So, we’re back after the New Year, which, although only a week old, has already been extraordinarily busy for me.  First and foremost, there was this page, which I had to redraw about halfway through when I realized I had totally ruined the scene pacing.  Fortunately, it’s not wasted effort, though, as I just shifted my sketches to the next page.  But as pages go, this is one of my attempts to tread that fine line between genuine, multi-layered emotion and maudlin dramatic manipulation.  Here’s hoping I carried it off!  There’s more than one meaning in this scene, see, and… well, whatever.  I’m sure everyone “gets it” and I’m just second-guessing myself.

Anyhow, the REALLY big thing is this: I am finally, after close to a decade, eligible to start taking the examinations to obtain my architectural license.  This is very good news for me, professionally, as, if, things go off according to schedule, I’ll be able to take the first one at the end of February.  There are seven altogether, and because of a number of weird restrictions, special laws in the state where I live, and other factors, the whole process is likely to take the better part of a year, or more.  I won’t go into the specifics of my opinions about the registration process (I’d have to use words like “total bullcrap”) or the supposed experts running the whole thing (I’d have to use words like “bozos” or “jackasses,”) but suffice it to say that, like it or not, this is the culmination of a twelve-year-long process and I’m eager to get it over with and get my license – its essentially the final big step in my professional career, short of founding my own company, if I ever do that.

Unfortunately that has ramifications for the comic, as well.  Being as how architecture is what I do for a living, as well as being my professional vocation, it is my daily priority.  By some measures, it’s harder to become an architect than to become a doctor, in the United States.  It’s a very tortuous and difficult process that takes a lot of effort, study and preparation, and that means that from now, more or less, until I’m done with the exams, that will have to take ultimate precedence over all my other activities until this whole process is completed.  That being the case, although I will keep working on 6-Commando, there may well be delays and periods of less-than-regular updating, since I’ll be directing most of my energies towards completing my professional work before they change the rules on me again, and make it even harder to complete the process.  That might sound cynical or paranoid, but it isn’t: they’ve already done it three times, since I started, and there’s already talk of trying to require new registrants to get TWO licenses now, instead of just one, so I mean, I really have to get on top of this right away.

Please don’t take this as a lack of commitment to the comic on my part – it’s just a matter of necessity and priority.  And it won’t be in full swing for a little while yet, anyway.  But still, I thought it was worth letting everyone know.  I continue to appreciate and to thrive on everyone’s support, and it really helps me keep this comic going.  And even if there are delays or such, I will not be stopping – heck, I’m only just getting started!

Anyway, until next week, folks, here’s hoping things go well for you all in 2013.  All the best!