I wanted to let everyone know that New Book Day #142 is going to be the last NBD. I have given this a lot of thought and the problem is time, or not enough of it. To do what I want with the comic and make it what it can be, I need to do things like have 5 strips a week, redo the website, add color, etc. That will bring in and retain readers. Right now, that is just not going to happen. Between work, school and life, I only have time for one comic a week. That equals no readers and working on NBD turns more into a chore than a pleasure. That is not something I want to happen. So I have made the difficult decision to end the strip.

This is probably not the end of Diego and crew though. Once I graduate from college I hope to rework and relaunch the comic sometime in 2011 when I have the time to do it properly, but nothing is set in stone. In the meantime I plan to pursue other types of art that I have been putting off due to the time spent on NBD and leave the website up for the time being as an archive of sorts.

Thanks to everyone who supported and read the comic since it launched in 2006. Your support meant a lot.

Thanks,

Dave

Writer – Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Artist – Paul Pelletier, various
Publisher – Marvel Comics
The Grade – 4.5 out of 5

For a while now, Nova has been the only Marvel book I have read in the “floppy” format. Everything else I wait for the trades as I refuse to pay $3.99 for a Marvel comic book on principle. So I have been waiting with baited breath for this War of Kings collection. It does not disappoint. In this massive tome, you get the War of Kings mini series, the prologue and epilogue, the Ascension mini series, the two Warriors issues and the Skaar one-shot all for 40 bucks. Not a bad deal at all.

The big draw here is the main War of Kings story, written by Abnett and Lanning (from here on called DnA) and drawn by Paul Pelletier. This is how an event should be done. All you need is in the main series since it tells a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. Not something you can say about the other Marvel events of late (*cough* Secret Invasion *cough*). The pace of the plot is perfect, the dialogue snappy and the characterization spot on. DnA would more than make Jim Starlin proud. The amazing art of Pelletier, who replaces Ron Lim as the go-to cosmic artist, is a thing of beauty. Not only can he draw, but more importantly Pelletier can tell a story. In books like this with a large cast, that is an important skill to have. Put together and you have a story more than worthy of the title “event”.

In addition, you also get the Ascension mini series, which works to redefine Darkhawk for the new millennia. It works on some levels and fails on others. It’s great the character is getting a second chance in the cosmic books, but the story hook that there are numerous Darkhawks in the galaxy is a bit tired. The two Warriors books are largely forgettable and the Skaar one-shot is just plain bad.

War of Kings is an incredible book. It’s a huge amount of material between two covers and most of it is well worth reading. You have two writers and an artist who “get” the whole cosmic aspect of the characters and have created a story that shines. Can you ask for anything more?

I just wanted to let everyone know that the awesome people over at Geekadelphia have written up a great review of New Book Day. You can read all about it here:

http://geekadelphia.com/2009/11/24/new-book-day-a-webcomic-by-philadelphian-dave-goodman/

I have been a fan of Geekadelphia for a long time now. It’s a great, well written site that I recommend to everyone. If you are a geek and you live in or around Philly, it is pretty much required reading.

So, why did I go “off the air” for most of September? After some thought, I decided that it isn’t really important why. I’ll just say that between life, work, school and NBD, things have been a tad hectic of late. The bottom line is that it was irresponsible to the readers and wrong. I’m taking steps to make sure something like this does not happen again. It’s kind of tough to build an audience when you miss deadlines (or entire months).

I hope you will stick with me. I have big plans for next year and I really think it’ll be the year NBD breaks out. I would love it if you all are along for the ride.

Sorry for the longer than expected hiatus. I’m planning to post a long winded explanation with next week’s comic. For the time being though, we are back on the air. New strips will be coming your way every Thursday like clockwork from now on.