This is one in the “Rules and Terms” series, aka “The System’s Guide to ______”. Also considered for the series on home ownership (maybe to be revisited at a later time):

• How and when water heaters know when to break.
• Why all home owners love to rub it in when something goes wrong and say things like “ah, the joys of home ownership”.
• The number of trips necessary to the hardware store to get what you actually needed.

Some Convention Updates

DINK! Denver! See you next weekend!

If you are in the Denver area (Denver! Yeah!) I’m coming to DINK, the Denver Independent Comics and Art Expo this weekend, April 14-15. I have never been to Denver for a show, and would love to see some of you there. I’m bringing books, prints, and hopefully shirts if I can get them all into checked baggage. I know my friends Nick and Danielle will be there, so come hang out with us. I have no idea yet where my table will be but if you keep an eye on my Twitter account, I’ll announce it when I figure that out.

Awesome Con! I did it, was of course awesome.

Two weekends ago, I had a table at Awesome Con, and met a ton of sweet people. To all of you that came by and said “oh yeah, I’ve read this comic before” or “I used to read this when I was in high school” (*cough*, Enzo) or “why haven’t I heard of this before? I can’t wait to read it” (which, if you’re now reading this, I assume you’ve corrected), a sincere thank you. I know this project is not what it once was to me. It’s turned from “maybe The System is my route to fame and fortune” to “maybe I can make a ton of friends making comics” which has been a much happier place for me, and not to mention more sustainable. But more on that another time. I’ve gotten discouraged in the past by my lack of huge readership numbers, as much as I know I shouldn’t. But conventions always help to remind me that one “view” is oftentimes one reader, sitting at home, who maybe hasn’t read the comic in a while but gets a laugh out of it. And that really is a great feeling.

PAX East: Old friends, sushi boats, and nobody died.

This past weekend I was with the Super Art Fight gang doing a panel at PAX East (no table, just the show), which was loads of fun. A huge shout out to our friends that came to the show to support us. Specifically Allison, Pete, and their crew of awesome people as well as Victoria, Alyson, both Nicks, Animal Jenkins, and their entourage of people. Together, we sunk a sushi boat. I’m not kidding!

Boat record: 15 minutes. #paxeast2018

A post shared by Ross Nover (@rossnover) on Apr 7, 2018 at 7:33pm PDT

That’s all for now, gang. See you next week!

Eventually, I’m sure the cup will run out. But in the meantime, it’ll be a fun ride.

Super Art Fight in NYC This Weekend!

Super Art Fight, the live-action art competition* I co-host and help run, is coming to NYC this weekend! We’re doing a show Saturday night at Palisades Bar and Music Hall, in Brooklyn. This is our first-ever NYC show, and we’re hoping it paves the way for many more.

We’re ART-FIGHTING against the College Humor team of artists, so you can come see:

• Caldwell Tanner,
• Amazing Super Powers,
• Nathan Yaffe,
• Jacob “For Lack Of A Better Comic” Andrews,
• and Julia Lepetit
• (aka the illustrators of College Humor and Dorkly)

get straight-up taken down to beat-town by the heroic artistic stylings of

• Jamie “Angry Zen Master” Noguchi
• Peet “Krod” Sketches
• and Michael “Baron Von Sexyful” Bracco.

I have a DRINK BOUNTY going for the night. If you come, and you tell me you came because of this post, I’ll buy you a drink for every friend you bring. Yes. Really. Bring 3 friends, get 3 drinks. Your friends get no drinks. They are your problem.

SO BUY A TICKET ALREADY HERE »

*Super Art Fight is “Pictionary meets pro-wrestling, where competing artists each round have 25 minutes to cover the same canvas with artwork and win over the crowd with everything they do. Every 5 minutes we spin the WHEEL OF DEATH, random topics that the artists have to work into the artwork somehow, somewhere. It’s funny, fun, and ridiculous. Check out a video of what that can look like here.

Jimmy the Murderdog is having that kinda day. He has that kinda day every day.

If you’re having that kinda day, watch this:

Like numbers 500, 400, 300, 200 and 100, another recap of what we’ve learned in the last 100 comics. I enjoy putting these together, but they do take quite a while. All the panels are from comics from the last 100 comics. Can you name where all of them are from?

Also, we have something else to celebrate! We also recently passed the four-year anniversary of the comic as well. 400 comics! That’s pretty good, right? That officially makes The System my longest-held job / relationship.

<I’ll insert more words about what it’s like to do 600 comics here soon.>

Anyway, if you want to help me celebrate, there’s a few things you can do:

• Share your favorite comics from the archive with friends.
• Comment on posts.
• Buy prints of any comics you like from HilariAwesome.com, our online store.
• Buy shirts from HilariAwesome.com, our online store.
• GET READY to give me more money, because I’m going to be launching a Kickstarter for The System Book 1 in a few weeks. As soon as the book is mostly built and I have a quote for the number of books, it’ll all come together. Stay tuned!

I think Dante would back me up on this.

This was fact-checked thanks to my good friends Spike Jetpack Solomon, Steven Motocross Fluffybutt, Riley Day, and Delilah Whatshername. Yes, they’re all cats. And, while adorable, they don’t give a f*%k about you.

Clearly I now need to make a t-shirt with an adorable cat on it that says “I DON’T CARE IF YOU LIVE OR DIE.” I may just do that.

Speaking of cats, if you like cats on t-shirts, you may want to check out Professor Internet.

This one is dedicated to NextBus, DC’s public transit system WMATA, and the 15% of all busses on the timetables that actually don’t exist when you go to wait for them.

Oh yeah! SPX is this weekend here in the DC area! The Small Press Expo is a pretty amazing show, and performing as part of the Ignatz Awards is none other than SUPER ART FIGHT. If you are going to SPX, be sure to come by the Ignatz Awards and stay for our show! Should be about 10pm and runs about an hour.

If seeing me make an idiot of myself in front of a bunch of comic industry professionals isn’t enough, the show itself is also really great. I always find something new to like at this show, and attend just to walk around every year (though it would be nice to have a table).

Next year. I hope.

I feel this way all the time. I call it “giving a shit”. Also, this is a pseudo-followup to this comic from Memorial Day a few years ago.

Meanwhile, the other day I made a quick poster and posted an image of it online. People wanted me to make it for sale, so I did! You can now buy it from the HilariAwesome.com store here. Or you can click the image below. If you’re not familiar with the source material, first read this and then watch this (that second one NSFW).

Buy this…

10,000th Tweet Day

Celebrated by: Reminiscing about tweets past. Singing songs like “Auld Slang Syne” and drinking. Silly hats are a must.

Traditional gifts: A new charger/battery for your Twitter-choosing device of choice. Cards should be no more than 140 characters. Sending photos of gifts and well-wishes via TwitPic and yFrog.

AIM Screen Name’s Bar / Bat Mitzvah

Celebrated by: Attending the event where your little boy screen name becomes a man (screen name). Witness as DrkwngDck1245 comes of age as he chats those on his buddy list with the chosen reading from the Torah, or more likely a link to a funny video that’s secretly a way to send your friend a picture of something they didn’t want to see.

Traditional gifts: Skype credits in multiples of 18, or a really nice Wacom pen.

Computer Warranty Expiration Day

Celebrated by: Wearing black, and looking back on the good times. The minute your warranty expires, your computer will start showing signs of age. The only real good news is the older your computer gets, the sooner you get to a new one.

Traditional gifts: A new computer.*

*Send money to systemcomic at gmail dot com.

What new holidays do you celebrate?

I woke up and made my bed, then I thought about doing this instead.