Tag Archives: Schlock Mercenary

Announcements, Crossposted

Twenty Years of Archives, Ad-Free!

Would you like to be reading Schlock Mercenary ad-free? How about being able to read it a week at a time, and in a higher resolution?

Join the Schlock Mercenary Patreon, and for just $2.50 per month, the entirety of the Schlock Mercenary archives will be available to you for week-at-a-time, ad-free browsing¹. And at $5.00 per month, you’ll be reading in retina resolutions².

What does week-at-a-time browsing look like?

Well, it’s hard to deliver the experience via a screen shot.  We had to pull back pretty far to show you just how much content is on each page, and from back here it’s kind of hard to read.

You’ll be scrolling down (probably with the mouse-wheel), uninterrupted by ads, and when you reach the end of the page you can arrow-key (or click “Next”) to advance to the next big stack of Schlock Mercenary.

What’s the difference between the regular and high-res versions of the strip? Math says “65% more pixels,” but it’s probably better to show what that will look like. Here’s a side-by-side comparison, using the fourth panel from Thursday, January 23rd.

(NOTE: The blog engine may have up-scaled or down-scaled the sample image, depending on how your browser requested the flow of the page. Click on the image for an exact, pixel-for-pixel version of the screen captures.)

There are other benefits to becoming a patron, like digital goodies³, and front-of-the-line, pre-order access to new merchandise. Head over to patreon.com/schlockmercenary and have a look.

¹ Ad-free, week-at-a-time, and high-res browsing will require you to link your Patreon account to Schlock Mercenary. This is done securely, via the Patreon API. Our privacy policy has more information. 
² High-resolution browsing requires the use of a browser capable of requesting the high-res images. As of this writing that means almost all mobile browsers, MacOS browsers, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge.
³ This blog post serves as a fine reminder to Howard and Sandra that it’s time to put up some more Patreon-exclusive digital goodies.

 

 

 

Announcements, Crossposted, Journal

2020: There Will Be An Ending

The Schlock Mercenary mega-arc will draw to a close this year.

The arc began when Schlock enlisted with Tagon’s Toughs in the strip dated June 12, 2000. That means it’s basically everything that has appeared on this site so far. It will end with closure, resolution, satisfaction, and a big, all-caps “THE END.”

I’ve been saying this for a while now, and every time I say it somebody pops up and says “wait, what?” So I’m saying it again, but this time around there’s an air of urgency.

You probably have questions. I shall attempt to FAQ you some answers.

Q: When will it end exactly?
A: I’m not telling. Before October, though.

Q: Will all the books be put into print?
A: Absolutely! That’s pretty much our highest priority.

Q: Why are you doing this?
A: Because everybody—the characters, the readers, and okay mostly me—deserves the opportunity to close the book and have a nice rest.

Q: What are you going to do next?
A: My current plans are to explore the true meaning of the word “sabbatical.” Those plans depend on how the finances shake out.

Q: Will there be more stories in the Schlock Mercenary Universe?
A: Yes. Lots of them. We can talk about what kinds of stories they’ll be when I start telling them.

Q: Will there still be daily comics at schlockmercenary.com?
A: That kind of depends on how I arrange things for the sabbatical. I’m sorry if that sounds ominous.

Schlock Mercenary is one of the longest-running things I’ve done with my life. I’ve been a husband and a father for longer, but my career at Novell only ran for 11 years. Taken in its legally-defined entirety, my whole childhood only ran for 18 years, and I can’t remember the first four of those, so it’s more like 14.

I am forced to concede the point that it’s unlikely I’ll launch anything that runs longer than Schlock Mercenary’s 20 years. There are too many different things I want to do, and in twenty years I’ll be 71 (or dead, because there’s a happy thought.)

So here we are, at the start of a shiny new year, and I’m talking about endings. There will be plenty of beginnings for me this year, and you can rest assured I’ll talk about them when the time comes.

Announcements, Crossposted

A Sale! And Shipping in Time for Christmas!

Head over to shop.schlockmercenary.com and use the discount code 2019HOLIDAY between now and December 5th for 10% off anything in our store.

Additionally, we have a bunch of things already on sale, and yes, the coupon bonus will stack, increasing your savings.

If you need your packages to arrive by Christmas, international orders must to be placed by December 4, and US orders must to be placed by December 18.

If you’re ordering t-shirts, please be aware that those have a separate shipping chart. They’re produced on demand, and fulfilled by the printer, and it’s probably already too late for internationally-shipped shirts to arrive by Christmas (the deadline was Nov 25). If you’re shipping shirts to the US you have until December 10th to place orders for by-Christmas delivery.

Announcements, Art, Crossposted

Big Dumb Cover Art: The Zero Audio Edition

Over the weekend I had insomnia, and decided to stream my work on the Big Dumb Objects cover. That video is now available on YouTube.

The audio wasn’t working, and it took me a minute to realize I wasn’t being heard, so I’ve positioned the video at that point in the clip above. I decided not to troubleshoot the audio, and to instead focus on making art.

I’ll be doing this again, only with working audio, so be sure to follow twitch.tv/howardtayler for notifications of the live stream. The next pass of inks will really shape the picture, and should be fun to watch.

We’re still on-track with the Big Dumb Objects Kickstarter, and our first pin design proofs are now pictured on the page. It looks like the pins will be unlocked as add-ons today or tomorrow, so be sure to check them out!