I’m super excited to be posting the start of Next Town Over’s second chapter this week. I think the art’s much improved and I hope you’ll all agree and enjoy. Book 2 should be available for purchase as a digital download in about a month and in print shortly after that. I’ll keep you posted.

Just one book in and the response has already been pretty great: a huge thanks to everyone who’s commented on, shared or linked to the comic; an even bigger thank you to folks who’ve purchased it or donated in one form or another. I’m not swimming in lucre over here, or anything, but it’s been enough to pay for much of my hosting, etc., and the support feels great just the same.

An extra special thanks to Jon and Renee of Alpha Flag, which I consider Next Town Over’s sister comic, in a way. NTO has grown up alongside Alpha Flag, benefited from a lot of its traffic, shared many of the same plugs it has, and of course Jon drew the exclusive NTO pinup that’s been helping drive donations and sell books over here. Keep your stick on the ice, Alpha Flag. So much ice.

Jason Poland of always-funny Robbie and Bobby [somewhat jokily, possibly, but I’m running with the question] asked me today if I listen to a bunch of Hugo Montenegro when I’m drawing the comic. He was possibly entertained when I responded “Some.” Mostly though I listen to Ennio Morricone scores, which of course Montenegro famously covered. Morricone, Luis Bacalov and Bruno Nicolai, and lots and lots of Neko Case and even more Johnny Cash. Incidentally, Case and Cash (in his younger days, at any rate) voice Vane and John in my head, respectively. Also indispensable are DeVotchKa, Marty Robbins, Gillian Welch, the Firefly soundtrack, and a hundred other odds and ends. A huge, more recent boon to my playlists was Bill Elm and Woody Jackson’s Red Dead Redemption soundtrack, which got an appropriately weird (respective of NTO) expansion along with the rest of the game in Undead Nightmare.  Any recommendations?