It looks like I won't be taking to much of a Christmas/New Years break after all! Yes, two weeks of comics coming up! Here's the details!

And then onto what's next!

Hiya, all!  So, remember the evil Stick Figure (of Dooooom!), aka my old helper Shirt Guy Tom?  <sound of crickets> Um, you know... really thin and twig-like, packed up shirts and books.... <more crickets>  Dammit, he did all sorts of stuff on the website for like, a thousand years?  Okay, fine. :)  Anyway, Tom and Mike (of Scandisco fame) recently decided to try their hands at iPhone games.  Tom says they just released their first little puzzle game, called Befuddled, on the Apps Store.  I don't even have an iPhone, so I'm not really sure what all that means. 
But Tom says:
Hi, everyone!  If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, and you liked me (or didn't despise me too much), would you take a look at our first game? It's 99 cents, not free, so I know that'll put some people off... but we'd really like to get reactions to it, so the more people who download it, the better.  If you're able to give it a rating -- it doesn't have to be 5 stars; if you think it's a one-star game, we'll cry on the inside, but we'd still like your review -- that would be awesome!  You can also see our (terrible, 1987-looking) website for it at http://inertsoap.com (courtesy of me and FrontPage spending 5 minutes last night; argh).  And if you'd like to try it, but you just can't part with a buck, Apple gave us a dozen "get me free" codes.  If you write to me at tricket@gmail.com, and we still have any left, I'll send you one.  Thanks!

So there you have it!  I still don't know anything about iPhone games specifically, but Tom says you should do it, and that's good enough for me! Trust me, we *really* don't want an angry stick figure!

The state of this here comic strip union 2009:
Hi, everybody! As last year started with a toe dipped in the bROKEN storyline, I knew this was going to be a big plot year for Sluggy Freelance. But it also saw a new site design (still a work in progress) a new store, and a shiny new Sampire.

New Website: Man, have we had problems! Defenders services went buggy, weekly mode vanished, all kinds of strange random nightmares kept popping up! However prior to that we had a situation where huge sections of the archive would just disappear for random people, and so much of Sluggy Freelance is built on past strips, it made the site unreadable for them. Having the archive system stable is the most important aspect of the site and that was broken for too long. Now we have a stable archive and have to fix everything else! ; )
Weekly Mode: This keeps coming up, and I have to assure you the plan is to put weekly mode back in. rit has it on his plate but he's focusing on other fixes right now, like the Defenders Join page being down last week. I'm a little bummed that, on his assurances, I made comments on the headlines and news indicating "Weekly mode will be back SOON". All I can say now is I WANT it back soon, and it is not off the table.
The New Store: Finally the store is back up and Kim is up to speed just in time for the holidays! And thanks to all the Sluggites who climbed out of the woodwork to make this holiday sales season so much better than last. Still we're making up for lost time while the store was closed so I'm still going to keep asking you guys to become Defenders, and for current Defenders to renew since there is no better way to keep the strip going so we can all see it to the end together. (If it ends, it's still years off, guys. No need to break out the Kleenex's just yet, unless run-on sentences make you cry in which case weep away).
Defenders Exclusive- The Sampire: The first Sampire comic book is a few pages from completion. I've been having a lot of trouble clearing work off my plate so I can give the ending my full attention. As I mentioned in the reactions thread, I need a "block" of time to work on it, and my schedule is all full of holes like Swiss cheese with no "blocks." I'm also considering instead of feeding it to you Defenders a page at a time, that it might be better to just finish the last few pages and give it to you all at once as the pacing of the story will really slow down. in any case I hope to have it finished by or during my Christmas/New Years break. And then it'll be back to the scripting table (which I keep next to my drawing table) to start nailing down Sampire Book 2. Oh yes. There will be more...
Christmas/New Years Break: As a heads up I'll be probably taking the last two weeks in December (Dec 21-Jan3) off. Why do I say "probably?" Because I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. The idea of "A 4U City Christmas" could be funny, not-filler, and very easy to pull off. I have a lot of options for non-filler Christmas stuff this year, actually. But I could end up displaying two weeks of doodles, giving me time to wrap up Sampire and still see my family on Christmas day. I will be winging it.

As far as 2010, I'll make no promises, but I will suggest that there will be more than a few surprises. And maybe some surprises in the merchandise department as well! Stay tuned.

Defenders who can't Log In:
Luckily I've gotten very few notes from Defenders having trouble logging in (less than ten in fact, once we fixed the case-sensitive issue). Unfortunately until rit gets me administrative controls over Defenders accounts I can't fix the ones who do. And new Defenders are running into trouble too. So if you run into trouble email me at:
defendersfix@sluggy.com
and as soon as rit gets me administration, I am on your case (in a good way)!

Shiny New Sluggy:
We rolled out the new site a month ago (I know, it feels like yesterday) but we're still having occasional issues. If you spot a bug of some kind you can report a ticket to us. We've set up a bug / issue tracking system, go here: http://sluggy.lighthouseapp.com/projects/34258-emergency-pants/tickets/new
To report a ticket; it just requires a free account. Thanks to everyone who have already submitted tickets. And yes, we all want weekly mode back! ;)

Become a Defender! Help Support the Strip
This page has all the details but I also wanted to mention “The Sampire” Defenders-Only Comic Book is going fantastically, with a new page every weekend! I’m having a lot of fun with this story, and I hope it shows.

Being a Defender isn’t only about bonus content, it’s also about saying thanks for the years of entertainment this strip has provided you. And it gives me the gift of continuing to provide it for at least a few more years to come, for everyone! Just fill out the registration form, and you’ll be taken to a page where you can pay via Credit Card (link on the bottom left) or via Paypal. Your account should be activated almost immediately!* Checks and Money Orders can be sent to: Sluggy Freelance, LLC PO Box 453, Denville, NJ 07834 Please include a valid contact email with the check, and please allow 3 weeks* for account activation! (I can’t get out to my PO Box every day and personal checks take time to clear.)

Donate! When I started my last “New Defenders Drive” I was surprised how many people simply wanted to donate completely separate from Defenders Membership so I set one up! If you do go this route please donate at least $5 otherwise I' won't see much of the money due to processing fees.

*IMPORTANT: Once you’ve paid, (and waited the three weeks if paying by check or money order) if you can’t access Defenders content or log in for any reason contact me via our email-form and we’ll take care of you! We’ve noticed sometimes the Paypal payments and automatic membership activation don’t synch up, and I don’t want anybody left out!