As we move into another holiday season, it’s high time for an update on how things are going here at the ol’ jape-foundry!
I’ll talk about comics, merch, and future plans.
Pretend you’re the bold text, asking me questions. I’ll then…answer those questions!
➡️ How have you been?
My family is doing better than many (we’re safe and healthy).
But as other parents of small kids will know, these last 20-odd months have presented a set of…particular challenges.
My kid isn’t old enough for a vaccine yet, and we don’t have family very close by. Our daycare closed down and we don’t have a regular babysitter. So we spend a lot of time chilling at home.
I had heard that parenting is tiring, but I didn’t realize how much of that would be from straight-up mental exertion. After all, a 4-year-old has nothing better to do than to make everything a battle of wills.
So we’re all fine here — but, like, completely brain-tired 100% of the time. This is a good foundation for the next question.
➡️ What kind of update schedule will the comic have?
As I was posting the latest comic, near the end of November, I realized that it references “Halloween.”
This is a little window into how long comics take me to make, these days, in snatches of borrowed time here and there. I think I first wrote it in mid-October.
So! That’s just the way of the world, at the moment. I’ll continue to make comics, but I can’t predict when, or on what kind of schedule, they will post.
I recommend making sure you’re on the email list!
➡️ Will there be a Wondermark calendar this year?
I wasn’t able to make a new calendar this year. Sad as I am to say it, I think the era of the Wondermark calendar may now have passed.
I will try to redo the existing designs for the coming year as downloadable versions, as I’ve done the past few years. I’ll mention them here if that does become available.
➡️ What kind of Wondermark goodies are still available?
• I’m still shipping things regularly from my store — my holiday cards, for example — and from my TopatoCo store, which sells apparel and comic prints.
• A few of the card designs are out of stock, and it looks like I won’t be able to reprint them before Christmas. So, stock on some designs is limited!
• I also just got a notification from Amazon that they’re going to start charging me extra for my inventory of books sitting in their warehouse. So please feel free to grab copies from there, if you are so inclined. It’ll help me clear them out!
➡️ What have you been up to otherwise?
A few projects are ongoing at the moment:
• Over at Dave Kellett’s sci-fi comic Drive, I wrote a 14-part guest story (beginning here) that’s currently running, alternating with the regular Drive story.
• I’m also posting my original script pages as free posts on Patreon as Dave releases each episode.
• My party game TBH wrapped up its Kickstarter back in the spring and was delivered to backers in September/October. (If you pledged and haven’t gotten a copy yet, we probably didn’t get your address! Drop me a line if you’re still owed a copy.)
• “Friends of Malki” (people who heard about the KS early) also got some TBH bonus cards sent directly from me! If you got a TBH game, but didn’t receive the 2 bonus cards I sent separately, drop me a line. I’ve got some left.
• You can buy copies of TBH now! They ship directly from the factory, so they take a few weeks to arrive, but they are definitely shipping.
• I have another new game coming out in January! It’s called Keep it 100. Then another one in April or May. That one’s called Lineup. Then a few more after that, I think.
➡️ Wow, you’re making a lot of games.
Here’s the other big news (and big reason that comic-makin’ time has become more scarce).
A while ago, I accepted a full-time position as director of product development for Cut, the Seattle-based video company.
My mandate is to make social games based on their values of sincerity, communication, and empathy.
That sounds kind of heady, but it’s actually really fun. TBH is the first game I made following that brief.
I’ve also creative-directed six new expansions (three still forthcoming) to their Truth or Drink series. And as mentioned above, we’ve got several new games on the slate for next year.
I’ve been able to lead an amazing creative team, and I’m really proud of the stuff we’re putting out. Plus, it’s steady work, which was a cool thing to have going into the “year-plus of no conventions.”
➡️ Can we hear more about that?
I’d like to set up a newsletter or something that is exclusively about the games we’re making! Behind the scenes, things in development, and so on.
We just haven’t figured out the details of the newsletter yet. Hopefully in the new year — I’ll make an announcement when that’s live.
➡️ So what happens now?
I’ll keep making comics, and posting to Patreon, at the pace that I can! Please join the WM email list if you haven’t already to ensure you don’t miss any updates when they do happen!
➡️ I’ve got some other question!
Makes sense! I’m just making up these questions, after all. Leave a comment on this post — or this post’s mirrored version on Patreon — and I’ll answer it!