So apparently loyal reader and person I actually know in real life Patrick Kavanaugh attempted to pull up ianjay.net at school earlier this week, probably in the middle of some mind-numbingly boring computer class like Intro to Office Systems Management or something, when this came up on the screen:

Apparently the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Board of Education-mandated school firewall has blocked my site, and what’s more, tagged it as pornography. No doubt this is due to my occasional use of the word “fuck” (see? There you go!), which I refrained from using back on my old site. (I was a younger, more innocent sort then, and my now jaded and hatred-caked black heart sheds a single caustic tear at the passing of those halcyon days.) If this is why I’m now classified as a shameless smut-peddler, I commend the AACPS B of E’s valiant effort to protect innocent high schoolers’ ears from dirty, filthy pottymouth language. Thanks to their work, Anne Arundel County teenagers are known throughout the land for never, ever cussing, ever. Way to go, guys!

And as for you, dear readers, thanks for sticking by me through thick and thin, and keep watching ianjay.net for more hardcore action quality webcomics. (Also, Patrick, keep fighting the good fight! I’m sure there’s a proxy site somewhere Severna Park hasn’t found yet.)

…then first off, start doing so, because you’re missing out on loads of cool stuff.

Second off, check out this new video on webcomics I made with my long-time colleague Vincent Ouroboros. He’s kind of a dick, but I can’t argue that his facts are a hundred percent sound. There’s gonna be more of these coming, so stay tuned!

Hey, kids! Bet you’re confused as to what’s going on. Well, like I said last week, TEO is over, and we’re moving on. And this… this is what we’re moving on to! This is Near High Noon!

Near High Noon is a piece I originally did earlier this year for a SCAD undergraduate comics anthology. It’s a western, produced mostly in two weeks with a variety of materials available at your local office supply store– no fancy-ass art stuff here. Also, in marked contrast to TEO, I endeavored to use as little Photoshop in its production as possible– there are just a couple touch-ups here and there, but for the most part it’s all ink and paper. Sure, the result is kind of gritty, but I wanted to experiment a little bit with a couple things. Some worked out, others didn’t, but overall I’m proud with the result.

I’ll be updating three days a week with Near High Noon– Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays– until the end of May, whereupon I’ll be premiering my next major webcomics project on here, Epiphany. Keep a close eye on IANJAY.net, folks: We’re in for some cuh-ray-zee shit.

~IJ

You thought it’d never come to this, readers, but it has: This is the very last page of TEO Book Two, as well as the last page of TEO in general that you’ll see for quite a while. Oh, no! Oh, no!! Oh yes.

Y’see, kids, there are some people who have one masterpiece, one single magnum opus that they fervently and singularly toil over. It may take them their entire lives to craft, it may cast them as crazy by their peers, but they are so devoted to their one shining, beautiful vision that they will stop at nothing, nothing, to achieve the most perfect story they can possibly make.

Needless to say, I am emphatically not one of those people. I mean, do you honestly think I have time to put up with that kind of horseshit from my own ideas? No. I control them, they don’t control me.

What this means is that I’m giving TEO a little break; while it’s my first webcomic series and still probably my most complex (being the sprawling and very literal “space opera” that it is, something Seq. Arts teachers will expressly warn you not to do as your first comic), I’m getting kind of bored with it right now. Plus I’ve got all these other wonderful ideas that I want to make series out of– earlier this week I started planning one, I-86, that I probably won’t get around to starting until at least two series after TEO. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to write TEO stories (especially stories about all the neat side characters that I never had time to elaborate upon), but for now, we’re gonna try something different. That’s why we’re on IANJAY.net, after all, and not still on TEOcomic.com– I want this to be a catch-all for all of my webcomic projects. You don’t even have to change your web address! Lucky, lucky you!

But anyways, yeah. Say goodbye to Walt, Lloyd, Dexy, Al, Betty, Eddy, and everyone else for now. Or catch up on the archives! Or draw me some fan art! Or just send me money or something! Whatever! (By the way, did you dig the April Fool’s art thing yesterday? That was done by P. Lapierre, fellow Scienteer and creator of the experimental blog-style probably-will-make-more-sense-to-you-if-you’ve-actually-played-Animal-Crossing-unlike-me webcomic All Over Migglie. Dude has chops, and for that he gets props.)

That’s all for this week, folks. In conclusion (and sorry I didn’t post a YouTube thing up last week, but whatevs– does anyone know if you can actually embed YouTube videos into WordPress posts?), here’s how to make a toothbeef sandwich. Me and my friend David actually made one of these and it was just about the worst thing we’ve ever tasted, ever.

Sincerely, and with great respect to all of you for putting up with this crap for three years running,

Ian Jay

PS: Stay tuned next Sunday for the start of an ALL-NEW webcomics series, Near High Noon!

But I don’t care! We are living on the edge here, people, and I’ll use all the crazy-ass color dodge effects I can fit into one page. PLUS that’s a rift in spacetime right there, so it has to look intense. Welcome back, TEO fans!

Nothing much to report this week. Classes started today– I had Intro to Storyboarding and Intro to Sequential today, both relevant to my major and both crazy interesting. Tomorrow I have Survey of Western Art II, which may be slightly less engaging, but whatevs, I’ve got some friends in the class. WE’LL REPORT MORE AS THE SITUATION DEVELOPS.

Right now, though, I’m gonna go take a nap. I’m tired as hell. Next week: TEO2’s epilogue. Stay tuned, folks!