Time sure is flying by. It’s hard to believe that I began designing ADDANAC CITY for the web two years ago today. I remember how excited I was to even entertain the notion of creating a webcomic.

Was I ready? Would it be funny? Could I keep up with a rigorous schedule? How long would I do it before I got bored? Would anyone hurt my bruised ego and I’d quit, running away timidly with my tail between my legs?

Those were all questions I had when I was building my first webcomic site. I didn’t have ComicPress in the early days. All I had was a website-building software program that I picked up from Wal-Mart for twenty bucks.

I can recall how giddy (yes, giddy) and excited I was to actually see a comic strip I drew on the internet. Even after 640 comics, I still get that feeling of exhilaration and satisfaction. Each day, I can’t wait for you to read the new strip.
I guess my obsession passion is what prompts me to keep creating more Addanac City comics.

So I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you who have been faithfully following my comic strip series and providing me with criticism and emotional support throughout AC’s various incarnations. Hopefully, I will continue to entertain you throughout the upcoming years. This isn’t just my comic, it’s yours too.

“Eight Million Stories”, the new ADDANAC CITY collection is now available for purchase! Plus, as an added bonus, if you order before August 31st, shipping is free! Yeah, that’s right, you heard me. FREE.

This book contains some of the most popular stories from the ADDANAC CITY webcomic. It’s 80 PAGES of FULL-COLOR fun. So, if you’re a fan of AC or you know someone who is, order this book and put a smile on somebody’s face.

“Eight Million Stories” showcases the Uncle Jack saga, which features Jack’s introduction, his time on the lam from the law, his re-capture, his time back in jail, his trial, his meeting of Calethia, his second escape from prison, and his traveling whereabouts as Jack stays a half-step ahead of the authorities.

Also included in the collection is Hank’s Zombie City storyline and the full-length Christmas In Addanac City tale. I also threw in AC #200, #300, #400, #500, and all of the holiday super-sized comics. I included the introduction of Ren Murphy and his brief romantic relationship with Christie Anderson. There are also quite a few of the mini-stories added in for good measure. Oh, and lest I forget, the 1 year Anniversary mega-sized comic is in there too, not to mention a few decent stand-alone gag strips.

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Addanac City: Eight Million Stories by George Ford | Make Your Own Book

HOW TO GET FREE SHIPPING FOR YOUR AC BOOK ORDER:

Choose Ground or Economy shipping, type in the appropriate promo code below at checkout, click apply, and you’re set:

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Thank you in advance for your order, and I hope you enjoy this collector’s item edition!

I have never attended an actual full-fledged comic book convention before, but since I am currently residing in Southern California, it would be almost blasphemous if I didn’t make the three-hour trek to be a part of the world’s largest collection of fanboys & girls.

I wasn’t expressly invited, I don’t have a table, and I’m not there hawking wares. The SDCC has been sold out almost since last year’s festival ended. My wife was online a bunch of months ago and read somewhere that they were looking for volunteers to work the convention. She signed us up stating that if we worked three hours minimum, we would receive free admission for that day.

Hmmm…. you don’t have to ask me twice (well, sometimes you do, but in this instance…)

I readily agreed. Besides, what could be so difficult about working three measly, little, miniscule hours? Then I started reading a few of the blogs about how to prepare for the Con. ZOINKS! This event sounds like it’s gonna be total chaos!

I’m the kinda guy who avoids large crowds, intense heat, exorbitant prices, and waiting. SDCC sounds like the complete opposite of the way I prefer things. As a newbie, I have no idea what to expect other than what I’ve read online or heard from a few associates.

I know a few people who attend the Con faithfully every year so there must be an extraordinary upside, right? To hear them tell it, there is. So, now I’m caught between being filled with Christmas-like excitement and wisdom-tooth-extraction dread. I’m not going necessarily to promote ADDANAC CITY (although I will have on my AC t-shirt and I’ll be loaded down with business cards cuz ya never know). I just want to be in an environment inundated with folks who are as passionate about the world of comics and cartooning that I am.

Granted, it’s been awhile since I’ve bought an actual comic book. I don’t even know how much they cost nowadays. I stopped buying comics right around the time Spawn hit 50+ issues. The debacle that resulted when DC and Marvel chose opposing distributors and shut down many a Mom N’ Pop comic shop did it for me. My town was so small that my local shop (and our only carrier of comics) decided to go the video rental route.

My main desire this weekend is to maybe meet some of my fellow webcomic authors and artists. We all correspond nearly everyday, but we’ve had no personal interaction. It will be interesting to see how some of these talented people behave live and in person. That’s my main lure.

I’ve heard that there are freebies galore to be had, but experience has shown me that I never really do anything with freebie stuff anyway other than to lose it, step on it, or simply throw it away sooner or later. I doubt if I’ll be fortunate enough to get any “big name” autographs, but I will have my pen and paper handy just in case. I’m a good Boy Scout like that.

I’ll be taking pictures and you can best believe I’ll be blogging about my cherry-popping experience upon my return. This may actually turn out to be the most fun I’ve had in ages. I’ll just have to see.

While I was taking my class in Digital Photography, our final project was for us to create a themed book featuring our most innovative and powerful photographs. I used my stepdaughter as the model and theme for my book (she loves posing in front of a camera, so there were no difficulties involved with getting her to participate).

I was so impressed with the final results of the book that I decided to see if I can use the same company to create an ADDANAC CITY treasury. I searched through AC’s burgeoning amount of material trying to figure out which comics I wanted to use.

Some of my favorite AC material involves the stories I had been writing recently. I picked a few and settled on the title of “ADDANAC CITY: Eight Million Stories” because, as you know, there are eight million stories in the naked city, so I know there had to be just as many in Addanac City. Below is the cover I designed for the collection:

I selected the Uncle Jack saga, which features Jack’s introduction, his time on the lam from the law, his re-capture, his time back in jail, his trial, his meeting of Calethia, his second escape from prison, and his traveling whereabouts as Jack stays a half-step ahead of the authorities.

Also included in the collection is Hank’s Zombie City storyline and the full-length Christmas In Addanac City tale. I also threw in AC #200, #300, #400, #500, and all of the holiday super-sized comics. I included the introduction of Ren Murphy and his brief romantic relationship with Christie Anderson. There are also quite a few of the mini-stories added in for good measure. Oh, and lest I forget, the 1 year Anniversary mega-sized comic is in there too, not to mention a few decent stand-alone gag strips.

This baby is 80 pages of full-color on the shiniest, thickest paper known to man. Just think of it as being printed like Dark Knight Returns bookshelf format.

I only had one book printed up so far, sorta as a test copy to see how it would look. Personally, I was blown away. The colors are just as bright and vivid as they are on the website, and the art looks even crisper at a slightly reduced size. It touched me to my inner core to actually have what I consider to be The Best of Addanac City in the palm of my hands.

The thing I like is that now, even without computer or internet access, I have a portable ADDANAC CITY device. Whenever I’m out and I’m telling someone what I do, I can just show them the book as well as give them a business card. They get to see immediately what AC looks like and whether they may be interested in reading it. I recommend that any cartoonists out there get at least one book printed of their work so they can just have it on hand.

Once I figure out how to fiscally manage printing up a large volume of these epics, I’ll let you know how you can purchase one if you want. Or if you would just like to know how you can get your comic printed up, just let me know. Until then, have a mega-fantastic day, my friend!

The past few months have been incredibly busy ones for me. I’ve been around, but I haven’t been as active on the scene as I would have preferred. I hope no one has gotten peeved and given up on me yet because I’m working my way back to how things used to be, with more involvement from me.

As some of you may know, since January I’ve been working a day job at the university near where my wife and I live. I had also started taking classes like Final Cut Pro Video and Digital Photography. That was going well, although it meant trimming back a bit on my internet travels. I even cut ADDANAC CITY down to five days a week in order to retain a semblance of my sanity (I do believe I’m plumb out, though). I got A’s in both classes by the way. Yay!

Sometime during May, I found out that my wife was going to be laid off from her job. That was bad news in ways that was hard to comprehend at the time. My ability to work and even take classes was contingent upon a benefit clause in my wife’s employment contract. In other words….if she’s not working there, neither am I. Also, our living arrangement was based upon the fact that we worked for our “landlord” so to speak. Moving was now in our immediate future.

So now, my wife and I were faced with both of us trying to find jobs, having to move, and finding all of the financial necessities that go along with a total upheaval of your lives while raising two children, 14 and 10. Needless to say, these were hectic times.

I still continued to create AC comics and tried to get around where I could to support my cartooning and blogging friends. I was tardy a few times and downright absent in other instances, but please believe, my heart was always with you guys even if my Gravatar missed a few updates. It was nothing personal and wasn’t a reflection of your content.

Faced with bureaucratic red tape transforming me into one of the many unemployed (I still did freelance artwork, but California is an expensive place to live with two kids), I would be forced to give up a job that I was growing to really enjoy and feel that I had a lot to offer.

However, I was notified in early June that my employers liked the way I worked and they desired to keep me on in a full-time capacity, so I was granted a promotion by the university. This meant an upgrade from 15 hours a week to 40 hours a week plus the requisite benefits. This also meant that we didn’t have to move! Glory be to God for these blessings!

Our necks are saved (for now). My wife still searches for another job, but at least we don’t have the pressure of trying to pack up stuff, find a place, rent a U-Haul, and procure money for deposits and amenities anymore. My family’s future is on my back now, but that’s how it should be for any husband and/or father who’s responsible in nature.

So things are returning back to normal a bit. I’m learning more and more about my new job and I’m actually excelling at something that has nothing to do with art. I can come home in the evenings and work on ADDANAC CITY stuff and catch up on the other webcomics that I had been missing out on.

I just wanted to let you know that I haven’t gone anywhere and I haven’t forgotten you. Hopefully, whether some of you like it or not, you’ll be seeing a lot more of me and Hank in the future. I’ve got some extra-special news coming up within the next day or so.

Now let’s go read some comics, shall we?

I just wanted to share a few pieces of art from the past that I was commissioned to do for some connoisseurs of cartoon art. I had fun with these characters, but I don’t expect to see these versions on TV anytime soon.

Man-oh-man, the comic strips have been pouring in these past few weeks! I have received some hilarious contributions created by some of my long-time webcomic friends and also from some new creators on the block. It looks like this year’s Guest Strip Weeks are gonna be pretty amusing and eventful.

I just wanted to post this reminder to let all of you budding artists (and established ones too) out there know that I am still accepting guest-comics. I’m gonna start posting them as soon as I wrap up this current time-traveling storyline. It looks like that will be somewhere around the early part of June, so you still have time to create your ADDANAC CITY masterpiece.

You can find out some of the rules and stipulations below. I look forward to seeing what you come up with, so don’t be shy. And be sure to spread the word to your other artistic friends!

The Many Faces of Hank Addanac by last year's guests

1) The Guest-Strip must feature at least one Addanac City character. You can try your hand at more than that (feel free), but in order to be an AC guest comic, it must have an AC citizen somewhere in the strip.

2) Feel free to use your flagship character in the comic too. I love a good crossover, and it may make you feel more comfortable while creating an Addanac City comic.

3) The guest-comic you send to me must be no larger than 850 pixels wide if it’s in strip format, and no larger than 500 pixels wide if it’s in page format. And try to make sure the panels fit within screen-view so readers won’t have to do too much scrolling, please.

4) The guest-comic must be sent as a jpeg.

5) The strip must be somewhat funny. Also, keep in mind, that I stretch the envelope of taste around here, but I try not to destroy the package. I normally keep it somewhere around PG in these parts.

6) I’m gonna start running the strips I receive somewhere around the beginning of June, so you have time (although not too much). Most likely, I’ll run them in the order I get them, so you early birds can get started now.

Email your finished strip to me at addanaccity@gmail.com

If you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to contact me via email or in a comment, and I’ll be happy to reply to your query. Thanks again to all who will participate this year!