An earlier idea for this comic ended up with Dedede in the first room of a classic Zelda dungeon, but I changed it to this. I guess it made a little more sense to me logically for Wallmaster Hand to return his victims to the beginning of his realm. Link was an early victim here but his muteness gave way to a much more sarcastic Dedede that was fun to write. Most Nintendo characters don’t have the inherent snarkiness that this role requires, so thank goodness for Dedede!

Remember Howard Phillips, who recently starred (in cartoon form) in strip 435? He’s started a Kickstarter of his own for a very cool game idea…and I’m helping him with some of the prizes! If you check out the video, you can see an all-new comic I’ve drawn explaining the details of his game, and I will be adding more comics about his time with Nintendo being revealed over the next month! It’s an immense amount of work but there’s no way I can pass up the opportunity to work with Howard Phillips, who contacted me shortly after seeing the BitF Nintendo Power tribute. The game itself mixes addictive gameplay with a unique type of effortless learning, and considering Howard was the guy who playtested hundreds of NES and Game Boy games in the ’80s, he knows quality.

So, good news/bad news time: I am crazy swamped with stuff due in October…like, this is going to be one of the busiest months of my life, easily. And I feel bad because I’ve had to take more breaks than I’d prefer this year already. Considering my sickness, getting married, moving into a house, and the hurricane, though, I hope you’ll agree they were valid reasons. This time around, it’s book-related–the book itself needs to be finished by the end of October for the numerous copies to be ready for readers in February 2013. Which means it’s crunch time! So between that and the Howard project, I’ll be able to update this Friday, but I have to take a break after that if I want to finish the book in time. Please understand–I don’t like taking breaks but I’m going to be pushing 10-hour work days as it is.

“So what’s the bad news?” Hardy har har.

The good news is that I’ve just ordered all the books, and the budget allowed for a very nice quality (and quantity). For instance, the covers will have a scratch-resistant sheen, and all hardcover versions will have a foil stamp for the title on the cover. The book is also shaping up to be about ten pages longer than the initial expectations, and there’ll be plenty to go around when they come into town.

Also, more good news! I’m not 100% sure of this yet, but you guys should be able to play a totally free demo of the game I’ve been working on–Tadpole Treble–this Friday! So you’ll have something to do while BitF takes a break.

-By Matthew