Things are happening! I’ve got the HTML / CSS / Javascript almost built out, and the joyous thing? It’s going to have MORE FEATURES than before!

• Controls on the left that scroll with you
• Lots of awesome CSS3 powering it for less images, smoother transitions, etc.
• MEDIA QUERIES. This probably doesn’t mean much to most of you, but here’s the skinny: The site will be built to know how wide the browser is, and update the design accordingly to better fit the space. It’s in progress now, and if you load the examples below you’ll see what I’m talking about. For now, it just kinda breaks when shrunk, but you can see a little about what’s going to happen. And it’s gonna be great!

• New Homepage
• New “Single News Post” Page
• New “Single Comic Post” Page

By the way, I know it’s broken in a lot of places (mostly with the media queries, aka when the browser is set to smaller than 950px wide). It’s still in progress, but I’m too excited about it NOT to share it. Stay tuned!

To be honest, I’m not sure why more sites aren’t doing this kinda stuff. I can only assume it’s because most webcomic people are a) poor and b) not web designers themselves. Still, lately I’ve seen a few inklings of the ideas I mentioned back in this post coming to fruition. Largely in the shape of Dueling Analogs’ new site (persistent elements! Oooh!), and also somewhat in PVP’s new site. Also, I have to give credit to BoingBoing, who just put in infinite-scroll on all their index pages, which is how my site will work as well.

And, in case you’re wondering, yes. I’m for hire to redesign your site, as soon as I’m done with my own. Shoot an email to systemcomic at gmail dot-com if you want to start talking.

1. I love them, and the people who write them. <3
2. There’s been a lot of spam comments coming through on the site, things like “I love your content, the way you describe the topic really intere/sts me.” I’ve been deleting them. In an effort to keep them off the site, I’m currently moderating all comments to keep the spam away. So yes, I read them all. Because I care.
3. If you know how to fix this, please tell me. I don’t think this is the best use of my time.

Hi Systemics!

First off, my sincere apologies about the lack of updates in the last week. And by lack, I of course mean “any”.

Last Sunday I started to come down with a serious throat infection and high fever that toasted me pretty thoroughly. A sickness I’m still recovering from. While I’m well enough to sit up in bed, put on pants, speak a complete sentence and swallow water (all of which are wonderfully great new experiences lately), I’m definitely not at 100%. Not to mention that I’m behind on over a week of not being able to do anything with my day job, the comic, or anything else in my life.

This isn’t the end of anything, but it is going to take me a few days to get everything back on track, and in the meantime please bear with me. I wish I could say this was my day job and my first priority, but truth be told it isn’t. So any emails sent, orders requested, and new comics are going to take a few days to get to. I’m working on it as fast as I can, while trying to recover from being really sick.

Other comics people, if you have the time and send me a guest comic, I’ll gladly post them.

See you all in a few days,
Rosscott

My laptop is officially on the fritz. I think it’s the display, but that doesn’t matter for now. I’m taking it in to get looked at and hopefully fixed, but until I do I can’t get the comic up. It’s not a hard drive issue (thank god) but it’s going to affect today (Friday’s) post.

If you feel like donating to the “Ross Will Probably Need a New Computer Since This One Is Out of Warranty” fund, feel free to make a donation via PayPal using the button below. Anyone who donates any amount will receive a custom comic that’s totally new and unseen by anyone else, and while I haven’t written it yet, I’m sure it’ll be amazing.

Of course if you don’t like the idea of a donation, you could always purchase a print from the HilariAwesome.com store. Or a shirt, but I really like shipping prints so I’m going with that.

I’ve seen a lot of comic artists agree, disagree, and criticize the idea of a “donation effort” like this, so let me just say this. I am lucky enough (unlucky enough?) to have a full-time job outside of comics, and while they won’t pay for me to get my computer fixed, I’m not in destitute and will be getting this computer fixed or replaced whether you donate a dime or not. There are plenty of artists out there without health insurance or who are unlucky enough (lucky enough?) to have the art of making comics as their sole livelihood. If you feel like people like that are more worthy of assistance, you will get no argument from me. If this rubs you the wrong way, don’t sweat it and come back for more comics on Monday. However, I don’t ask for much from Systemics outside of reading the comic, sharing when you can, and giving your opinions in the comments on things like shirt preorders and new designs. So if you feel like throwing a dollar or two my way on whatever credit card currently has “double points”, it’d be amazing.

See you all on Monday, if not sooner! I’ll update with computer-news once I have it.

All the traveling to and fro Austin, TX really wiped me out. Apologies for the lack of comics so far this week, but expect a new one Thursday morning (EST). In the meantime, here’s a cool picture from the panel I was on:

If you’re looking to see some comics, how about creating one! Here’s the artwork from System 289, how about rewriting it? Send me (systemcomic at gmail / @rosscott) your best and I’ll post on the site. Click the image (or here) for full size.

Going to conventions is hard work and what generally happens consists of the same cycle. I spend lots of energy preparing everything and running through all the logistics, then get to the show already exhausted. After a weekend of standing, trying to look awesome, schmoozing with fellow artists, fans and random passers by I come home exhausted. At that point, I promise myself and you that I’ll post a writeup about the convention, but after a weekend of not answering email, not sleeping and not drawing more comics I generally fall behind rather horribly. So here is a gigantic mega-writeup to cover 4 of the cons I’ve been to in the last couple months. Apologies in advance for forgetting to write about people / events / details. Conventions are a blur when I look back on them so I tried to hit the highlights.

If I met you at one of these cons, this is a perfect chance to say hi in the comments!

New York Comic Con (NYCC)

Most recently, as in 2 weeks ago, I attended the biggest convention of my life. I don’t mean figuratively, I mean that completely literally. Up until NYCC the biggest convention at which I had ever exhibited was Otakon with over 20,000 attendees. NYCC hits a number in upwards of 100,000.

At this point I have to pause to say that I did three things that were essential to making the weekend a success:

1. I had gone 2 years’ before with Internet superfriends Marty, Nick and Dern and therefore knew where it was, what the crowd was like, and generally what I was in for. Otherwise the sheer size may have blown my face off.
2. I split a table with Applegeeks’ artist extraordinaire Hawk (along with his awesome friends Jess and Jean), which kept me sane, gave me a few breaks without leaving the table empty, and brought the price on a table down from “absurd” to “high”.
3. Finally, I set up a new convention favorite of mine known as the TOWER OF COMICS™. This involves putting up lots of prints of various System comics in a giant tower and at a large size for people to come by and read. This was hugely successful and constantly drew crowds over to come read comics, laugh at a few and sometimes even buy one to take home. You can see it slightly in some of the pictures below.

Outside of those events, it was a blur of a weekend. Thanks so much to all my friends and fans who stopped by the table, whether to buy something or just say hi. When doing any convention you find yourself staring at a sea of people, but seeing some friends in the crowd really helps break up all the insanity. Thanks to those of you who said they were a fan, and to those new ones out there who took the time to come by. I’m looking at you, girls from San Francisco.

Some other highlights from the con include dinner with the Least I Could Do / Blind Ferret gang which, in case you didn’t know, includes an entourage of about 10 people. I have no pictures from this event but according to witnesses we had a good time. All I can say for certain is about 20 minutes where the entire table was talking about Super Art Fight. That was a good feeling.

Saturday night was a chance to dine with a few of my old friends including Christiann from Sticky Comics, Bree from SDCC (who drew me into this comic), Ami from Glass Urchin, the gang from Digital Pimp Online and I’m throwing Caldwell in there too, because he came by and is awesome.

Attending panels? Hah. Like I had time for that.

Oh, and what’s that? You saw me at the Cyanide and Happiness table? Yeah you did. Here’s me drawing wangs with the gang:

Finally, thanks to my parents and my good friend Kimmers, who made the whole weekend possible. My parents helped with all the logistics of getting all the supplies to the con, and Kimmers gave me a place to stay. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.

Wild Pig Con

I went there! It was fun! I spent most of it staring at this TV that my table was pointed at making fun of old Spider-Man and Thor cartoons with Dern and James Hatton. Rossmom even worked the table for a while, but nobody asked her to sign anything. I was disappointed for her. Also, I saw Fat Flash. Which has been my iPhone background ever since.

Intervention

We did 2 amazing Super Art Fight shows there. Fans came by. I got a table next to my friends Kev and Blondie from Caf-Fiends, and they stayed with me for the weekend. Nobody can have better friends than these two, they are amazing people. Not to mention Kev is insane. If he and Gary Busey were ever put in the same place, that place would explode and take about 4 square miles with it.

Otakon

I shared a table with Kev and Blondie. There was a fire alarm. I really wasn’t trying that hard to sell things because I was so tired, but I DID invent the TOWER OF COMICS™. It must’ve been successful, this badass girl dressed as monster-hunting Velma came by my table and I sold a “Beards Turn Laziness Into Awesomeness” shirt to a girl with no beard. Velma, if you’re out there, I miss you.

What We’ve Learned

Since this wraps up the convention season for The System for the year, here’s some behind-the-scenes recap:

• The TOWER OF COMICS™ is a must in the future. Will be trying to perfect it further.
• Sometimes, the convention doesn’t have a lot of traffic. That doesn’t mean you aren’t good at selling things, sometimes there’s just nobody around to buy them.
• I really need to finish book 1 of comics, if only to get people to stop asking me about it.
• I hate lugging around a ton of shirts. I either need helpers (that I can’t afford) or to only bring 3 or so shirts to a con.
• There are lots of you Systemics out there, and you guys come to cons. Which is honestly always a treat, as numbers do not accurately represent the fact that people come and read this site every day. It is always a heartwarming feeling.
• The new banner is sweet as hell. Did you see it? It’s in a lot of the pictures above.
• I miss Velma.

Thanks for reading this absurdly long post, guys! If you liked it or even just if you read it, post a quick word in the comments. In fact, if you ever met me at a convention, post that too! Was I awesome? Smelly? Did I have a sweet beard? Post your convention stories about me or any of these cons and your experiences!

Unfortunately no new comic today, but I’ll see you guys at New York Comic Con this weekend! At least, I hope I will. Be sure to come by my table, even if just to say hi, and you’ll get something for free. Come by the table and say the secret word “kerning” and get a free pin or sticker just for showing up. More info on the NYCC website.

Say in the comments if you are going to be at the con, and what you’re looking forward to. My table? Another table? A panel? Share with the other Systemics!

For those curious, here’s me and Rossmom prepping all the shirts / prints last night to get ready. This was at 3:30am, I don’t know why she was awake. NOT PICTURED: Rossdad checking his email.

Hey Systemics! I’ve got some things in the works and want your input, something I’m hoping to do more of going forward. For now, let’s talk about sharing for a sec. Your answers to any or all of these questions in the comments would help me help you to help me again. To sweeten the deal, if I get over 20 people to respond I’ll post custom artwork to this thread for all! So help a dude out and answer some simple questions as much as you feel comfortable:

• Do you ever share content from this site? Comics, blog posts, whatever?
• How often do you share stuff from this site with others?
• How do you go about sharing it? (Facebook? Twitter? StumbleUpon? Digg? Your tumblr / blog? A forum? Grabbing someone and having them look at your phone / computer?)
• What types of things do you find yourself sharing? Is there any sort of theme? (It could be “articles on design” or “comics with Jimmy the Murderdog”)

I’m going to take the answers and try to better set up the content to be shared the way you share them. Thanks, Systemics!

UPDATE: Since you guys were so helpfully amazing, here’s that custom piece of art I mentioned. This is from an upcoming postcard series I’m thinking of doing. Click on the tiny for the biggy.

Welcome to comic #400, and the 2-year anniversary of The System! I know what you’re saying, comic #1 was posted July 1st. True, but it went live somewhere around July 8th and y’know what? Close enough.

Since then we’ve seen lots of changes to the site, from some recurring characters to comics that have been across the internet and back (with varying amounts of credit thrown my way). I could not have made it this far if not for the help of my many friends (both those with websites and without) and fans who have encouraged and supported this project along the way.

Over the next few weeks you will start seeing some improvements around here, as some new personal opportunities have come up that will allow for some more time and effort to be put on the comic and its various accoutrement. If you’re a fan of the site and would like to do your part, check out the online store and consider supporting the comic and taking something home while you’re at it. If you don’t see something you like don’t worry, preorder for BOOK 1 of The System will be going up soon along with other pieces of amazingness.

For those of you less monetarily inclined but with plenty of free time, it always helps when you share comics on StumbleUpon, Reddit, forums, blogs, BoingBoing or any other sites you frequent. Or for that matter just participating around here by commenting on posts and talking back as I use this site (and Twitter, and Tumblr) to talk at you. I know RossMom always appreciates it, and at this point I think we can pretty much call her a moderator. And yeah, that’s my mom.

Also upcoming, I’m going to start posting a bit of a retrospective on how The System is doing in an effort to show you guys what goes on behind the scenes and also get some thoughts out. Posts about how I’ve gotten this far (if you call this far) and what I’ve learned along the way. For those who like that kind of inside baseball I think you’ll appreciate them. For those that don’t, well, there’s always the comic.

Speaking of the comic, can you pick out where all the panels are from? The art is all from previous comics starting between comic #304 and #399. See what you can do and post it in the comments!

Sorry Systemics, no Monday comic (obviously enough by now), but things will get back to normal on Wednesday. In the meantime, how about a quick dive through the comic archive? If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you!