Chainmail Bikini

ACT III: It Ends Badly, Part 2

Wed, 21 May 2008 06:00 PST

ACT III: It Ends Badly, Part 1

Tue, 20 May 2008 06:00 PST

ACT II: It Gets Worse, Part 2

Mon, 19 May 2008 06:00 PST

An Unfortunate Announcement

Mon, 12 May 2008 13:00 PST

T-Minus 4 Days

Thu, 08 May 2008 10:00 PST

T-Minus 5 Days

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:00 PST

T-Minus 6 Days

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:00 PST

T-Minus 7 Days

Mon, 05 May 2008 13:00 PST

Full of Contrition

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:00 PST

Hey guys, a few big news things to hit.

First of all, you've undoubtedly noticed we missed our return from hiatus. I spent most of that time applying for jobs, freaking out about money, and helping my girlfriend go on a Warcrack bender. Shamus buries himself in new projects and threw out his back.

The good news is, I'm gearing up for the third interview for a big new job, which will make life considerably less stressful around here. The bad news is, said new job will come with a 45 minute commute, each way. So I'll have even less time to do the comic. However, it will keep a roof over my head, which is nice.

I also completely failed to work ahead. Partly because real life was so stressful, and partly because Shamus and I have both been struggling with making the comic the best it can be. He's still trying to work sprawling jokes down into our smaller format and I've been trying to draw the comics in a way that's fast and doesn't look horrible.

So what does the future hold for Chainmail Bikini? We'll be returning soon. Perhaps this Friday, perhaps Monday, maybe not for another week. I can't tell you for sure. Subscribe to the RSS feed and you'll know when we know. The comic will likely look a bit different when it returns. (Hopefully this will be the last major format change, I think this one will work out.)

Here are a few likely changes:

Chainmail Bikini will likely move to once a week, probably Monday mornings. It will probably be a bit larger. It will probably look subtly different once again. Shamus's scripts are changing from an individual comic script to a big massive thing, that we'll break up every few panels, which means it may take a couple of weeks to set up some sprawling joke. This will probably suck for you guys, but make the comic considerably funnier for the people who read the archives. My experiment with doing more of the comic in Cut &Paste has ended. I tried it out, I don't like it, I'm going back to drawing most everything new. I might take this opportunity to simplify some of the character designs a bit. We'll see.

The comic's not ending, we're just working to fit it into our busy lives and make it as good as possible. Hopefully you guys will dig it.

In less big and serious news, the screenshot contest continues! There have been some amazing entries, most of which I've collected on the CB Forums. Some of the entries have really impressed me, the two different City of Heroes entrants and the Sims 2 entries are a lot of fun. As we've shown with Nethack and Baldur's Gate, there really is no limit to what game you can use, so even if you have an older machine, fire up Eye of the Beholder or Pools of Radiance. I might go nuts and build the party in Temple of Elemental Evil.

That's all for today, I'll let you guys know more as soon as we know more.

See you soon!

-Shawn

Contest! Crass Commercialism!

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:00 PST

Hey gang, Shawn here. Have you missed us?

The hiatus goes well. Expect a harder, better, faster, stronger comic when we return. Perhaps some news on that next week. This week though, I get to announce a surprise contest and engage in some crass commercialism!

First, I'd like to announce the official Chainmail Bikini Videogame Screenshot Contest.

The contest is simple and easy. You load up your favorite video game, do your best to approximate the PCs and situations from Chainmail Bikini, take a screenshot, and send it to us. The above shot took me about 10 minutes of play time to create. You can do better than me!

Some rules:

1: No Photoshop. Cheaters never win, winners never cheat.

2: Any game is cool, you may have to do some work to take screenshots of console games, but that's your problem.

3: Extra bonus points if you create the party in a multi player game like WoW where you'd need 3 friends to play the other PCs.
4: All entries must be sent to shawn.gaston.art@gmail.com

5: You have until Midnight CST, Wednesday April 30th to submit screenshots. Winners will be announced on Monday, May 5th.

Fabulous Prizes:
First place prize will be one (1) copy of the Jade Pin Up print, (see below) signed by both Shawn and Shamus. First place will also include a sketch of your choosing, also signed by S&S.

Disclaimers, etc:
This contest is in no way endorsed by Blizzard, or any other video game company. Hosts of Fear the Boot, as well as immediate family of hosts or comic creators are not eligible for any prizes.

Part 2: Buy a Pinup! (or other Shawn art)

One of the biggest Webcomic faux pas is to ask people to buy stuff when you don't have a new comic up. Watch me prove once again that Shamus is the one with tact! I was going to wait until the comic returns, but I'll go ahead and announce the first in a series of Chainmail Bikini pinup prints. (Click the picture for a bigger version.)

The CB Pinup series begins with Jade, in full burlesque dancing glory. Future prints will feature Lucretia, Sapphire, and Josh's two moms.

Each print is $35, including shipping to the US, and is signed by me. (Shamus lives too far away to sign all of these, although I suppose I could mail them all to him first, then he could ship them to you.) If you want to purchase one from outside the continental united states, just shoot me an email and I'll let you know how much it will cost to ship to you. Each of these is professionally printed on card stock, and is suitable for framing. We'll be selling these for a limited time, I'll have enough made to cover orders through the month of April, plus 10 extra that I'll take to Archon, and that's it. If we sell 4 of these, then it will be a limited run of 14. If we sell 100 before May 1st, it will be a limited run of 110.

I had a few of the Jade prints with me at Fear the Con. You can see "Steve" holding one here. Here is a ridiculously close up view of the face.

All orders can be made via PayPal, to shawn.gaston.art@gmail.com.

Anyway, this isn't just a greedy money grab. You may recall the main reason I forced this hiatus on all of you was so that I could focus on making money to pay for the mass of new homeowner bills. Well, I realized it would be silly not to try and sell some stuff to you, the loyal reader, while I'm frantically doing freelance work so that we can buy a lawnmower and pay the electric bill and whatnot. (Yes, we have the Cafe Press store full of merch, but it's Cafe Press, and we make about $1 each on any shirts that sell. I haven't checked it in ages, but I think Shamus and I have each made about $30 on Cafe Press. Oh yeah!)

Commissions!

Continuing the Crass Commercialism, for a limited time I'll be doing commission art work. Prices are as follows for a roughly 8x11 piece:

$25 B&W sketch.
$50 B&W, inked and photoshopped.
$100 full digital color.

Commissions can be CB related, or damn near anything else. Character sketches, weird gothic artwork, cartoons, fantasy illustrations, whatever. I will reserve the right to refuse any commission, so don't bother asking me to draw your Jade/Lucretia Tentacle Hentai. Email any commission requests to shawn.gaston.art@gmail.com. You can PayPal payments for commissions to the same email address.

Alright, enough whoring out for me! Please buy some stuff, and stay tuned next week for an update on the upcoming tweaks and improvements to CB when we return from hiatus.

#51 Some Friendly Advice

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:00 PST

AAAAHHHHH! (Was: Fear The Con Write Up)

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:00 PST

I just typed up this giant post about Fear The Con, the Savage Chainmail Bikini adventure, and how awesome the players in it were.

And then I hit "Submit" and Firefox ate it. I of course, forgot to copy and paste it from Dreamweaver or something like that. Bah!

I might get around to doing a full write up again at some point, but right now I have to go be productive. Instead, here are a few pics.

Here were the players:

How awesome is that?

Here were the characters:

Here's a table shot of our heroes entering a giant cursed temple, full of statues and a huge alter.

And finally, here is the custom Character Sheet I made for the adventure.

-Shawn

#50 Ramgar Returns!

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:00 PST

#49 Melodrama, Part 2

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:00 PST

#48 Melodrama, Part 1

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:00 PST

Back To The Grindstone!

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:00 PST

#47 Getting Shafted

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:00 PST

#46 Substitution

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:00 PST

Steve's Shirt

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:00 PST

You may have seen this on the forums yesterday, or Shamus's blog. For the rest of you, an announcement:

Steve's shirt is now for sale on Cafe Press, available in Light and Dark varieties. Sadly, it does not come in faded ugly purple. It also doesn't come smelling like a Grateful Dead roadie. It is however the perfect gift for any gamers you know who already smell like a Grateful Dead roadie!
See you on Friday!

#45 He Took My Chips!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:00 PST

#44 Return of the Kinged

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:00 PST

Jade Cast Page

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:00 PST

Yes, a mere 10 strips after we introduced the character, Jade has been added to the Cast Page.

http://www.feartheboot.com/comic/cast.aspx

Enjoy the brilliant, heart touching background Marcus created for her.

On Friday, a mysterious and dangerous visitor arrives!

#43 The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:00 PST

#42 The Next Big Thing

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:00 PST

Even More Icons!

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:00 PST

So I went on a rampage of new avatar creation. Enjoy:

See you on Friday, when the battle rages on!

-Shawn

#41 Too Much of a Good Thing

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:00 PST

Intermission

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:00 PST

New Look On Friday

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:00 PST

Heads up gang,

Starting with comic #41 on Friday, we'll be switching up the duties on the comic a bit. Shamus will still write everything, and I'm still going to draw everything, but Shamus is taking over the very important word bubbles and layout duty. They way we've been doing it Shamus spends about 5 minutes writing each strip, and I spend aproximately 72 hours drawing, photoshopping, lettering, and coloring. ;) Our new system should even that out a bit.

The fonts are staying, and we've already moved away from a strict 3 panel layout so expect more of that. The comic will I'm sure look subtly different, but we're going to try to make it as close as possible. This change should also free up more time for me to draw cool stuff, and give Shamus more room and time to write funny stuff, so the plan is the strip will be even better than it has been.

So keep an eye out for a slight change on Friday. Also, I hereby swear to have a real bonus feature next Wednesday for you to enjoy.

Later,
Shawn

#40 To Each His Own

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 05:00 PST

#39 On Barbarian Culture

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:00 PST

#38 No Need to Thank Me

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:00 PST

#37 How Rude

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:40 PST

Deuse Baaj Wallpaper, The Best Fan Art Ever

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:00 PST

A number of people have posted about how much they liked the last panel of Monday's comic. So here for your enjoyment is a blown up, wallpaper sized version of Deuse Baaj enjoying his day.

1600x1200
1280x960

Those of you with widescreen moniters or some funky resolution will just have to tweak it yourself.

Also, Larry Wentzel has created the Best Fan Art Ever. The man's a genius. Enjoy:

There are so many little details that make me happy, especially in the last two panels. Thank you again Mr. Wentzel!

See you all on Friday, when one of the greatest mysteries of our age is answered...

-Shawn

#36: The Great Wall of Text

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:00 PST

#35 It Gets Worse

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:00 PST

Bonus Bonus Update: Fan Art

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:45 PST

I almost forgot! During the break, Andrew and ChicoBlue posted some great fan art to the forums. I've uploaded it to the Fan Art Gallery, along with Keith Curtis's awesome version of Casey's Map. Enjoy!

Wallpaper, News

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:00 PST

First off, massive apologies for the delay in starting Act II. If you didn't see Shamus's post to the forums, the delay is all my fault. My girlfriend and I bought our first house, and moved in over the weekend. I greatly underestimated how much work it would be, as I've only ever moved my stuff before. Chainmail Bikini will return on Friday, with a special double sized comic, just like strip #1. We realize how important it is to have a regularly updated comic, and things should continue without major interruption until GenCon or so.

To tide you over a bit until Friday's comic, here's a little something I put together in Photoshop:

Click for a larger version.

Finally, some awesome Chainmail Bikini fans have started inserting quotes and references to the awesome tvtropes.org. I command you, our loyal minions, to follow their lead, and mention Chainmail Bikini anywhere it would fit. Don't go spamming unrelated entries, but if you're bored at work this week, you could plaster us all over the webcomics section or create a Chainmail Bikini (Comic) entry, or add more quotes to other sections, or anything you feel like doing.

Have a great rest of the week, and see you on Friday!

-Shawn

Behind the Scenes #3: Writing

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:00 PST

Every writer has their own process, their own way of getting their mind into whatever state they need so that they can write. Bill Watterson used to just idle outside, which is probably why so many of his strips featured Calvin & Hobbes doing the same.

Great Britain is notoriously cold and damp, so for J.K. Rowling the process is probably something along the lines of "Brew fresh cup of tea and toss a new basket of hundred-pound notes into the fire." For Hunter S. Thompson, I imagine his process was something like, "Snort some blow, put on some music, and then go on a week-long bender. Write about strange new surroundings when consciousness is regained."

My own process isn't nearly as extravagant, but let's be honest here: The words I write for Chainmail Bikini each week would fit on a 3"x5" index card with room leftover for a few doodles.

The first step is collecting gaming stories. For a while I wrote based on my own gaming experiences, but that particular dead horse has been beaten into a fine paste by this point. Now I subsist entirely on a diet of stories of games gone wrong. Sadly, the regular Fear the Boot forum posters aren't a good source of this kind of thing. Most are too well-adjusted or mature to have things go really wrong, but once in a while I find a gem. A few FTB gaming stories from the podcast have been woven directly into the fabric of Chainmail Bikini, but those are rare events. Most stories need a little work before they can become jokes. Which brings me to...

The next step is to take the gaming story apart and see what's funny about it. Real bad gaming stories aren't usually that funny to begin with. They're usually injustices or petty interpersonal conflicts. From this raw material I try to come up with a core truth that can be used to build a joke. If the story involves a GM who makes up house rules on the fly to defeat the players, then I'll come up with an idea like this: Even given the near god-like powers given to the GM, he's so unimaginative and lacking in foresight that he still has to cheat to win. <i>That</i> is a good hook for a joke.

Once I have a situation like this, I'll see if it fits into the strip. Not all make it. Sometimes I just can't see how to get our characters into the situation required for the joke to take place. Sometimes it requires a personality we don't have.

If the idea survives then I'll write up some dialog. Usually I'll come up with about eight panels of dialog, which must be trimmed down. This is the most painful part of the process. Assuming I can still connect with the joke in three panels, I'll write up a script.

Here is the script as originally written for #34. Stuff in {curly braces} is dialog bubble text. Stuff in [brackets] is for Casey's narration boxes. I usually keep the panel layouts as vague as I can. I want to convey enough that Shawn will get the joke, but I want to leave it as open as possible for him to arrange stuff visually as he sees fit:

==================================================================
# 34 Best laid plans
==================================================================
Panel 1: Our four heroes are on the way back to town. Each one has a pig. Maybe a closeup of Ramgar with a pig on his shoulder, and the other three sulking behind him?

Ramgar: {Look guys, I know we did some odd stuff back at the Goblin cave, and as a result we had to go out of our ways to get replacement pigs.}

==================================================================
Panel 2: Wide shot of group, maybe climbing a hill?

Ramgar: {This was a bit of a pain, but trust me - it was better than just sticking to the rails.}
{We're almost back to town, and we'll get our payoff with a lot less hassle than we would have if we'd done things Casey's way.}

==================================================================
Panel 3: Silhouettes of the characters as they look down into the burning city.

[As you crest the hill, you see Calm Meadows is BURNING!]

Ramgar - this covers up most of Casey's box, which we don't need to read since it's redundant with what Chuck is saying: {Er.}
{Unless we get back and find the city in flames.}

[And filled with shambling zombies!]

Ramgar: {Right. And filled with zombies.}

Once I have a half dozen strips, I'll post them for Shawn to see. We then go back and forth on each one, talking about changes and discussing layouts. You can see the joke changes a lot during this process. #34 came out very differently from the way it was written.

The after-comic blurbs are always written just before it goes live. It seems like it would make sense to write those along with the script, but since the days of DMotR it's been my habit to leave the after-comic blurb to the last possible moment. The other stuff is so carefully processed, and so I want the blurb to be spontaneous. If I wrote it ahead of time, I'd agonize over it too much.

That's it. Not very interesting, but what I lack in insight I make up for in verbosity. (It's nice to have this bonus feature where I can cast Wall of Text without worrying about panel constraints.)

Behind The Scenes #2: Concept Art

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:00 PST

Chuck

Shawn: Aside from becoming better groomed, Chuck hasn't changed much from the first drawing of him I sketched out. There's something about the goofy smile in the concept sketch for Chuck that I don't think I've ever quite recaptured. Probably because he's usually frowning or complaining in Shamus's scripts. ;)

Shamus: Chuck's personality has morphed a bit since I came up with him. Originally he was going to be like "Gimli" from my previous comic, DM of the Rings. He was going to be a source of maturity and sanity in the strip, and act as a counterbalance to the more eccentric and spastic players. That concept didn't even survive the first few strips. I found I needed a character to derail Casey's plot, and Chuck, being a seasoned gamer, was the most logical choice.

Casey

Shawn: The original version of Casey looked too much like the DM in Knights of the Dinner Table. I was going for sort of an Easter Island vibe but it just didn't work. On the second drawing, I wanted to capture more of his attitude, that smug condescending superiority. It's one of the few times I really absolutely nailed something right away. A slightly cleaned up version of that sketch was used in the comic, and is Casey's main icon.

Shamus: I miss that original Casey. Most of my personality for him masn't even made it into the strip yet. He's supposed to be kind of fussy. He's also personally clueless, the sort of guy who has trouble noticing he's just been insulted. His wife hates gaming, and sees it as a monumental waste of time. Originally she was going to be somewhat of an antagonist in the strip, breaking up the game with petty complaints against Casey. That idea was abandoned because I think she would annoy (the audience) more than entertain. She might show up again someday, but the longer we go without her the less likely it seems.

Josh

Shawn: I didn't even finish the original sketch of Josh, because I realized just how not right it was. I thought originally he should have a round head, because Casey and Marcus both had long, narrow shaped heads. But original Josh A: didn't fit the character and B; looked way too much like Francis in PvP. Revised Josh is essentially Alan Tudyk with glasses. If we ever make tons of money and can do the Chainmail Bikini Animated Christmas Special, I want Josh to sound like Wash from Firefly. That's my one dream in life.

Shamus: Shawn came up with this look entirely on his own. This is important to note because Wash is my favorite character, and I've been told on several occasions that I look like him, which I think flatters me a lot more than poor Alan Tudyk. This is the first time I've ever seen the "original" Josh. I like the new one much better.

Marcus

Shawn: Looking at it now, I actually like concept art Marcus more than how I usually draw him. The giant nose, the angular chin, it's a bit cartoonier than the style I've settled on for Chainmail Bikini, but don't be surprised if Marcus starts to look a bit more like this in coming strips.

Shamus: Marcus is the only character based entirely on gaming stories and not on personal experience. Everyone else is an exaggeration of a type of play I've seen in my own group. We've never had the "overly dramatic, serious" type of player. This means that Marcus is (I imagine) our least authentic character. I also empathize with him the least, which means I probably make him the butt of the joke a little too often. I try to sharpen him up when I can, but what I <i>really</i> need to do is get in a group with one of these players in it and get to know them.

Ivy

Shawn: Ivy didn't have a name for the longest time. She was just "the goth girl" I really didn't keep anything from her first sketch aside from the Pikachu eyes. The original Ivy is much mousier, much more Ally Sheedy in the Breakfast Club. The revised sketch of Ivy ended up directly going into strip #16. She kind of looks like every girl I dated in college, but with coke bottle glasses.

Shamus: The final Ivy sketch really works for me. I knew that to survive in this group of gamers she needed to be strong, and a quiet, mouse-like woman would just end up being a doormat, assuming she got any dialog at all. Note that I never did anything helpful, like SAYING what I wanted to Shawn. I let him blunder around as we searched for something that worked. In some cases this led to failed designs (like Goth Girl below) but in others it resulted in designs that really surprised me.

#34 Home Sweet Home

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:00 PST

#33 LFG

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 05:00 PST

#32 The Warmest of Welcomes

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:00 PST

#31 Bringing Home the Bacon

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:00 PST

Behind The Scenes #1: The Notebook

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:00 PST

When we started Chainmail Bikini, I picked up a brand new Mead Academie Sketch Diary, that I used for nothing but CB art. 30 comics later, it's full. Here's a look at some of the original artwork, before I do all the magic in Photoshop and Fireworks. Enjoy!

See you on Friday! -Shawn

#30 Porkomancy

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 05:00 PST

#29 Blame the Messenger

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:00 PST

Sapphire RIP, Fan Art, Merch

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:00 PST

First, I've drawn a touching and fitting tribute to the holy and virtuous Sapphire Sun-Sky.

Second, the official Chainmail Bikini Fan Art Gallery is open. Go now, check it out!

If you want to have your own fan art posted to the gallery for the whole world to see, either post it to the forums, or email it to us at bikini at shamusyoung dot com.

And finaly, we've added several new shirts and more to the Chainmail Bikini store. Designs for Chuck, Ivy's Familiar, Die Fatbeard!, and the classic Chainmail Bikini logo are all for sale. Plus a clock, journal, yard sign, mouse pads, a thong, and more. Josh, Ivy, Casey and Marcus shirts are coming soon, perhaps even today!

Thursday night at midnight EST is your last chance to guarantee shipping by Dec 24th, if you know a gamer geek or goth girl who needs a new shirt. Apologies for not getting these to you a month ago, but be happy knowing that Shamus and I are better at making a comic than we are exploiting it for profit.

See you on Friday when we continue the thrilling epic of Inside The Goblin Cave.

-Shawn

#28 Something For Everyone. Almost.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 05:00 PST

#27 The Thick and the Dead

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:00 PST

Casey's Notebook

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:00 PST

I think this one speaks for itself really:

feartheboot.com/comic/images/gallery/wed_caseynotes1.jpg

Much like Casey's Map, you'll need to decipher my Casey's horrible handwriting. Good luck!

And in case you missed it last week, you can buy GRAK buttons, shirts, magnets and more for the Goblin lover in your life, from the Chainmail Bikini Cafe Press store.

-Shawn

#26 Adventure and Excitement! (Also Death.)

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:00 PST

#25 See No Evil

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:00 PST

For Immediate Release: Goblin Rights Group Formed

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:00 PST

November 28, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GRAK Created To Stand Up For Goblin Rights

We want proud to tell the create of GRAK, the Goblin Rights Advocacy Kommittee. GRAK are name in honor of noble Goblin Grak, who die outside Goblin Cave, when all Grak want was munchins and crunchins.

For long time Goblins have die at the swords and sticks and fireballs and big pointy clubs of the big meany adventurers! But our time are come! We have celebrity endorsers!

"These Goblins have been senselessly persecuted for their practice of taking livestock and eating it Or having sex with it. We don't actually know what the hell they're doing with the livestock, but whatever it is, people need to be more accepting of it. Goblins are people too." - Tom Cruise

"With you're help, we can put these ugly little dogs into a good home." - Paris Hilton

GRAK work tired to improve life of all Goblins, even stinky and dumb Aquatic Goblins. But not big meany Hobgoblins. GRAK demand Goblins fair share of abandoned mines, ancient ruins, haunted castles, and endless dungeons! Goblins want only have what is rightfully Goblins.

Snok Pigthief the III,
President and Founder of GRAK

#24 The Munchkin Savant

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 05:00 PST

#23 Barbaric Salesmanship

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:00 PST

News, Cast Pages For Ramgar & Deuse Baaj

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:00 PST

First off, Shamus will have a big announcement Friday about shirts and other fun stuff, just in time for that gamer geek on your Chanukah shopping list. Consider this the announcement of Friday's announcement. Better tell Slashdot and Digg.

To tide you over for that announcement and the exciting continuation of The Saga Of Our Heroes Waiting Outside A Door, we've added brand new cast profile pages for Ramgar and Deuse Baaj:

www.feartheboot.com/comic/cast.aspx

Enjoy!

Shawn

#22 Respect the Unexpected

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:00 PST

#21 A Surprised Party

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:00 PST

More Cast Pages

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:00 PST

We've continued to expand the Cast section, with entries for Josh (the character), Sapphire, and Lucretia. Tune in next Wednesday when we give you the exciting backgrounds for Ramgar and Deuse Baaj!

And of course, Chainmail Bikini #21 comes your way on Friday.

#20 Girlfriend, PLEASE

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 05:00 PST

#19 I'm Sure You'll Fit Right In

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 05:00 PST

Wednesday Update 2 of 2: New Icons!

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 01:00 PST

(Yes, this part of the update didn't go live until Thursday, fear not, the comic will be up Friday morning as always.)

In addition to a newly updated Cast page, today I give to you a newly updated Icons and Avatars gallery. I've replaced all of the original black and white icons with shiny new color versions, and added images for fan favorites like Ivy, the Displacer Moose, and the Pig Stealing Goblins.

Conveniently sized at 100x100 pixels, these pictures are perfect for use on sites like Livejournal or the Chainmail Bikini forums. And if someone asks you where you got that super cool picture, just tell them feartheboot.com/comic.

If you have any requests for comic panels to be turned into icons, or for captions to be added to any of the icons without them, just hop onto the forums and ask me to add them.

Enjoy!
-Shawn

Wednesday Update 1 of 2: New Cast Pages!

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:00 PST

We've finally gotten off our duffs and updated the Cast section.

http://www.feartheboot.com/comic/cast.aspx

Go say hello to Casey, Chuck, Ivy, Josh, and Marcus.

Next Wednesday we'll further update the Cast section with brand new profiles for Deuse Baaj, Ramgar, Sapphire, ~~xXKillstealer69Xx~~ Josh, and Ivy's mysterious character.

Expect a late night bonus Bonus Feature tonight: Iconpalooza! Oh yes.

#18 An Irresistible Source of Brains

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 05:00 PST

#17 Setting the Stage

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 05:00 PST

Chuck's Random Encounter Table

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

#16 Player 4

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

#15 A Truly Random Encounter

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

The Great Pants Mystery

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:00 PST

I think this one really speaks for itself:

I've actually drawn Ramgar below the belt a few times, it's always ended up getting cropped out to fit everyone into the panel. My plan is to simply not show Ramgar from the waist down until it becomes necessary.

At some point, maybe next week, maybe four months from now, there will be a big action scene or something and we'll see Ramgar's pants or lack therof. Until then, enjoy the theorizing!

#14 Sometimes a Spear is Just a Spear

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

#13 The Sun-Tzu of Bartering

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

Introducing: Wednesday Bonus Updates!

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:00 PST

Hey guys! Shawn here.

Starting today, we'll be adding extra special Bonus Feature updates every Wednesday. They'll show up in your RSS feed like normal. On the Chainmail Bikini website you can find all of them by clicking Bonus Features in the bottom navigation.

Some weeks Shamus will post snippets of Casey's notes, Marcus's elaborate backstory for Sapphire Sun-Sky, or other cool stuff. Some weeks I'll post new icons, wallpapers, maps, or pieces of artwork that we particularly enjoyed and want to share a larger version of. As the name Bonus Features implies, these are sort of like the extras on a DVD. You can enjoy the comic without them, but they're just a little something extra. Stop by every Monday and Friday for the comic, and every Wednesday for the cool extra stuff.

This week I have two things for you. First, click here for a much larger version of our beloved ~~xXKillStealer69Xx~~ Josh. Second, check out this preview of the upcoming "Hey! No LARPing!" shirt. We weren't planning on launching our merchandisng empire just yet, but fans viciously browbeated us and demanded we put out a shirt before Christmas.

And remember, new Chainmail Bikini comics every Monday and Friday, new bonus features every Wednesday.

#12 The Name Game

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

#11: You Can't Lead From The Rear

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

#10 Three's Company

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

#9 Pwnage Personified

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

#8 Live Action Ramgar Pummeling

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 05:00 PST

#7 Relationship Shy

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 05:00 PST

#6 Touch Attack

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 05:00 PST

#5 Undress for Success

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:00 PST

#4 No Love for the Shorties

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:00 PST

#3 Have Heroes, Won't Travel

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:00 PST

#2 The Tome of Stuff You Should Know

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:00 PST

#1 It Begins

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:00 PST