Wow! A new Zik page! Sorry for my extended absence.  As you know if you’ve been reading the blog part of this comic, I’m posting on a random update schedule due to my wife’s increasing needs for my help.  Her condition has deteriorated significantly since my last update, and it’s been quite a struggle to keep things running smoothly. There are some significant financial stresses involved as well, as the medication bill is skyrocketing. All that to say that for the foreseeable future, Zik pages will continue to be posted on a random basis as I get snippets of time here and there. Thanks for your patience!

Whoa! I think Zik touched a nerve there!

Thanks again for sticking with Zik during our new random update schedule.  I’m working as quickly as I can to get new pages online.  I’m going to try to keep my Twitter feed updated with where I’m at so you can get an idea of when to expect the next page.

Also, sARTurday Night Live seems to be a rousing success despite some of the chat room difficulties we’ve been having.  The YouTube and G+ comments are too hard to keep track of, so we’ve come up with a new solution.  I’ve installed a more responsive chat program and embedded the SNL YouTube video at http://departure-productions.com/snl/  — So now you can bookmark just the one page and be able to communicate with us more effectively with a chat program that works well.  Maybe Google will fix things on their end eventually, but for now, this is a pretty good solution.

Time to clear the air! And it looks like Zik has heard all this before…

Well, I have to thank you for checking out this page.  Obviously I’m not updating on my regular days anymore, but Zik is NOT on hiatus!.  My wife’s MS has been a real pain in the butt (or brain) lately and more and she’s been needing more and more help and TLC.  So I’ve decided that Zik is going to update randomly from now on so I can accommodate her.  Basically, when a page is done, I’ll post it.  Keep an eye on my Twitter feed if you want to be notified of updates.  Thanks for sticking with me!

Trent is getting downright rude with Zik! What a grump! Stay tuned to find out why!

Hey check it out! Here’s a video of me inking this page!

This weekend’s sARTurday Night Live will most likely have more than just me. It’s a surprise!

Well, aren’t WE Mister Observant! It’s a desert, Zik, it’s going to get hot! Geez. Who writes this stuff?

sARTurday Night Live this past week featured James Riot, Richard Wallace and Barry Linck! Check it out:

See you this Saturday at 9PM EST!

So off they go into the desert! Let’s hope they make it back!

This past Saturday was the first sARTurday Night Live! Here’s the YouTube of it:

We’ll be online again this coming Saturday at 9pm EST, so come out and join us! We’ll see what you say if you type them in the chat room during the live broadcast, so feel free to ask us questions or send us comments.  Stay tuned to YouTube for the show! Or follow my Twitter or Facebook or Google+ for the link.  See you then!

Guys, turn around, you’re going to want to see that! Guys? GUYS! Oh damn…

NEWS! Some artist pals and I are starting a weekly Google+ hangout that we’re calling sARTurday Night Live!  It’s on “broadcast” mode so anyone can tune in while we’re on-air.  We’re going to have a live chat room so that fans can participate and ask us questions or ask us to draw stuff or whatever! It’s a party every Saturday night starting at 9pm (EST)!  Tune into the Zik Facebook page, or my Twitter feed, or Zik on G+ to know when and at what URL we’re going live!

This week: Adam Black of Locus and Silk & Honey will join me!  Also, Barry Linck and Richard Wallace are solid maybes!

Trent is certainly not amused. But what’s that in the sky? Why is he so frightened all of a sudden?  Tune in next week and find out!

Amelia is pretty quick on the draw with the snark! Good thing Zik lets it slide.  But what could be bothering Trent?

If you haven’t seen the announcement on the front page already, I’m reducing my update schedule to once a week, on Tuesdays, for the foreseeable future.  The reason is that my wife has multiple sclerosis and it has been especially difficult for her lately.  Needless to say that I need to reduce time spent on the comic until things get a bit better for her.  MS attacks in waves, and is degenerative and incurable (so far).  I’m hoping to go back to doing two pages a week as soon as possible, because I’m excited to tell this story! The end of this episode is going to be awesome, and the next couple of episodes I’ve been scripting out are even better!  Thanks for your patience and understanding, and thanks for reading Zik the Gallant Defender of Zoz!

I hope you had a great holiday vacation!

Back on the prison planet, Zik seems to have found solution to his heat-sink problem, so let’s hope these copper pipes will do the trick!

This is the first page I drew 100% digitally.  I’m still getting used to the new work-flow so please bear with me as I get my techniques down! The art will continue to improve from here on out as I get used to working with a tablet instead of pencils and pens.