“Great mother o’ Spain,” indeed–this 101-panel goliath surely took some major effort to bring out, and I’m just about ready to feel the soft embrace of a pillow upon my face. But first, a few announcements…

First off, the comic. This started when I considered that BitF could really use more strong female characters, and it eventually got me thinking that Nintendo itself doesn’t really have that many strong females. I mean yeah, Samus can kick some butt and Daisy’s quite spunky, but when it comes to their games, the females are often damsels in distress, people to be saved. But then there’re the Paper Mario games, titles that showcase Peach in a much more cunning, clever, and entertaining light, and one that I sort of wish the platformers would continue. What DOES Peach think about while captive? Does she try to escape? Does she see Mario as her only hope for survival?

I knew I wanted to cover this, but for whatever crazy reason, I didn’t want to split it up into four or five parts as usual. I just thought it’d be cool to have readers visit the site and be hit with a comparatively large comic, all on a single page, detailing Peach’s great escape. And I’m really happy with the way it came out, if I say so myself.

Onto other news: our July BitF Fan Art contest winners have now been decided! Keep an eye on the Fanworks page for the update, and for our new contest (which will be posted tomorrow). Congrats and thanks to all who participated last month!

On the news of our STORE, we are having another sale! Yes, similar to the Grand Opening Sale, the purpose of this one is to help clear some of the merchandise out before Chris leaves here and handles the store stuff from his own home base in Colorado. So it’s a good time to buy, and it’ll leave us with more space! Also, the mugs have finally arrived, and everyone that ordered one will be getting their package next week for sure. Since all our merchandise is here, future orders should also be quite a bit quicker as well.

Get your oxen or Yoshis or whatever ready…the forums are having a fun Summer event next week called The BitF Trail! Join one of four teams to attempt to survive the harsh conditions of the US and be the first to reach the end safely. If you’d like to sign up, check out the link, and good luck!

That’s all for now. Hope you don’t mind the massive loading this comic has caused. Updates will resume on Tuesday.

-By Matthew

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Thursday, August 5 — 9:47 PM

Finally, our mugs are in stock!

The mug (and everything else) is on sale, so now’s a good time to pick one up for all your beverage-consuming needs. And remember, order before August 18th to get Matthew’s exclusive hand-drawn art on your box!

-Chris