Good news! More good news! Great news! And... news.

Howdy, folks! I've got some good news, more good news, great news, and some news that's just news.

Good News 1: PIRATE COVE is about to start a new episode! Woo hoo! And I must admit - I haven't had this much fun plotting out an episode in quite some time. So let's cross our fingers and hope it translates to comic form half as well as it looks on paper!

Good News 2: PIRATE COVE will once again be attending the San Diego Comic-Con in 2011. We'll be in our usual spot: Small Press Pavilion, Booth L-9. We'll have giveaway books, and the usual 'for sale' items - books, t-shirts, buttons, etc. Hope to see you there!

Good News 3: (The Great News) Sometime within the next few weeks, a baby cartoonist will be born! Yep, I'm gonna be a daddy! My wife is now in her 9th month of pregnancy and our as-of-yet-un-named little boy is due at any second. I suppose it goes without saying that I can't WAIT to meet him and can only hope he grow up to be a comic-loving maniac like his old man.

...and now for the news that's just news: Take the first two "Good News" items and compare them against the third "Good News" item. Notice any potential conflicts? Well, I do. The second my wife & I found out she was pregnant, we realized the due date was only a scant few weeks before the San Diego Comic-Con. Thusly, depending on when the boy arrives, I may not be in attendance at the show. I'm hoping that, should worst come to worst, I'll be able to attend on Saturday and Sunday, but we'll see. I'll keep y'all posted! But that doesn't mean PIRATE COVE will go un-represented at the show until I arrive! Death himself (in this case, Randy Carter) is ready to hold down the fort with the help of some friends until I arrive!

In addition, this means that regular comic strip duties may fall by the wayside for a week or two once the baby comes bouncing through the Play-Doh Fun Factory of life. I've been spending so much time getting everything ready for Comic-Con that I've run out of comic reserves. The new storyline may be plotted out and several strip scripts may be written, but I haven't got a single strip penciled for it yet. So, expect some delays either later this month or early next. Shouldn't last more than a week or two before we're back to our regular schedule!

So there you have it! All the news that's fit to print! Thanks for your continued support of PIRATE COVE and I'll let ya know when baby Joe arrives!

Viva Las Vegas!

- Joe