No news would actually be—ooh! How cute!

Have you gotten tickets for Saturday’s Super Art Fight show in NYC? No? I know you haven’t, I’M WATCHING THE TICKET SALES. Buy them here!

Yesterday on Twitter this got posted:

This sign is supposed to show you which things are forbidden. But it actually creates the coolest dog ever. pic.twitter.com/kCL9RYnDWx

— SimonNRicketts (@SimonNRicketts) September 1, 2014

Because of it’s similarity to Jimmy the Murderdog, I got sent many links to it. Thanks to Systemics Tim Odell, Dann Malihom, Jamie Baldwin, Carly, and Rob Russell who all sent word of it my way. You know you’re doing something right when 5 people all send you a cool picture of a dog within 12 hours of its posting.

So here’s the Poochy of murderdogs, I’m gonna call him Benny. Benny the super rad dog.

Bike News…

If you hadn’t heard, my bike was stolen. And then probably sold. And then showed up near my office, as though someone had biked it to work and locked it up. So now it’s locked up, with my lock and someone else’s, downstairs. You can read all about it here. 

Super Art Fight News!

You’ve heard me speak—at length—about Super Art Fight. After being asked if it will ever come to the midwest, the west coast, Europe, etc., we have good news. We’ve brought it online. So we’ve brought it everywhere.

You can now watch Super Art Fights online in our first Online Invitational Tournament. Watch this episode below, and you can vote for the winner here.

We’re releasing a new episode every Tuesday for the next month, so you can follow all the action and choose the winners of each bracket.

I’m thinking of making this into a sticker.

Welcome to the first installment of “Ask Rossmom”, where people write in and my mother (yes, my actual mother) answers your queries about life, the universe, and everything! If you like it after reading this one, and want your own questions answered by my mom, write them to systemcomic@gmail.com, subject line “Ask Rossmom”. The first one comes from Jess:

Dear Rossmom,

I’ve heard you have an affinity for dogs. Could you please share your thoughts on Jimmy the murderdog? Does he represent a fear of dogs or a mistrust of animals? Why do you think there are muderdogs but no mudercats, muderrabbits, etc?

—Jess

Dogs are descendents of of grey wolves and wolves have a reputation as being carnivorous (think of Little Red Robin Hood); so, it seems like a natural progression.  I don’t think he represents a mistrust of animals.

A fear of dogs, well, no I don’t think that either; however, I can see how that could be an interpretation.  After all, dogs tend to go crazy at the sight of a mailman.  And, if you have a good watchdog, you’ll hear barking at the scent of a nearby stranger.  Even friendly dogs can jump on you to show their happiness at seeing you and I suppose that could scare someone, especially if you aren’t a dog person.  Hey, to carry it to an extreme, some people could be scared of dogs because of walking out of a room or house coated with fur–you never know. (I considered merely being frustrating.  However, I would never have considered giving up my dog because of its shedding.  Now, when it peed on any male who walked into the house, well, that I considered embarrassing, but still wouldn’t have considered parting with my dog.)

I think (although only Rosscott knows for sure) Jimmy represents an animal whose body can best fit pictures of guns and the name sounds a lot better than Jimmy the Murdercat or Jimmy the Murderrabbit.  Aside from that, cats would generally rather ignore you than attack you and a rabbit is thought of as a furry little adorable creature.

However, as I feel it is my responsibility, apparently there exists “leporiphobia”–a fear of rabbits.  It is rare, but it exists.  Not that this relates to that fear but rabbits “were considered rodents until 1912, when taxonomists put them into a separate family due to their unique teeth and diet.”members of the animal kingdom.

And, those are my thoughts about Jimmy.

Now available, a new shirt! It’s in preorder, so it’s cheaper now to get it than it will ever be ($15 plus shipping). The only catch is you have to wait until they’re printed, BUT it’s the only time I’ll carry women’s shirt sizes for just about forever. Check it out here or click the image blow:

Happy Monday, all! I’m just back from Katsucon, the first big convention of the year. A total blast at that! Here are some Katsucon highlights:

• Hanging out with old friends like Kev and Blondie (of the super-crazy Caf-Fiends), Marty (my co-host and writer of my nerd-source for news) and Nick (whose new comic is really coming together nicely) and Lindsay (who makes great coffee-related crafts), Jami (creator of Puppy Cow, yes I’m working on the book), Brian the official Super Art Fight photographer, Oni and Harknell, Kelsey (who scares me with her ugly Pokemon drawings), Bracco (the pimpiest shirt salesman I know), Chris and Barb and SAF logistics wizard Mike George (who has no website). Oh and Dern.
• Hanging out with new friends like Dani and Bill (creators of the great comic All New Issues) and Danielle “Girls With Slingshots” Corsetto. Getting to know artists is half the fun of conventions for me, since we get to commiserate on all the less fun parts of spending so much time comicking as well as the successes that happen along the way. And drinking.
• Chilling after hours with everyone drawing things that should not be named. Cartoonists after hours never stop drawing, and I never laugh as hard as I do being a part of these one-upmanship sessions.
• Our Super Art Fight show on Saturday. We had six amazing artists compete, including Frank “Liberty Meadows” Cho, who was kind enough to draw me and Marty as drag queens for the audience. I hear that artwork went for some good money in the Celebrity auction, which means that someone wants a picture of me in a bikini on their wall.
• Of course, to all of you who came by the table and came to Super Art Fight. Whether you bought something or not, thanks for coming by and saying hello. It’s nice to meet the people that read it, and I love the chance to talk about the thing I love doing (this comic) with people who love reading it. Thank you!

Hope to see all of you at future cons. This season is still coming together, but if you want me to attend a particular convention, drop me a message on Twitter or in the comments. See you Wednesday!

This is another true story (minus the miniature deer).

Oh and by the way! I was on the latest episode of Digital Strips talking about webcomics, Super Art Fight, and mostly reviewing one of my favorite comics, Yellow Peril. Also, Kleefeld did a great mashup of one of my comics. Check it out here.

You ever revel in being weird? Where? When? My long history of being weird dates back to being a huge Gonzo (of the Muppets) fan. It was even the basis for my college essay, which I guess turned out well enough. It did get me into college and all.

Howdy, Systemics! Have a good Thanksgiving?

First of all, an apology for the lack of comics last week. Due to a mixture of over the counter medicine, important real-life goings on, and some behind the scenes work on the HilariAwesome.com online store (more on that in a second) I missed both the Wednesday and Friday updates of the comic. My sincerest apologies to you fans who were looking for something to help get you through the day and found the website lacking. Hopefully this won’t happen again or any time soon.

Some Notes on the Store

There have been lots of goings-on over at the HilariAwesome.com store, the online marketplace where I sell prints, posters and shirts to help promote The System, try and make a little money, and even raise funds to help kick cancer’s ass. Those of you who have ordered from the store have been absurdly patient with my complete lack of any ability to keep a store running well and I know that some shipments have taken longer to get sent than they should.

The good news is all that is about to change, as I’m handing over the reigns of store management to The System’s own Rossmom. That’s right, my own mother is joining in the family business and will be starting to take over online HilariAwesome.com shipments in the coming weeks. Soon it will be her shipping things, keeping inventory, and kindly fielding all of your questions and comments on shirts. As much as I love talking to fans, I suck at doing everything by myself, and she was happy to help. So help keep a working mother employed and order something from the store, would ya?

Look Classy and Kick Cancer’s Ass

Time is running out to order either a Beard or LIMITED EDITION Moustache shirt from the HilariAwesome.com store through the end of the month. $10 of each shirt order goes to prostate cancer research. The shirts are the byproduct of myself and the amazing artist Bryan Prindiville, and it’s a topic we both care strongly about. If you’re thinking of ordering one for yourself or another for the holidays, place the order before the end of November to have the donation go through. So far we’ve raised a whopping $70, but I’d really like to make it to $100. Anyone out there need three or more shirts?

Two Shirt Redesigns Hit The Store

The “My Body Is Just a Filter” and “HELL-Vetica” shirt designs never sat right with me. They were awesome, but the sheer awesomeness factor was not as off the charts and/or “hizzy” that I had hoped for. Now’s your chance to get in on the ground floor of some truly amazingtasticness. COFFEE SHIRT» TYPOGRAPHY SHIRT»

Oh Yeah, It’s All On Sale TODAY!

All the shirts in the store are on sale through the end of Monday EST, with $5 off each and every shirt in the store (including the Beard / Moustache ones for cancer). If you’re going to place an order for the holidays, best do it today! GO BUY STUFF »

This is the last of a series of comics by my fellow webcomic creators and the creme de la creme of visual entries to the FutureWorldProblems contest I mentioned the other day. If you like this charming entry, check out the original post with FutureWorldProblems here, or the first comic on the subject here.

Today’s comic is by Bill “All New Issues” Ellis. I caught a link to Bill’s stuff through Girls With Slingshots a couple months back, and have been reading ever since. All New Issues is the tale of comic book collectors, drinkers, and graphic designers. You can see why I might be on board with such a comic.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bill (and seeing his cohort Danielle again) at Wild Pig Con 1 a couple months back and see them again at WPC2 a couple weeks ago. While their comic is only 40 pages in, it is off to a great start. Be sure to check it out here.

Tomorrow we go back to the normal insanity that is The System drawn by myself, though I admit I’m going to miss the #FutureWorldProblems posts. Have you been enjoying the guest time? Found any new comics to like? Like all the #FutureWorldProblems jokes? I’m listening, so post your thoughts in the comments.