ZLM_Upkeep

 Bad beats, bro.

Zero Like Me #167:
Deal #2:
Upkeep

Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 3, Deal 2 in panel 4. Garry McGruder's our featured guest star, who's aesthetic is inspired by the Budoka creatures from Champions of Kamigawa set.

Also, in case it isn't clear, "glhfdd" (how I tend to end my letters of support) means "good luck, have fun, don't die." "<3" means "less than three" or whatever...

Fun Facts: Ok, so for today's final version, we're trying borderless panels and completely digital inks. I think it's looking pretty solid, and I think I'll convert all pages to this model for the print edition. [Post-SDCC Update: borders for all!]

My goodness, it takes forever to produce these pages, though--it was hard enough doing strips! It's so easy to get carried away with details and stuff once we enter the digital phase of production. But I have to make these look as slick as possible for Comic-Con, and fortunately I don't have an editor breathing down my neck, so this is pretty all right, all things considered.

Baa: This comic's final draft took a while to post because I seriously messed up my insides--I ate some bad cheese, it seems, and it felt like my stomach was slowly being shredded on the inside by the craggy shards of a broken bottle for a couple days, rendering me unable to do art for any real length of time. It was agony. By day two I just couldn't handle it anymore--I'm not so lactose intolerant I can't handle a good chunk of dairy, so I was at a loss as to what could be the problem. We eventually figured out that Tums pills would do the trick and they did. Such a relief. At one point I was literally curled over, gripping my stomach trying to figure out how to trick myself into sleeping off the pain. But, Tums! Who knew! Hope I can still go to town on dairy, though. Love dairy.

Anyway, although we're a bit off schedule, Friday's page will be up as soon as I finish pencils with the finals to follow soon after, so yeah.

Reuxben