THE TAO OF IGOR: a new Dork Tower collection by John Kovalic

Progress is Progressing!
over 4 years ago – Sun, Feb 02, 2020 at 01:27:14 AM

Hello! I’m in Thailand, and…progress is progressing again! And it’s progressing well. Yay!

January was a frustrating month, work-wise, but that’s in the past. If you follow the Dork Tower Patreon, I may go into it a bit there. But again: bygones.

Wait…did John just say Thailand?

Thailand is hot and muggy and crazy and wonderful. I’m here for about 14 days, but these are work weeks, not vacation weeks.

My  parents are in their late 80s, and in grand shape, and still travel the world. But bthey are in their late 80s, and my sister and I decided that one of us should be with them, for their month in Southeast Asia.

So I’m here for two weeks, then I swap off with my sister, who’s with them for the other two weeks.

This meant that last Tuesday, I was up until 2am scanning in Tao of Igor pages to bring with me, to color. Then at 4 am I was awake to catch a series of flights to Bangkok. The hours of the day have lost all meaning to me.

The book is coming together properly now (as opposed to improperly?), and this is a huge relief. It’s also back to being exciting and fun.

Here are two of the newly-colored pages. I posted the black-and-whites earlier, but seeing them in color at last makes me incredibly happy.

Right now, I’m in a cheap hotel near Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport – a name I pronounce about as well as “Buttigieg.” There aren’t many distractions, even though getting into Bangkok proper would be grand. But I’ll be saving that for another trip. There is a Night Market about a quarter of a mile away, and I had unbelievably good Mango with Sticky Rice last night.

My parents are children of the Great Depression, so to say they travel inexpensively is an understatement. The unfortunately-named A-Port Hotel makes a Motel 6 seem ridiculously well-appointed, by comparison. But my family has always been close, and I’m just happy I have a job where I can pick up and go be with my parents, every couple of months.

This is my work station at the hotel, by the way:

Here’s the glorious view from my room, by the way:

Today, my parents and I take the bus to Hua Hin. It’s a four-hour journey, but again, I’ll have work with me. I expect the next hotel to be just as as sparse as this one, and only hope for decent WiFi.

Pulling everything together last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning seems the shot in the arm I needed. There’s still the coloring to be done, and a few important pages I need to figure out, but it’s starting to look like a real book!

Here's another colored page: one of my favorites, in fact:

Don’t want to tell you what’s happening here, but I really love this point in the story.

When I’m back in the States, a friend will be helping with the coloring, but I’d like to get as much of it done on my own as I can, in the next ten days. I’m not a great colorist, but it is enjoyable.

Speaking of Ken, if you’re following along with the current DorkTower.com storyline, it now ties directly in with the Tao of Igor.

The current storyline starts here.

The tie-in strip is here.

I’m taking all the lessons I’ve been learning from this book and this Kickstarter campaign to heart. Obviously, I badly underestimated the work to be done, when the campaign began. And I didn’t realize how much more the ending needed: it’s now a 40-page chapter, when I had intended it to be a 20-page chapter. But the book will be much better for it.

As always, I deeply appreciate your patience with the process. Crowdfunding appears to be the way forward for independent comics these days, and I need to get much better at it. And I will.

I'd like to talk a little bit about what’s next for Dork Tower once The Tao of Igor is done, and what future collections will look like, but I’ll save that for the next update.

Thai beds are hard as rocks, and my back is killing me, but progress is progressing, and I’m super happy about that!

- John

MERRY(ish) CHRISTMAS!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 26, 2019 at 02:14:21 AM

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! The darkest days of the year are behind us (in the Northern hemisphere, anyway). I hope you are doing great.

First off, obviously, the book is not out yet.

 I am deeply sorry about this. I had really hoped it would be in your hands by the holidays, and I was super-hoping it would be out for Dragonmeet. I believed this was do-able. For various reasons, this did not happen.

Much of this project, I've not been beating myself up about the delays. It's been a learning experience, and the book is going to be far better for it. But Christmas was a definite goal of mine, and this is the first time I've really felt a little deflated by it all.

This feeling will pass the moment I put pen to paper. That's how it works. I've been through this before.

The good news is, we're still very close to the finish line.

The disappointing news is, we're not *much* closer than we were several weeks ago.

Things got in the way, on both the personal and professional side. Two unplanned trips in particular. These are explanations, not excuses.

On the plus side, my schedule is clear for January, and it will be a 100% Dork Tower month (much as October was). I've no other projects until mid-February. I've no travel, and getting Tao done is Job One.

So it's nose (or pen) to the grindstone time, and despite the feeling of disappointment at not getting the book out for Christmas, I'm still excited to get this done. I'm looking forward to getting it to press, and I can't wait for you to see it. It's good.

It's also late.Gah.

As I've mentioned, Daughter, Age 11, has been pouring over the old Dork Tower collections, and is on my butt to get the new book finished. She also suggested a new pet for one of the characters, and I sort of liked her idea.

So here's a sneak-peek at Pom-Pom, who'll be appearing on the very last page of The Tao of Igor.

I can't tell you whose pet she'll be, but it probably won't be the first character you guess.

Indeed, it may not even be in the top six or seven.

You'll see.

Anyway. I'm back at it, tomorrow.

Possibly one last eggnog tonight, though...

I hope your holidays are marvelous, and I hope your 2020 is exceptional!

- John

It's Thank Your Patrons Day...NOW WITH Kickstarter Backers included!
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Nov 20, 2019 at 01:39:55 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Dork Side Indeed...Part II
almost 5 years ago – Fri, Oct 18, 2019 at 02:05:55 AM

OK! I know what happened now!

A few copies of the Dork Side of the moon were sent mistakenly, before I had a chance to make the announcement.

I saw some comments, and assumed everyone had gotten a copy.

Most  had not.

I posted the last update without talking to David, who is on vacation overseas.

I am a dum-dum.

ANYHOO, bottom line: in the next day or three (David is still overseas, but working on it) everyone should see a message with a download link to a free PDF or Dork Side of the moon!

Takeaway: John, talk to David!

APOLOGIES, ALL! The free Dork Side of the Goon pdfs are coming, if you’ve not already received yours!

- John

Dork Side Indeed...
almost 5 years ago – Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 11:22:35 PM

Hi there!

We had a bit of miscommunication, here at Dork Central. My bad entirely.

Everyone was to get a free PDF or Dork Side of the Goon, since this is the book that leads into the Tao of Igor.

I was to announce this. Dave was to send this.

I did not announce this.

So anyway, that's why Dork Side of the Goon pdfs have shown up, U2-album-like, all of a sudden in your in-boxes.

If they haven't, we'll look into it as soon as Dave gets back.

But…yeah. (Oprah voice) YOU get a free Dork Side, and YOU get a free Dork Side, and …(Oprah voice).

Anyway, my bad.

I thought it would be a cool idea to give you a little something for your incredible support.

And it would have been. Had I actually announced it!

 Point being: If you haven't received a PDF of Dork Side of the Goon yet, you should, soon! Just something to read while Tao finishes up!

In other news, work is going well, as things get finished up.

It’s exciting, as all this gets more and more real.

There are a lot of little odds and ends to attend to that I now remember from doing this, years ago. For example, here's an ad that's going into distributor catalogs.

If anyone (particularly if you’re a retailer) has any comments on the ad, please let me know. Do I have the necessary info here? Is it communicated effectively? How many typos have I made?

Other than that, everything still appears on-track.

Did I mention this has become incredibly fun, again?

I’m planning more books – but of course, not starting anything until Tao gets to press.

But still…

Dang, is this fun again.

I’ve missed it so much!

- John