Basurake

I don’t really have anything to say about this page. Yay!

Actually, I don’t have much to say today period. I’ll probably yak about something later.

Stay frosty!

I did some more pages, and had some free time today, so here’s more mermaid boobs, and more! Don’t worry, we’ve got a couple pages coming up without her in case anyone is getting sick of too many curves crowding the page lately.

So there’s a new Scooby Doo show. Alot of people have absolute disdain for Scooby Doo, but I find there’s something kinda funny about it, whether its the sheer cheesiness of the original, the tongue and cheek silliness of the live action films (gotta love Sarah Michelle Gellar playing danger prone Daphne), or the sheer stupidity of What’s New, Scooby Doo?. Scooby Doo stands as a testament to pure, unadulterated Saturday morning madness, which has sortof disappeared from television altogether. The newest series, Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, is decidedly different from the previous animated incarnations of the series in both visual style and tone, both comedic and dramatic.
For one thing, the art is downright wacky. The characters are interestingly stylized, but still immediately recognizable. What is most interesting about the art is that its far more dynamic than the previous shows. Camera angles are generally more dramatic, coloration and lighting are both much more spooky and atmospheric, and the general quality of animation is fairly good, on par with modern action cartoons like Ben 10. Finally, the show has a kind of 70s retro vibe in terms of the costuming, which feels just about right.
Although the new art direction is a nice change of pace, its the writing that makes Mystery Incorporated most interesting. The basic formula is unchanged, but the handling of it is very different, and mostly better. The characters, most notably Fred, have a good deal more personality here, and are a bit wackier than usual. The writing is often silly and self referential, with a very tongue in cheek sort of comedy. The traps are exponentially wackier, as are the monsters and plot lines. Overall, its very reminiscent of the live action films, and works very well. Best of all, there appears to be an overaching story, and although each mystery is pretty cut and dry, there seem to be hints at a larger mystery permeating each episode. Hopefully, this will all come together by the end of the apparently 26 episode season, similar to the first season of Ben 10’s structure, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
In the end, I’d say I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen of Mystery Incorporated. I guess it probably wouldn’t change any minds about Scooby Doo, but as someone that enjoys the characters, its good to see a more sarcastic, tongue in cheek approach to the material.

All part of my plot to catch ya’ll off guard. For reals.

I actually have been working on this chapter a bit, but I’ve been working on Heckbringers more, and so Shrimpy’s chapter has unfortunately been on the back burner for a while. I also don’t seem to be able to type very well today, so maybe I should keep this short.

A few pages done, I’ll be posting them here and there over the next few weeks, try to get a sizable chunk of this episode done. I think If I can at least commit to doing them in bursts of four, I can start to fill out this chapter pretty well. I have some very funny stuff planned, and some kinda funny stuff already drawn, so hopefully the rest of this chapter will be worth the wait. I swear I already know where this chapter is going, I just am too lazy to get it there.

I just beat Buck Bumble for the N64 today. I always wanted to play it as a kid, because I thought that a robot bee with guns was a cool idea, but I never ended up even renting it. I tried it at a friends house maybe a year or two ago, and couldn’t even complete the first stage because of the unwieldy controls, and gave up. I tried again this week when the same friend left a box of N64 games in my living room, I don’t know why. I actually stuck with the game and attempted to learn its controls, and once I got the hang of it I was having alot of fun. Apparently it was developed by Argonaut, the now defunct developer pioneered the Super FX chip for the SNES and programmed the original Star Fox. With that knowledge, Buck’s ambitious 360 degree flight control scheme makes a bit more sense, but it still does lack the polish of its cousin, the Nintendo developed Star Fox 64. Regardless, I enjoyed Buck Bumble for what it was, and had a good deal of fun while it lasted. Certainly a quirky shooter, not for everyone.

Anyway, I’ll probably be posting another page soon, as I have a few all drawn and ready. Later!

So, sorry that took so long. That page has been done for a while, but I’ve been so busy working on Heckbringers that I hadn’t the time to post it. Shrimpy’s in for it now, seeing as Molly doesn’t seem like the type to take a little boy’s crap lightly. We’ll see what nastiness is in store for Shrimpson soon enough…

Sooooo…. VIDEO GAME TALK TIME! First off, Volume 3 of Life Meter is apparently on sale now at www.lifemetercomics.com, which is cool I guess. I don’t have a copy, but a friend of mine ordered one, and although it took its sweet time getting to him, he said it is quite nice! I’m not trying to shove this down anybody’s throats, but if you like the whole whimsical video game comic thing, or just like indie comics in general, check it out. Secondly, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is pretty awesome. So is Red Steel 2, as a matter of fact. I don’t remember if I talked about it at all when it came out, but I highly recommend it. I’m not gonna go all “this is the best game ever” or “its the second coming of Christ in video game form” or any of that nonsense, but I will say that it is a very rewarding action game that I personally had a blast playing.

OTHER STUFF! Dragon Ball Kai is on Nicktoons now, mysteriously renamed Dragon Ball Z Kai. I think alot of stupid people are probably lamenting this fact, but honestly I think its great. Funimation has really give DBZ a great localization, the one it deserved all along. The OST appears to be intact, the dub is pretty accurate from what I can tell, and the opening and ending, although a little hammy, sound pretty cool translated. There seems to be some minor censoring going on, probably due to Nicktoons, but its no worse than the original run of the show. I’m mostly excited at the prospect of a new generation coming to love what is really a classic series, as it makes me downright giddy to see my nephew watching Gohan kick Nappa into a mountain and loving it. Cartoon Network really dropped the ball by not picking this series up, I think.

As I said earlier, I’m hard at work on Heckbringers. The free comic book day promotional issue turned out pretty good, so I’m in full blast mode working on the full issue one. Hopefully that will be done before the end of June, but I guess we’ll wait and see.

THAT’S IT! Hopefully a new page next week!

New colored hotness for this week! Check out Molly in all her fishy goodness? Still hot? Not quite sure…

Every now and then, I draw throwaway characters that I can’t stand, and can’t wait to get rid of. Other times, I instantly fall in love. Unfortunately, this is one of those times, as all of Molly’s crew are simply adorable. Were this a life action program, I imagine they would be muppets.

Hey! I finally get to use the muppet tag again! Hooray!

Sorry about the super wait! Had various projects at my door that needed resolving, and so they were met with completitude. Anyway, here’s the first page of Episode 4: Aimlessly Adrift in a World of Infinite Blue! Like usual, the opening page is nothing but preachy nonsense, so tune in soon for some actual plot!

Also! Although this doesn’t have anything to do with Basurake, it IS worth noting that I am making my first attempt at a print comic! Heckbringers # 0 will be appearing in comic stores in the Philadelphia area for free comic book day! Check out Heckbringers on Facebook!

Well that word doesn’t really look like its spelled right, but whatever. I don’t have too much to show off for having been at this for a whole year, but for the sake of commemorating the event, I thought I’d post some neat bonus material over the next week or so until the next chapter is ready. These bits will hopefully remind everyone of what happened over the past year and get them up to speed wit the story. And if not, maybe it’ll motivate people to look back at the old pages and read again!

Anyway, not a whole lot else to say today. I got Cave Story for the Wii, which is pretty freaking awesome. I know its more or less the same as the freeware game that came out four years ago, but playing it on the big screen with a decent controller feels great, and considering this is one of the most fun games I’ve ever played, I don’t mind dropping twelve dollars. Here’s hoping more people give this wonderful game a chance!

Yup, that’s FINALLY the end of episode 3! Johnny’s dead! Or maybe not. We’ll see. ANYWAY, its been almost 7 months since I started this episode, and its clocked in at a hefty thirty one pages, making it the longest episode yet. Alot of that may be due to me adding in unnecessary elements, like the pool of violence and the Aku San Monji, but I feel like they contributed in their own little way. As the first of the standalone adventure chapters, I think it turned out pretty well. Of course, I’m determined to top it in every way in the next episode, so let’s all hope for the best!

Although I’m sure no one but me is keeping track, next Wednesday will actually mark the One Year Anniversary of this site! I’m planning some goodies to coincide with the event, so check back then for the celebration! Episode 4 will begin shortly, either next week or the week after depending on how I’m feeling. Overall, I’m very pleased with the comic so far, and I’ve gotten alot of great feedback over the past year. In this next year, I’d like to really bring more readers in and start doing alot more fun bonus stuff.

Well, that’s it I think. I hope everyone enjoyed this little romp through Zipang, and is looking forward to the next adventure! I sure am, cause I’m sick of drawing Zan Onigiri!

Well Johnny’s engaged the dragon god in a dialogue, now perhaps they can begin moving towards a peaceful resolution of their issues. See kids? Violence doesn’t ALWAYS solve problems!

Lot to talk about today! First off, with this chapter nearing its close, I’ve been thinking heartily about the next chapter. You’ll all be glad to know that I’m well into writing its fourth page! Isn’t that exciting!? In addition to writing the next episode, I’ve also been thinking of some neat bonus pages I could to to keep things spicy. I may begin posting end of episode summation pages, which sounds dumb on paper but in practice will be neat if I pull it off correctly. I can’t lie, I’m borrowing this idea from Kia Asamiya’s Steam Detectives, but flattery is the most sincere form of theft, right?

Okay, next up is some Castlevania goodness! The lost gem of the series, the Japan only PC-Engine title Dracula X: Chi no Rondo is out on the Wii’s Virtual Console! For anyone that didn’t feel like buying a PSP and slogging through Konami’s recent remake to get to the original version, this is great news! This game is considered to be among the best old school Castlevania games, and it really is just dripping with charm and detail. This one kinda slipped onto VC without much fanfare, possibly because the PSP release has made the original seem old hat, but the chance to play this previously unavailable game for nine dollars, on an actual TV screen is still exciting to me!

Next up Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom. Although I really enjoy the game, I have to say that I dislike the direction fighting games are taking. The emphasis on spamming cheap, unblockable super combos and the general necessity of absolutely lame tactics to play the game with any sort of proficiency is disheartening. He online component unfortunately only seems to serve as a window into how sad and pathetic the hardcore fighting game community has become. Shame. That said, the game is still a blast to play with friends when the focus is fun, not victory.

Well, that’s about it! With how much I talk about games here I might as well be running a different site altogether! Maybe next time we’ll discuss literature!

So Johnny’s big plan basically boils down to “SORRY DON’T BE MAD!” Remember when you were a kid, and you did something that you knew was a little bad, but that you didn’t think you’d get in THAT much trouble for? Remember the horror when you did get in trouble, and it was ALOT of trouble, like way more than you expected? Remember your parent or teacher asking firmly why you did what you did?

“I didn’t think I’d get in this much trouble.”

I know I’m not the only one this stuck with…

Johnny makes a choice… we’ll see if whether or not he gets to live with it! When jacked up violence jockies with swords the size of airplane wings can’t solve a problem, then what can!? I guess we’re gonna find out soon!

Finally got Shiren 3. Compared to the previous games, this one is supposed to be a bit more easy on players, but that certainly didn’t stop me from messing up and dying before even getting to Karakuri Mansion, the actual main dungeon of the game. I found myself alone on the 5th floor of Catfish’s Nest, having lost party members Shiren and Sensei to plot twists prior to entering the dungeon, starving from lack of riceballs, with the game threatening me for lingering on the floor for too long, pursued by freaking spear fish and ghosties, mysteriously missing my jar of holding that contained my Escape Scroll. Lots of herbs and two revivals later, my story ended quite literally on the stairs to the next floor, felled by three goddamn enemies. I discovered later that my Jar of Holding had been stolen by one of the enemies without my noticing… After some prep in one of the easier dungeons, I found my way back, re-equipped, regained Shiren and beat the freaking Catfish with relative ease. Still, this doesn’t bode well…

Watched a clip of God of War III recently, and decided that I hate the game more than I already thought I did. The sex mini game, which was already stupid in the first game, is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever witnessed in a video game. The attempt at sexuality only reveals the games lackluster character models and animation, the writing is worse than even the cheesiest porno parody, and they don’t even have the stones to show the actual act. Its good to see that in a supposedly mature game, we still can’t touch on the topic of sexuality as adults… the fact that anyone over the age of thirteen will play this game and not find it an insult to their intelligence is amazing. PANDER TO MY MASCULINE FANTASIES MORE, SONY!

Dragon God totally owns the faces of everyone. Not really a surprise, I hope. WHAT WILL JOHNNY DOOOOOO!?

So I’m pretty sure I talked about MegaMan 10 a little bit last time, but I’ve played more of it since so I’m going to talk a bit more. I love SheepMan. He’s freaking adorable. NitroMan is also very cool, though I didn’t feel that way until I actually fought him and saw his moves. He’s basically SUPER MetalMan, which is pretty awesome. ProtoMan mode is stupidly hard, but I knew that would be so. Looking forward to Bass mode!

Still didn’t pick up Shiren the Wanderer 3, but I’m gonna try to do so soon. DOesn’t realy matter though, since I’m sure I’ll never beat it anyway.

Some people just don’t know how to adapt their speech to suit the situation. Like, have you ever heard a young guy address a cop or something as “Dude” or “Man”? That’s not getting you out of breathalyzer!

MEGAMAN 10 IS OUT! AND I HAVE IT! AND IT IS COOL! I wouldn’t mind a 16-bit look for one of these new games, as I really really liked MegaMan 7, but I think I’m in the minority on that one.

Speaking of MegaMan, the much anticipated (by me) release of Hitoshi Ariga’s Rockman Megamix in good old English has come and gone, and I can’t seem to find the damn thing in a store anywhere. As a matter of fact, I haven’t been able to find a manga that I actually wanted in a retail store in years! I understand having trouble finding books from smaller publishers, but sometimes there are Viz books that stores don’t stock simply because they are not Bleach or Naruto.

Can’t seem to find a copy of Shiren the Wanderer 3 either… very annoying, but I guess that’s what the internet is for!

Its been a REALLY long time since I’ve posted a color page, so I really went nuts with this one. Unfortunately, there are like, no words on it, so make sure you take the extra time you save not reading it to appreciate the art!

I honestly can’t write interactions between these characters. I can’t wait until they kill each other.

ANYWAY, this is hopefully the start of MORE PAGES. We’ll see I guess. ENJOY!

Hello to anyone still frequenting this web site! Just updating to let ya’ll know that I haven’t forgotten about Johny and the gang. I’ve been a bit busy lately, but this week I’ve started working on the comic in earnest again and I’m making good progress. I’m not gonna make any date predictions because my concept of time is grossly off target, but I will say that new stuff is on the horizon, so watch out.

Hey everybody! Sorry about the long wait on that last page, that dragon statue was a total B-word to draw. I was really hoping to be done Johnny’s chapter by now, but I guess it’s gonna take a bit longer. Oh well… hope everyone is still enjoying this, it’s almost over!

That was a hasty resolution! I’ll try to make the next resolution less hasty, and more tasty. Or something. I dunno that’s all I got.

Seeya!

Okay, I’ve been pretty lazy lately, I guess the holidays kept me sorta busy. No worries though, I’m back! This chapter is finally gearing up to climax pretty soon, probably within the next 10 pages or so. I guess we’ll see. Seeya!

Oh yeah, Castlevania Rebirth came out. I like it alot. I think they should have called it Castlevania Wiibirth. Bye again!

Johnny slogs his way into the Pool of Violence as a direct consequence of impaired judgment. I guess people have made worse mistakes drunk, right?

Sorry this took so long, I guess I’ve been a bit scattered lately. I’ve been really giving my Wii a good workout lately, which is good, since I bought it and all. I finally got around to playing The Conduit, which from what I can tell has received rather mixed reviews. The first person shooter has never been my game of choice, but I like to do some shooting now and then, and decided to give the game a try, since I found it for 15 dollars at Target. Although it was certainly underwhelming in terms of its scale, overall I’d say it was a solid game that I had a blast playing. I don’t care much for multiplayer, so I probably won’t be playing it again any time soon, but I enjoyed what was there. If nothing else, it gives me hope that The Grinder, High Voltage’s next Wii shooter will be something to look forward to.

The other game I’m playing is the 10 dollar game Spyborgs, which got absolutely terrible reviews that I don’t think it deserves. If I had to sum it up, I’d say it is next gen Battletoads, but without some of the more annoying bullshit that made Battletoads so inaccessible. It’s still damn hard on the normal setting, but it certainly isn’t cheap or unfair, and the co-op is fun, if a little confusing. There are even a few nice touches that I think other games of this genre really could have thought of. For example, if both players are in need of health, but one player accidentally grabs both available health powerups, the game automatically distributes the unused health increase to the other player, which doesn’t sound like much but really is nice. Other than the difficulty, I don’t have a single issue with the game, though I guess we’ll see if that changes as I progress.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say for now! The next page is technically done, so there isn’t any reason why it won’t be up this week. Until then, SEEYA.

I think I should be going. Anyway, sorry about the whole NOT UPDATING FOR LIKE A FREAKING MONTH thing. I’m a lazy jerk, what can I say? Anyway, my tick bite didn’t kill me, which is cool.

I got an assload of old games for my birthday, and the delightfully wonky fighting game Castlevania Judgment. I’m a pretty big Castlevania fan, and have been for some time, so admittedly the idea of taking one of my favorite action franchises and making it into a fighting game didn’t really sit well with me. Nor did the redesigned characters by Deathnote’s Takeshi Obata. Still, now that I’m playing it, I can’t say I’m not enjoying it. It actually is alot of fun, and is actually sorta deep, for what it is. It’s certainly no Virtua Fighter, but it’s still a good deal more complex than say Power Stone, which is probably the closest analogue for it in terms of gameplay. Imagine somewhere between Power Stone and Soul Calibur, and Castlevania Judgment is what you get. Nobody’s gonna be playing this game at the tournament level any time soon (or ever), but quite frankly I think that’s a good thing. If you have a Wii and you want a solid multiplayer game, you could definitely do worse. Or, if you simply like fighting games made by Eighting. Who DIDN’T like Bloody Roar 3?

On the topic of Castlevania, WHEN THE CRAP IS REBIRTH GONNA COME OUT!? The game came out over a month ago in Japan, and it has literally 4 sentences of dialogue. HOW CAN LOCALIZATION TAKE MORE THAN A WEEK!? Lame.

Aha! Johnny has been charged with a sacred quest! Adventure ho!

My day is off to a terrible start so far. I decided to rake my backyard so as to facilitate less crunchy walking, and after about fifteen minutes of raking I took a little break to eat something and have a shower. I’m happily washing my underarm when I discover a painful lump, which of course turned out to be a nasty, bloodsucking little bugger. Being home alone and in the shower, I guess I panicked and fell back on stupid folklore remedies which, after a quick perusal of the all knowing internet, turned out to be the ABSOLUTE WRONG thing to do. So this tick is dead because of my attempts to incorrectly remove it, in pieces, one of which i think is till stuck in my arm. I pulled out most of his head, but it seemed like one little mandible was still stuck, and try as I may I can’t seem to get a hold of it, if it is still there to be gotten a hold of.

This totally sucks.

Well, Johnny’s getting in over his head, but I guess that’s what growing up is all about, right? Don’t worry guys, this scene is going somewhere… I promise.

I sure did talk alot during those last couple posts, but I guess I don’t have a whole bunch to say today… OR DO I? I think it’s kinda interesting when games get sequels that aren’t really sequels, the most recent example being Modern Warfare 2, sequel to Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. Is it Call of Duty 5? No, because Call of Duty World at War might be Call of Duty 5. Maybe it’s call of Duty 6, in that case. It reminds me of the whole Darkforces, Darkforces 2 Jedi Knight, Jedi Knight 2 Jedi Outcast, Jedi Outcast 2 Jedi Academy thing. That’s like, Darkforces 8, right? In any case, I recommend everybody skips this game and just holds out for Call of Duty 7 Modern Warfare 3 A Time for Shooting, coming in 2011!

A quick look at the back of the original Modern Warfare box will reveal that it is ACTUALLY the best game ever made. It says so, right on the back of the box, so it HAS to be true, right? This just blows my mind. What a ridiculous claim to make! Like, I don’t even think I’d call that game the best game on the Xbox 360. I don’t even think I’d call it the best FPS on the Xbox 360. Hell, I don’t know if it’s even the best Call of Duty game. Hopefully Modern Warfare 2 will shed some light on this situation…

Johnny gets sloppy after some 500 proof demon hooch. Hilarity ensues.

Striking a balance between presenting an amusing self contained page and moving the story forward is always pretty tricky. As odd as it sounds, this is the only episode so far that I feel is moving both too fast AND too slow. Crazy.

Over the summer, I was involved in providing some art for my part time employer’s web site, and after several months of waiting, the site is finally up, complete with art and even some comics courtesy of yours truly. Regardless of how you feel about the time honored tradition tag infused with the hip futuristic technononsense of lasers, check out Ultrazone’s new and improved website!

Pretty fly, right? More pages later this week, and in the mean time, CHECK THE FORUMS! SIGN UP FOR THE FORUMS! USE THE FORUMS AS A PLATFORM TO SHARE YOUR OPINIONS ABOUT IMPORTANT THINGS THAT WE ALL CARE ABOUT!

Community. That’s where it’s at.

This doesn’t look good for our hero… there’s no shame in drinking a coke, Johnny!

Anyway, I’ve been hard at work these last few days getting some more pages scripted, penciled, inked, etc, so updates should come a bit more steadily. Technically speaking, this Episode is wrapping up relatively soon. I’m estimating it will run between 30 and 35 pages depending on how much action I want, but we’ll just have to wait and see. I usually favor a few action packed panels with cool art over full blown fight scenes, and I think that has worked out so far, but I could be wrong.

As I disclosed on my Facebook, Episode 4 is already in production and is tentatively titled “Willing Servitude is a Kind of Freedom Too”, but we’ll see if I can think of something better in the next month or so.

I am, however, planning on experimenting with some other comics on this site in the near future. This doesn’t mean that I won’t be updating Basurake, but to keep a steady flow of updates coming, I decided it might be a good idea to start dipping into my backlog of finished one-shots to provide some extra bonus content on the days between Basurake pages. Don’t know when I’ll try this out, or how long it will last, but if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Hey everybody. I figured that even if I’m not actively posting a page of the comic, it might be nice to simply post some talk on here whenever I have the time, that way, it seems like I’m alot less lazy than I actually am!

I’m really racking my brain trying to figure out a way to get this comic read. I feel like I’m delivering a quality product here, but I just don’t know how to go about getting people to slow down and look at it! As much as I love drawing this comic, it really is discouraging to find the site and forums so empty. SOOO, I’m determined to find a way to change all that. Of course, that’s alot easier said than done, I guess… I’m looking for ad space, I’m making up flyers, transforming my Facebook page into Basurake central, hopefully… we’ll see!

Any ideas? Know a guy who knows a guy? In with the mob? LET ME KNOW!

Okay, maybe not that last one…

Don’t worry, there’s nothing clever about the headline. Anyway, sorry about the huge delay, I’ve been all over the place lately. I’m all stretched out, trying to get things done in all sorts of different places, and as a result I got a bit behind on Basurake! For shame…

But! I do have a new page today. It’s not much, but it’s one of the images I built this episode around, to be honest. I guess that’s sorta stupid, isn’t it?

ALSO! Here’s a video I had a vague involvement with the creation of! Don’t get too excited, I just did the sprite animations for the protagonist. Still, its pretty cool.

ENJOY!

More nonsense that moves the plot forward! Hooray.

I’m bored.

Aluc- I mean, Augenweiss lays down some mad talk. Gasp as nothing continues to happen! You know, I really don’t know how this comic ended up being so goddamned chatty…

Probably a new page on Thursday! We’ll see!

FORGIVE ME! FORGIVE ME! I have trespassed terribly against you, imaginary audience! My sloth knows no bounds! Here is a new page to make amends, I hope we can still be friends <3!

Anyway, I’ve been slacking lately, but hey, that’s just what I do after the first 8 pages of an episode, I guess. Hope everyone is enjoying this little distraction for now. I sure do wonder what Johnny boy is up to…

So. More readers. I need them. How do I get them. Talk amongst yourselves. In the comment box, that is…

Woo, sorry that took so long. Bit of a busy weekend, I guess… anyway here is a new page, hope it is to everyone’s liking.

MORE NEW CHARACTERS! HOORAY! I’m just throwing them at you, aren’t I? Well whatever, get used to it! They’re necessary, I swear!

Sorry about the lateness on this new page, but I’ve had a bit of a cold this week, and was afraid my generally shakiness would affect my inking. Plus the computer was giving me a headache… Sorry!

Well, his motivations are noble, even if his task is somewhat less than heroic. Go get’em, tiger!

With this page we will take a brief leave of Zan Onigiri and Johnny Matchead, and explore this new locale a bit more thoroughly. Next update on Saturday, like usual.

Has anyone ever played that old Ninja Turtles game for the NES? The not so good one? When I was a kid, I could never get through the second stage, with the underwater bomb defusing. Lately I’ve been giving it another go, and I’ve been steadily gaining ground in the game… all for nothing. Despite beating the 3rd, 4th and 5th levels, which I never even knew existed, it would seem that the 6th stage, inside the technodrome, is simply impossible. Even with 99 of the strongest weapon equipped to EVERY TURTLE, the enemies in the last stage are just too powerful. Very disheartening…

I’ve often thought of the action scenes in this game as being comparable to Castlevania. The turtles move very similarly to the pokey Belmonts of old, the level structures look a bit alike, and there are even subweapons to equip. Technically, with the overworld sections, exploration, and multiple characters, Ninja Turtles is even a slightly more deep, complex game than the earlier Castlevanias, even if these elements are poorly executed. In fact, without the Turtles branding, you could have fooled me into thinking this was a sequel to Simon’s Quest! Even more interesting is that this game is actually more difficult than any Castlevania game I’ve ever played, even going as far as to allow only two game overs. Insanity.

On the bright side, the music reminds me of MegaMan Battlenetwork, which is ALWAYS good.

Johnny’s got his assignment! Can he do it!? Who cares…

ANYWAY! From what I understand, Life Meter Volume 3 went on sale THIS WEEKEND at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, which infuriates me, because I was IN MARYLAND this weekend and DIDN’T GO. Missed opportunity I guess… Still, at some point the second run will go on sale at Life Meter’s website, so there is still some hope for me. Oh well.

So man, I am psyched about Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth. I know its just going to be a “best of Castlevania” mishmash, and not really a new game, but quite frankly I’ve been itchin’ for a classic Castlevania game for quite some time, as I’m a little tired of the Metroidvania structure. Also, its selling for 10 dollars, which is pretty much exactly the price at which I can’t complain about a game, even if it totally blows. Excellent strategy, Konami… here’s hoping that next up is The Goonies: Rebirth!

Johnny is freed from bondage, for better or worse. Kinky, eh? What terrible deeds does an have in mind for the unsuspecting boy?
God, this could so easily turn into scary yaoi, it isn’t even funny… its Yami no Matsui all over again!

Sorry guys, but I won’t be able to post today’s page until tomorrow! Check back tomorrow for an update!

Johnny continues to be upside down! I wonder how long I can drag this out for…

After almost 30 pages, the closest thing to a main character returns! What a grand re-entrance for Johnny Shihab Al Din Matchead!

Very little new info to post this week, at least in regards to this website. I don’t really have any thing to try to go on and on about today…

Well, I guess I do. I’ve been reading Black Jack lately. Not the card game, the medical drama by the creator of Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka. Written in the stone age of Japanese manga, Black Jack’s titular character is an unlicensed surgeon with unsurpassed ability, a black market doctor who charges insane fees for his work. While there is little in the way of continuity, each of the Black Jack stories are poignant and often rather depressing, quite the opposite of Tezuka’s often uplifting Astro Boy. The issues and themes addressed in Black Jack, despite Tezuka’s comical art style, are quite grim and serious, and I highly recommend it.

OK, well that’s it. Enjoy today’s page, come back on Thursday.

Whooo, that was kinda a long headline. Oh well. Senseless violence continues! WHAT FUN! Just like episode 2, I promise this is going somewhere. I just like to take my time…

ANYWAY, I beat Castlevania II today. Beat the first Castlevania last weekend. Anybody who wants to send me a copy of Castlevania III before next weekend is welcome to! HERE’S HOPING CASTLEVANIA REBIRTH FOR THE WII IS AWESOME!

Seeya.

Wooohooo for senseless violence! I’m sure this isn’t making a whole lot of sense yet, but I guess the same thing happened in episode 2, right? Provided that anyone is still reading, I hope a pattern is becoming obvious in the structure of these episodes. I don’t know how long that structure will last, but for now I think I like providing a bit of repetition every now and then.

I’ve been kicking around a few ideas to try to get people to actually use the forums as of lat, but I can’t say I’ve had much success. I’m considering using the forums to post sketches and various other bits of concept art from upcoming chapters and other comics in the hopes of generating some action. Of course, this plan relies on there being people that would care to look at such things… very tricky, I’d say.

Well, I guess that’s about it! Next update on Saturday, I plomise!

Alright! Episode 3, Righteousness is the Molten Core of a Man, begins today! And it won’t stop! At least not for a few weeks, I swear. So long as I remain totally unemployed, this comic WILL CONTINUE!

In other news, I kinda got published, sort of. Life Meter Comics is putting out the third volume of their yearly anthology, and it just so happens that this guy right here managed to make it in! Of course, its all for charity the comic is only 3 pages long, but I’m still really excited about it! The book will be available for purchase on the Life Meter website soon enough, so make sure you take a look! All proceeds go to Childsplay! Check it out at Life Meter Comics! The Mega Man comic is mine…

That’s all! See you on Thursday!”

THAT’S IT! Episode Two, A Lukewarm Reception to Fantastic Unreality, is OVER. Took long enough, didn’t it? This chapter was kinda tricky, since it didn’t have ANY of the previous cast (except Hayes right at the end), and I wasn’t sure I had enough material for a whole chapter. Unfortunately, it ended up taking a good deal more time than the first chapter, despite being a bit shorter. Oh well. Over the next week I’m going to really put my grind to the nose stone or whatever and get Episode Three ready to go.

I just realized that with today’s new page, Basurake has now hit 50 pages! How cool is that!? Honestly, it feels like alot, but I guess it really isn’t in the grand scheme of things. Oh well.

I hope everybody enjoyed Episode Two and the cast and world it introduced. You’ll be seeing more of it all a bit later, but for now we must focus on a different insignificant event in the vast emptiness of space.

Back in a week with new stuff! Cheers!

Sibling rivalry comes to a climax? Things aren’t looking good for poor Receptina. This chapter is wrapping up pretty darn soon, so I hope everyone has enjoyed it so far.

I’ve been told that I don’t really say enough in these updates, so today I guess I’ll talk about my recent poor luck with video games. My brother was kind enough to purchase me a copy of Metroid Prime 3 for our newly acquired Wii a few weeks ago, and I’ve been having a pretty good time with the thing. I liked the previous Metroid Prime games, so I was pretty excited to finally play the new one. Unfortunately, about 30% into the game (according to my little progress meter thing), I started experiencing some major difficulty with the disk! Opening doors, scanning objects, even killing enemies causes the game to crash, and although taking the disk out and putting it back in tends to get the game going again, I’ve probably done that about 80 times without much progress being made. I can’t exactly be mad at the store for selling the damaged game, because how could they know the game would break 8 hours in?

Maybe I’ll get a new game to keep me busy…

Don’t have a whooole lot to say today, so I won’t strain my brain.

Apparently Yggdrasil (or whatever) City isn’t a very safe place. With the Mecha Division disarmed by Photon Joe, it seems that Hayes has made his escape unopposed. Lucky him!

Of course, he probably could have handled himself pretty well, what with all the Woop Shooping he was doing.

ALSO! Check out this awesome rendition of Melody’s musical number, SCIENCE!

GET IT HERE!

I’m very fond of this page. This is pretty much is what I’ve been waiting to do this whole chapter…. perhaps more chatting will occur later.

The Mysterious Subject Zero is finally revealed after a whole day of suspense! OMFG.

Yeah, Hayes is back. Kinda. I wonder what is going to happen…

Sorry about the rather long wait for a new page. Granted, I’m sure no one has actually been checking all that frequently, but its the principle of the thing, I suppose. Episode Two continues as the OTHER Ms. Seriph’s plan crawls towards its climax. WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS SUBJECT ZERO!?

Well how the heck did that happen? I swear, when I scripted the beginning of this chapter, I really hadn’t planned on Secrezia being quite this over the top, but I feel like it works. It just sort of worked out this way, I guess…

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think things are going to get very good very soon.

Still trying to find a schedule that works, but in the meantime, here’s a new page. Hopefully, this episode isn’t taking TOO long.

So, I think updates are probably gonna happen on more of a Monday or Wednesday or Friday or Sunday deal. Still not sure. Still, its better than nothing, right? RIGHT?

I really like making Receptina mad. I might be a bad person….

Also, fixed stupid mistake in previous page. I think.

Yes, I know I missed Tuesday. The page is done, more or less, and was done that day, but I didn’t feel like rushing to upload it before work. Also, I got a Wii, so my mind has been more into Super Mario Galaxy than anything else. I’ve tried to be a good boy these past few days and work hard, so I’ve got maybe five or six pages penciled out all nice like, ready to be inked, and the rest of the chapter scripted, so no worries there. I’m just gonna take this week as a mini vacation and update in full force next week. We’ll see.

I assure you, I’m not loosing interest in this comic. However, being little more then a hobby it ends up a little low in my priorities as I’m trying to find how I’m gonna make my living for the rest of my life.

I’d like to chat for a bit, but I CAN’T CAUSE OF MY JOB. Working on the 4th of July ahsalkdasldhaskjdhaskldjaskljd!!!!

Maybe more later. Enjoy.

Yea, chances are rather poor that there is going to be a new page today. My bad. Colored page on Saturday. Promise.

Well, we see the first of La Grim Narwhal’s crew today, as well as the last of the Seriph sisters. These three will have plenty to do later, but in this chapter serves as their introduction and little else.

I don’t have a whole lot of time before work, so I guess I’ll leave it at that.

Actually decided to do today’s page BEFORE work rather than after. Good idea I guess.

I’ve always been shocked by the way that some families get along. That is to say, I’m frequently surprised by families that simply don’t. Get along, that is. My point is, growing up I always remember hearing people complain about their siblings with such venom, and it always seemed so strange to me to just not get along with someone you saw every day of your life. Still, I supposed in some cases it is simply unavoidable.

I really like drawing Receptina angry. I absolutely love it. That last panel is easily one of the most satisfying things I’ve been able to do in this chapter. Unfortunately for poor Ms. Seriph, this just means that she’s going to be angry alot…

Also, lightning returns!

I’m getting bad at this. I’ve been combating a terrifying computer problem for the past few days, so my head’s been elsewhere. I was honestly scared of the damn thing, I didn’t even like being in the same room as the poor sick puter. I felt like something vile was staring out at me from inside… I know that isn’t really how these things work, but there are some feelings we just can’t rationalize or ignore.

Anyway, Joe is kicking some serious something in this page. I think his sword is made of lightning, I dunno. I really felt as if I wasn’t doing the lightning effect enough lately, so I thought I should bring it back. Of course, the electricity from the Photon Blade doesn’t really count, but still…. I can’t remember what my point was, so whatever.

Well, I really THOUGHT I was going to get this page up earlier today, until I found out that I had work today…. of course, after not working a Tuesday for months, I get scheduled for one. I hate having a different freaking schedule every week. So stupid.

I don’t even feel like talking about today’s page. Seeya.

Big head Joe jumps out a window, cause he’s in a competition to see who can be the most like Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing, who was in turn trying to be like Gatchaman, I guess… whatever.

A sort of unspectacular page I guess, but notable for having the paneling done by an assistant. That’s pretty cool, I’d say. I also am very very fond of La Grim Narwhal, and look forward to showing it more in the future.

Boy, that was kinda a close one. I put off doing today’s page in the morning, thinking I’d have plenty of time to do it later. Well, unfortunately things just kept popping up, and I ended up not really having any time at all!

Over the next few days, I’m gonna work real hard to develop a comfortable supply of finished or nearly finished pages. Unless I get distracted…

Joe and Ms. Seriph get down to business, sort of. I like drawing these two together, because Joe will never stop acting cool, no matter how pulpy and bloody his face may get. That’s an attitude I can respect.

Although my vacation technically ended on Friday night, I really didn’t feel like doing a color page. As a result of my laziness, I elected to extend my vacation until today, removing any expectation for a colored page. Excellent.

Considering the fact that I’ve actually caught up on the previously tremendous back log of pages I had drawn, I think Saturday updates are going to be possibly suspended for some time. I’ll let you know for sure once I come up with a reasonable decision, but for now you can count on Tuesdays and Thursdays like usual.

By the way, my vacation was nice.

Well, I’m going on vacation for a week, and as a result, there won’t be any new pages until Saturday. Not really a big deal, but I thought it would be better to make excuses before than afterward.

Not a whole lot to say about today’s page, other than I’m pleased with the panel depicting Yggdrasil City. Dunno about all the colors going on here, but I like to think I give all the colors a fair chance, regardless of how underused or gross they may be. However, I think I have a bit too much of a liking for purples and reds when it comes to art …weird…

Episode 2 continues. This is probably still not making a whole lot of sense, but it will by Saturday, I think.

Yes, this page is totally unrelated to what was just happening. No, there isn’t a joke, not yet anyway. Episode 2 is going a to be a little different from Episode 1, although not as much as it seems right now. Since there has only been one episode, the structure of an episode really isn’t very apparent yet, and this seemingly unrelated monologue probably seems to begin something entirely new. Well, it does, in a way. Just imagine that some credits rolled after page 27, and you just got done watching the theme song for the second time around, and I think Episode 2, officially titled “A Lukewarm Reception to Fantastic Unreality”, will make a little more sense.

I know, I know, having such an episodic structure to a web comic is moronic. I guess that means I’m a moron. Suck it.

Also, how friggin’ slick is the new gallery system? That’s simply awesome. Ok, I’m done.

Hey all. While Johnny’s been taking his short hiatus to work on the next episode of the comic, I’ve been working on a way to accommodate it in the site’s gallery. Rather than have a single gargantuan gallery featuring every page ever (like on the old site), I decided it would be neat to be able to load and display episodes individually.

So I played around with jQuery and our site’s publishing software a bit and figured something out that seems to work. Check it out in the Gallery and let me know what you think. There’s only one episode right now, so all you can do is load that one over and over again, but once there are others, they should fit into the system just fine.

Yea, that’s the end of the first episode. Hope everybody liked it, and thanks for reading, I guess.

I’m going to take the next week off to get some more work done on the next episode, which I guess will premiere next Tuesday, or maybe this Saturday depending on how much I get done.

That’s all I got.

The mysterious stranger leaps to the defense of the cast in a decidedly un-heroic way. Just what the hell is this all about, anyway?

Back to Battletoads for a moment: I beat the jet bike part in the Snes game, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. It made me tired, and I immediately died on the next level. Making progress, one step at a time…

Back to Basurake for a moment: This page was technically done yesterday, but for some reason I didn’t like it. I decided to go to work and post it today instead, and after doing some minor changes decided that I’m happy with it. Isn’t that nice?

Little late today, but here’s today’s update. Plodding along nicely, I think.

So how much do you think a the rights to a long dead game franchise could possibly cost? Next Christmas, I’m asking Santa for the rights to Battletoads!

Sometimes in the face of terrible disaster, I’ve heard that people say the things they really feel. I wonder…

Johnny is ablaze with the flames of friendship, or something. More colorized goodness, what else can I say? See ya’ll on Tuesday!

Our site seems to be blocking comment submissions on the previous post. After Googling around a bit, I found that this error is usually a result of automatic spam filters and occurs at the hosting company level (i.e., I can’t fix it directly). What could make comments on a post called “tentacle porn” look like spam, I wonder?

If this were a REAL manga, this scene would be going in a very different direction I think. Drawing Octopardo (he’ll be named in the actual comic soon enough, I’m sure) is one of the few things that actually makes me feel kinda like an artist, so I really enjoyed drawing these pages. Still, it didn’t take long to get sick of drawing his stupid tentacles in every panel. What a dick.

Anyway, I think I forgot to tell a joke again today, but oh well. We’ll see how Saturday goes, I guess.

[Ed. note: comments closed due to server glitch. Leave comments for this on the next post instead.]

I slept in, then went to school, then forgot I owned this site. But then I remembered.

Well, this is the second ever weekend color extravaganza, and I think I’m pretty happy with it. I hope looking at this vaguely Lovecraftian nightmare makes everybody feel as gross and crawley as me.

Ambex continues to derail the comic! Hooray! Honestly though, I’m sure this isn’t a surprise to anyone, especially since everyone here is already familiar with the old comic. Still, it’s all in the execution, and I for one a pretty fond of what’s about to go down.

Technically, there’s been a good deal of crazy lightingy stuff in the comic these last two pages, but I’m not sure if they count towards the total, since these are now literal bolts of lighting. Oh well.

I’m not really sure how much I liked the color, so for now I think it is gonna be a weekend thing only. Some day I might get bored and decide to color for every page, but I guess I’ll just wait and see.

This is pretty much what I’ve been waiting for this whole time, so I’m pretty pleased.

Kinda late, but today’s comic is the first experiment with color. Dunno if this will stick, but I’d say it’s worth trying new things. The big delay probably makes it seem like coloring this took a long time, but in reality that isn’t true. My lateness with updating was due entirely to external forces, which is bound to happen now and then. Hope it was worth the wait!

Ok, I’m about 75% done today’s page, but unfortunately I have to go to work! Like right now, I’m already late. I’ll post the page when it is finished, probably when I get home tonight, or rather, early tomorrow morning.

No update this Thursday, I’m afraid. Sort of a busy day, I guess, straight from school to work. Late to both, of course. Anyway, I like this next page too much to do it in a hurry, so I’ll probably just save it for Saturday.

Works out fine, really, cause I kinda wanted to color this one anyway.

It dawns on me that today’s page doesn’t really have a punch line, but whatever. From here on things are gonna get a little weird, but if you’ve read this far, you’re probably expecting that.

I don’t really have a whole lot else to say today, so I guess I’ll just attempt to use all of the previous tags in the post. I think I’m a girl, Grease could have used some knife fights, boohoo I suck at drawing, smoke weed everyday, Kermit the frog is my boy, and here’s a fun experiment you can do!

I think I got them all.

My treatment of Hayes may seem harsh, but it just seemed wrong to leave him without comeuppance. Why? Well, it will become more evident soon, I’d say.

I’ve been thinking about possibly colorizing weekend pages, or possibly every page. Any thoughts?

The views expressed in this week’s comic do not represent the views or opinions of anyone anywhere ever, living or dead.

They finally made it to the Science Fair! YAAAAAAY! I’d be dancing like Kermit the frog if only these damn bones didn’t get in the way. Anyway, now that the Science Fair is finally starting up the real juicy stuff is right around the corner. That is to say, we’re finally getting into pages of the comic that were drawn within the last 6 months. Isn’t that exciting? Despite the large disparity in when these were all drawn, I think that they are pretty consistent in terms of the art. Perhaps that means I’ve hit a wall…

OH WELL.

Today we’re going to take a little break from our typical high brow philosophical musings to allow Johnny and Shrimpy to show all the kids out there the HEALTHY WAY to solve a dispute! After that, Ambex will show us a fun experiment that you can do at home! All coming up today on BASURAKE FUN TIME SUPER PALS!

FUN EXPERIMENT: The Whirling Penny

WHAT YOU NEED: Some masking tape, a quarter, and a power drill

THE SETUP: Carefully attach a piece of tape of about 5 or 6 inches to the end of the drill bit. When that’s done, attach a quarter to the other end of the tape. Now cover your eyes!

THE EXPERIMENT: Turn on that drill as fast as you can and watch that quarter fly! Try experimenting with different methods of attaching the tape to get MAXIMUM DISTANCE!

Don’t actually do this.

I decided that Tuesday/Thursday seemed a little uneven, so I decided to add Saturday (or occasionally Sunday, depending on how busy I am) to the schedule. Three pages a week isn’t bad, right?

This marks the end of the first full week of updates. That’s a big thing, as far as I’m concerned. It’s practically almost our two week anniversary! I’m as giddy as a high school girl! But like, not a modern one, more like one of those stereotypical 1950’s ones.

Man, I hated Grease…

Smitty and Hayes continue to star in their own solo adventure! Thrill as they nag and swear at each other!

In case there is any confusion as to Smitty’s gender, I wouldn’t know, so don’t ask me, pervert.

It’s Tuesday, which means a new page of Super Basurake Advance has been added to the gallery. New characters, sorta!

I hope everyone is enjoying the new comic (since with few exceptions, I have no clue what anyone thinks so far). After enjoying a brief period of activity, the forums seem to have completely died! What a terrible shame…

Dude, this is the first official update of the new comic! Thrill as nothing continues to happen! You might think this page is an indictment of irresponsible adults, but really its a commentary on the dangers of a well funded science program.

I’m pretty sure updates are going to be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I’m tossing a Monday Wednesday Friday schedule back and forth in my head. What do ya’ll think?

Well, it’s been a long (looooong) time coming, but the new site and comic are finally ready to go. There’s more in the works for the site—even, possibly, a merger with the Crapworks. But considering it’s literally been years since we’ve had a public face that wasn’t a teaser or a “still under construction, we promise” message, we decided it was best to go ahead and launch with this lean, mean creation and expand it as we go.

There are some new doo-dads and gizmos, which you may or may not be familiar with from the Halloween comic we posted last year, and a new page-centric layout that Johnny requested. Let us know what you think of it all, and if you encounter any bugs, and so on and so forth.

New pages will generally appear full-sized on the main site (see above), as well as being attached to news posts (like page 2 here), but we’re launching with eight pages, so once you get your fill here, head on over to the gallery to see the rest, where every page should appear in order.

Also, if you haven’t already done so, check out the forums and say hi.

Does anybody else feel like they stopped existing for a few years? No? Oh well, I guess it is just me.

In any case, welcome to Basurake. It’s been sort of a long time since we closed our digital doors for renovations, but we’re back open with a brand new comic. Well, not brand new, per se… but perhaps I’ve already said too much. I’ll just leave it at “Welcome!” and hope you enjoy the first few pages of our first episode, “The Hazards of Highschool Superscience!”