Not a lot more to say on tonight’s strip – it took me about a million years to draw all them damn wrappers so now I’m all sleepy and need to get to bed *yawn*. Will see if I have a minute or two in my lunch break tomorrow to fix this up with something interesting

If not, we’ll see you back here bright and smiling on Wednesday for another thrilling (or filling) instalment!

Take care, Averaganines!

Terence MacManus

So, a warm Wednesday welcome back to Average Joe everyone – and a warm welcome back to “Warner-Bee Studios” as well! My, my – that looks like a spiffy new building they’ve got there – luckily I can’t imagine anything could possibly happen to it…

Feels pretty good to be getting the Wednesday schedule back on track – it’s great that we’re getting real busy at the day job now, but it plays sweet merry-hob on the drawing schedule when you have to live out of a motel for a fortnight at the opposite end of the state! But, back at home and back in the swing of it now, which lets us have a little time to fiddle around with things and have a bit of fun

I really like the idea of “Warner-Bee Studios” – Joe really isn’t that great an actor that he can find a lot of work in a lot of places, and I think the name of this studio says volumes for the caliber of talent they acquire. I basically modelled this company (and it’s director) after experiencing a particular (and peculiar) audition years ago (I was accompanying my dad, who was asked to come to the audition after he started singing to a stranger in a supermarket — don’t…don’t even ask…). It was a particularly indelible experience, and one I’m enjoying giving a new lease of life in the annals of Average Joe! 

Thanks for reading guys, I look forward to seeing you back again on Sunday (if I haven’t gone mad with rage that the only rain we get in 2 weeks is predicted for the very days I have scheduled fieldwork in my day job!!)

See you then,

Terence MacManus

So, welcome back to Average Joe for another week! And even better – I’m going to be around this coming week so we can even look forward to a regular update schedule! (wait for applause to die down) Hurrah! (more applause)

So today’s was fun for me – I hadn’t originally planned on doing more than the one strip referring to Tobi’s attempt at making a costume for Joe, but after I plotted it out, I really wanted to dress Joe up in it! I’m glad to see the result was pretty much what we all expected!

There’s probably some more stuff to be said about this week’s strip, but the rope-swinging scenes took me FOREVER to draw tonight, so I am very sleepy – and have to be up early in the morning to record another podcast with the Webcomic Beacon crew, so I might have to leave it there! Keep an eye on the Average Joe facebook page though, I plan to put up a copy of the “Captain Fabulous” suit specs when I get the chance this week; and of course, we’ll see you back here on Wednesday!!

Take care, Averagarlings!

Terence MacManus

In other news, welcome back to Average Joe for another week! Man, it feels good to get a post up again – being away from home for work all week is really a killer on the creative muscles! Luckily, I get to work in funny little outback Australian towns like Rainbow and Wycheproof, which means I still get to flex my humour muscles (‘cos nobody ever gets tired of hearing town name puns, right?) :0D

Also, congratulations are in order for readers Michael and Olivia for identifying the Vermicious Knids referred to in the last strip! They were indeed the space aliens from Roald Dahl’s sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. I loved the Roald Dahl books as a kid and it was nice to be able to have a bit of a shout-out in my own creative work (albeit a…little while…since I last read the books!). Hold out guys, a little something’s headed your way soon

On the subject of getting things done, I’m afraid that I’m going to be away on fieldwork all this coming week as well – this means that I’m again going to be unable to put up an Average Joe post on the Wednesday…because I have no buffer (damn). BUT! Same as this week, I will still be putting up a post next Sunday, so remember to tune in again then (and hopefully things here will be back to normal the following week!). Thanks again for your patience with this everyone, I really appreciate it!

Last but not least, thanks for reading everyone! Enjoy your week and we’ll see you back here on Sunday!

Terence MacManus

Welcome back to Average Joe everyone – it’s nice to have a full colour comic up on the intended update day again! Last week really threw me around with late working hours, so it was nice to have the weekend give me enough time to sit down and make sure this got done properly

And would you look at this? It seems like the scientist has just sealed away an important little voodoo doll in panel 1 there – not sure how he ended up with it though, after all it belongs over at the very entertaining webcomic Z & G, and I don’t imagine it’s owners would be very happy to have lost it. If you don’t quite know what I’m talking about then you should head on over and check it out (and get a laugh or two while you’re at it!)

So, today’s strip addresses an important fact about Joe’s costume – that it can ‘heal’ from the damage it sustains. This is very important for the costume of a superhero who hasn’t seemed to get the knack of keeping out of danger yet, and was clearly done for that reason alone and has nothing to do with any webcomic artist who found himself losing track of what damage needed to be shown on the suit across consecutive strips…

As for the technology to make this feature possible, it’s really quite simple: science was involved. Like, a lot of it.

Finally, I just want to let you all know there’s not going to be a mid-week update this coming week; I am working out of town all week and will not be able to use my computer during this time (I’ve discovered the hard way I can’t lug around and set up my massive Mac on a dinky motel table). However, I will ensure you guys have another strip ready to go for Sunday, don’t worry about that!

Thanks everyone, hope you enjoyed today’s strip and I look forward to seeing you back here again next week! Keep an eye on the Facebook page for updates

Terence MacManus

P.S – Can you identify the creature referred to in Panel 1 of today’s strip? First three to note it in the comments might get a little something special

Gee, you really can’t leave Joe alone even for a minute…

So this was a fun post to draw! Got to see a couple of rooms in the lab (just how big is this place?!), and now the place is in complete pandemonium!! In fact, I think I even saw a couple of scientific experiments from another webcomic in here somewh…there! aren’t those the worms from the secret science lab at that school where The Principal Is An Alien…?! Well, I don’t know how they ended up here, but you better click the link above so they can follow it back where they belong (and you’ll get a laugh as well, I bet!).

I wonder what else is running around in the lab that shouldn’t be… I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Oh also, one other little thing happened this week

Needless to say, my wife and I are very excited! And no, as my dad asked, it is not a photo of a monkey.

Thanks everyone, the world’s most average dad-to-be will see you back here on Sunday for another Average Joe!

Terence MacManus

Hi guys,

So, as you can see there’s no colour in today’s comic - yet. I had a super-busy weekend and didn’t get to sit at the drawing dest until midway through Sunday afternoon…unfortunately, because I still draw really, really slowly, this meant that I didn’t have enough time to finish off the colours before it got horribly late (I’m snoozing in my seat as I’m writing this!). Since I have work tomorrow, I’m afraid I just didn’t have the time I needed to get this completely finished off.

BUT! Hopefully those of you who  need the Average Joe fix for the weekend can enjoy the plain inked version of the strip until I get home tomorrow and manage to finish off the colours (about halfway through now) – I think I’m going to have some fun exploring the secret underground laboratory with you guys and Joe over the next few updates, so something to look forward to while waiting for the coloured version of this to go up!

Thanks guys – appreciate your patience with things, you’re amazing!

Catch you tomorrow for a nicely fully-coloured strip!

Terence MacManus

Speaking of songs, I must scurry away to choir rehearsal – detailed blog post will go up once I get back, but for now let’s suffice to say: SURPRISE! Two additional panels in today’s strip! Whoah!! Why would I ever do this when it takes all my time to produce just four panels?!

Well, today’s strip is also something a little different, for International dialogue-free comic day. Perhaps it’s a little telling that I had to add two panels to carry a joke without words…but then, I also wanted it to be related to the overall narrative of Average Joe!

More about it all after choir tonight – until then, enjoy the strip!!

Terence MacManus

So, as mentioned in panel 1 of today’s strip, you might want to check out the series of strips between #26 and #37 to know what Joe and the scientist are talking about with regards to the testing program and the fire…I wonder what else the was able to be be salvaged from the ruins? Perhaps we’ll see when we head into the  scientist’s fancy new lab…?

One thing that he probably does have in his lab if he has an internet connection in there (besides a link to a certain awesome webcomic) is a bookmarked link to this amazing website I just discovered this week myself - http://whoselineonline.org/

Some people may already be familiar with the TV improvisational comedy show ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ which ran across British and American (and therefore, of course, Australian) airwaves between 1992 and the early 2000′s – for those of you who aren’t, you owe it to yourselves to click on that link! The later American episodes (when the show was full of the regulars operating at their zenith) still have me in stitches and the best part is: the show is starting up again for a brand new season in the US. Get on board guys, this show is hilarious (and can teach a lot about good/crass humour, too!)

Another thing worth watching is Star Trek: Into Darkness. This was a really fun, pretty amazing film and I liked it so much that you should expect to see it crop up in the directors chair sometime over the next few days. Between now and then though, I highly recommend you see it, particularly if you enjoyed the last film that J.J Abrams used to reboot the whole Trek movie ‘enterprise’ (see what I did there? eh?). Since J.J is also directing the next movie in the new Star Wars offerings, seeing the modernisation and brilliant, tight storytelling he’s brought to the Trek universe makes me really excited for the next Star Wars film, even if it turns out like this.

Have a little something planned for Wednesday’s strip – more on that through the week (here’s hoping I can pull it off and make it entertaining, too!)

Until then, take care Averagutes!

Terence MacManus

Due to the late hour and tired cartoonist, this is going to be a short blog post! I had a bit of fun with this strip though – and we finally got the answer to the question everyone (no-one) has been wanting to know: What is under that labcoat, anyway?! Was also nice to draw Mate again – haven’t seen that cheeky little fellow since way back in Strip #60, and I’m looking to bring him into the background of more of the strips set around the house

Lastly, for our overseas Averagistas who might not be aware of the terrible, contagious cancer that was close to driving the Tasmanian Devil to extinction in recent years, you can find out about it here. The danger’s still far from over for the little guys, but at least there’s some control measures being put in place that seem to be having a positive effect. Looks like they’ll take all the help they can get in the fight if they’re turning to Australia’s maddest scientist!

Thanks for reading guys, look forward to seeing you here again on Sunday!

Till then Averagevils!

Terence MacManus