Rob says:

New Jacq. I missed you guys last week.

Aethrys says:

Magic beard regrowth!

Aethrys says:

Magic beard regrowth!

kennyj says:

Uh oh... and with two viable hosts standing right there, paying no attention whatsoever?

Either Marbles is going to fulfill his role as a Chaos Crumple Zone (pat. pend) or Jack is going bye-bye.

Taran Alvein says:

Or... Tsai will finish the job and everyone will be safe forever.

Until Eli shows up.
Oh, and there's that reactor thing, too...

T.Chicken says:

I kinda feel sad for Tsai to see her dead (Presumably) boyfriend.
It ain't a disguise either (blood and goo from the wound).

Iltherdion says:

GASP!!! Does that mean that Tsai's body is still running around with another doppo in it??

Iltherdion says:

shit it does, the one who took her body had purple eyes! http://www.jacqofallblades.com/index.php?p=137#comic

Pizzasgood says:

Um, looking back at the archives, it seems that Marbles killed Tsai's original host. So now I'm confused.

http://www.jacqofallblades.com/index.php?p=137#comic

Also, reading the comments it appears that I called this four years ago. Sortof. Only I meant of his own volition, not as a host.

Pizzasgood says:

Oh, looks like it was implied she was still alive way back here:

http://www.jacqofallblades.com/index.php?p=146#comic

I actually commented on that. I am forgetful. Must have been the non-fatal sort of katana-through-the-abdomen wound.

Art says:

You guys got it figured out. Tsai wasn't the only original doppelganger.

cwDeici says:

Nice shot Jacqi!

And yeah, looks like he's special like her - but he won't be for long... :D

mikee says:

So does this bring the score to Jacqi-2, Jack-3? Or did I miss a few more Jack kills?

Art says:

If you don't count the tentacle garden or the Melek forms then I think that's correct.

cwDeici says:

Tentacle Garden? That's from JAB1, right? : )

Nice to hear we're getting a last chapter art extravaganza and that you're working on speed - it really shows dedication! ^^

Draconi says:

Wait special? how? I was under the impression all of the doppelgangers in the original lab were the same as Tsai and had the same potential, Tsai was just (one of) the first to get a body.

art says:

Tentacle garden was JaB2. Jack set's the spaceship down on it and destroys it when he catches up with the main cast.

Art says:

He is special in the sense he got a body. Although after getting his ass kicked by Tsai, Jack and Jacqi he ain't got a body no more.

Draconi says:

ahh okay.

mikee says:

*sniffle* So sad, he has nobody.

turntechGodhead says:

Wait why are there no new updates?! :'( I've been waiting since forever!

Art says:

I would tell you there is a new update coming soon if I actually knew.

turntechGodhead says:

UPDATE ALREADY!!! PLEASE I BEG OF YOU!!!! UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!!!!

Serenity says:

Calm down, personally I would rather have it done right rather then immediate.

cwDeici says:

I agree, but it's particularily bad for a community when the source it cut back on during a climax. Look what happened to Megatokyo.

Well, I'll still be around.

cwDeici says:

Anyway it's just been a few extra weeks the last couple of updates, it's not that drastic considering it's a weekly comic. If this was a daily comic I would've flipped by now.

Still, most people do not even have my level of patience.

cwDeici says:

Well, flipped as in getting frustrated, not angry.

I'm sure Art and the other creators have very good reasons for being late. They've always been very kind to us (and for free! so no complaints :)) and have never promised perfect schedules.

Art says:

There several reasons why we are so late. One of which is we are scrambling to get Pitfalls and Penguins (The JaB Pen and Paper RPG) finished in time for Connecticon. While it may not be as satisfying as the conclusion of the comic, there are several comics I have made for the book explaining game mechanisms on the google plus page that you can check out. I know you guys want JaB to come back and trust me I want it back just as much as you guys do.

cwDeici says:

Ooooh! Will it be for sale or download!?

And yeah, that's a great reason!

cwDeici says:

And my, there's a LOT of material I haven't seen in the Google+ page (just too bad Google forces me to view G+ in Chinese :()! Lots of great art and mechanics : )

turntechGodhead says:

Yeah too bad google plus forces me to sign up.
Will the game be for download? Please tell me it's free, because if it isn't, I won't be able to afford it.
Oh and thanks for letting us know what's going on, though a little warning woulda been nice.

Art says:

There will be 3 versions. A book that will have a set price. A PDF that will be priced as "pay what you want" meaning you can have it for free or pay us up to infinate dollars. Last is an HTML version that is free but may have ads.

As far as the hiatus its really not on my end. I'm two comics ahead. Joe has to deal with other pressing matters that be hasn't given me permission to talk about.

cwDeici says:

Where does Joe live...?

My fork's getting rusty and I 'aint lighting this torch for no reason!

Art says:

Tell you what I'm going to throw it back to you guys. While we're stuck in this downtime. Why don't you guys make guest comics? If they are half decent and non-pornographic I'll put em up. Or if they're super decent and pornographic I'll put them up. (Probably not.)

Marbles says:

WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!! WE WANT NEW COMICS!!!

gilteon says:

Hey new comics, why do they call you new comics?

Marbles says:

what gilteon said! NOW.

Art says:

To give a status update. We're getting closer and closer to getting back to JaB2. Pitfalls and Penguins has been a far more difficult task than we had originally predicted.

We've been busting our butts trying to get ready for Connecticon this weekend, where we are going to demo the game. God willing, things will slow down some from there. If you want to try Pitfalls and Penguins, we have the prototype online, and you can try it out. Like all webcomics, we're attempting to fund the printing of the final book via kickstarter if you want to chip in we of course would appreciate it, but we know that money is frequently a barrier for many of you guys so the pdf version is free for you to enjoy.

Marbles says:

ONE MONTH LATER

Art says:

In all fairness Joe got married yesterday.

T.Chicken says:

Now, I see your hardship now, Joe and Art.

WolfofDarkstar says:

Well congrates to Joe on his marrage. I wish him many happy years, And one awkward year.

anonymous coward says:

Say, I just took a look at your demo PDF, there are some serious first-draft editing/correction issues to work out. Do you want a list of what I noticed so far somewhere or do you have people on it?

Art says:

We have people on it, but we can always use more. If you would send your corrections to joe@teamsnowday.com

cwDeici says:

Congratulations!

Marbles says:

*checks in*
*sighs, still no freaking new comics*
*leaves, crying, for another month*

I miss when this webcomic was a webcomic. :'(

Art says:

Me too.

Marbles says:

It's not fair, we were told that there's shitloads of comics made long in preparation, and released on a timed schedule.
was that bull? where's the comics?
having buffer comics was supposed to prevent EXACTLY THIS from happening!

cwDeici says:

Projects have been dangerous for many a comic... ;)

I'm sure they'll be back. Eventually. : )

Tag Douza says:

So... uh...

Art says:

So here's the situation as best as I can explain it. I have been making comics for over 9 years 6 of which I worked on with Joe. In all our years of working on JaB we have never had much success monetizing the comic. We've tried selling T-shirts, buttons, mini comics, going to cons but the simple fact is that what has been keeping this comic going is that it is a labor of love. I love this comic and it has been eating me up inside over the last 3 month that we haven't updated it, but the simple fact is we are in a different situation now than we have been in the past. Some of you may already know Joe is an expecting father, and his priorities have shifted to supporting his new family.

While we have consistently failed to monetize the comic, Joe has made good headway on his youtube channel, and we have had success putting together a kickstarter to fund the Pitfalls and Penguins book. So at the moment that's where we have to focus our efforts. We still plan to finish the comic, but I honestly can't tell you when.

Serenity says:

Thanks for the update guys

Rastem88 says:

Thanks for the update. Could you copy that into a news post for the poor confused folks who ignore the comments?

Marbles says:

I'd support the kickstarter if I had a dime to my name. I understand that all this stuff has come up, BUT MY ORIGINAL FREAKING QUESTION GOT IGNORED.

My question: What happened to all the buffer (extra, made ahead of time) comics? I was told that these were a very real thing, which is why people voting for stuff to happen wouldn't work, because it had been all pre-planned out a year or so in advance. WHERE'S THE BUFFER?

I understand that everyone's busy and all, I understand it's a labor of love, thank you guys so much for giving us these comics, I am truly grateful. But all I want to know now is where the stinkin' buffer comics went, what the hell happened?

Thank you for updating us on all this stuff though. I honestly wish you all the best of luck with your sales and whatnot. If there was any way I could help, I gladly would.

Art says:

I'm not sure what buffer you are talking about, but let me explain our process.

So all the stories have an outline, it can be fairly vague but we know what direction we plan to go in with the comics before we start. We will fill in small details as we go through the comic.

Writing the comic scripts are generally a chapter at a time and is done a couple months in advance. Using these scripts I draw all the foreground elements of the comics. I usually draw my part of the comic a week or two in advance of when it is supposed to go up.

Then I will send what I have made to Joe who draws the background elements, mounts what I drew into his backgrounds and adds the text bubbles. He generally does this the day before the comic goes up. I don't think Joe has ever had a buffer of completed comics.

So to answer your question, we have never had a buffer of completed comics but we do have a buffer up to every step before then.

Rico says:

OK I understand Joe cant do his part of the comic atm for family and income reasons. But cant you, Art, maybe put up kind of a beta version of the upcoming strips? When you say you draw foreground elements I assume this includes the characters, and also you have the script. You could make a beta strip with only characters and text. We dont need super stylish backgrounds for some time if only the story continues. Joe can make polished strips later when his situation has become better.

As for the money raising problem, why dont you just make a simple donation button. I am more willing to donate than to buy from the shop because 1. I wouldnt want to wear any of your shirts anyways, 2. You cant ship to my country (Germany) as you told me many many strips ago in some comments.
Just do it like http://www.misfile.com/ does: make a donation button and pay back with strips of kissing lesbians in sexy outfits.

Tom says:

I'm in agreement for the donate button.

I'd love to buy stuff from the shop but your lack of international shipping cancels out that option.

art says:

If that is what you guys want, I am willing to put together beta comics. Just realize that there will be a considerable drop in quality if I do so. As far as donations go, I can't speak to what amounts Joe would require. I'll get to work on the comics. Should see the first one within a week.

Marbles says:

nvm, I'll wait, thanks for explaining how it works. I guess the storyline is buffered (meaning it's all planned out), but the comics aren't done yet.
My mistake, sorry, I guess I misunderstood some time back when I'd been told that stuff was prepared ahead of time (which I now realize is the storyline).