Here’s a list of the albums (in no particular order) that kept us rockin’ in the office this year.
- Steve ‘n’ Seagulls – Farm Machine
- Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
- The Mountain Goats – Beat The Champ
- Motorhead – Bad Magic
- Lamb of God – VII: Sturn Und Drang
- Eagles of Death Metal – Zipper Down
- Deafheaven – New Bermuda
- Coliseum – Anxiety’s Kiss
- The Black Dahlia Muder – Abysmal
- Alien Ant Farm – Always and forever
Best video game soundtrack
Musically 2015 started off slower than most years but built some great momentum and ended pretty strong. Sadly though, we lost Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister only a few weeks ago. It still feels surreal considering the day he died I returned home from work and told my wife how much I loved the new album and hoped they had 1 or 2 left in them. Even though Lemmy and Motorhead leave 22 studio albums and 40 years of of rock ‘n roll in their wake it’s still sad seeing such a legend pass. His influence has definitely touched what we create here in these comics and I’m sure we’ll see some Lemmy sprinkled in throughout the years to come.
Remember to pay and support art,
Jarv
For a long time I’ve wanted to try an write some game reviews. If you’ve been reading the comic for a while you’ll notice a few stories themed around reviews or lists. Even though I’ve had these ideas to write more about games I never really had the push to actually follow through with anything really tangible. That was until my friends over at Digital Nerdage started looking for some outside contributors for extra content. I figured doing a review here-and-there for some friends and great podcasters might be the push I need to start writing more about games.
Now, I’m not trying to be a big games journalist and I’m actually not really writing what are traditional reviews. But, I do like talking about games (especially the weird ones) and there are a lot of games that fall threw the cracks here at Side Quest. Not every games have a funny punchline or crazy story; sometimes a great critique and recommendation is all a game needs. For now and for how ever long I can, the games that I just want to recommend and chat about will be over at Digital Nerdage. <link the page again>
Please read my reviews for Heart Beaten and The Armor Machine Soldiers.
Jarv
Back in February I started the long process of compiling a print edition of Side Quest. I went back and forth for a while about where I wanted to start with a print version and it seemed the best option was to start from the beginning. You’d think that was a pretty straight forward place to start, but with all the changes we’ve made to the comic along the way I wasn’t 100% sold on starting from our start. I questioned would people want to read a 6 year-old comic. But, when I finally got the printed versions in my hand I was so happy with my decision.
Now these books aren’t just straight copies from their web versions. When Paulie and I started the comic back in 2008 we where figuring almost everything out as we went along. We’re are still learning and growing to this day but at the beginning things were rough. So, for most of the winter and spring I went back into each comic and relettered, fixed and tweak any dialogue issues. It took me up until mid-May to finish it but once it was done both Paulie and I were very proud of the 28-page issue.
We brought them to this years Cherry Capital Comic Con (C4) and were really happy with their performance. People seemed to really resinate with out first issue and general vibe of the book was very positive. Because things seem to be going so well I’m probably going to be starting on issue two very soon and maybe push to have that out early next year. If you are looking to get a copy you won’t have to wait long. We’re currently looking into a few digital store fronts and once one is set up I’ll make it well know. And, we’re even planning some very special give-aways once our shop is up and running.
Stay tuned,
Jarv.
Even though we kinda fell off on posting comics over the last few months, the state of Side Quest is actually pretty good. It’s crazy to think that June 6th marked the one year anniversary of me being a part of Unlawful Good: An Anthology of Crime by Dude, What? Comics. You can get a copy for yourself here. It was a wonderful experience working on the comic and it has continued to be a great experience selling the book and meeting fellow Unlawful Good creators and comic fans.
This past Cherry Capital Comic Con (C4) there was a spirited camaraderie with all the creators in the book. Whenever we’d sell a copy of the book we’d always encourage the buyer to walk the show floor and get autographs from the other artists/writers at the show. This created a lot of great opportunities to drive traffic to different areas of the con, meet new people, and get a feel for what the fans liked about the book.
Once again, I can’t say enough kind words about Dude, What? Comics, especially our editor Heather Antos, and of course all of the comic creators that were involved with Unlawful Good.
There has been a few other things getting in the way of us posting comics regularly. But, I’ll get to those next week.
Stay classy,
Jarv