Welcome to Adam P. Knave dot com

I never really do this, but I will warn you it will happen again in a few months.

I actively want your help to spread the word about stuff. I am writing two ongoing webcomics. Seriously, every single day of the work week you can read a new comic, in some form, written by me.

The first is Legend of the Burrito Blade which updates Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Legend of the Burrito Blade is an epic fantasy story set in modern-day New York. It is also the story of how mythology affects us and how we effect mythology. It is also the story of how we choose sides and what those sides mean. And, you know, it has food based weaponry and silliness and action and humor and everything else you might expect. We are nearing the end of Chapter One this week (only a few weeks to go) and things are building. This story is oddly dear to my heart, because how often to you get to do a grand action comic featuring swords with burritos on the end?

Not often, my friend.

The other webcomic is Things Wrong With Me and it updates every Tuesday and Thursday. It’s a strange beast. Well not for readers here, I suppose. For folks here it is Talking Heads, done somewhere else with original characters. Of course, they also have expressions. Fancy! Things Wrong With Me is all about six friends who sit around, like we all do, and talk about life, and the strangeness that falls out of our heads.

And here’s where the asking comes in. The more readers each comic gets the more able I am to do them, as advertising on the sites will begin soon. Also more people reading means more chances for them to tell other people and so on. And then the more chances to do merchandising, which might sound base and money-grubbing but I promise it is stuff you will like. Well, no, I don’t promise that but I strongly think it is true.

But readers are what make all of this happen.

I am not asking for your money, though. All I am asking is that you give each comic a chance yourself and, if you enjoy them, you tell all your friends, more than once even, and link to the sites and help me drum up readers.

To help I give you tools!

How to read Legend of the Burrito Blade:

• At its website: http://www.burritoblade.com
• Via RSS: http://www.burritoblade.com/feed
• Via LiveJournal: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/burritoblade

You can also use these icons on various blogs and such:

You can also use these small ads:

How to read Things Wrong With Me:

• At its website: http://www.thingswrongwithme.com
• Via RSS: http://www.thingswrongwithme.com/feed
• Via LiveJournal: http://thingswrong.livejournal.com/profile

You can also use these icons on various blogs and such:

I do ask that if you use the heads … you do not make fake episodes. Please? Seriously, actually, I would consider that a personal favor. And don’t use them to comment on the site itself, mmkay? Just oddly rude, really. But use ‘em! Enjoy ‘em!

Also here is a small banner you can use:

So yeah, I am asking you to actively go and pimp stuff with and for me. If you don’t want to I won’t hold it against you. If you decide to, I will appreciate it. Also let me know how else I can help you pimp stuff, if you want. Seriously. Do you think an image of X size that was kinda like Y would help your readers? An icon of whatever? Tell me and I will try to make it happen.

I am also more than willing to do a mini blog tour about both comics: Interviews, writing things for your blogs and whatever else you want, to help promote these.

So, if you could, if you are so inclined – help a brother out.

Thank you! Either way, truly, thank you.

So to touch on the last thing first and deal with the first thing at the same time – you want to know how sick I’ve been? I had a new webcomic launch yesterday and didn’t feel up to mentioning it. Yeah, me, the great whore.

Anyway, As you all probably know, Legend of the Burrito Blade (http://www.burritoblade.com) updates every Monday, Weds and Fri (so yes new page today!) but that left two whole days. Two whole days!

Things Wrong With Me (http://www.thingswrongwithme.com) is a webcomic that, I think, only works online. It wouldn’t work right in print, at least not to my eyes. The idea is minimal art, just some head shots, and conversation. Sometimes they happen in a bar, sometimes not. All right, mostly they happen in a bar. And while it seems, for now, as if they are random, there is a plot there, one that will slowly uncover itself. But really, you go for the conversation (because if you’re anything like me then conversations with your friends get really odd) and the kick-ass heads by Matteo Scalara. Things Wrong With Me updates every Tues and Thurs and as an added bonus there are a bunch of “preview updates” already there as well. So enjoy. If you’re on LiveJournal you can just friend user thingswrong.

Moving on to NYCC… great convention. Mostly due to working with some great folks. When I offered to help out at the Image booth I knew that I would be walking into a very certain situation. Here were some folk who were used to working together and then this schmuck comes along and is all “I’ll help” and who does he think he is? And I’ve had situations like that turn out for the worse, from being on both sides of the equation. This time though they could not have been better people. No lie.

So yeah all the work was good, the people were great, the parties were awesome. Now some of the people who stopped by the booth…

All right, not everyone knows who Image is, or what company publishes what book. I get that. I don’t expect any different. But twice people came up and asked me about books that IDW puts out. The first time, when they asked about Next Men, I mentioned where he could get it, who put it out and all, and was then treated to a small lecture about why the book should continue. All right, some people just need to be heard, and so I half-listened while helping someone else. I mean, I get it, he liked that book. A lot. But the next guy who wanted to know about Angel: After the Fall, when told it was an IDW book and not an Image book (and therefore not where he was) told me that “they both start with I,” and well, yes, he did know his alphabet very well. It didn’t change anything, but there you have it.

I still enjoy the guy who came up to me, leaned over some to get a good look at the name on my badge, squinted at it, and said “Who are you? Oh, I don’t care about you,” very fast before walking away, looking around for someone he did care about. I respect the honesty, really.

The other guy who really caught my attention was the name who talked! like! this! Every word was it’s own individual command. “It is very important you tell me right now where the food court is,” he said in his odd staccato. We didn’t really know. Downstairs maybe? That wasn’t good enough. He needed to know exactly where. But we didn’t know. We … I mean you need to understand … we didn’t know.

And that was something else. We kept a map nearby and spent a lot of time helping people find other booths. Because NYCC is not only odd to navigate – its own staff don’t seem to know. Seriously, one of them came up and asked me where something was.

But as good as the convention was, let us not forget that comics also tried to kill me. By Sunday I was getting sick fast and I honestly do not remember all of Sunday night. Monday morning less so. I know Vin was over, he was getting sick, too, but was brave and strong enough to get us juice and such. I know, also, that at one point I went to go lie down because I couldn’t handle sitting up. Monday is, to be honest, a blur. So is most of Tuesday. I find myself at Wednesday, slightly confused.

Oh, and one bonus thing – I laid the start for a new column to go live sometime in the next month or so. A very interesting column. More as it gets closer.

New Burrito Blade page up. I’m telling you, every M/W/F we will have a page. Art wise we’re almost done with Chapter Two and writing wise Chapter Three should be finished this week. So we’re reliable, if nothing else. As always, consider subscribing to the RSS Feed as well.

See I went like over a week without mentioning it. I probably won’t again until I get some new extras up for your fun use.

Speaking of things to mention: Things Wrong With Me starts in a few weeks but there will be some more updates. I consider them tests but they won’t be marked as such. I just feel like playing a bit before it starts and working out the kinks.

If you’re on LiveJournal please note that the best way to read TWWM is to friend user thingswrong. That will be a feed that will link you right back to the comic where you can read the full entry and comment. Trust me, the RSS feed for it truncates the pictures out so it ends up kinda crappy. This is a big part of what I’ve been testing for the site, actually. So expect one later today, but I won’t announce it here. Go friend that LJ user, or check the site later today.

Past that, what the hell is going on with me? Uhm, not a whole lot, really. So there ya go. Yay?

(New page of Legend of the Burrito Blade is up. Just sayin’.)

The Axis of Awesome has a great bit involving four chords that a ton of songs use in the same progression. It’s a good listen and often hysterical.

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So wait, there’s no one else in the whole garden but those two and she can’t figure this out? Damn, Eve was one dumb bitch.

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Picked up two new short comic stories yesterday. Both are exciting me to no end, but I can’t discuss them yet, blahblahblah. Know that I am excited and you will be, too, when you see them. Both will be co-written with Kirkbride because that is how we roll. Yo.

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I am idly considering moving to Hawaii. For serious. But not too serious.

The first page of LEGEND OF THE BURRITO BLADE is live! Wow. Been waiting since August to be able to say that.

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And here I need to stop and say a few things about a few people I work with. Just because yesterday was that kinda day. It happens.

First of all, given the day, lemme say a little something about Renato Pastor. I have yet to find the thing he refuses to draw. I can come up with any visual and ask for any layout in my head and he never bitches. He just makes it work, or improves it. He’s gracious about it, too. I mean this is a guy who will stop and find me to make sure that what he did fits what I had in mind. To be fair, sometimes it really doesn’t. And we discuss it. And either I rework things to make his vision work or he shrugs and starts sketching. We once spent three hours with him sketching and trying out a few ideas before we were both happy. Did he bitch? Even once? Nope. That’s a joy to work with.

So is Lauren Vogelbaum. I have an editor who never balks. And I’ll be honest here, I’m a bag of issues. Every time I come to her with “I don’t know if this works at all but here.” she laughs and tells me it will work or we’ll fix it. And then either it does work (sometimes I know what I’m doing) or she helps me fix it. Working with Lauren really is a partnership, across all the projects we’ve worked on. Sure we take a 20 minute editing discussion and turn it into an hour of laughing and insanity, but we get the work done and get it done right. She keeps me on track and on target and has yet to ask me to do anything that doesn’t work for me. She could. She could demand all sorts of changes and I would listen and probably go along with it because I trust her, but she seems to know where I am coming from and be able to match me step for step and make each line better.

I also need to give major props (Do we still give props? Kudos? What are the kids giving out these days?) to D.J. Kirkbride. I’m working as the assistant editor over at Popgun for Image Comics (oh for those of you keeping track I was just the asst. editor for vol 4 but I am now also the assit. editor for vol 3 out in March) and we’re hitting the biggest crunch of the book (vol 3 that is) with having to proof every finished page again and so on. It’s a hell of a job.

Now I can proof a page, in general. Or I thought I could. But every time I go to do the work Kirkbride outshines me. Hell he outshines everyone else at Popgun. Everyone knows he is the best eye around for proofing. It is uncanny the stuff he notices that I thought was fine. Fine for my MORTAL standards perhaps. But Kirkbride is after the gold and he’ll chase it the fuck down. It is inspiring to work with him on these, it makes me up my game.

And as long as I am giving shouts to Popgun I need to stop at Thomas Mauer who is just a kickass letterer and production guy. Seriously. He tosses out work like it was breathing, and it is all fantastic. I admit that when I get a huge batch of proofs and stuff to deal with I might not appreciate that as much as I do otherwise (Yes, I mean I might curse him out but I love him anyway) and of course to the rest of the team which is in transition right now but everyone is acting all good and well-behaved and getting things done. It’s good to see.

And now coffee.

But seriously: read Burrito Blade I mean I know it is just one page right now but if you add it to your feeds … or check back at it every M/W/F … yeah. Also there are forums there, where I will be talking about comics I’ve read recently, some movies and a lot of behind the scenes Burrito Blade stuff. So come chat with me.

LEGEND OF THE BURRITO BLADE launches next Monday! Yes that’s right, the first time I mentioned this thing in public was in August. Now, in January, we prepare to launch. We’re well off, by the way, if you were worried. We have the first 40 pages in the can. So you can read knowing full well that there will be updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday without fail.

But we also want to show love and do more than just say “Read this!” a lot. So we created a handy bit of work for you:

Yes it is tiny, because the original is at the size of a normal page of the comic. So click through to see the goodness. And if you still aren’t sure – there’s a bit of me dancing in there. Yes, sir.

And you can subscribe via RSS or, if you are on LiveJournal you can add the feed there (http://syndicated.livejournal.com/burritoblade/profile) as well.

Please, spread it around! This week and next! We won’t get readers ’cause we dance pretty!

Well we might get readers because we dance pretty, because we do dance pretty, after all, but you know what I mean.

First: A brand new ad for Legend of the Burrito Blade is up. It’s too wide to put here, I think so instead I will link to it. Go look. Enjoy.

Remember, you can subscribe to Burrito Blade via RSS (or if you are on LiveJournal you can subscribe to The LJ Feed instead).

Legend of the Burrito Blade is an ongoing webcomic, launching in January, written by me, drawn by Renato Pastor and edited by Lauren Vogelbaum. Updating every Mon, Weds, and Fri, Legend of the Burrito Blade is … well … besides the ads you’ll see.

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And now have four minutes of baby pandas wrestling:

Quick post. If you aren’t reading Burrito Blade by RSS feed yet:

Over at The Download Page we now have the first three downloadable icons for your use! A bit of a reveal here. Now you know three characters names and what they look like. Who are they?

Well, find out in January.

And add Burritoblade.com to RSS now, so you don’t miss any more exciting and strange updates to things between now and then. Only some of it will end up here.

I have been keeping a few projects secret. Here is another one come to light today:

But that leaves a lot of questions open. So let me answer some and open the door for any others and out of these we can build a FAQ even!

What is Legend of the Burrito Blade?
An ongoing webcomic. Each update will be a full page of black and white comic book. Each update will happen at BurritoBlade.com.

Who’s doing all the work?
Adam P. Knave writes it. Renato Pastor draws it. Lauren Vogelbaum edits it and rides herd on the story, keeping everyone focused and honest. D.J. Kirkbride is the spiritual guide, ensuring our souls are shiny.

But what is it about?
Read the rest of this entry »

And one day there came to be a rising sun unlike any other. The Lords of the Sky saw this day break and smiled, considering breakfast. The ordered the freshest foods, along with juices and strong brews, and sat back contently. Kirkbride the True nodded toward the Earth below.

“I declare this land to be a fine example of how wonderful we are,” he told the other Lords of the Sky.

“I agree,” said The Grovemiller, wise overseer of the Lords, “we did fine work.”

“But what of the mortals?” Vrax the Kicking asked, growing puzzled. “Should we not do more for them?”

“I will show you what more I can do for them!” Kirkbride laughed. He rose and grabbed up part of his breakfast, clutching it in his mighty fist. Taking a huge bite of the breakfast burrito that he held, Kirkbride leapt off the platform of the Lords of the Sky and thundered down to the grassy lands below. As he landed, Kirkbride draw his sword and whispered the words of binding.

A blinding light flashed. Heat scortched the Earth for miles around. Villagers burned before the raw energy unleashed. As the spiraling forces fading Kirkbride held aloft the Burrito Blade of the Morning – a weapon so powerful, so feared and so damned delicious that all cowered before it.

“Now with this bad boy I think I can get me some chicas,” Kirkbride laughed and strode off to do as he would to the village.

The Grovemiller saw Kirkbride’s actions and sighed, shaking his head. “You see, Adam, there he goes, having to prove he isn’t a girl.”

Adam the Knave nodded, not bothering to look up from his keyboard, “So have Vrax go kick his ass or something,” he said, returning to his deep involvement in writing Point Break fan fiction.

Vrax the Kicking leapt up from his chair and clapped his hands with excitement. “I do like kicking,” he agreed and ran off toward the kitchen. When he returned he carried his sword and a foil wrapped package.

“Don’t wait up!” Vrax cried as he stepped off the edge of the platform of the Lords of the Sky.

The Grovemiller turned towards Adam the Knave and sighed. “This won’t end well,” he intoned wisely, as was his way.

“You’re telling me,” Adam said, without looking up, “Johnny Utah is in trouble this time.”

Feet landing lithely on the ground, Vrax unwrapped the foil package in his hand and thrust his sword into the still soft and warm end of it. Light and heat and power erupted, calling down lightning and hail. Holding his new weapon aloft Vrax screamed to the sky, “The Burrito Blade of the Night is forged! All shall know now beef filled fear!”

All day and all night Vrax the Kicking stalked Kirkbride the True. But what neither of them knew was that the Burrito Blades concealed their wielders from each other, each blade invisible to its other half. For the Burrito Blades themselves knew more than was guessed about their true nature…

To be continued… sometime…