Catalyst Castle

Even if the Doctor can shut down Vader's lightsaber, somehow I can't imagine he is any match for the power of the Force.

Hey, if you haven't read No Need for Bushido, you're missing an awesome, often hilarious, action-romance, samurai webcomic saga. You can read it for free online (Warning: PG-13 Content). The artwork is pretty amateur in the beginning, but has gotten very good recently.

Unfortunately, the artist is taking a break from creating the comic due to circumstances. In order to get the comic back on track, they artist and writer duo are running a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to support the continuance of the comic. They have already raised over $13,000 in money pledged to the project, but they only have 1 week left to raise the remainder of the $30,000 they're hoping to get. This money will go towards helping them to go professional and make the comic a commercial venture, instead of just something they do for fun in their spare time.

Pledging money towards the cause isn't just giving your hard earned cash away. Contributors will get cool rewards, depending on how much they pledge - anything from buttons and posters to printed, hard copy volumes of the comic when they're released. If you pledge now, and they don't get their $30,000 in pledged funds by the end of the week, then they won't take a penny and there is no loss for you.

I'm not really trying to push anyone to contribute to this project. I really have nothing at stake in them succeeding, except that I enjoy their comic and would like to see them continue making it. But I do think this is a really cool opportunity to support a creative team that want to take their hobby to the next level and actually make a profit from their creativity. It would be awesome if more artists and writers could take that step. So, that's why I wanted to bring this to people's attention. ^_^

Last weekend I created another custom game box like the ones I made for Yomi and Frenzy. This time I made a box for a board game called Dragons of Kir, and I made the box for a different reason. With Yomi and Frenzy, both of those games consisted of several decks of cards, and I wanted a nice box to keep the different decks together in. With Dragons if Kir it was a matter of efficiency. You see, right now my game collection takes up the better part of three shelves in my closet. There are always new games appearing on the horizon that I am interested in buying, but I'm running out of space to put them. I am selling some of my games that just don't appeal to me any more, and that is freeing up some space. Dragons of Kir is one game I was considering selling, but it actually isn't a bad game, and kind of unique in its mechanics. After playing the game with my sisters, I was telling them about my lack of space and I made the observation that this game, with its over-sized box, takes up a lot more space than it needs to. Megan suggested that I could make a smaller box for it, and I decided that might be the thing to do. I thought I would share some pictures of the process.

I can't take credit for this, but I found this cool picture online and just wanted to share it. All of the robots/cyborgs are from various movies and shows. How many can you identify? Can you find Wall-E?

Hey, this is another quick art post of a random sketch I finished digitally last week. This time I'm posting some screen caps that show the work in progress. I hope you enjoy!

This is just a quick art post of a sketch I scanned and quickly colored in. Although the coloring was extremely quick, I think it has a sort of water color look to it that was completely unintentional, but kind of neat. The character is Muna Ceil, a Mandalorian warrior and commander from my currently running Star Wars Roleplaying Game campaign.

1. Sooner Dead by Mel Odom
Sooner Dead is novel set in the universe of Gamma World, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi role-playing game. For those unfamiliar with role-playing games, the general idea of a game like Gamma World is to give the players a detailed and interesting setting, and to let them create their own characters and stories in that setting. So I found it interesting to read what an established author had come up with given the same resources as the common gamer.

The novel itself was pretty straightforward, but it had a few surprises. The characters were entertaining, but not too complex. It was fast paced and featured plenty of action. I think one of the things I enjoyed the most were some of the author's descriptions. Just the opening chapter contains a really cool description of the way that lightning illuminates a dark landscape, and really goes a long ways in building tension.


2. Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, Volume 1
Legends of the Guard is a spinoff of the excellent Mouse Guard series by David Petersen. Legends is a collection of short stories set in the Mouse Guard world and framed as a bunch of tales told around the table in a tavern one night. Each story is written and illustrated by a different writer and artist, making for an interesting variety in themes and presentations. I'm looking forward to getting back to the main Mouse Guard story with the publication of The Black Axe within the next year, but Legends of the Guard made for an entertaining diversion in the meantime.


3. Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories
The awesome musical tragicomedy webseries, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, from creator Joss Whedon, was something of an origin story in itself. It artfully portrayed the rise of Dr. Horrible from a hapless do-badder to evil criminal genius. Interestingly, this graphic novel goes back even further, showing the origin of Horrible's grudge against the world, the beginning of his rivalry with Captain Hammer, the origin of the Freeze Ray, and other details. This graphic novel is really a collection of short stories, but the way they are woven together is delightful and funny. Though not written by Joss Whedon himself, this tale definitely has the Whedon flair and style.


4. Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game, 4th Edition
This core book for the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game is one of the most masterfully written roleplaying game books that I've read. The rules for the game are straight forward and do a great job of invoking the flavor of the setting. The setting, a sort of fantasy version of ancient Japan mixed with elements of other Asian cultures, is very compelling and artfully conveyed. Nearly every other page or so of this 400 page book contained some detail that sparked an idea for a story or character that could exist in this setting. The book is also beautifully illustrated throughout, and stands as one of the most well put-together roleplaying books I've read.


5. Bunny Drop, Volume 1
A cute an endearing manga series by Yumi Unita, Bunny Drop tells the story of Daikichi, a 30-year-old bachelor who, through a strange set of circumstances, ends up raising Rin, his 6-year-old aunt. It's touching to see how these two strangers gradually take to each other, and the sacrifices Daikichi makes to adjust to his new role as parent. The artwork is pretty good throughout. Rin, especially, is adorable. Not that I have any real experience with the subject, but this story struck me as a fairly realistic depiction of the challenges and joys that might come with suddenly being a single parent.


6. Kamikaze Girls (manga adaptation)
Having already read the original novel and having seen the movie adaptation, I wasn't sure what I might get out of this manga adaptation of the story. The artwork was pretty good, but it was rather typical of shojo manga. The way Ichigo was drawn she really looked like a boy, which was kind of odd. The story itself was considerably abridged. It wasn't bad, but for me it didn't really add anything to the novel and movie, which already compliment each other so well. The real charm of this manga volume was Ichigo's Case, a short sequel to Kamikaze Girls that portrays a budding romance of Ichigo's. This story was a nice addition. The book also contains The Pinky-Ring Princess and The Middle-Finger Princess, two parts of a short story written by the artist of the Kamikaze Girls manga. These stories are somewhat entertaining, but have no real connection to Kamikaze Girls. It seemed like they were put in there either to pad out the volume because of the short length of the main story. Or, it could be that Kamikaze Girls was simply being used as a hook to promote the artists own story.


7. Amulet: The Stonekeeper, Book 1
I read the first few pages of this full-color graphic novel on amazon.com and was immediately hooked. The opening pages of this book are just gripping. It seems surprisingly dramatic for a book aimed at younger readers. Overall, this is a sci-fi/fantasy adventure story about a couple of kids who journey into a fantastic world in order to rescue their mother, who has been kidnapped by monsters. The older child, Emily, becomes the keeper of an amulet that grants incredible power to its wearer. The story conveys a sense of wonder and excitement, but there also seems to be something more sinister going on in the background. It's hard to tell if Emily should really trust the power of the amulet. This was a fun and fast read, and I'm really looking forward to picking up book 2.


8. Dengeki Daisy, Volume 1
Dengeki Daisy is not quite like any of the other shojo manga I've read. At its core, it is a pretty simple relationship story with the added complication of a secret identity, but surrounding that is a much darker story involving a conspiracy and some pretty ruthless people who seem desperate to get their hands on something the main character may or may-not have.

Basically, Teru is a high-school girl who's left alone in the world after the death of her older brother. Her brother left her with a cellphone, however and the email address of a mysterious person called "Daisy". Teru and "Daisy" communicate through email and "Daisy" becomes Teru's protector and confidante. Meanwhile, Teru breaks a window at school and ends up working off the debt incurred by the damages doing chores for the Kurosaki, the school's custodian. Kurosaki is a relentless bully who Teru quickly grows to hate. Of course, it should be no surprise to anyone that Kurosaki and "Daisy" are actually the same person.

The real intrigue begins when it begins to become apparent that Teru's brother was a computer software engineer and was involved with some rather shady people before he died. Now those people are after whatever project her brother was working on before he died, and they think Teru must have it. Excitement and action ensues.


So, those are a few samples of the books I read this year. I'm looking forward to reading another 52 books next year. I've already begun making a list of a few I intend to read, but I'm always open to recommendations. Feel free to sound off in the comments. ^_^

Hey, sorry I haven't posted anything on here in forever! This is just a lazy post of some artwork I did recently, but I hope you enjoy it. The image was sketched in pencil and colored digitally.

So, I've already posted a review of Mascara, my favorite manga on the web, but I thought I would share a couple of other web comics that I follow from week to week.


No Need for Bushido is set in ancient Japan and weaves an intricate tale of love, war, intrigue, deception, ninja assassins, samurai warriors, blind Taoist priests, pointy hats, and dysfunctional families that historians forgot to put in the history scrolls... Go figure. This is actually a pretty great comic. It has an intricate plot, interesting characters that you actually come to care about, lots of humor, action, drama, and the most hilarious use of onomatopoeia. The art starts out very simple, but has really advanced over the course of the comic. The most recent pages are simply beautiful. There are currently over 400 pages and the comic updates with 1 new page every Monday. (Fair warning: some of this comic is PG-13)

The Adventures of Superhero Girl is a comic I've only started following more recently. It is actually published in a Canadian newspaper, but the artist is republishing the strips online. This comic tells the story of "Superhero Girl" and her mostly ordinary adventures - trying to find a job to support her superhero gig, trying to fit in with normal society, and her search for a fulfilling hobby. The art is pretty consistent throughout, as the artist has written and illustrated other comic strips in the past, and thus has had plenty of time to develop her skills and style. This comic doesn't have any overarching storyline, instead it mainly focuses on some kind of gag on each page. It is always a fun read though.

Frenzy is a card game of real-time strategy. Two players choose from four different factions and then pit their forces against each other in a fast and furious confrontation. The game revolves around drawing cards from your deck and then placing them on one of seven piles which represents the distribution of your forces across the battlefield. You have to watch your opponent's moves and react to them quickly in order to stay ahead.

Each of the four factions in Frenzy is represented by a deck of cards, each of which comes in its own little tuckbox. But as with the Yomi card game, I decided it might be nice to have another box to keep the four decks together in, so I decided to build one. This was a fun little project. Lately I've been really frustrated because I've had a hard time doing anything creative. I sit down to write and I find that I just can't write. I sit down to draw and I find that I just can't draw. But, I can measure and cut! So that's what I've done. Here are some pictures of the process and the final product.

Yomi is a competitive card game for two players that captures the strategy elements of a fighting video game like Street Fighter or Tekken. The game consists of ten decks of cards, each deck representing a different character and requiring varied strategies when playing against different other characters. You can read more about the game here if you're interested.

I just recently purchased the four remaining decks to make my Yomi collection complete. While each deck comes in a nice tuckbox of its own, I decided I would like a nice box to keep all of the decks together in. Feeling a little bit "crafty", I decided to make a box that would be just the right size, and hopefully a little appealing to the eyes as well. I hadn't really done anything craft-wise since I made my Bat Mobile, so I figured I would take some photos of the project and share them here.

Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo is one of my favorite manga series. The title can be literally translated as "His and Her Circumstances", but is generally shortened to "Kare Kano" in both it's Japanese and English publications. The series ran 21 volumes in its American publication, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. There is a slow section in the middle of the series where the story gets sort of derailed as it explores the lives of various side-characters, but these side stories are also enjoyable in themselves, so it isn't a big deal to me. The main plot revolves around two high-school freshmen, a girl named Yukino Miyazawa and a boy named Arima Soichiro, who are both academic over-achievers. Their relationship starts out as a rivalry wherein the two of them compete for the highest grades in their school, but quickly turns into a budding romance.

I'll admit that this isn't a proper review of the manga, and it isn't meant to be. (If it were, I would have to mention that - while the art is beautiful - it is dreadfully dificult to tell certain characters apart at times. -_-;) I'm writing about the series for more personal reasons. To me one of the most powerful scenes in the series comes at the end of volume 9, when "Dark Arima" makes his dramatic and disturbing appearance. This is a personafication of Arima's doubt and self-loathing that gradually lures him into depression and a self-destructive frame of mind. The scene really struck a cord with me when I first read the series as a teen, and in the last few weeks I think I've had a few encounters with my own "Dark Arima". It's comforting (and not too much of a spoiler) to know that Arima eventually overcomes these feelings with the help of loving friends and family and grows up to have a happy life as a husband and a father - even if he does end up getting shot and killed during the series' only action scene. (Again, not really a spoiler - and an intentionally misleading one at that. ^_^)

This is a photo I snapped a while ago. I saw this statue in somebody's yard and it reminded me of the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. I adjusted the colors in the photo digitally in an attempt to evoke the kind of spooky mood associated with these aliens.