New Strips Start on April 4th.

- Yes, I (now) know it's Easter.

- No, Kikka is unfortunately not a part of these.

I Might make a new Easter pic & post it before the week is done. I'd drop it on the release date but it kinda' doesn't work with the next strip. If you go back and read the last proper story strip, you'll kinda' see why. o.o

As for me, I got some stuff to do before I set up more strips and ride this wave a bit longer. My goal is to rebuild my buffer enough to where I have to write more stuff again. Seeing as I'm going to spend the night doing chores and not being at my Art Desk for a hot minute... you can guess what I'll be attempting for tonight.

I got an idea. Don't know if it'll work but I'm going to get it down on paper anyway and hope I still like it in a few strips' time when I'm ready to draw it. It's good to be kinda' sorta' back again.

'Till next time! = )

Ya' see that little message in the footer? The part about how it's powered by "a tweaked version of webcomicConfig"? Yeah... that's what I'm working on. I need to replace that.

A little context: Aside from a short period of time where I ran a Content Management System (CMS) that was based on it but was unfortunately a bust, I have used modified versions of webcomicConfig since I started the strip back in '06. It's the reason my back end - that part you folks never see - looks how it does with little notes on what not to do when typing these news posts and why I can't just upload early newsposts like I do with comic titles. Same goes with the comics themselves. I still have to FTP strips to the server directly instead of having a web-based interface like most modern things.

That's where a new CMS comes in.

Right now, I'm leaning towards Grawlix - a kinda' sorta' defunct system that was developed a few years back but still seems to be actively updated by folks - and ComicControl - the in-house system for the folks over at Hiveworks which they released for general use.

Here are the Pros/Cons of each...

Grawlix:

+ Current iteration seems to work at just about every setting I tried it on for PHP, from 5.3 (current) to 7+ (latest).

+ Simple enough to fit the current site's code or anything new I build to bring the strip up to modern standards.

- It's internal ad stuff is a bit confusing.

- Support is up in the air. The original project unfortunately fell through due to lack of financial support. Others seem to have taken it up but for how long?

ComicControl:

+ Slick interface actually gives you the options to set up more than one comic - both in titles and in the database itself.

+ Instant online access to a number of code features that I'd normally have to mess with offline and FTP back in via a simple interface or just straight up viewing the raw code.

- It's A Lot of information at once. Even for me. It's built for a different class of cartoonist - one with multiple series and multiple sites. Not a bad mark on its part but a bit more than I need.

- Has trouble working in certain PHP versions... like my current one. That means a swap takes the current site offline until the new one is live. And no A/B tests like I have in the past.

Note that neither of these takes them off the table. I like Grawlix 'cause I have time invested in it. Fun Fact: I tried to build something a bit ago that would work with it which ended up leading to my personal site's redesign. ComicCtrl is live and actively updates - as in it told me to update my version after I got it running properly. I am in that fun position of having options and it's a good place to be.

Either way I roll, I need to do a proper website rebuild soon. This place is running off of damn near 20 year old code that is Very much at its end of life. Since I'm nowhere near skilled enough to simply recode webcomicConfig so things will kinda' sorta' work for another two decades... I have choices to make.

That's about it for this update. I don't know if I'll have anything neat ready for the 27th but I will try to make a post for that day. As always: Stay Strong. Stay Safe. Wear a Mask.

'Till next time! = )

- Here's a link to the plain vers of this over on my Patreon. -> [Art LinkTastic!]

- And links to the finished images before I shoved them into a fake slide. -> [Yet More Art Linkage!]

I'm not going to pretend I know how long this filler pic will be live on the homepage for but I'm not going to let it sit there without a Little story behind it.

See, I've never really had a place for these two in the story proper. Red ended up going from "Girlfriend of a Werewolf" to "Werewolf Girlfriend" in the strip and Wolfie.... kinda' never made that leap. He's just sorta' been stuck in the Educational Booklet from years ago and as a reoccurring character along with his prototype vers of Red in various one-off pics. It was only in this past Drawlloween that I drew the couple in a situation that felt like it might lead to something more.

That reminded me of this old pencil pic I had done in 2019 that was sitting in my images folder labeled 'Sketch'. I was planning on using it for digital inking practice anyway and this seemed like as good a time as any to put everything into action. So I did the voodoo that I do fairly well on the image - inking, doing some simple coloring and aging effects - and was going to be done with it right there... until I remembered one of the many ideas I had for all of LUSR's fake educational stuff: A slideshow.

The pic's format wasn't right for doing a film-style slide but it would work if I built a frame for it. And that's how I got here. = )

I hope folks dig this as much as I did making it. I doubt I'll have any story stuff involving these two anytime soon but expect to see them again all the same. They keep showing up in random drawings over the years and the last person to do that has his name on this comic strip.

I'm going to get back to working on this last batch of strips. I will start posting the end of this story bit when they're all done to prevent these extra long gaps. As always: Stay Strong. Stay Safe. Wear a Mask.

'Till next time! = )