but she was with me and we had just come back from a date. I remember stepping on a some ice on the ground. It looked like maybe we'd had one of those Texas spring snows, where it snows and then freeze over to hard ice and the rest of the ground is grassy. Any I walk on the ice and think it's gonna break but she hops on no problem and slides around with me for a sec.

I don't remember what prompted it but I did a weak Eagle screech (Go UNT?) but her laughter was interrupted by a real Eagle screech. The eagle is in the distance and it swoops down and grabs a rabbit. Both must have been HUGE, because even though they were some distance away we could see them with surprising clarity. At any rate the Eagle has the rabbit. Well a SECOND eagle comes up to the first and grabs the rabbit's head. The two fly and split the rabbit, the first eagle getting the body and the second eagle getting the head and spine of the rabbit.

I've been having weird dreams lately (pressure of balancing webcomic and school?) but they've been pretty interesting and have provided a rather excellent plan for Sunday. HINT HINT.

Singularity Update Problems Part 2

2010-01-20T23:18:00.001-08:00

Okay so I had the second part of my classes today, my business school courses of Accounting, Calculus and Data Analysis.

Long story short, drawing during class on Wednesdays is a big no. Since Data Analysis is a three hour class I figured I could nod off every now and again and do some drawing and keep pace with the lecture.

Haha.

No.

So it looks like my main drawing time will take place on the weekends (I have no classes on Friday) and I may be able to get something done on Mondays after class. Wednesdays are definitely out of the question (class straight from 11am to 5pm with 10 minute breaks in between my three classes, and play practice at 9pm till 11pm) If I don't have any homework and am not too tired from classes or eventually the gym, I may be able to squeeze some drawing in. But considering I already have a test in Data Analysis due at the end of the week and a project the Wednesday after that...eh, lack of homework seems like a long shot.

Believe me I am every bit as annoyed as you are with the lack of updates this week, but college comes first. I just need a little bit of time to bring this new schedule roadblock in and manage my comic around it. That's all. So bear with me and I'll get Singularity back on track as soon as I can.

Oh and most definitely do not expect this hiatus to last into February. There will be a comic up if not Friday definitely Monday.

A Note on Singularity

2010-01-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

Usually it takes a week or two to understand how deep the rabbit hole is with my classes for the semester.

It took one day this semester.

So what does this mean for you? Singularity is having it's updates tweaked ever so slightly.

I'm dropping down to Mon/Wed/Fri until I build up a large enough buffer to run Monday through Friday again. Sorry cats, I really would like to stay daily running but I gotta do good this semester. If I don't I'm gonna get thrown out of North Texas. Well not so much thrown out as I'll lose my biggest sponsor, my parents.

I know the question will arise, well if you can't draw a comic everyday, how will you build a buffer? Right now the plan is during the week draw a comic one day and then color it the next (so I would draw Friday's comic on Wednesday and color it Thursday) and on the weekend draw next week out on day and color it the next or something. I'll figure it out. I just need time. I regrettably didn't build a big enough buffer over the break to handle the upcoming semester. Again, I apologize.

The Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule switch is effective as of this post. Wednesday comic will be up in the morning. Please continue reading Singularity and I'll try to get back to our regular schedule as soon as I can without completely borking my college courses.

Oh and the 24 Hour Challenge is still this Sunday. Just FYI.

Episode 24: Big Trouble

2010-01-18T13:58:00.001-08:00

School starts back for UNT tomorrow and I take my first major class tomorrow. I'm parts nervous and parts excited. I love the fact I don't have any classes before 11 or on Friday. I think that's the main thing I will focus on.

Happy MLK Day to all and to all see you tomorrow!

Episode 23: A Bad Dream

2010-01-17T14:35:00.001-08:00

No news today, see you Monday!

Episode #22- My Great Grandmother Does Not Approve of My Treatment of Seniors

2010-01-17T14:27:00.001-08:00

The title isn't necessairly false. I'm pretty sure if my great grandmother read this comic she would be slightly appalled that old people are beaing beat up and tossed out of builidngs in mysterious purple bubbles. But then again I think Mammo is slightly scared of technology and the internet. She's 79 people, cut her some slack.

I'm having fun with these little gradients and shading strategies. Completely on accident how they happened. And definitely partially created thanks to laziness (didn't feel like continually using the Magic Wand, long story short)

I'm trying to get back to Midnight updates, but that will probably have to wait until next week. I know I haven't officially broken my resolution, but I have abused the spirit (I have posted a comic every day, just not in the wee hours of the morning like intended).

Oh well. See you tomorrow!

Episode #21- Old Age

2010-01-17T14:15:00.001-08:00

Man, I seriously miscalculated how long it would take to build the new site and as a result today's comic was super late. (Bow) Thank God I'm not on NBC. I would have my comic cancelled.

In all seriousness, fuck you NBC and go Team Conan. I think the Conan O'Brien show is the only thing I'm willing to attach myself to that has any remote connection with Twilight (the whole Team [blank] thing). On a related note, Midnight Master is NOT a vampire.

Thursday will be a little late, but not nearly as late as today was. Sorry guys, I'll do math better next time.

Episode #20- Punished

2010-01-17T14:01:00.001-08:00

While Midnight Master may apologize for the puns, I apologize for nothing! Hahaha!

...Okay, that one was a little cringe inducing, but my second favorite Disney villian was a pun spouting lunatic. I, of course, am talking about Jafar. Even the Joker shouts a pun or two every now again. I think villians just can't help themselves. They have to do it. It's in there genes, if it's genetic to be a villian. Oh and just to repeat Monday (and I will likely do this for the rest of this week...)

In SUTBComic news, I'm realizing through past experience that my comics suffer when I try to do more than one project at a time. So in a few weeks I'm going to move Singularity to the SUTBComic main page and officially end Super Drama after three chapters and 48 comics. Now the 24 Hour challenge will still stand because I want to make a sorta tradition on this website and Super Drama may end up being in some of those 24 hour challenges, but it's run as a regularly updating comic is no more. Thanks Super Drama for the memories and I hope Singularity proves to be a successful as you were.

Carry on, see you tomorrow. Also 80 comics till the big 100! Whadya mean that's forever away? Be patient damnit!

Episode #19- Zap

2010-01-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

I went ahead a drew and inked Tuesday and Wednesday before coloring Monday. I would have had a larger buffer set over the weekend but, well the UNT Mean Green Basketball and the Cowboys were playing on Saturday and the Simpsons 20th was on last night. Watching that show I got a great appreciation for that show. I always knew The Simpsons was great (since its the title of a show does it count as a plural? I'll let you English majors figure that out) but I was really just inspired by the whole ordeal. Cheers to 20 years guys. Can't wait for Futurama to hit 20 (oh it's coming back. Didn't you hear?)

Episode #18- Blown Cover

2010-01-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

Damnit. I got yesterday up early and then today I didn't get the comic up until 7pm. Thankfully it's the weekend now and I hopefully will have a chance to build up a little buffer heading into next week. Today's comic is nothing but flat gradients. Still trying to see what looks best around here before settling on one format for the rest of the series.

Sorry about the late posting but I just couldn't get in a good groove. Also keep an eye out, Singularity may be moving to the main SUTBComic page in the very near future. (Like maybe before my first 24 Hour Challenge) so if you've bookmarked Singularity you'll have to change it. Sorry. If you haven't bookmarked it yet, you can get the jump on everyone and just bookmark SUTBComic.com and in a week or so you'll be getting fresh Singularity updates with every click (assuming the clicks are on different weekdays). Have a good weekend see y'all next Monday!

Episode #17- Sparknote Thieves

2010-01-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

Awesome got the comic up a little early today! And since I've finished the comic early enough where I'm not dying of sleep deprivation I think I can rant a little bit.

I just checked the weather for Denton. It is goin to be NINE on Friday. Not ninety something. Just nine. That will be the first day in my life I've had to suffer through single digit temperatures. And it's not even going to have the decency to snow and be cold. It's just going to be balls cold. And for any Northerners who read this comic and are mentally telling me to man up keep in mind that I've lived in Texas for the majority of my life. I don't do cold weather. The end.

Why does Jimmy look so shocked? Obviously you know something the bald guy doesn't right?

Episode #16- Da Boss

2010-01-17T13:31:00.001-08:00

4am...well I'm getting closer to that 12am sweet spot. Jeez, this page took longer than expected. Sorry there isn't going to be much of a newspost. On either Singularity OR SUTBComics. I am sleepy. There's your news. Haha, see you cats tomorrow.

Episode #15- Pier 7

2010-01-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

Bah, second day of the New Year and I already endanger my New Year's Resolution (no missed updates). I'm going to work to extend that Resolution for no late updates as well. Long story short shenanigans occured last night. But hey I've come to expect this when I hang out with my friends. But no more excuses. Sorry about being late. I sincerely hope it won't happen again.

Comic analysis time! I have three different styles I could do this comic in and I'm still unsure which I wanna do. I can have the shadowing like on the cover page. The pattern base colors as seen here and the shadowing plus hand inked shadows sorta like how Marvel does. I don't want to switch back and forth between them during the story because it could be distracting but I may play with it this week so I decide what to do for the rest of the year. Let's see what James Carson will do.

Episode #14- Hanging Up The Cape

2010-01-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

And here we are at the beginning of the Singularity era and you FINALLY get to see what Singularity looks like. Truth be told I didn't want to display him yet until I got him looking exactly like I wanted. He was originally going to look just like Fallout but in black and blue instead of grey and green but I wanted him to have visible facial expression which is impossible with Fallout's get-up. You can't see his eyes or mouth y'see.

The mask was an accident actually. While penciling him in before inking I drew the mask on preparing to put on a cowl but the mask worked better. Well you get a cover page today. The story begins tomorrow! See ya then!

Episode #13- The Crown

2010-01-17T11:45:00.001-08:00

Techinically Regent didn't exist in the first draft of Fallout either, though this design is about the same as what Fallout's alter ego would look like. Out of the characters in the comic I would have to say Regent is the most like me. All the characters have bits of me in them though, it's not like one character is a pure caricature of me and et cetera. Oh and Regent is also a name pun. His whole family runs that vein too. His dad's name is Richard (after the Lionheart), mother is Minerva (goddess) brother Raymond (play on Rey, spanish for king) and sister Regina (latin for queen) I was annoyed at first that I couldn't figure out a R name for Minerva but I guess it's weird enough they all have royalty based names. I love name puns guys. Anyone catch Brigadier Battery's from his real name?

Now those characters are done, the Singularity series starts Monday and I can begin working on building the Singularity rouge's gallery. This is gonna be fun!

Episode #12- Talent Scout

2010-01-17T11:40:00.001-08:00

Ah finally a character that existed before last Friday! Iris is the only character from the story that is from the original Fallout plans. Even the comic that I posted at the beginning of Chapter 0 was actually the second draft of the Fallout story. Originally Iris's name was Sasha Lewis but I changed it in favor of the name Iris Corneal. Why? Because it's a name pun! Don't get it? The iris and the cornea are both parts of the eye.(And her initals can be mixed to read I C U) I really like name puns. The name also made sense because in the first draft she was going to be a supervillianess named Visionary. But instead she's now just a humble talent scout for UmbraTech (the same company Brigadier Battery works for?!)

As far as her character, this design was inspired by Goombella from Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door and her personality has elements of Natasha from Super Paper Mario. While sometimes her actions may seem aggressive it's important to remember she's not the boss of UmbraTech though I dunno how much of her boss we will see.

Episode #11-Calling The Shots

2010-01-17T10:48:00.001-08:00

Lysander Wallace is another one of our main characters. Like Brigadier Battery he didn't exist in the original Fallout story but when the Singularity story started forming he was thought up slightly before the Brigadier. However his role in the comic wasn't clear until a little later.

As far as his design he's based off of sly/manipulative characters from two manga I read (Niijama from History's Strongest Disiciple and Hiruma from Eyeshield 21). However, I decided he shouldn't be evil per se but more business oriented. However, I realized this after I had already drew him and (I will admit it) I was too lazy to draw another Lysander. Hey. Sue me. (Dear God please don't I have no money! I swear!)

If you are a little bored with the characters sorry. But Fallout wasn't even supposed to launch until the 27th and it was most likely going to launch with just the prolouge (like the Chapter 0 cover page would have been the first comic on the 27th) so think of this chapter as a little bonus to get you hungry for the main course which is the Singularity debut on December 28 (Mon-Fri now remember)

Episode #10- The Old Legacy

2010-01-17T10:39:00.001-08:00

This here comic is a comic of a couple of firsts. First off, this is the first comic to be solely about Singularity. So wave bye-bye to Fallout (he will be missed). Second this is the first non prolouge comic so wave bye bye to the prolouge as well. This is also the beginning of regular updates. Well at least it should be.

I may or may not be going home to Plano this upcoming Wednesday and I would stay through Monday (dental appointment) so everything from December 23-28 is up in the air. But since I have drawn the require pages to get me through this week I'm not too worried about this week. Monday may or may not be late. We'll see.

Say hello to Brigadier Battery. He wasn't in any of the plans for Fallout or Singularity. In fact, he didn't exist until Friday night and yet he somehow has become integral to the story of...no I guess the sentence would just end "to the story"

Episode #9-Introspection

2010-01-17T10:28:00.001-08:00

And that's the last page of Chapter 0's look to the history of Fallout. Next we'll have some bio pages. Again this is all just biding time for Fallout Day on December 27th when The Man Called Fallout makes it's debut.

This page is unshaded because I kept trying to finish it and didn't have the time so rather than miss an update I just posted this page as it was. But then I ended up not doing Fallout anymore. Funny how things work out eh?

Episode #8- Endgame

2010-01-17T04:42:00.000-08:00

2nd Fallout power revealed: Fallout blasts. I don't remember exactly what they were made of but they blow shit up. Like DBZ energy beams.

Oh and if you thought Fallout was about to have a character reversal there in the bottom left panel, you were mistaken

Episode #7- Vanishing Act

2010-01-17T04:34:00.001-08:00

In killing the green guy I was trying to establish one thing: Fallout is a dick.

Yeah, the red guy was alot more evil than the green dude and in all fairness Greenie was going to surrender, leave go home to his wife and kids and never do bad again.

But Fallout killed him. Why? Because it would leave a bigger impact on the Red Guy? Who knows why this incarnation of Fallout did anything. But one this was to be clear. This Fallout is an asshole

Episode #6- Up and At 'Em

2010-01-17T04:28:00.000-08:00

I sorta got the pastels closer to what they were in this one and I also added a little bit of inked shadows! Woo.

Oh and by the way, this page is where Singularity gets its name from. I was pretty sick of people asking if Fallout had anything to do with the Xbox game and when I found out Fallout was the name of a minor Flash villian I threw in the towel. New name.

Also dear physics majors, if at any time Fallout/Singularity's powers seem unreal to you, just repeat the following sentence, "It's just a webcomic. I should really just relax..." Feel better?

Episode #5-Time Crisis

2010-01-17T04:21:00.000-08:00

I sorta got the pastels closer to what they were in this one and I also added a little bit of inked shadows! Woo.

It's fun looking back on these old comics, they really give me a good idea of what I'm trying to do with Singularity, and I hope you're enjoying them as a little preview for what's going to happen, well what Singularity is like.

Episode #4- First Strike

2010-01-17T04:08:00.001-08:00

There was a bit of a hiatus between these two pages during my first run. You can tell because I seem to have forgotten how exactly to achieve that smooth pastel look.

This also marks the first comic in my drawing history where I used a SFX.

Episode #3- The Avenger

2010-01-17T03:59:00.001-08:00

When I was doing Fallout I was also doing another comic called Set Up The Bomb, the name sake of this website, and I was trying to find a way to make this comic darker and edgier compared to the light hearted nature of SUTB and I found using the oil pastel too gave it a little grittier of a look. And as a result I was happy. This page is maybe the most successful I was at capturing this look and will be seen again when Singularity officially start

Episode #2- Is That A Fact

2010-01-17T03:35:00.000-08:00

If you read Super Drama's Fallout Preview then these two characters will look strangely familiar. In fact, they probably look familiar without the prior SD knowledge. So these Fallout previews/flashbacks will update daily on Monday-Friday and then the actual series will update daily Sunday to Sunday

Episode #1- The Man Called Fallout

2010-01-17T03:21:00.000-08:00

And here's where the Singularity Saga all started. Back in 2008 (holy shit long time ago right?) I resurrected the story of an old superhero I used to draw called Captain LaserMan. Right off the bat you'll notice that Fallout's original colors were black and green (Captain LaserMan was purple and gold) and even though you don't know what Singularity looks like these are his humble beginnings.

A Thought On Webcomics

2010-01-17T00:03:00.000-08:00

I haven't taken too many business courses in college yet but I'm pretty sure pissing off your customers is always a bad idea. So here I go committing webcomic suicide in a few short sentences. BUT if you read the whole thing and not just base your thoughts off the following quote then maybe we'll be fine. But this is the internet and you only read the first two lines of anything so whatever here we go.

"Least I Could Do" is the simultaneously the best and worst webcomic I read.

Maybe the conflicting adjectives there will keep you a little longer. But yeah. I just called out one of the biggest webcomics on the net. Me, Eric W. Merritt writer of a comic series still in its infancy. By no means do I hate LICD but I guess since I've started reading TV Tropes and have been looking at webcomics in a different way in the hopes to make my comic better I've noticed stuff. Yeah, stuff. I'll be more detailed later. If you're even still reading and not just scanning.

The first red flag with LICD came up a year or so ago when Rayne was at a comic convention and he meets webcomic artists. Sohmer spends a week or so of Rayne just brutally putting down the guys and eventually summing up the whole thing with one quote "Webcomics suck." While the forums found the series a sort of funny self-depreciation I could only think one thing.

"What an asshole"

But I mean doesn't he deserve it? Not to be called and asshole but to have that attitude. In retrospect I think it showed how us new webcomic artists how we just jump in the genre and jump out without really considering our readers. (Referring to the strip where he calls out a webcomic artist about missing updates). So much has Sohmer been on the ball about hitting that midnight mark on the dot that one day he was an hour or so late and I was annoyed. I talked to my brother about it and I found it silly. I, someone who ritualistically (working on it. Sorry) gets his comic up seven hours late, was annoyed that Sohmer the guy who's made it in this field was maybe 90 minutes late. But he's made the webcomic profession...well professional and that's the standard I hold him to. And I guess that's the standard I one day want to hold myself to and should expect my readers to.

I guess long story short Sohmer is an asshole for his condescending attitude towards new webcomics but he's also sorta earned the right to have that attitude since he made it. And to us to new webcomickers, I say it's a sort of a challenge. He can only rip on you if you're doing something wrong. If I miss an update, I leave that opening to be attacked. If my characters are all drawn the exact same way or have the same attitude or the story on whole is overdone or unbelievable I leave that opening.

So I guess thanks and fuck yous are in order. Oh and while I would love all the added press from being personally chewed out by Sohmer (big ego I know) don't go running around posting this without reading the whole thing first okay?

And I think that's enough webcomic suicide for one night

UNT, Until Next Time
Eric W. Merritt

The NBC Situation

2010-01-15T11:58:00.000-08:00

Man I really want to vent about the bullshit that's going on at NBC. But how? If only there was a way I could write a post somewhere and people from miles and miles away from me could view it. I suppose if I had enough posterboard and a large enough marker I could maybe post something from my apartment.

Eh until I figure that out I guess I'll just use this blog.

Okay first thing is first. I am without a doubt Team Conan. I will be honest, I didn't watch the Tonight Show under Jay Leno and I don't think I was alive when Carson ran it (or if I was I was a little baby). But from Conan's first show with President Obama I was hooked. I used to only watched cartoons (School Rumble, Samurai Jack...Cow and Chicken and really any of the Cartoon Cartoons) and sports. That was it with me and TV. I didn't get into sitcoms or TV Dramas. I guess part of that could have been my raising. When I was little (seven or eight) me and my mom would watch Price is Right and Jeopardy together after which soap operas came on and my mom would make agonizing sounds and declare we were bad people if we watched Soaps.

So The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien was the first show to really break me out of that routine of cartoons and game shows. He was funny and dynamic and I jumped on the train quick. My dad said CoCo wasn't all that and Jay Leno was better. I scoffed.

I had no idea I would get to see them side by side. Leno had retired right? So why was he on at Conan's time slot? I had missed a week or so of the Tonight Show thanks to being buried with school matters and turned the TV on to watch Conan only to see Big Chin was on. I was confused and annoyed but I sat and watched anyway. Leno had a good open sketch.

That was it.

Sure headlines is good for a chuckle every now and again but he's too dry and at times inaudible for my tastes.

So what's the main reason I dislike Leno? The same reason I hate Brett Favre. No not that they're both playing the Cowboys this week. I hate when someone retires, let's an organization prepare its future and then tries to pull a mulligan throwing a cog in the whole works. Damnit if you retire, stay retired. Or at least don't screw the people who built you up and who you raised to take your place in the process.

I know it probably won't matter much in the long run but I am boycotting the SHIT out of NBC after Conan leaves. According to NFL.com the next time the Super Bowl shows on NBC will be 2012. I guess I don't have to watch NBC for almost two years.

As for Conan, I hope he stays somewhere with basic cable (FOX, CBS, ABC would be nice) so I can keep watching him on my little TV in my college apartment.

UNT, Until Next Time
Eric Merritt

Hello Everbody!

2010-01-14T23:50:00.000-08:00

I noticed that all the webcomic artists I follow use Blogspot and not Wordpress. So I guess I'll follow like the sheep I am.

That admission was a lot worse on paper (screen?) than it sounded in my head.

So long story short let's do some intros...you first.

Mhm? That's interesting...oh y'don't say?

Okay if you're done talking to the screen like a crazy person...My name is Eric Merritt and I'm the one man machine behind Set Up The Bomb Comics (http://sutbcomic.com). Right now my main comic is Singularity, a superhero comic. I also do 24 Hour Challenges on the 24th of every month and draw a Sketchy Situation, a little doodle comic to get the juices flowing before I start drawing Singularity.

In non Webcomic news, I am a classic gamer (I own a NES and still play it to this day) and a Accounting major Sophomore at the University of North Texas. (Accountant and webcomic artist?) Uhm. That's all the intro I have for right now. You should probably just follow me and you'll catch on soon enough.