the fate of the haps and christian's nudge!

okay...

over on craig's blog he said something the other day that, apparently, got a lot of people concerned.
we are not announcing the end of the perhapanauts, just letting you know that things have slowed down a bit.
mostly 'cause of the holidays.
and work.
it's really great that both craig and i are getting some really nice work from marvel (thank you, nate cosby!!) and it is taking up a lot of our time--craig on his new Her-Oes project--can't wait! can't wait!--me with my Marvel Super Hero Squad!--but we are still working on the haps, always will!

as a matter of fact, we're just putting our upcoming one-shot special--molly's story--to bed and think that scott weinstein and jason copland--not to mention colorist mike thomas--did a phenomenal job on this book and we can't wait for you to see it! it'll be in stores in mid-february and if you haven't seen it, jason's cover looks like this;










and craig's flip-cover on the back looks like:




so, while we appreciate your emails of concern--and in two cases, panic (sorry, you guys--didn't mean to scare ya...)--please know that we are getting back into the rhythm and have absolutely no intention of putting the haps away anytime soon!
we love 'em.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and on a similar note, over on the perhapanauts forum, christian made the very positive and very creative suggestion that, while waiting for the next story arc from craig and i, the next thrilling chapter in the perhapanauts saga, some of you talented perhapa-fans maybe put together your own web-comic featuring the haps. i love the idea and think christian is brilliant for suggesting it.
and, if anyone is actually interested in doing this, i'd like to offer the following as a sort of start up to the project.
a few days ago, while going through some old scripts and documents, i found this little three-page bit that i'd written back in the early days of the perhapanauts. we were gonna throw it into one of the early dark horse issues to fill up the extra back pages and it just never happened. it's mostly just a little talking heads piece with arisa and choopie, but it might be a nice little kinda "perhapanauts try-out page," a chance for artists to show off their artistic talents, their storytelling abilities, and their creativity. if you are one of those artists and would like to take a swing at it, send it in and i'll be thrilled to post it--and, if anyone's interested, maybe i'll post another three pager that features an action sequence in the near future.
either way, here it is.
i call it "brain power."
enjoy!

the perhapanauts
choopie in
“brain power”
3 pages

PAGE ONE

panel 1. big panel (archie style) arisa is sitting before computer as a casual choopie saunters by offering his new nickname for her. (he reminds me of the times calvin used to walk right past his mom naked on the way outside.) arisa is “oh-no’-you-ditn’t” incredulous.

choopie: hiya, slappy!
arisa: excuse me…?
arisa: “slappy”?

panel 2. choopie is happy, gesticulating, comically framing arisa with his hands like an artist would. arisa is not havin’ it.

choopie: i’m just tryin’ it out. seein’ if it fits.
arisa: yeah. well. try it out somewhere else. i’m busy here.

panel 3. choopie is now ON her, on her shoulders, looking over her head down at her. arisa is looking frustratedly up at him, irritated but giving him a chance to speak/play.

choopie: oh, don’t do that, ris! the best, most definite guaranteed way to get a nickname that you don’t like is to let them know that you don’t like it. then it’s like…guaranteed. yer stuck fer life! they give it to ya just to see you get mad.
arisa: who is “they”?

PAGE TWO

panel 1. In front of her now, standing on the computer keyboard, tugging at her shirt/collar.

choopie: they!! them!! the people who give people nicknames!!
choopie: i’m tellin’ ya--they’re vicious, slappy!

panel 2. silent panel--choopie just staring at her, arisa staring back, her eyes narrowed wondering where this little jerk gets these crazy ideas…

sfx(small): blink. blink.

panel 3. same panel. arisa’s eyes not so intent as she tries to reason around this.

arisa: right. choopie, where did you hear this?
choopie: in a book. it was in one a’ big’s psychololology books.

panel 4. silent panel--same panel as arisa narrows her eyes again. this is a huge waste of time. now she’s getting angry.

sfx(small): blink. blink.

PAGE THREE

panel 1. same panel as choopie leans forward, tapping arisa’s forehead with one finger, explaining it to her. her eyes are a little narrower.

choopie: it’s about your braaaaain.

panel 2. pulling back a bit as arisa turns to watch choopie running out of the room, terrified, holding his head between his hands as he goes.

arisa: right. how about if i use my brain to squeeze your brain right out of your tiny little chupacabra head…?

panel 3. as choopie runs hysterically out of the room--

choopie: ahhhhh! no! big! help! she’s usin’ her telepathetic powers on me! i can feel it! she’s squeezin’ my brains out! heeeelp!

panel 4. on arisa as she turns her attention back to her work, a slight smirk on her face indicating that that was fun.

caption: the end.