Our Home Planet

Settin' Off Explosives on a Saturday Night.

2008-11-17T02:28:40Z

OH LAWD, it's Episode 265! At long last, the poor girl is free! But is she thankful? Please. Ms. Maxim has priorities, and graciousness is near the bottom of the list. Besides, that's technically her jacket!

America had an historic election this month! I would like to extend a heart-felt "thank you" to voters for choosing progress over fear this time around. This country has come a long way in just a few decades, and it's clear that an interest in real social and economic change isn't fleeting. However, I'm more than a little disappointed with my home state of California for voting bigotry into the constitution. Shame on you. After the leaps and bounds made in civil rights for women and ethnic minorities over the past century, we deny another group of people their right to marry the people they love under the false pretense that we're protecting "family" and "the children"? It's incredibly disturbing that we, in this day and age, even entertain such hateful notions as being in any way defensible. The only thing being protected here is the treatment of gays and lesbians as second-class citizens. This is the 21st century, folks. Let's try to act like it!

Nothing the God of Biomechanics Wouldn't Let You into Heaven For.

2008-10-25T09:00:07Z

Thanks for being patient! Here's Episode 264. All it took was a little brute force (mechanical elbow grease, if you will) to get this escape rolling! Perhaps a little less brute force would've yielded better results, but beggars can't be choosers. As luck would have it, a certain popsicle-in-training happens to be very close by.

I really appreciate you folks sticking with me these past few months. I know it's frustrating to have the story crawl like this. I figure this is preferable to letting work get the better of me like it did during the 2006 hiatus. I'm working hard to get the pages out a little faster every update, but it's been challenging. I hope you're still digging it.

I've been playing Mother 3 on my breaks at work. It's exciting to finally get the chance to jump back into the EarthBound universe, since Itoi has a knack for making extremely funny and weird games. This is also the first RPG I've played in years, because... who has time for RPGs anymore? 80-hour epics are just too much of a time-sink these days. It takes something really special to make me want to overcome that hurdle. I was surprised with how emotionally engaging it's been. Even though it's been said that this will be the last game in the Mother series, I hope he's still planning on doing other games. Even if it takes another 12 years.

If There's a God, He is Laughing at Us (and Our Football Team).

2008-10-12T01:52:30Z

Hello again, folks. Episode 263 has arrived and is now available for your viewing pleasure. Crisis temporarily averted, thanks to a bit of the old steam power! Surely just a little more elbow grease can solve a problem like this. Might want to light a fire under it though, girls; a friend of yours is still chilling out!

Hate falling into this bi-weekly routine, it really makes the story hit the breaks. Gonna try to put a move on it this week and get the ball rolling a little faster. You folks have the patience of saints, and I hear they are pretty patient people.

There are lots of fun looking games coming out soon and I don't have the time to play any of them!

No Disrespect, But That's How I Am.

2008-09-29T06:45:18Z

For your consideration, Episode 262. What started off as an herbal adventure has suddenly found Mai and Rika on the business end of the law! And with Officer Friendly playing fast and loose with the rules, the girls had better find that Get Out of Jail Free card, and fast!

The update schedule continues to be a little spotty. I'm still pulling pretty long hours at the office; I wish I could say that my efforts there were not in vain, but with some of the titles we've been working on lately... yeesh. Makes me wish the days of the Dreamcast were still upon us. In an alternate universe, Sega still makes video games consoles! Not only that, but Sonic never went 3D.

I Want to Thank You, Loaded Gun.

2008-09-15T06:26:20Z

Uh oh, it's Episode 261! Officer Friendly put his cards down on the table before Mai's plan gets the better of him. A night in the slammer seems to be looming, but there may still be a trick or two up those overcoat sleeves. Rika has lost her appetite for Chinese food for the moment.

I've been having my schedule at work flipped back, then forth, and finally back again for the past month, and it's been challenging trying to set aside time to draw. I think it'll be calming down from here on out, which will definitely help with maintaining a little more consistency in the update schedule. At least, I hope it will. A man can dream. On the plus side, I'm not working nights anymore.

Poor Waldo!

2008-09-01T01:51:14Z

Ladies and gents, here is Episode 260! Absence makes the heart grow fonder or something, right? Rika flexes her peer pressure muscles on Mai, who's devised the perfect litmus test for Officer A-Little-Bit-Too-Friendly. The jig is up... or is it?

Over the past few weeks I've been going through my archives in an attempt to catch spelling mistakes, zap grammar disasters, and otherwise fix some minor inconsistencies like stray pixels, wrong colors, and the like. Despite my best efforts to break these perfectionist tendencies, they seem to be here to stay! I've made some minor updates to the first 16 pages of the comic; prior to establishing the visual "rules" for OHP, the speech bubbles were all drawn by hand... and looked terrible. Early comics suffered from some truly awful bubble placement and shapes, which made for a bunch of pretty ugly wall-of-text scenarios. These have been fixed, with a little polish on the dialogue tossed in for good measure. Have a look for yourself!

I haven't really played much of anything lately. But it's cool to see that Castle Crashers was apparently worth the wait! I've been a long-time advocate for the glorious return of the side-scrolling beat-'em-up.

Let Me Tell You About the Man I Met When I Was Still Young.

2008-08-15T05:19:30Z

Howdy, readers! Today I have for you an Episode 259! Officer Friendly decides to share the wealth, but Mai remains extremely skeptical. Rika, meanwhile, already knows which Chinese restaurant she wants to hit up on the way home.

Thanks for all that voting, folks! OHP was in the top ten for about a week and a half this month, which is totally awesome and completely unheard of... until now! The sleeping giants have awoken, of course, but we're still holding on to an extremely respectable 19th on the list. Keep fighting the good fight!

Bionic Commando: Rearmed finally came out! I never got very far in the original--mostly because I didn't own it and was completely terrible at it--but I still had some fond memories of the experience, and have been pretty psyched about the prospect of a ground-up remake. I was not disappointed. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this is some of the best 2D platforming in years, and it's certainly at the top of the list for the 360. Not only that, but some serious 8-bit flavored beats to go along with it? Has real gaming finally made a comeback? If I'm dreaming, don't wake me up!

This Chamber Will Be Bathed in Deadly Particles That Have Yet to Be Named by Human Science.

2008-08-04T03:22:22Z

Oh dear, it's Episode 258! I don't have much to say this week, but thanks for being patient! Silly shit, inbound.

By the way, have you seen this freakin' sweet business? I do believe this is officially the first time OHP has broken the Top Ten! Let's not split hairs over the fact that everyone else probably has broken toplist links this month, this is for real. We're on top of the world, baby! Keep rockin' the vote!

Clearly, the Theory of Less is More.

2008-07-23T05:12:47Z

Suddenly, Episode 257! Public shenanigans are generally frowned upon by The Man, which is something to take into consideration when manhandling your half-naked friends (even if you are trying to convince them that you got body-swapped with an alien). The more you know!

Sorry that the updates have been so sporadic lately! I'm still drawing the night away, but life has been extraordinarily busy and stressful lately. Hopefully that will stop soon, because I feel like I haven't slept in a month.

Evan Dahm, of Rice Boy fame, started a new comic called Order of Tales. Just in case you're into incredibly stylish and fantastical comics.

Teenage Monsters and Haunted Homes.

2008-07-12T22:49:44Z

Better beware, there's an Episode 256 tonight. Ruby decides to play her newfound size advantage to expose Rika's weakness and get her to listen to reason. This, of course, involves shenanigans. But now that any remaining doubt has been cast aside, what's next? The answer probably involves more shenanigans.

As promised, a new oekaki happened over the Fourth of July weekend. The results were extremely patriotic and pornographic, as you can probably imagine. I was hoping to do another while I was off, but I ran out of time! Baby steps.

I would like Bionic Commando: Rearmed to come out right now, if not sooner.

I Have Learned from Experience That a Modicum of Snuff Can Be Most Efficacious.

2008-07-04T00:52:15Z

And with that, Episode 255. Rika refuses to budge despite Mai's best efforts to prove her love of double fudge ripple... but Mai is not so easily dismissed! Looks like someone's gonna have to bring out the Big Guns.

Yahtzee posted a review of webcomics instead of games this week, which I found pretty funny. Oh, that man. Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence!

American readers, have a good Fireworks Day! What better way to celebrate freedom than by drinking too much, eating too much, and watching things get shot into the sky and explode? The American dream, in a nutshell. Sorry for all the noise, Canada and Mexico! We'll be done partying by Saturday.

You Are We.

2008-06-26T18:32:53Z

Hello again, folks. I've got a shiny new Episode 254 for you tonight. We rejoin the bodily-displaced Mai Yamamura for another round of Try to Convince Your Friend You're Actually Who You Say You Are! With Ruby temporarily on ice, this could be the break she needs to bring Rika up to speed. But it's never that simple, is it?

Holy crap, y'all. I'm getting four days off of work starting next week while Sega relocates to a new building a few blocks away. With any luck, I'll be able to use this time to a) relax, b) catch up on OHP, and c) draw some oekaki FOR REAL JESUS CHRIST CAN I GET FIVE MINUTES TO MYSELF SO I CAN DRAW SOME SMUT. In case you've been wondering, here's a list of some of the "fantastic" titles I've been working on lately: Condemned 2: Bloodshot, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk. SIGH.

Also, have any of you sent me e-mails with attachments? I discovered the other day that my spam blocker was painting with some pretty broad strokes, and I think some letters with things attached may have been accidentally flushed. It's been tweaked, so that shouldn't happen anymore. If you've been waiting for a response, just shoot me another e-mail. Thanks!

Cheer Up, You're Not Dead Yet.

2008-06-19T10:11:10Z

Oh my goodness, it's Episode 253! Sorry to disappoint those of you who were hoping for a punishment that was a little more... mammary. If it's any consolation, Mirabelle will be back at work tomorrow. She's a licensed professional and takes a lot of pride in her work.

I've been thinking about making some new banners for another OHP advertising blitz. They've worked really well in the past at getting fresh pairs of eyes in here, and the retention rate's been extremely decent. But at the same time, not being able to get these updates out in a timely fashion would be (and has been, in the past) extremely counter-productive. We still haven't quite bounced back from the hiatus readership slump, though, so a little ad-space might not be a bad idea anyway.

I never did beat the Xbox Ninja Gaiden, but Ninja Gaiden II is pretty sweet so far. Much easier, though...

Hold Your Breath, Make a Wish, Count to Three.

2008-06-11T09:13:57Z

I don't wanna make you good folks wait any longer for this page, so here's Episode 252! And you thought that joke was dead and buried! Ruby's probably gonna be wishing for her own parka pretty soon. I'm gonna go back in and clean this page up a little later tonight.

It's kind of exciting that the TF2 character overhauls are coming out at a steady pace. I was kinda hoping for a Soldier or Scout update, but Pyro works, too! Some more official maps would be nice, though.

I'm Betting My Life That It All Rewinds and Erases.

2008-06-01T00:04:49Z

Hello! This week it's a nice big splash featuring Ruby and her rotund new friend. Perhaps the alternate title for this piece should be, "Dude, Where's My Focal Point?"

I got this awesome gift the other day from Tam! Check out this Rika. Is that not totally sweet? She says FIE, BEGONE to lines, and they flee in every direction. I love seeing my gals and guys in different styles, so refreshing! Thanks again!

And thanks to everyone who wished me well last week. I've conquered the cold, or whatever it was, and I still have a few chunks of lung left that I didn't cough up. Hooray!