Hey, kids! Your favorite Boxcar artist, Marc, here! As a bonus this week I thought you’d like a better look at the cover for the comic that grabs Caveman’s imagination. I give you “Umlott the Migty”! When I got the idea to have Cavie discover a comic book, I knew it had to be something a caveman would relate to. I created Umlott as a tongue-in-cheek parody of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian and the many similar characters that populate a little sub genre of comicdom. In my head Umlott has many tales yet to be told. In this one I imagine him fighting the evil skull masked warrior to save the Princess Cully Fa’nya. Maybe someday I’ll put his adventures down on paper for others to read, but I fear the shear awesomeness would blow your minds! In the meantime, keep reading Boxcar Astronaut, there will soon be a glimpse of another Umlott cover!

Hey kids! Don’t forget, this Saturday, May 2 is one of the best days of the year: National FREE Comic Book Day! That’s right, FREE COMIC BOOKS!!! The only thing better than that is Christmas and possibly Halloween! Thousands of comic book retailers around the country will have tables set up with free offerings from all the major publishers such as DC, Marvel, Image, etc.,  so you can come in and check out all the great stuff the comic book industry has to offer and you you don’t have to spend a dime!

However, while you are in the shop, please take the time to peruse the racks and see if there’s something you might like. The industry needs all the help it can get these days, so do your part to keep comic books alive. I’m hoping to get down to Modern Myths in Northampton, MA., but for a listing of participating comic shops in your area and a list of all the free comics being offered, here’s the official Free Comic Book Day Website.

Congratulations are in order for our good friend Lucas Turnbloom as his very funny strip, Imagine This has joined the ranks of GoComics. Lucas has started to “re-introduce” the characters of Imagine This to new readers, and check out the first panel of this first “re-introduction strip, anything look familiar? Thanks for the very nice tip o’ the cap to us, Lucas. Best of luck at Go Comics!

Hello fellow astronauts! Jeff here, just dropping in to let you all know that Marc was asked to write and draw a guest strip for Lucas Turnbloom’s awesome teddy bear/man/stuffed dinosaur webcomic, Imagine This, and it’s live right now! It features that loveable cad Clovis and sweet dimwit Dewey in a hilarious parody of Fight Club. Congrats to Marc on a great fill-in strip! Head on over and check it out! (Oh, and remember, the first rule is, don’t talk about it!)

Hello gang! The above photo is of yours truly (what a handsome devil, eh?), our artist, Mr. Marc Lapierre, and the super-cool and super-friendly creator of PC Weenies, Krishna Sadasivam. We were lucky enough to talk shop with Krishna and hob-nob with dozens of other great webcomics creators this past Saturday at the inaugural New England Webcomics Weekend, which was hosted by Meredith Gran of Octupus Pie fame, as well as the guys from Dumbrella and Topatoco.

Marc and I spent about six hours at the show, checking out the Dumbrella studios and all the fun merch they had available, peeping some original art in the gallery set up in a giant white room, watching an illustration demo on the Cintiq (basically a computer monitor you can draw on) by the very funny Scott Kurtz (PVP), and attending a panel/live podcast recording session with Scott Kurtz and the Halfpixel crew that was both educational and hilarious. The highlight of the event (for me, at least), was getting to meet lots of friendly webcomic folks such as Dirk I. Tiede, the amazing artist/writer of Paradigm Shift, Paul Southworth ( Ugly Hill), and the lovely and talented Alina Pete, who does a really fun and original webcomic called Weregeek. Thanks for the sketch Alina, and thanks to all involved with the Webcomics Weekend! See you all next year!

UPDATE: Hey, Kids! Marc here. I just also wanted to say thanks to everyone involved in the Webcomics Weekend for hosting such a cool event. I was pleasantly surprised at what I found when I got to Easthampton. It was great being able to shake hands and put faces to some of the webcomics I’ve been a fan of online.

Here is a shot of what it looked like from the crowd during the Webcomics Weekly podcast:

I learned a lot of things during this podcast, the most important lesson was that I should read a book. (If you were there you’d get the joke!)

Marc and I are planning on attending the Webcomics Weekend in Easthampton, Massachusetts at the Eastworks studios on Saturday, March 21. The event will be hosted by R. Stevens of Diesel Sweeties fame and the rest of the Dumbrella crew. It’s an opportunity for webcomics creators (and fans) from all over the Globe to meet, share ideas, attend seminars, sell some merch, check out the studios at the Eastworks facility, and much more. For more information on the event, check out the Webcomics Weekend on Facebook. See you there!

Greetings, Astronauts, Marc here. Every so often while I’m drawing Boxcar strips, an image pops into my head that I think could be amusing but doesn’t fit into the four panel format we have. When this occurs, I turn the idea into an elaborate “Fifth Panel”! This time out I was inspired while drawing this week’s comic. After depicting Devin tripping out after sniffing a marker, I thought it would be funny if in some bizarre alternate reality the boys go on a sugar, caffeine, and marker fumes fueled binge that would rival the madness chronicled by Hunter S. Thompson in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas“. I then boiled down the whole binge scenario into one image that blends my traditional Boxcar look with a healthy dose of the maniacal Ralph Steadman style.

As I was preparing to post this art, I could not decide weather I should post the wacky original sketch or the truly gonzo post-photoshop insanity. I am happy to report, dear Astronauts, that a compromise has been reached, as I will simply post both versions. You are now free to discuss which you prefer.

Greetings, Fellow Astronauts! Your Friendly Neighborhood Boxcar Artist here thanking you for basting off with us for 100 little adventures. It’s been a fun ride creating this little backyard where anything can happen. The most fun part has been all the positive feedback we get. It blows my mind that anyone even reads this stuff I draw on lunch breaks, during baby naps, and late at night. Every time I read a review, or a gushing message from a new reader, or even notice Boxcar on a list of someone’s favorite webcomics, I am truly humbled. We are by no means burning up the internet with our popularity, but I am still honored to have the following we do have. It makes all the hard work, and long hours making each strip the best it can be worth it.

I’m not really much of a “word guy” so as a special treat for you all, I’m going to limit my typing, give my spell check a break and present to you some “behind the scenes” glimpses into Boxcar Astronaut

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This little sketch is an early look at Ben. After I designed his “look” I did a few sketches like this to show him in action.

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Here, we have the character pecils of Devin taking off his “Power-Boy” mask from Boxcar #52. A lot of times, I will draw the characters like this on one sheet and then scan them in and place them in the “scene” with Photoshop.

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Sometimes when I’m drawing an “epic moment” for the strip I end up drawing way more than you will get to see in the finished product. Here is a good example of that. This is the penciled art from my favorite Boxcar scene, Robot’s dramatic acting debut in panel three of Boxcar #80.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed this little peek into the Boxcar Archives. Thank you again for hanging around for 100 strips, there’s many more to come!

100 Boxcar Astronaut webcomics. Wow. It’s hard to fathom that two whole years have gone by since I excitedly told Marc about this idea I had for a comic strip about “a kid who wears a plastic space helmet and never takes it off! Oh, and he has a dog, and a best friend with spiky hair, and one day a Robot gets stranded on Earth and stumbles into their backyard!”

While I’m not so sure those were my exact words, it pretty much went down like that, and soon Marc put pencil to paper and brought this whole backyard universe that has been featured for the past 100 Sundays to life. It’s a pretty solid achievement for a webcomic these days, especially when you factor in juggling the challenges of everyday life, like raising children, working a 9-5, paying bills, etc.

To everyone who has been with us on this fun and rewarding ride to 100 comics, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and we hope you continue to enjoy our comic strip. As a special treat, here’s a gorgeous full-color desktop that Marc has lovingly crafted for all of you. Thanks again!!!

(Click for full, HI-Rez image)

I know it’s rare to see a non-Boxcar cartoon on this site, but I just wanted to share my annual Christmas card art with all our Boxcar Fans. Here’s hoping all of your holidays are full of warmth and fun!

Merry Christmas from you Friendly Neighborhood Boxcar Artist!