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| Interviewed on the DataNodeOne podcast | Feb 28, 2020 8:22 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:I was interviewed by host DeaconBlue for his DataNodeOne podcast (episode 9). : )
The interview is not about A*, but rather about my work on the massively multiplayer role-playing game The Matrix Online ("MxO"), which I worked on for some years, right up to the point where I left—the game was shutting down—and started A*. I started as the development test lead for the game, worked my way over to writing missions, and, as everyone else gradually left or was let go, eventually ended up as the sole remaining designer on the game, mostly through sheer stubbornness I guess. My internet handle as a developer was "Rarebit," and that's how I was known to players, including DeaconBlue.
So the interview covers my work on the game. Here are a few examples of stuff I did as a designer:
^ A gang of hostile programs I introduced to a high-level area of the city in the Matrix. White-haired young women, how odd.
^ Playing characters from the second Matrix movie—the high-living rogue program known as "The Merovingian" and his wife, Persephone—in a bit of a spat during a story event with players.
Working on MxO taught me I could tell stories—sci-fi stories, no less—and even got me back into drawing, as I found myself drawing scenes and characters from the game's story over the weekends; that was where I developed the black and white "lasso tool" style I would use for the first episodes of A*. Some of those MxO drawings are in my deviantArt gallery. And being able work with the Wachowskis' appointed writer, veteran independent comic writer/artist Paul Chadwick, didn't hurt either!
For this DataNodeOne interview, I had to dig up the old microphone (it's a Blue "Snowball") I used to do the voice-overs for the original animated A* episodes; and I have to thank DeaconBlue for the interview and getting me to do that, 'cause it's inspired me to start doing live commentary for the videos I put up on my video game YouTube channel—and if nothing else that's helping me learn how to speak better on the air, at least I think it is; for instance, I've managed to stop doing the little lip-smacking thing I was alarmed to hear myself doing from time to time in the interview! Yeesh. Some kind of nervous tic, I suppose. : o
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Assist satellite & biggest space explosion | Feb 27, 2020 8:02 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:Space news mini-round-up!
- "Docking gives Intelsat telecoms satellite new lease of life" (BBC) - Northrop Grumman's "Mission Extension Vehicle-1" satellite successfully locked itself onto an expiring Intelsat satellite, and will act as its navigation and thrusters as it moves it to a new orbit. The docking is a first for commercial satellites. Once Intelsat-901's extended mission runs its course, MEV-1 will put it in a "graveyard" orbit, then move on to another old satellite that needs a boost.
- "Record-breaking Explosion by Black Hole Spotted" (NASA) - NASA says they've spotted—by X-ray, radio, and infrared telescopes—a hole in an intergalactic gas cloud—in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster, 390 million light years away—as wide as 15 Milky Ways, and surrounded by electrons accelerated close to the speed of light. The scientists say this cavity must have been blown out by relativistic jets from a truly massive explosion, one that would have required five times the energy of the largest remnant spotted heretofore.
The source of the explosion is thought to be the supermassive black hole at the center of a "large" galaxy that is at the center of the Ophiuchus cluster. I can't seem to find any details on this galaxy, other than a mention in this new article on The Guardian saying that its supermassive black hole is 10 million solar masses.
Which is not all that big as far as the biggest supermassive black holes go. Sure, it's about 2.5 times as massive as Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, but about 6,600 times smaller than the most massive black hole known. But those haven't left evidence of bigger explosions yet, so, nyah.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| 1953 Polio Precautions | Feb 26, 2020 8:46 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
^ From a public service announcement in Lorna the Jungle Queen #4, Marvel Comics, December 1953.
^ This came up by chance today in my folder of some 1,366 remaining emails with attachments of interesting comic page screenshots I sent to myself; I'm slowly going through them in the order in which I originally read them.
"In the United States, the 1952 polio epidemic became the worst outbreak in the nation's history. Of the nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis." "In 1977 there were 254,000 persons living in the United States who had been paralyzed by polio." "In 2018, there were 33 cases of wild polio and 104 cases of vaccine-derived polio [worldwide]. This is down from 350,000 wild cases in 1988." (The vaccine-derived cases occur in 1 out of 750,000 recipients of the oral polio vaccine; "most industrialized countries have switched to inactivated polio vaccine, which cannot [cause paralysis].") "Poliovirus is usually spread from person to person through infected fecal matter entering the mouth." (Wikipedia)
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| The A* episode 39 e-book is now available! | Feb 25, 2020 7:42 PM PST | url |
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Added 2 new A* pages:The A* episode 39 e-book is now available from the episodes & e-books page, in case you like your A* episodes in downloadable .pdf format. ":)
Supporters of the A* Patreon campaign at the e-book level and above will get their complimentary download link for the episode emailed to them at the beginning of next month!
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Ep. 39 ends! I'm taking Monday off! : P : D | Feb 21, 2020 8:21 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:That's the end of episode 39!
Episode 40 *would* start on Monday, but I totally overlooked that Monday of *this* week was one of my precious federal holidays—President's Day, known in some states as Washington's Birthday, etc—and I worked *gasp* right through it! : o So in order to square things with the feds (and there isn't another holiday for months! : ooo; hm also this explains why my neighbors were extra noisy this past weekend...), I'm taking this coming Monday, the 24th, off.
So, episode 40 will start Tuesday! : D We'll be digging a little deeper into... Well, you'll see! ^_^
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Busdriverman misses Superman | Feb 20, 2020 8:25 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
Linda Lee / Supergirl takes in the action from the seat in front of the emergency door in "The Three Super-Heroes," from Action Comics #267, August 1960. Script by Jerry Siegel, art by Jim Mooney, letters by Joe Letterese.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Let the ink run | Feb 19, 2020 8:20 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
^ Ink sketch for a reader supporting the comic through my Patreon campaign. : ) Thanks to all my readers who continue to make this comic possible! : DD
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Think I'll eat some worms | Feb 18, 2020 7:19 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
From "Prisoner of the Super-Heroes" in Adventure Comics #267, December 1959. Pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Stan Kaye.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Little do they suspect the rubbish can | Feb 17, 2020 8:29 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
From "The Origin and Powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes" in Superman Annual #4, Winter 1961. Pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Only a few lines left, gotta make 'em count | Feb 14, 2020 7:15 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
^ Sketch for a reader supporting the comic through my Patreon campaign. : ) You can contribute to A* through Patreon for as little as $1 a month. Thanks to everyone who's helping me make the comic! = D
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| A fight in two panels | Feb 13, 2020 8:02 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
From "The Roller Derby Racketeers" in Headline Comics #70, March-April 1955. Art by Marvin Stein.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Just a sketch y'know | Feb 12, 2020 8:31 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
^ Sketch for a reader supporting the comic through my Patreon campaign. : ) Thanks everyone who's helping me make the comic, even $1 a month makes a big difference! : D
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| The glory days of derby | Feb 11, 2020 8:50 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
From Headline Comics #70, March-April 1955. Art by Marvin Stein, letters by Ben Oda.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Superman & gangsters had so much fun | Feb 10, 2020 7:53 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
From World's Finest Comics #2, Summer 1941. Script by Jerry Siegel, pencils by Paul Cassidy, inks possibly by Leo Nowak.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| A* is looking for a print publisher | Feb 07, 2020 8:05 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:I'm looking for a publisher to put A* in print!
If you're a publisher interested in putting out A* graphic novels, get in touch with me by email (smbhax@gmail.com) or Twitter (@smbhax). I do need to see some revenue from this, so please, serious inquiries only. It does not have to be in the US; I'm interested in getting A* published anywhere in the world.
Supermassive Black Hole A* is my ongoing comic, with a new, watercolor, wide-format single panel page every weekday; you can read all 3600+ and counting A* pages in order on smbhax.com.
If you're someone who *knows* a publisher who might be interested, please feel free to let them know about A*. And if you're someone who knows something about getting published in print—getting picked up by a publisher, I mean—and would like to share your wisdom with little old me, yes, absolutely do. : )
And as a reader, what sort of print form would you like to see A* in? Page count & format, book format, size, panels per page, which episodes you'd like to see first, etc—I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| What a Man | Feb 06, 2020 7:46 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
From a full-page ad for the "Combo" cigarette lighter, in Black Cat #26, December 1950.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Put on your bodysuit and flex | Feb 05, 2020 7:26 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
^ Sketch for a reader supporting the comic through my Patreon campaign. : ) Thanks to everyone who's helping me bring you the comic day in and day out! : D
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Captain Tootsie strikes again | Feb 04, 2020 7:37 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:
From the full page ad comic "Captain Tootsie Tames Lion," "by Bill Schreiber," in Black Cat #26, December 1950.
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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| Drawing speed is variable | Feb 03, 2020 10:45 PM PST | url |
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Added 1 new A* page:Gahh! Too slow! : o
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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