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

Posting Schedule!

Howdy, folks! Just an FYI - the current Episode will end on Wednesday, March 17th, then we'll be taking a couple days off before Episode 40: "How I Broke OUT of Hollywood" begins on Monday, March 22nd!

I hope you enjoyed Episode 39 - I do believe it ran longer than any other PIRATE COVE storyline in history! Gotta check that someday.

Anyways. TTFN!

- J

Pirate Cove On Facebook!

Yep, I figured it's time for PIRATE COVE to jump on the Facebook bandwagon so git a move-on and become a fan! What will you find on PIRATE COVE's Facebook page? So far we've started simple, posting photos from our years at the San Diego Comic Con, the desktop wallpapers which were briefly available last year, and a gallery of the PIRATE COVE paperback covers. What else would you like to see there? Toss out suggestions! And click!

FACEBOOK!

Viva Las Vegas!

- J

WHO IS THE WABASH WHACKER?

If you've been following our humble little comic strip for the past few months, you just might be wondering exactly that! To help ya along, here's some of the information Joe's compiled over the course of his investigation:

The Attacks:

Confirmed Attack 1: November 13, 1964
Victims: Anthony Rivera (killed) & Alex Keith (survived)

Confirmed Attack 2: February 14, 1965
Victims: Bruce Ronson (killed) & Jeanette Foster (killed)

Confirmed Attack 3: May 15, 1965
Victims: David Underwood (killed) & Sandra Wagner (killed)

"Confirmed" Attack 4: October 3, 1965
Victims: Marion Rose (killed) & Jenny Clements (killed)
Note: Chief Inspector Gordon Grover believes this attack was NOT committed by The Wabash Whacker

Confirmed Attack 5: August 16, 1966
Victims: William Billsby (killed) & Meredith Brewster (survived)

The Suspects:

Robert Mitchell, cab driver. The first two victims of The Wabash Whacker were picked up by Robert Mitchell's cab on the evening of November 16, 1964 between 6PM and 6:15PM. Robert Mitchell claimed to have been playing cards with friends at the time of the attack and had reported the vehicle stolen at 7:55PM that evening. Two fellow cab drivers, Raymond Targos and Joseph Peters, confirm Mitchell's alibi. Mitchell was under police surveillance at the time of the second attack. Mitchell was officially dropped from the suspect list on February 17, 1965.

Earl Richards, drifter. Earl Richards confessed to being The Wabash Whacker even before his fingerprint turned up at the site of the second attack. In fact, Earl Richards had been confessing to every open murder case since he was released from prison in 1962 (he had been serving a brief sentence for accidental poisoning and had served an even briefer sentence in 1960 for public vagrancy.) Mr. Richards was held in custody for nearly four months before a third attack brought his confession into dispute. Mr. Richards was eventually released and removed from the suspects list on September 7th, 1965.

Jason Kipfield, short order cook. Marion Rose and Jenny Clements were hiking through the Wabash River Valley when they made camp near what is now the Kekionga Trail. Near Midnight on October 3rd, 1965, they were brutally beaten and left tied to a tree. They were discovered two days later. Marion Rose had died, but Jenny Clements lived long enough to describe their attacker as between 35 & 45 years of age, 6 feet tall, weighing between 200 - 220 pounds, bearded, and having heavy eyebrows. A tipoff from an anonymous caller brought Jason Kipfield to the authorities' attention on October 21, 1965. Kipfield denied any involvement in these killings and denied any involvement in the previous Wabash Whacker attacks. A search of Kipfield's home produced a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings on The Wabash Whacker and a pair of sneakers which were still wet from being hosed down. Mud residue from the sneakers matched samples taken from the attack site. Kipfield died on January 22nd, 1966 of cardiac arrest, nearly six months before The Wabash Whacker struck again. Although Kipfield could not have been The Whacker, Chief Inspector Glover believes Kipfield was the killer of Marion Rose and Jenny Clements.

Herman Hout, actor. Herman Hout was born on March 17th, 1924 and was stage acting by the age of 17. In 1956 he won the role of Captain Timber Ton on the weekly television series THE STICKY SEA MEN and also won the hearts of the American audience. The show lasted until 1963, after which Hout began acting in films. He never achieved the leading roles in his films and was instead relegated to sidekick or mentor roles. His reputation as a character actor increased over the course of the next three years but his acting career came to a screeching halt when he was questioned in connection to The Wabash Whacker murders. Herman Hout, it transpired, had visited the Wabash Valley to shoot films five times between 1964 and 1966, and each of those five visits was punctuated by a brutal Wabash Whacker attack. Although no charges were ever pressed due to a complete lack of evidence tying him to the killings, Hout's fame and the media circus surrounding him led to many believing he was, indeed, The Wabash Whacker. Hout made two failed attempts to revive his career and had a cameo role in 1986's feature film adaptation of THE STICKY SEA MEN. By 1999, however, dementia began to seep in and these days it is difficult to tell when Hout believes himself to be Captain Timber Ton and when he doesn't. He currently resides in Sherman Oaks, California.

Stay tuned to PIRATE COVE, folks!

Wedding Cake Topper

So, I'm getting hitched in a few months and I designed this wedding cake topper for our wedding cake. What do you think? Will the bride go for it? ;)

- J

Seven Years Later...

To publicly answer an e-mail I received early this afternoon, yes, I have been waiting to use today's comic strip since 2002.

And perhaps in another seven years, I'll actually get around to posting the Comic Con 2009 photos and wrapup!

- J

January 2nd, 2009: More STREET FIGHTER Rumblings

Wow. Lots of STREET FIGHTER fans out there! It used to be I would receive a few e-mails per week to talk about PIRATE COVE but lately all I've been getting are questions about STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI! Well, it should come as no surprise that I'm not allowed to speak freely about the film or give out detailed information, but I CAN confirm the following:

1. The trailer that has been showing up on Japanese sites was originally created by Fox, then dubbed & slightly altered for Japanese audiences. When Fox gets the trailer online and into domestic theatres, this is pretty much what you'll be seeing.

2. The movie is around 97 minutes long and rated PG-13. We HAD an R up until a few weeks ago, but FOX wanted a PG-13 release so we cut out a few moments of brutality. I expect there will be an unrated version available on DVD when that time comes.

3. For those of you who were concerned, no, Taboo does not sing in the film.

4. Since the poster has been spotted in theatres, I guess it's OK for me to post one! Enjoy!

And for those of you who come to this blog to read about PIRATE COVE, I'll see you on Monday with the next installment of Episode XXXVI: $1,984!

- J