Dekpa and Her Aggressive Friends

There's a new, special nine page chapter of my webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, online to-day. Usually the chapters are just eight pages. Why is this one longer? I miscounted the pages when I was writing the script. Oops. But lucky you.

Happy Birthday to Emperor Go-Komyo (後光明天皇) of Japan; Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Harold Lloyd; Lionel Hampton; Betty Lou Gerson; Tito Puente; George Takei; Peter S. Beagle; Ryan O'Neal; Veronica Cartwright; Luther Vandross; Crispin Glover; and Andy Serkis.

Deborah's Continuing Misfortunes

There's a new chapter of my webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, now online. It's been almost a year since the previous chapter. What took me so long? I actually finished the first half of the chapter in August and did most of the second half in December and early January. Partly the delay was due to researching Barbary Pirates, which was difficult because it's a topic related to slavery, colonialism, and Islam and it's intensely politically incorrect. Books on the topic written in the past twenty years are vastly different in tone from ones written sixty or a hundred years ago. New books had some interesting facts and helpful perspective but I often had to read between the lines obsessively reminding the reader how bad Europeans are to find confirmation of those terrible things about the Barbary Pirates that were plainly stated in older books. And, of course, I had to do the usual research on ship construction and clothing. I wanted to do a comic that required mountains of research and I sure got my wish. Next year will mark the tenth anniversary since I started working on this thing!

Happy Birthday to Thomas Edison, Philip Dunne, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Eva Gabor, Leslie Nielsen, Tina Louise, Burt Reynolds, Jennifer Aniston, Damian Lewis, and Natalie Dormer.

Deborah Talks About God

A new chapter of my webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, is now online. I hope you like pirates. I know I do.

Happy Birthday to Thomas Hobbes, Walter Huston, Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Robert Bloch, Roger Corman, Nigel Hawthorne, Frank Gorshin, Jane Asher, Yasuhiro Takemoto, Hayley Atwell, and my grandmother Ruby Dean.

Dekpa and Deborah Attract Admirers

Happy Easter, everyone. Your present is a new chapter of my webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah. I guess you could say the comic, like Christ, has risen from the dead this day. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday to the 17th century playwright John Ford ("'Tis Pity She's a Whore"), William Holden, Olivia Hussey, Roddy Piper, and Sean Bean.

And to-morrow, April 18, is the birthday of Miklos Rozsa, who composed this appropriate song:

Deborah by Starlight

A new chapter of my webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, is finally online. I passed the 200 mark with this one and now the comic stands at 202 pages. And it only took me six years! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Twitter Sonnet #1468

The years in sequence gather thorns and leaves.
The time of curling wind reveals the rock.
A gnarled trunk would seem a face that grieves.
The roots combine to make a wooden lock.
A sooner mass abuts the rooster crow.
Misleading lefts revert the step to right.
Inexpert shafts rebound abaft the bow.
The question fish produced a western kite.
With water thoughts the soap would clean the clothes.
Forever running, pipes conveyed the spark.
A stone was like a door that never closed.
The journey stopped before the starting mark.
The frozen ear detects a fire near.
The darkened ice contains a waiting fear.

Dekpa Finally Goes to Work

It must be a blue moon because there's a new chapter of Dekpa and Deborah to-day, my rarely updated webcomic, the first chapter since September. I hope I can do better than one chapter a year now that I'm more or less settled in Japan. But even if I only do one chapter a decade, I will finish this comic.

To-day's chapter title, "To Guard or to Strike with Edge or Point", comes from John Milton's pamphlet Of Education. I'm proud to say I work at schools now that do teach kyudo and kendo, Japanese forms of archery and fencing, respectively.

Twitter Sonnet #1436

Canary wings support a little flight.
The only ring improves the khaki dress.
A cloud of tea obscures the heavy light.
The weighty game's assumed to copy chess.
A heavy eye contributes weight to see.
Across the sand, a desert builds a line.
Across the water, drops construct a sea.
A heavy rain distributes light to shine.
With divvied pipes, the raiders claim the street.
Required dogs protect the watchful kid.
In cows and moles we find requested meat.
The bucket's full and breaks its flimsy lid.
Repeated songs enhance the pixel game.
Authentic days adopt another name.

Dekpa Looks for Work and Money

There's a new chapter of Dekpa and Deborah online to-day. This is the 21st chapter and the end of Book I. The comic is now grown to a total of 178 pages since I started it in 2015, pretty slow work compared to Venia's Travels, for which I produced over 500 pages in two years, but in the years I've been doing Dekpa and Deborah I've graduated college and held a few jobs, all distractions I didn't have for my previous comics. In addition, I've done a lot more research for Dekpa and Deborah and I'm working on bristol board instead of sketchbook paper now so it's no surprise it's slower going, even when I do have time. I'll be doing more research for Book II and hopefully by the time it comes out I'll have a nice stockpile of chapters so I can update regularly. For now, I hope you'll enjoy reading back over Book I, feel free to look for any clues as to what may lie ahead. I know I will.

To-day I also read the new Sirenia Digest which features a lovely new short little piece by Caitlin R. Kiernan about murder and a body of water sinister for more reasons than for being a dumping ground for a corpse. It's another dialogue piece in which tension is built with wonderful, dreamlike description that may or may not have something to do with the Loch Ness Monster.

Twitter Sonnet #1273

A verdant book demands a dryer eye.
As pages crack for time again to turn.
Behind the stack we hear a shaky sigh.
Another word and something new was learned.
Observers check to see consistent squares.
A tally mark obscures the counted claw.
The cats establish base for fishy wares.
The truth of flannel mice became the law.
Discomfort chose the flaky chair for fame.
A thousand shreds of phony skin abide.
Synthetic snow submits another name.
An arm and leg as limbs at length collide.
In quarter years the clocks divide a pool.
In tests a timid toe decides the rule.

Deborah Looks for Work and Dekpa Remembers Plunder

There's a new chapter of my infrequently updated web comic, Dekpa and Deborah, online to-day. Deborah brings matters between herself and her family to a conclusion, of sorts, and frets about it. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to Frank Morgan, Marilyn Monroe, Jonathan Pryce, and, of course, Robert Newton.

Twitter Sonnet #1241

The floating ground was light as packing thoughts.
Surroundings blank as boards contain a drop.
The world resolved from bleeding polka dots.
A helmet changed a store into a shop.
Confusing voices peer betwixt the tie.
To juggle hands the daggers sweetly wait.
A billion fingers spoilt all the pie.
At two the pawn'll stumble home to mate.
Apportioned sand remained exceeding dry.
Tamale boxes hum a flick'ring tune.
Repeated thoughts encourage cats to try.
In ev'ry whisker lives a jelly moon.
The blessed and less assured no less at loss.
The snow supports assorted feet across.

The Milton Sisters, Together Again

There's a new chapter of my infrequently updated webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, online. We finally meet Mary Milton, Deborah's sister, and Dekpa's English is improved. Happy Labour Day.

Also, Happy Birthday to Kitty Carlisle and Alan Ladd.