Ominous Knife

Webcomics Bootcamp

okkevin — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:38:18 +0000

I (Kevin) went through Webcomics Bootcamp this weekend at NYCC put on by Brad Guigar and Scott Kurtz. I learned a lot not just from their critque of our comic, but from what they taught everyone else. I have a lot to learn but they gave me some direction and encouragement and I haven’t been this excited about the comic in a long time and I’m now back home and raring to go. Also a big shout out to Bruce from My Geek Odyssey who was my line buddy and cohort during the bootcamp. We’re hard at work building up a buffer so that this isn’t an empty promise and we should be back up and running before you know it.

For real this time!

So You’d Probably Like an Update

okkevin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:59:56 +0000

So you are not left in the dark, here is the state of Ominous Knife as of today.

My (Kevin’s) responsibilities as a dad and Chris’s job responsibilities both increased all at once which left us little time to work on new comics. This isn’t something we did lightly as we both knew full well that it takes sacrifice to make a comic and we were both making plenty. But for me it started to creep up to ask me to make sacrifices I wasn’t willing to make, it crossed over from leisure and social sacrifices and started getting bigger.

Now my situation has changed a bit (I won’t have the baby alone for as many hours as I did before) and this may open up more time for making comics. We are going to see how it goes and try our best to be able to make comics consistently again.

If we find we can hit these consistency goals for ourselves, then we’ll bring back the strip, and right now we are both willing to always leave this option going. So as soon as we are able, we will bring back Ominous Knife.

-Kevin

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Ominous Questions

Chris G. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:52:43 +0000

What up, Ominous Family? I’ll be honest with you: today’s question is going to make some people upset, which is why it took me so long to post it. Also, I’m very, very lazy. Before I reveal it, I’d just like to assure you that neither myself nor Kevin wrote this crazy thing, so if you’re mad you have no one to blame but Hurley Gale, whose initials are HG, which is the chemical symbol for Mercury. So if you’re mad, blame the fleet-footed messenger of the gods. Or the closest planet to the sun. Yeah, blame that one.

To whom it may concern,

Last week you ran a comic bashing one of television’s worst “dramas”; Lost.

I salute you for this. Talk about one of the most overrated peaces of crap to ever hit the small screen. Thank goodness you have the guts to take a stand.

Still, I could not believe some of the backlash you received for your bold move. That is why I would like to aid you in this ominous question by writing it in the form of a Lost story structure:

Dear Ominous Knife,

My name is Hurley Gale (or is it?!), and I am a long time fan of Ominous Knife (or am I secretly planning to kill you?!).

Let me tell you a little about myself. See, it turns out I actually used to live in the same mental institution that Calvin did, even though he doesn’t remember me. But don’t worry, I’ll be killed off before we figure out how I got there. We will NEVER have that twist explained.

I also may have been the one who sold Kevin his first artist book, thus securing his place as a cartoonist. But again, I may be killed off so we won’t worry about how I got there either. The important thing for you to know now is that I like comics. In fact whenever I read a comic, the polar bears in it come to life. How did I get that ability? That may be explained in this letter, but probably not.

Did I mention that I used to be a very confident atheist who did not believe in anything spiritual. But because my fiancee broke up with me, I decided there was an island god and that I needed to convince her to come see it with me…IN THE PAST!

Now, I’m sure at this point you’d like me to ask you a question, but the truth is I’ve already asked it. I’m sure you haven’t figured out what that question was, but it’s there in my statements. You just have to look closer. I know you’re searching for answers, and I’d like to give them to you, but you’re just not ready. The important thing for you to do now is just have patience. Let the question speak for itself.

You’re a webcomic, so let me put this in a way you can understand. Try to imagine a very large website, full of wonders and search engines beyond your wildest dreams. And imagine that whatever webstring you searched for, when you hit the “go” button, the answer would be right there. I’m speaking figuratively of course, but I’d like to show you you what came out of that search.

Oh, and in order to find the question that I asked you in the letter, you’ll have to start figuring out not where the question is…but when.

Sincerely,

Hurley Gale

Calvin: This is like, the easiest Ominous Question ever. His question was basically, “where’s the question?” The question is right here:

My name is Hurley Gale (or is it?!)

QUESTION ANSWERED.

Walt: You know what? We’re just gonna leave this one here…let it simmer. No answer will be sufficient. And yet…all answers will suffice.

Okay, that’s enough of that. Stay tuned to Ominous Knife, because we have questions and stuff! Lots of stuff! LOVE ME!

And Thus the Saga Continues

Chris G. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:00:23 +0000

Confused? Jump to the beginning of this story.

And we’re back in the house like antique furniture!

Sorry about the hiatus. After Kevin and I finished our Freaky Friday impression we retreated back to his place for a week of solitude and quiet reflecting. We quickly realized was impossible since we were, y’know, around each other. But I digress.

I’ve already told you all about our foray with the bats, but indulge me as I recount the progression of events: we found a bat in Kevin’s kitchen, so we caught and released it. A couple hours later we found another bat and did the same thing. I don’t know how familiar you guys are with bats, but encountering one in your house is akin to finding a koala in your garbage can. You’re shocked and scared at first, but then you realize what a gentle little creature it is. Then you take a closer look at it:

HOLY CRAP THAT'S UGLY

And suddenly you remember that class you had in seventh grade, where they taught you all about rabies. That thing might have rabies. RABIES, MAN! So instead of allowing it to regail you with all its woodland stories, you throw the thing out the window.

The exact same thing happened the very next day, only this time it was just me and it was too early (late?) for me to be wearing pants, so I guess that made it level 2 of Bat Crusade, the game which we were unwittingly and involuntarily playing. Luckily I didn’t make it to level 3, because that would’ve involved me in the shower with a swarm of bats nipping at my no-no parts. Or is it a flock of bats? Clique? Cadre? I don’t really know the technical name for a congregation of bats.

CONGREGATION! Yeah, that’s what would’ve been biting my Oscar Wildes. But again I digress.

After much toil and strife (and many bats flung out the window), above this post lies the continuation of the Bahama Baby saga. I hope you all enjoy it, as well as the terrifying things we go through. I bet Tycho and Gabe never have to fight bats.

- Chris

Questions that Demand Answers

okkevin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:13:23 +0000

Q: Is Ominous Knife ending?

A: No

Q: Is Ominous Knife going on Hiatus?

A: No.

Q: What’s up with the delays?

A: Between fighting the bats, a busy season at work and a baby who won’t nap as long as she used to, it just became a perfect storm of eating up the time I have set aside for doing the comic. Each week however I do use all available time to work on the comic, it’s just this available time hasn’t added up to much lately.

I’m not complaining or saying it’s impossible, I just need to figure out where to find the extra time or how to finish the strip quicker, and that’s taking longer than I expected, and with no buffer, it creates this gap.

However we shoot for having the comic up every single Tuesday, and I can say that this coming Tuesday will have a comic and I think I see the end in site for these delays. The best way to keep up with us is to subscribe to our twitter (@ominouskevin) or RSS feed and you’ll be notified as soon as the new strips are up.

Thank you for your understanding, and we’ll see you next Tuesday!

-Kevin

Minor Complications

Chris G. — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:55:02 +0000

You may notice that at the time of this post there is no comic. That’s because — and I kid you not — Kevin and I spent an entire evening capturing bats. You can probably imagine the strain that put on drawing a comic, though we were both relieved that none of the bats turned into Dracula.

Anyways, we’re both powering through sleep deprivation and creepy dreams to bring you guys a comic today, so stay tuned!

Guest Strip by Matt Stout of Big Sandy Gilmore

Chris G. — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:20:55 +0000

In a stunning display of the universe’s sense of humor, Kevin and I have literally traded living spaces, completely independently of one another. He’s currently in Philadelphia while I’ve taken up residence in New Jersey. This is relevant because we recently had our friend and talented comic artist Matt Stout (of Big Sandy Gilmore fame) make the excellent comic above this post, thus saving you guys from my guest strip. So unless you were really looking forward to my stick figure interpretation of The DaVinci Code you can enjoy an awesome strip made possible by Matt Stout and the universe.

If you haven’t read Big Sandy Gilmore I highly suggest you check it out. It’s a great read and one of our favorite comics (plus there was recently a crossover between our boys and the BSG characters) and let’s just say that hijinx ensued. Oh boy, did they ever ensue.

Anyways, thanks again to Matt for contributing the guest strip! See y’all next week!

- Chris

P. S. Bigsandygilmore.com

Big Sandy CROSSOVER

okkevin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:43:36 +0000

Just in case you aren’t already reading Big Sandy Gilmore, Matt just finished a three part crossover with the Ominous Knife guys!

Make sure to check it out.

My collaboration with Almozline

okkevin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:11:33 +0000

Many of you are familiar with Threadless, it’s basically the best t-shirt place in the world. I’ve had a shirt based of a slogan made there, and now a collaboration with my concept and Almozline’s art is in the running to be printed. If you guys could go over there and give it a “5″ and an “I’d by it” if you think it’s worth it, it’d be a big help to us!

We Accept Gift Cards or Type B+

Chris G. — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:00:19 +0000

Want to know more about Thedar? Start Here.

Whassup, new dads! Hope you guys had a great Father’s Day, and if you aren’t a father (or male) then back to work with you! That salt isn’t going to mine itself!

I won’t lie: I’m feeling slightly vexed now that the DNA of nearly everyone I know has been propagated and is thus protected against the inevitable robot apocalypse (or robocalypse). See, back before you fellas learned about the stork and the birds and bees and other procreative euphemisms, I was working on revolutionary ways to not have children, including but not limited to wearing garlic-scented cologne, cursing loudly when in the presence of women, and comparing all pretty girls to “Halle Berry if she got fat. Y’know, like really fat.”

I figured that my highly revolutionary findings — girls don’t like you if you call them fat — would be the wave of the future (I was working for our future robot overlords at the time). However, it turns out that pretty much every guy I know got married before my results could be published, though, and that has negated all my hard work and coincidentally led me to wishing them especially well this day. Well, two days ago. It has also led to me fleeing from giant robots, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

But enough about me, on to the ladies: I know that a couple of you are feeling left out because of your lack of boy parts/spawn, but rest easy. If any of us at Ominous Knife could draw girls who didn’t look like fat Halle Berry, we would make you a splendiferous comic detailing all the ways your adopted child could murder you for spare parts. Ah well, maybe next year…

- Chris