I’m pleased to announce that the first mini-comic from WishTales Publishing Studio is Rag the Viking, co-created by my business partner Tom Dell’Aringa and me.

The cost, including shipping is $2.50 to the US, $2.75 to Canada and $3 anywhere else.

You can buy it now at the Marooned store page.

The Webcomic List has announced their winner of the Best Webcomic of 2009. And the winner is… Moon Town!

Thank you, all. I’m honored!

See the complete list of categories and winners at the official Webcomic Awards website. or you can just read the list below.

Best Comic:

• Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell

Best New Comic:

• Moon Town by Steve Ogden

Best Gag-a-Day:

• Girls with Slingshots by Danielle Corsetto

Best Longform:

• Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell

Best Colour Art:

• FreakAngels by Warren Ellis

Best Black and White Art:

• The Abominable Charles Christopher by Karl Kerschl

Best Non-Traditional Art:

• The Dreamland Chronicles by Scott Christian Sava

Best Writing:

• Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell

Best Character:

• Digger of Digger by Ursula Vernon

The original street date for Moon Town book #1 was JAN 15, 2010. However, I took a small detour into tweaking several of the drawings, just little things I wanted to fix (mainly the eyes) so assembling the book has taken a little longer. You can find out more about my progress at Moon Town, but feel free to enjoy the cover preview above while you’re at it.

The latest edition of the Steve Ogden Braincast is up online – the final BrainCast of 2009. In this episode, “Breaking Lane”, I celebrate the completion of Moon Town Book #1, and suggest it’s time you stop asking other people’s opinions and just do what you want. Music by Tim Larkin.

There are two new comic collections are now available for your comic buying and reading pleasure:

First, David Reddick’s first Legend of Bill comic is taking pre-orders. This comic will include a bunch of Legend of Bill strips, and a few extras, such as a 5-page comic-book format story which I wrote, as well as a three page short story I wrote and illustrated. These stories are not available elsewhere, so I would encourage you to snag yourself a copy and see what we’ve been up to lately.

Second, Brock Heasley’s first SuperFogey’s bonus-sized comic collection is taking orders. Lots and lots of extras in this bonus collection. The list reads like a list of extras on a collector’s edition DVD. Nice! In somewhat related news, I’ll actually be collaborating with Brock on a very cool upcoming comic. We’ll be making an announcement in a few days.

My buddy David Reddick is the midst of a much-needed break, and a few of us comics geeks are filling in for him over at Legend of Bill. So we can avoid the usual non-sequiturs and random, haphazard collection of nonsense one gets in a batch of guest strips, I wrote a series of strips for him, and a talented bunch of artists are drawing them. So far we’ve had Tom Dell’Aringa of Marooned, and Chuck Whelon of Pewfell. We are now up to #3 of 8, by Steve Lecoulliard of Much the Miller’s Son fame. Go over and check out the Festival of Guests.

Happy Friday, everyone! Bubblicious is a stop motion animated video made with foam-core and printed facial elements. Oh, come on, this is seriously fun. Rare to see an animation that shows you how they’re doing it while they’re doing it, too, and without detracting from the fun. A must-see.

Thanks to Tim Larkin for the link.

Duncan Jones’ Moon. Ah… in Hollywood-speak, this film is indie all the way, Moon Town meets Solaris meets 2001: A Space Odyssey. And it stars no less than Zaphod Beeblebrox himself, Sam Rockwell. In other words, it has my attention! The premise is solid, the character bits seem well achieved, and the trailer – holy mackerel, great production values. This thing looks ready-for-prime time, and this is a first directorial outing for Mr. Jones.

I am eager to see the film, and if you have a look at the trailer that just surfaced, perhaps you will be eager to see it, too…

Thanks to Michael Dowswell for the tip.