The big day has finally arrived!

Fans of alliteration and cheesy movies unite!

I do have a little bit of writing news to share - I've started a blog through my workplace - FatWallet.com - the B-List Bargain Bin Blog!

Fellow Walleteer writer B. Alexander and I are going to attempt to cover as many deals of cheesy ham-fisted movies as possible on the Interwebs.

Lately, during my regularly-scheduled work at FatWallet, it came to my attention there were a lot of deals for B-movies on the Internet, at places like Buy.com, DeepDiscount and more. So I thought wouldn't it be great if someone shined a spotlight on all these cheesy wonders!

And so the B-List Bargain Bin Blog was born.

We'll be covering what you would usually expect to find in a brick & mortar bargain bin. Some yesteryear Hollywood hits that have since plunged in price. Some ultra-cheesy B-movies which may or may not have run on SyFy late night the week before. And maybe (hopefully) some really hot deals hidden at the bottom of the bargain bin.

But that's in the weeks to come. For now, we're still trying to get a format and rhythm down (and not be distracted by IMDB trivia on Bruce Campbell).

We'll be updating every Tuesday - just in time for the new releases!

If you have any B-movie you'd like to see featured on the blog, or you catch wind of any great deal of bargain flicks, we'd love to hear about it!

In a few months, it'll be three years since I set up my profile here at Z2H and two years since my very first comic, Rip Current was published on the site. Today, I was chatting about how exciting it was to see the first characters sketches from Patricio (pakuplaza)... Lucia and Trajan were alive! There they were, pulled out of my mind and set down on paper, ready to share with the world. Like magic.

I still feel that magic whenever I look at this book. But, it has been a long while since I've made any additions to the content here. I miss these characters and want to share more of their story. But at the same time, it's not like I'll be able to pull together another comic like this one.

So, do I write the next book script anyways? Or continue writing short narrative chapters, like the three I've already done? Will any extra work be of benefit to the marketability of Rip Current or would it detract?

That Rip Current has a future, I have no doubt. What it looks like still remains a mystery. But, I'm hopeful, that by the time it officially turns two, I'll have a clearer sense of what that future may be.

Alright folks! You've been patiently awaiting for this contest to start and we're nearly there! First, an update. As said in the previous blog, I was in the process of hiring an artist from DA but that fell through. However, we still have our artist. I feel really silly for not approaching him about this before. So, with further delay ladies and gents, your artist for the top prize is none other than our very own STURSTEIN!

Perhaps someone has blogged about Covered already, perhaps not. But I haven't seen any references to it yet, so by golly I'm going to talk about it!

I've really been enjoying this blog as of late. Many of you may appreciate what Robert Goodin is trying to accomplish - and hopefully some may want to attempt getting your artwork featured on there! The title Covered is a neat little play on words...the concept basically asks artists to re-create comic book covers in their own style with their own unique interpretation. Being that I absolutely love comics AND art, I've really been enjoying the various "covers" that get posted here. Some are just absolutely incredible, even hilarious in some cases.

The link is already posted in the first paragraph, but if there's an issue with it then just copy and paste this URL - http://coveredblog.blogspot.com/

If any of you artists make your way on there, please let us know! It seems like a nice way to get some exposure and express your love of the medium.

It seems like activity is finally picking up around here, so this seems like the perfect time to once again appeal to you all - vote for our friend and very own STURSTEIN and his story Valentine's Dei.
The story is well written and beautifully illustrated, but even if you don't want to read it you are still allowed to vote once per day (at each computer you can get to).  Voting is important, it's easy, you don't need to join or sign up, it's fun, and it takes about ten seconds.  Do it everyday.
Just go to this site and look for the words topwebcomics (vote!) and click there.  From there a screen will come up for you to click once more and that's it!  Easy as pie and only one tenth the calories.  Give it a try today and every day - all the cool kids are doing it!

Hello everyone,

I want to thank the entire Z2H community for helping me refine my pitch and ideas for Beloved Child. I've been working with an artist to come up with some character sketches and develop it into a graphic novel. It might work out, it might not, but it'll be an interesting adventure to say the least.

You all have been wonderful, but this isn't goodbye. I plan on staying around to get more feedback on future projects and I'm here to bounce ideas off of if anyone is interested.

Cheers to all, and thanks again.






(http://www.tinahunter.ca)

I recently picked up a bunch of books for a sale at Writer's Digest.com, and I've decided to review the ones I felt were helpful to the community.

The first one should be of no surprise: "The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves and other Monsters by Rosemary Ellen Guiley."

I approached this purchase with a sense of trepidation - my last few reference books have disappointed me. Many were too New Age for my taste . . . like the Universe is telling you to sprout fur and howl at the full moon. The trend left a bad taste in my mouth, and I feared it might be the case with this book - but $8.23 for an encyclopedia is just too good a price to pass up.

First, I have to say my misgivings were completely unfounded. This is actually one of the best sources on the ever-popular subject of vampires and werewolves I've ever purchased.

The book's strongest point is how it balances the science with the supernatural. For instance, did you know many tuberculosis cases were blamed on vampire attacks, up until 1892? Tuberculosis causes the body to waste away, and many people - from Middle Europe to the Northern United States - believed it was the work of deceased loved ones returning from their graves and feeding on their family.

And here's the kicker: the prescribed medication was vampire ash, meaning the townspeople would burn the body of the suspected vampire (sometimes a friend or relative) and feed the ashes to the sick! Arghhhhhhhhyuuuckk!

The Encyclopedia also provides details on the lore surrounding the vampires and werewolves, and often predating the Universal movies which cemented the supernatural mythos in the minds of millions. For instance, there are entries for dozens of vampiric-like creatures in hundreds of countries, ranging from the more well-known chucupacbra of Mexico to obayifo of the Ashanti. These details not only provide images of vampire entirely separate from Bela Lugosi and Bram Stoker, but also show the common features of the vampire myth (for instance the Arabic counterpart of the vampire must also be killed by a nail to the heart.)

The Encyclopedia's one blind side is the arts and entertainment. The author seems completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of movies, books and more on vampires and werewolves. So while you'll find plenty of facts on Dark Shadows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Addam's Family, many of these entries feel slightly inconclusive in their examination of the vampires and werewolves within them. There are also some glaring omissions on the movie front, as entries on films like "From Dusk till Dawn", "Near Dark" or "Blade" seem conspicuously absent. And speaking of "Blade", comics are barely touched upon - "Tomb of Dracula" and "Vampirella" are about the only entries included on the medium.

Despite these flaws though, the book is worth the eight dollar bargain price, and in fact, undoubtedly worth the full twenty-five dollar price. It's an invaluable research for anyone looking to understand the vampire - or perhaps make their own.

I speak for myself when I say I haven't been adding new material to the pitch section, although I have been writing. Needless to say, I've been quiet, aside from the from commenting on blogs. So now I'm going to step up and do my part to bring some life back to our community!

Hey folks.

If you haven't taken a look at CheifZero's post "No longer a beta?", go take a look at that before you keep reading.

Done? Awesome.

This first bit of news may be a bit new. Right now, all of your profile information is already in ( and up-to-date ) the new site. If you make any changes to your profile ( such as the Identity or Credentials sections ) they'll show up right away on the new site.

If you want to check and see for yourself, you can log into reboot.com or hotpinkshorts.com with your Z2H username and password. Once there, you can go to your profile and update information and see it update on Z2H -- or vice-versa.

As you can see, we're going to be moving stuff over to this new site piece by piece over the next while. One of the first things that's going to move is the blogs. Over the past few days I've been writing and debuging and de-squrrelifiying some scripts that will move every single post over to the new site. We've also got some backup plans in place just in case I missed anything.

I've tested this scripts a few times, and all of the blog posts should move over to the new site without a hitch.

However!

As with an undertaking of any magnitude, there may be bugs, pitfalls, and unanticipated problems that arise. If you notice anything awry ( missing posts or comments, arcing lightning between wires, explosions, extra limbs ), please let me know as soon as you notice them so I can get it all sorted out.

Hopefully everything goes off without any problems, and I really hope you guys love the new site.

Cheers,
 rebelcan

I know, I hear you: say it ain't so.

But it's true: we are moving to a new and almost certainly improved Zeros 2 Heroes site.  In terms of technology, this one has been in service about two years longer than we planned - it's time to upgrade to one with a new ARC reactor: the palladium poisoning is really getting to be a drag for our dev team.

But, really, the new site is meant to accomplish two things out of the gate:

(1)  Act as a hub for not just Zeros 2 Heroes, but for the other related community sites we've been developing.  It's time to bring them all together into a single more-or-less cohesive entity.

(2)  Implement a much better social framework, one that we are regularly maintaining, scaling and enhancing.  Right now, circumstances have led our development team to maintain two or three separate codebases and it's starting to feel like we're juggling chainsaws.  That's gotta stop before someone loses a finger (probably me).

Now, the fly in what is otherwise quite a satisfyingly smooth ointment is our transition plan: long story short, we can't do it all in one go.  We tried that about a year ago and - frankly - it just didn't work.  Too much potential for things to pop out of the woodwork and derail us.

So we're going to go with a staged migration from "classic" Z2H to "new-n-improved" Z2H.  Some features will come over right away - think user home pages, blogs, comics - some will have to wait. 

This latter category is mainly made up of the content creation tools we use to curate crowdsourcing campaigns.  While important, we realized these would best be transitioned when we launch our next big campaign (yes, these too are coming back).

But rest assured - nothing will be lost.  In the short-term, all of this material will be available (for viewing) on "classic" Z2H.  As we move each component over, we will slowly pull the curtain down on that site and embrace the sunny new reality of Z2H 2.0.  It will be a paradise for workers, peasants and soldiers, etc.

Will there be wrinkles with this new process?  Almost certainly.

Have I missed some important details in this message?  Certainly certainly.

But, hey, it's a start and I'm a big believer in beginnings... especially new ones. 

Thanks for being a part of it,

Chief Zero

Well, I finally got a bit of good news Friday - my artist J.C. delivered a stunning promo shot for "Yonder." It looks awesome . . . better than I could have even anticipated, especially since he colored it and everything.

And speaking of everything, I mean everything - he even included a prototype logo, even though I never asked him for one. We liked it so much we decided to scrap our own designs for the logo - which was going to be the next step of the project - and use his instead.

It did make for one fairly minor/major change - the webcomic is now entitled Blue Yonder instead of just Yonder. JC had designed the logo as "Blue Yonder", and I liked it so much I thought it was a change worth making. I still like the original title, but I have to admit flying is a central part of the story - so "Blue Yonder" sounds more specific (and less like something you hear at a Renaissance Fair).

I'm sorely tempted to post the promo piece right now on Z2H, but I'm going to keep it under wraps for a bit longer, until we're ready to launch to the website in a couple weeks. Besides, I can build the suspense a little longer that way:)

This breakthrough puts me back on track and inspired. It only helps that I went to see the Barenaked Ladies again last night, this time in Davenport, Iowa for their "All in Good Time" tour. I saw them in Rockford about a little over a year ago and I was blown away. Not only was a fan since high school, but I was amazed how well the band fared despite the departure of front man Steven Page. Every band member steps up as a result - from guitarist/keyboardist Kevin Haim and bassist Jim Creeggan picking up vocals to uber-weird drummer Tyler Stewart stepping by . . . umm . . . you know what . . . the less said about Tyler the better....

The act was also opened by the lovely Serena Ryder, who I was also informed was also Canadian. I was almost as blown away by her act as I was the BNL - especially after seeing what she could do with just a guitar, some well-placed foot stomping and a mind-blowing voice that would put most Stateside stars out of work.

The only downside of the evening was two hours there and back crammed in a mini-van and then two and half hours in an even-more-crammed concert hall was not exactly good on on the knee. But I guess a little runner's knee is a small price to pay for getting pumped!