First off, I want to admit openly that I have been seriously slacking on keeping this blog updated. I apologize profusely and prostate myself before you (or is that “prostrate?”). I’ll work a lot harder in the future to be sure new visitors to the site in June aren’t seeing a blog about how I don’t think Y2K is going to be a big deal.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I want to let you know about a sweet new development in the life of George: The Unabridged George Dictionary. That, of course, is the title of the new George book I’ve been working on, and I fully expect it to be released for public consumption within the next few weeks or so. It’s going to be much bigger than previous George books, which are actually going to be discontinued in favor of it. The Unabridged George Dictionary will contain over 300 George comics, dating from the very beginning all the way up to around the end of May 2008. Also included will be several pages of extra stuff, including desktop wallpaper, shirt designs, and never-before-seen artwork. It will be around 100 pages and printed in glorious full color, and you’ll be able to have it shipped to your door for no more than $25…maybe less if I can find a cheaper printer! I know $25 isn’t cheap, but pound-for-pound this book will actually be quite a bit cheaper than the previous two books, which were much smaller, thinner, and still somehow pretty dang expensive. I’ll keep you posted and maybe even post a small preview of it in the coming days. Start saving your lunch money, kids.

So I’ve temporarily misplaced my iPod. I told you that little one-sentence story to tell you this next one: While looking for my iPod, I found a USB drive that was lost over a year ago and presumed gone forever. This is significant because this drive houses the only copies of about 8 George comics I did in the early part of 2007! For me, this is wonderful news because I want to put out a new compendium of George comics that will feature over 300 comic strips as well as other goodies, like comics I made in high school. With these formerly “lost” comics now returned to me, I won’t have to resort to using the low-resolution web copies of them, which look terrible in print. Anyway, I just wanted to share my little tidbit of good news. The iPod, however, remains to be recovered…

*UPDATE* I found the iPod. Oh joyous day!

I know it’s been a really long time since I posted any news here, and for that I apologize. It’s just tough to make news posts when there’s absolutely no news. I’m kind of sitting in the doldrums right now. However, there’s one tiny little thing that raised some concern for me a few days ago. Have you read this article by Mark Simon? It’s entitled, “Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art.” It’s a masterful piece of fear mongering, and when I first read it I recognized it as such. However, I still thought the base element of it was true; that is, that Congress was planning to pass a bill regarding “orphaned works” of art that would force artists, photographers, etc. to register every single piece of work they create or risk having someone come along and snatch it up to use it without permission–legally. However! Meredith L. Patterson has written an article which essentially proves all that stuff to be false. Look here if you’re interested. It basically says that Mark Simon’s rant is completely unfounded and blown way out of proportion, then provides supporting links showing such, which is comforting. I wasn’t really looking forward to individually registering 300 George comics with a private copyright office. So if you’re one of the people who has…expressed concern over Simon’s article recently, have no fear! Your art is safe. For now.

There are five new designs in the George store, so go check them out! They include “George & Dave: Buddy Cops,” “RSS Feedwagon,” “Caution: George Crossing,” “Chain-link Blues,” and “Sirloin & Guitaron.” They are all most excellent, and require your immediate and undivided attention, much like George Washington did.

Sorry to all those Internet Explorer users who tried to read the comic this weekend. I changed something in the code that, while fine on Firefox, totally obliterated the comic in Internet Explorer. I did that like, late Friday night, and finally my buddy Paul alerted me to the problem this morning. So it’s fixed now, and as compensation for all those users who were screwed out of viewing the comic archives, you can now view them twice in once sitting if you want. I know, I know, I’m too generous. But it’s my gift to you.