Hey everyone, and welcome to Average Joe for 2014!

It’s pretty amazing to think that the first strip went up 2 years ago today; a lot has happened in that time both personally and in the strip. Personally, my wife and I have moved cities, have bought a house and moved again, and have had our first child. In the strip, the drawing style has dramatically changed from 2012, to 2013, to today and the writing has definitely improved over time as well! Also, the readership of the comic has steadily grown, with more people reading Average Joe regularly in the past 6 months or so, than ever before. So massive thanks to you all, your readership and positive feedback really inspires me to keep making the strip better, and to keep charging on into 2014 :-)

With regards to today’s strip, this effectively rounds out the latest arc detailing how Agent 42 sustained the injuries he carried to Joe’s house, and how he finally discovered where Joe lives – how the Smith family will deal with the convalescing secret agent in their midst, and how they will all react to the apparent plan of the Major to take control of the city of Melbourne within the next month of in-universe time will be the story focus for the next few months of out-of-universe time; although this whole process is planned to be a lot more light-hearted than some of the strips from this arc, so hopefully will be able to keep you all laughing, as well as being engaging enough to keep you guys interested as the characters develop even further. I was really glad to get to this strip today as well, since it really brings some more of Fatale’s motivations into the fore; she’s a fun character for me to write and draw, and I look forward to where she fits into the story in the coming weeks and months – I hope you will too :-)

As for the coming weeks – to maximise the opportunities that time off work is giving me, the next update will be in another week’s time, on Wednesday the 8th January: This should give me plenty of time to continue to build a buffer that will hopefully mean that any delays due to infant care over the next few months can be minimised, or totally eliminated. So hopefully, a little bit of a delay now before the next strip will mean that’s the last one we have to endure for quite a while; appreciate your understanding about the schedule, I’ve had quite a few people remark their understanding as I try and find the balance between family, career and comic, and the support has meant a lot to me. So thanks again guys, you rock!!

And now, Averaginos, I want to wish you all the best for the coming year ahead, and I hope that 2014 is full of potential and amazing opportunity for you all – and I look forward to seeing you guys here throughout the year as Average Joe continues to grow and develop into something ever better than before :-)

Cheers, and happy new year!

Terence MacManus