Masked Manor

Hi, gang. It’s been a restful couple of months for me, but many of you have been wondering when Season Three of Masked Manor will be starting. I’m preparing for the third season as we speak, and as part of that, you may (or may not) see some funky site behavior in the coming days as I upgrade some pieces and put some new features into place. Rest assured, the comic will be back soon, but on a slightly different schedule that will allow me to try some more dynamic ideas with the art and produce more extra content for you.

Thanks again for all your support over the past two years. I haven’t forgotten about you guys. Boris and the gang will be back very soon!

Hello, gang!

I’d like to bring to your attention a project that I’ve recently become involved in. Comic Creators for Freedom is a coalition of comic creators who want to help in the fight against human trafficking worldwide. Here’s an excerpt about the project, from the CCF website:

The Project:
Webcomic Creators from all over the world are working together on a single drawing which will be available as a downloadable wallpaper for readers who donate to our fund raising drive! January 9th – 20th! Want to participate? Find out what you need to do to get involved here!

My piece for the project will feature Meg, and I’ll be posting some related artwork on the site in the coming days. If this cause speaks to you, and you want to know more about how you can help make life better for a lot of innocent young people, please visit Comic Creators for Freedom to learn more about the project and the two charities involved. Last year CCF raised $15,000. With your help, we can make this year even better.

And finally, on an unrelated note, I want to thank you all for making 2011 such an awesome year for Masked Manor. I’ve appreciated every piece of feedback and it’s been a lot of fun taking the characters on such a crazy trip. I have some changes lined up for 2012, and I’m eager to push the comic in new and different directions. So, thanks for coming along for the ride once again.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. Happy New Year!

Hey, gang. I’ve received a number of reports from readers recently, indicating that they encountered an annoying and invasive full-screen pop-up ad while visiting Masked Manor. It seems that the problem has also been occurring on various other websites (a few fellow webcartoonists’ sites among them) who use the same primary ad network that I do. Thanks to some information on the problem posted by Brad Guigar at Webcomics.com, I’ve taken action to block the suspected culprit’s ads, as well as a host of other known malicious domains for good measure.

But this isn’t over. Here’s where you come in. If you encounter an invasive full-screen ad that effectively takes over your browser or serves up a similarly aggravating experience while visiting this site, please send me an email including as much information as you can, so that I can try to track down the problem and block the offending ads. If you can take a screenshot, that would also help.

My hope is that most of you won’t have to deal with similar pop-up ads on this site, but if a few sneak through here and there, please let me know and I will continue to do my best to stamp this stuff out. When you visit Masked Manor, I want you all to receive what you came here to receive: entertainment, not annoyance.

Thanks for your help!

Hey, gang. I wanted to talk about a couple of things, the first thing being the newly revised, expanded and embellished Season Two cast page. A handful of new characters have taken their turn in the spotlight since the last iteration, so I thought it was high time for an update. Check it out! You’ll probably learn something about the characters that you didn’t already know.

It’s also time for my long-overdue post regarding HeroesCon, which I attended earlier this month, albeit as an unassuming spectator. It was my first HeroesCon, and I have to say that I really enjoyed the experience. There’s something about the feel of the convention floor that you can’t get anywhere else, especially with such an abundance of artistry on display everywhere you look. Going to a con like this one is not only a chance to see some amazing work up close and personal, but also to connect with some really cool and talented people, not the least of which were Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots, Chris Flick of Capes & Babes, and the incredible David Malki ! of Wondermark. All of them were great fun to chat with and very encouraging, which drove home an important point for me: I seriously need to be exhibiting at HeroesCon (and other conventions) in 2012.

And so, it’s with this revelation, and with work on the first printed volume of Masked Manor already underway, I can confidently say that if you’re a comic convention fan and you plan to be somewhere on the East Coast at some point in 2012 for a con, odds aren’t too bad that you’ll see me in person at some point next year. That’s the plan, anyway.

I should also take this opportunity to plug an up-and-coming convention organized by a positively industrious friend of mine, Markell Lynch. The event is ConTemporal — a sci-fi / fantasy / steampunk convention that will have its debut in June of 2012 — and it’s already building up tons of steam. I will be there, along with the amazing Phil and Kaja Foglio of Girl Genius fame, as well as several other dignified guests. Check out the ConTemporal website for more information and keep an eye on this one. Looks like 2012 will be a fun year!

Now that I’ve had a chance to catch my breath after the big holiday and New Year’s rush, I thought I’d take this opportunity to mention a couple of things.

First off, if you didn’t catch it earlier, check out my guest pin-up at School Bites, which was posted a few weeks ago. And, on that note, you should also check out my guest piece today at Supernormal Step, posted as part of a week-long celebration in honor of the comic’s second birthday (congrats, Mike!). I had a blast working on both of these pieces, which are definitely a departure from my usual style.

I’ve also been thinking about offering prints of individual Masked Manor strips, but it’s going to take a bit of time to set it up. If you like the idea and you think you’d buy a strip or two, leave a comment here or send me a note via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook. The more replies I receive, the more likely it is that you’ll see strips become available for purchase sooner.

I’m also looking at offering some more extras on the site for you all, so stay tuned. I should have some fun announcements coming in the months ahead.