I’m working hard to finish up the bonus material for the trade, and I think you’ll all be pleased with the surprises I have planned. More next week on what the volume will include… and maybe even some preview art!

Cheers,

Dave

So the Gate Keeper is dead, ‘Lil Griffin has been kidnapped, Griffin Prime is alone– dealing with the Gate Keeper’s death, Griffine is who knows where– looking for more Griffins, unaware of the tragedy at the condo…

See, I told you I’d be giving you a cliffhanger!

I’m hanging up my spurs for a few months; as you can tell from my previous posts, my role as Action Lab Entertainment’s creative director has proven to be more time consuming than anticipated. I literally have my hands in too many pies and need to step back for a bit. One of the main things I want to accomplish during the break is putting the STC collection out. It’s been a long time coming, and I want to finally be able to put this comic into print form. It definitely reads better in chunks, and I think traditional comic fans will like what I’ve done with STC. More on that next week…

I’m also working on several projects, all for Action Lab, that I think you’ll be interested in. In the coming weeks I’ll be able to post images. Check back soon. The Gate Keeper may be dead, but the Space-Time Condominium site will be very much alive!

Aw, fuck. It’s all downhill from here. Sorry, folks.

Who knew the Gate Keeper was a bad ass?! Be here next week as Season 2 barrels towards it’s shocking conclusion!

Griffine pops in to save the day! Hell, yeah! Look for the greatest rivalry in STC history to begin next week!

More from Wikipedia:

“The phrase jump the shark comes from the climactic scene in “Hollywood,” the third part (written by Fred Fox, Jr.) of a three-part episode opening the fifth season of the American TV series Happy Days in September 1977. In this story, the central characters visit Los Angeles, where a water-skiing Fonzie (Henry Winkler), wearing swimming trunks and his leather jacket, jumps over a confined shark, answering a challenge to demonstrate his bravery. The series continued for nearly seven years after that, with a number of changes in cast and situations.

Jon Hein, creator of the now defunct website ‘jumptheshark.com’ which popularised the term, explained the concept as follows: “It’s a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on…it’s all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it ‘Jumping the Shark.’ From that moment on, the program will simply never be the same.”

In a 2010 Los Angeles Times article, former Happy Days writer Fred Fox Jr., who wrote the episode that later spawned the phrase, said, “Was the [shark jump] episode of Happy Days deserving of its fate? No, it wasn’t. All successful shows eventually start to decline, but this was not Happy Days‘ time.” Fox also points to not only the success of the episode itself (“a huge hit” with over 30 million viewers), but also to the continued popularity of the series. “If this was really the beginning of a downward spiral,” Fox argues, “Why did the show stay on the air for six more seasons and shoot an additional 164 episodes? Why did we rank among the Top 25 in five of those six seasons?

So maybe there’s hope for Space-Time Condo yet. Maybe this really wasn’t a shark jump. In fact, maybe the whole premise of STC is that it’s just one big shark jump. Hmmm…

From Wikipedia:

“Jumping the shark is a widely used idiom, first employed to describe a moment in the evolution of a television show, characterized by absurdity, when a particular show abandons its core premises and begins a decline in quality that is beyond recovery.

In its initial usage, it referred to the point in a television program’s history where the plot spins off into absurd story lines, unlikely characterizations and rampant addition or replacement of characters. These changes were often the result of efforts to revive interest in a show whose audience had begun to decline.

The usage of “jump the shark” has subsequently broadened beyond television, indicating the moment in its evolution, characterized by absurdity, when a brand, design, or creative effort moves beyond the essential qualities that initially defined its success, beyond relevance or recovery.”

I think we’ve turned a corner, kids. It’s all downhill from here. More on Shark Jumps next week. And Action Lab announcements, too!

–Dave

Wow. I got this one done literally at the last minute. I’m posting it seconds after finishing the greytone shading. Deadline met!

Also, I just came to the realization earlier tonight that this is the 100th page of STC. This is officially the longest series I’ve ever worked on, surpassing my Special EDucation four issue miniseries by a couple of pages, and is a milestone in my weird little life. Woo hoo! Expect a bunch more before it’s all said and done, true believers!

See you next week,

Dave