At last! The side story is complete! What will happen in the final chapter of Book I of “Ship in a Bottle”? Who knows, but we will get a sneak peak when the cover returns after a 8 year absence. Plus, we need to answer the mystery of where Trixie and Bear were during the fair. I think Chapter 4.5 gave us a clue regarding Trixie, but where was Bear in all this? And what are Ship and Alan doing now? And where’s Clara, Nel, Lucia, and the rest of the “harem”?!
All this and more in Chapter 6: “The Enemy Without”
Plus, if that wasn’t enough excitement for you, we are going to be reviewing the first of our Manga Gamer titles on Plexstorm this coming week. I’m thinking we will be doing “Rance Magnum” as our first title. But, I have three, so they will ALL be reviewed in good order. Plus, we will be speaking to John Pickett himself of MangaGamer.com in the following week (we hope!) after the review so we can hear all about some of the other offerings they have in store over there. And, of course, if you don’t want to wait for the show, we have affiliate links to two of the “Rance” series of games so you can try them out and offer your own thoughts in the comments during the live broadcast!
Here’s the links if you missed them last week:
Plexstorm: Up Late with Mace on Plexstorm!
Pornhub: Up Late with Mace on Pornhub!
~Mace
]]>And we’re back, or something similar in nature! Don’t forget to lock your seats in their original upright position and secure all tray tables and carry-on as we roll forward into more….smut!
Seems Bear is a little surprised at the strength Trixie is displaying!
]]>I don’t really have clever tags today.
So, Trixie gains some insight, and Bear makes his move.
~Mace
PATREON keeps us alive. The link is a graphic on the upper left of the page.
]]>Bear knows what’s going on.
If everyone is wondering what the fuck is going on with updates, part of it is because the Patreon is stagnating. Now, hold on! I’m not blaming you. But without growth, I’m actually not making enough money to be able to hold all of this magnificent empire together. I also owe a huge balance to our regular artists. Our hosting is expired and I owe $150 to Dreamhost. I have a $200 negative balance in my bank account as we speak. I’m working through this, but it means the schedule is going to be fucked for a while as I try and find ways to make money via other means. I personally, am not a professional artist. I started most of these comics myself, yes. But since I am saddled with a HUGE amount of debt (tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt, which I am going through consolidation with no “backup” to resolve), it is causing me an anxiety level that makes even going out and doing my regular job (I do gig rides through the various rideshare services) a hassle. Combine that with the fact I am recovering from a very serious fall in late July (collateral damage is a bitch), and you can see why I’m a bit behind schedule with… well, everything.
So, please don’t give up on us just yet. We are still making this comic, and we have big plans to continue the others that have been languishing, as well as making some visual novel games with some pretty great voice actors. However, if you have not already joined the Patreon or the Discord, I highly recommend you do so now. Thanks to the Discord platform, I am able to keep up-to-the-minute updates on ALL of my projects. If you have the ability to help out and you have not contributed in the past, now is the time, though. I promise your generosity will not go unrewarded.
~Mace
Patreon and Stuff! (Ko-Fi and direct PayPal works too!)
]]>I’m sure everything will be fine.
~Mace
Patreon!
]]>That’s the sound of failure.
~Mace
Patreon gets the goods done.
]]>Yeah, good thing…
~Mace
Patreon is the water of our life. Or direct donations. I’m not married to it…
]]>Ah, Bear. Always keeping track of things like a good little minion. Akane sure seems to be getting hot-and-bothered. Also: STRIPED PANTIES.
~Mace
Patreon and PayPal Donations keep the bilge rats out of this boat, folks! Thanks.
]]>Well, there you have it, folks. Some may ask why I chose to sub-divide this chapter. Well, the story was getting kinda unruly and quite lengthy. This just… felt like a good separation point. Plus, one more volume to put up on DriveThru. I have to make a new cover, probably a collage of art from the interior of the comic, because the combined elements of the original cover doesn’t work for what we have now. The original covers will be part of the Drivethru download bonuses, though. So you’ll get a little extra value as well as some explanations of plot changes from here on out. Spoiler Alert: the relationship between Alan and Ship is going to get vastly more complicated.
Additionally, Chapter 4.5 has a LOT of the “1.0” pages worked into it. However, I am working to make some not-subtle improvements to the art. I may tidy up some proportions, change some of the coloring, shading, etc. One major thing of note is that I repurposed and refocused Glance and Tea’s original Chapter 4 cover. You’ll see that next week at the regular time. The first 10-12 pages are Glance and Tea’s work, followed by a pretty significant orgy scene by Oshi. Then Chapter 5: “Goodbye Mrs. Robinson” will feature three pages and cover by Glance, and a return of PrettÃo’s art, bringing us full circle to Chapter 6: “The Enemy Without”, Book I’s final chapter.
Lastly, I’ve had a couple people ask me about “Hokum Pocus”, Chapter 3.5. Oshigan has been contracted to help me by doing pencils. I am doing inks, colors and lettering (I do lettering on ALL of the comics in this studio, by the way). If you jump on Patreon and contribute, you can see the previews of pages 3-9, as that is what is paid for. But you won’t get any more unless we get about $625 more dollars in DIRECT PAYPAL DONATIONS. This is NOT a Patreon thing. This is a “give Mace money, personally, get more bonus pages” thing. Kinda like BGR and Frilly Pink are for now. The Direct Donation system is a little more reliable because no commitment is made until I have cash. And I get it immediately, as opposed to the monthly crap shoot that is Patreon. Not saying I want anyone to migrate away from Patreon. Quite the opposite, really. But the signups for that have been non-existent these past 2 months, and frankly, I don’t want our existing 32 Patrons to carry all the burden. That’s not a workable model on an indefinite basis. You get “Patron Fatigue”, and that is only natural. But I want to bring back KND and update Peppermint Saga at the same time, and I am flat broke. Worse, I have a metric ton of debt. So, no freeloading on my part. Hire me to draw you some shit or hire ALL OF US to work for you (essentially) via those Direct Donation comics.
Thanks for sticking around for my TL;DR as usual! More excitement to come!
~Mace
PS – If you leave a snarky reply to my fuckery on Facebook or Twitter, don’t reply, then IMMEDIATELY block me 5-seconds later. How on earth will I see your SCATHING response?
]]>The mysterious lady approaches. Beatrice sees this and takes steps to keep Bear out of harms way. But what’s going on here? The real plot of this episode begins on page 13!
SUPPORT PATREON AND GET US UP TO 2X PER WEEK. We can’t get there if you don’t get us above $600. We need your help! THANKS!
~Mace
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