By Nathan Olsen & Robert Olsen

Happy Anniversary!

Today, Haiku Comics turned 2 years old. I think that’s pretty amazing and I’m very proud the work my brother and I have done here.

Anyway, I’m tired so I don’t think I have the energy to say much more than that. Thank you all for reading and encouraging us with your feedback. :)

What’s New?

Wow, our last news update was in May? Where has the time gone? I think there are more grey hairs in my beard than the last time we spoke. And I think this wrinkle might be new. Our time on this mortal coil is fleeting, dear readers, our lives so easily slipping away unnoticed into the long dark night of eternity. Every passing day filled with changes that remind us that things will never again be as good as they were when we were young, vibrant and beautiful.

Haiku Comics continues its own decline into mainstream irrelevance by this week introducing a new website design. It features bigger comics, a better logo and thumbnail-based archives. No doubt our long time fans, who remember the website we limped by on for the first six months of our run will just see this as further proof that we are “selling out,” which is entirely justified. Bob and I would be quite happy to “sell out,” as “selling” indicates some sort of income, which would be a nice change from the current paradigm that requires us to spend a lot of our own money so that you all can have the pleasure of reading our work for free.

On that note, buy our stuff.

I had a longer post in mind for this subject, but since we are at that awkward moment in the conversation where I rattle my empty cup and you attempt to avoid eye contact with me while mumbling something about “giving at the office,” I think perhaps a few words are in order. Bob and I have always wanted to avoid bombarding you all with pleas for money. We sell a few items in our online store and we would love if you bought some of them, but we are happy to have you as readers even if you can’t afford to buy anything from us. In fact, we have intentionally resisted asking for donations because we ourselves don’t like going to websites that make us feel guilty for not giving away our money to strangers.

However.

Haiku Comics can make money two ways: selling goods or increasing our readership. If you can’t afford to buy our merchandise, you can still help Haiku Comics earn income by bringing us new readers. We make a small amount of money off of every person who visits our site. For all the hours we have put in making these comics, if you could take 5 or 10 minutes each month (or even once!) to promote our comic on the internet, it could make a real difference. Reddit, Digg, Stumble Upon, Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Tumblr, Blogspot, Livejournal — the more effort you, our readers, put in promoting our comics on the internet, the greater chance we have of expanding our audience into something that might actually allow Bob and I to spend more time on this project. If every single one of our readers Stumbled us or Dugg us, it would be a game changer.

I would be remiss to not mention that some of you have put in time promoting us — I assure you that we have noticed and your efforts are very much appreciated. But the number of people who have done this is no more than a couple of dozen — we have hundreds of readers and we need more of you to help us.

So, anyway, there’s that.

The comic schedule, unfortunately, is going to remain erratic for the time being. All the time I spent the last week updating the website took away from the time I have drawing comics, although Bob and I have a few good ideas for the next couple of strips. I’m hoping to have something for you by Friday. However, as some of you may know, I’m also currently working on an M.F.A. in Illustration and, as I turn thirty-four next month, my wife is understandably eager to see me graduate this fall. You can follow my progress over at my blog.

Bob and I will also be exhibiting again this year at A.P.E., which also requires some preparation — a new book, buttons, maybe some limited edition prints. If you’re in the Bay Area, we’d love to see you at the convention, even if it’s just to say hello.

So that’s that. How have you all been? Any reader requests? Any characters you’d like to see return? Do you like the color strips? Did you enjoy the return of the black & white strips?

Stay cool.

UPDATE: Bob and I will not be attending APE after all. We are instead focusing our efforts on putting together a table for Wondercon next spring. Stay tuned!

Coming Soon

Haiku Comics "Zombie Buffet" t-shirt design by Nathan Olsen and Robert Olsen.

A few days ago, Bob and I announced our new t-shirt design on the Haiku Comics Facebook Fan Page. We’ve been working hard on this project and are really excited about it. I know that I’m going to be buying a couple of these shirts just for myself — hopefully many of you will feel the same.

We’re not quite ready to accept orders, but we will let you know soon when once we’ve worked out the logistics. More to come!

Publishing Schedule Change

After a year of maintaining a ridiculously aggressive publishing schedule, Haiku Comics is going to be cutting back on the number of comics it publishes in 2010.

What? Haiku Comics won’t be publishing a new comic strip every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in 2010?

Read all about the changes to Haiku Comics schedule after the jump.

Read more

Year One

One year ago today, my brother took an idea I had and got it up and running faster than I thought was possible. Three panels and 17 syllables later haikucomics.com was another stop on the Internet highway. In those early days the sky was the limit and it was obvious that nothing would constrain our combined geniuses. Of course we had no idea just what we had created or how it would turn out, but we knew that A) we were funny as hell and B) we were twisted as hell.

In the upcoming year there will be some changes to Haiku Comics. We have come to learn what we can do, what we can’t do, and what we are able to do and stay sane. Some of these changes will be good, while others will be just that, changes. It is important to know that no matter what changes you see, both Nathan and I are committed to keeping Haiku Comics up and running. Or was that should be committed? Either way, Haiku Comics is not going away.

In the past year we have posted over 150 comics, created a book containing our first 100 comics, a coffee mug, gone to our first convention, started an online store, paid taxes, had a reader get a tattoo of Zombie Baby on their leg (Julie), and generally lost money. But, we have been doing something that we both enjoy, have stayed in touch more in the past year than the previous 10 years, and have come to enjoy bantering with our readers on the site.

So, on that last, sickly sweat note, I leave you now with those famous last word uttered by Socrates … I drank what?

Web Comics II

With  the end of the year approaching, I though now might be as good a time as any to catch everyone up on what web comics I’ve been reading lately. Can you believe that it’s been eight months since the last time I did this?

Optipess by Kristian Nygård.

First off, if you’re not following Kristian Nygård’s Optipess, you’ve been missing out. I think the strip has a lot in common with Haiku Comics, both in the way the strips use action to tell a joke and in the frequent misfortune that befalls the characters. This is one of my favorites. And, according to Kristian, this strip was inspired by the Haiku Comics book. Kristian isn’t afraid to experiment with his comic and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he does with it in 2010.

Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles by Neil Swaab.

Apparently, Neil Swaab’s Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles can be found in newspapers, so I’m kind of bummed that I’ve just discovered it. Neil recently wrapped up a storyline that involved Mr. Wiggles, a stuffed bear, becoming God. In case you were wondering, this turned out to be a bad idea.

Moe by Michael Firman.

Moe by Michael Firman has given me more than one good belly laugh. I don’t know what exactly Moe is, but I’m not sure he should have been allowed to breed. But any comic that has a character named Cement Bag Head is okay with me.

Invisible Hair Suit by Edgar R. McHerly.

Edgar R. McHerly’s Invisible Hair Suit is just strange. But it’s the kind of strange I find irresistible and hilarious. I really, really want Edgar to make a lot more of these.

Oglaf by Trudy Cooper.

If you are an adult and enjoy sexual humor, you should be reading Trudy Cooper’s Oglaf. It is ridiculously pornographic, however, so it’s probably not the best choice for passing the time at work. The strip is set in a fantasy sword-and-sorcery-type world, which often results in jokes like this one and this one. In case you were wondering, not all of the jokes are pornographic, just 99% of them. You’ve been warned.

KGB by Becky Cloonan and Hwan Cho.

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Becky Cloonan & Hwan Cho’s KGB. KGB is a serialized graphic novel about a Korean pop band. I’m undecided about the story — the characters are a bit weak at this point — but the artwork is gorgeous. Cloonan and Cho are a talented pair, so I’m really looking forward to seeing where they take this.

Whew! That’s a lot of comics. If you get through all of those, you might take a look at Atomic Laundromat by Armando Valenzuela, Fantasty by Lauren R. Hale, Woody After Hours by Ben Carter and Paul Westover, and Borked Planet by Jess Warren — who all have been kind enough to throw their support behind Haiku Comics over the past year.

Thanks to everyone for such a great year. Here’s to 2010! Happy new year!

The Horror! The Horror!

Well, it’s just after 5am here and before I call it a night, I wanted to mention that Bob and I compiled a list of our favorite horror movies which was published the other day over at Midnite Media. Jonny Metro asked us to put together a top ten list but, in an effort to one up everyone else, we decided to make it our top eleven. Nigel would be proud.

In other news, prints of a few of my illustrations can now be purchased online. For those wondering when Haiku Comics merchandise will be made available for sale, we should have some news on that front very soon.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Haiku Comics Website Redesign

As some of you may have noticed, the website got a massive overhaul this the weekend. While the update is by no means perfect, hopefully you can now show the site to all your friends without shame. Or, at the very least, with less shame. I mean, sure, we’re cranking out the same crude, juvenile humor that has come to define Haiku Comics over the past six month — but the pig’s wearing lipstick now, you know what I’m saying?

Of course, there’s still a lot of fine tuning to be done. We’ve temporarily had to remove the archive pages, for instance (all of the comics are still available if you click through them in the main navigation). We still don’t yet have a proper logo. And the sidebar needs some work. We’ll get to these issues as we have time.

Anyway, Bob and I hope the the redesign is to your liking. It’s definitely an improvement, right? You can let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Happy 50th!!!

Yes, believe it or not, today is our 50th strip. In honor of this achievement, because let’s be honest here, who thought we’d still be going at this point, we proudly present the return of Zombie Baby. Both Nathan and I would like to thank all of you who have read and continue to read our little project here. It really is the comments we get from you all that keeps us going. Without you, none of this would happen. So here is to another 50 strips and another return of Zombie Baby.

On a side note, I just want to say that I have the easy half of this partnership. Without Nathan’s skill at drawing, either this wouldn’t be happening or you’d be seeing my badly drawn stick figures. So if you think about it, give him a shout out in the comments and let him know you appreciate all of his hard work.

Haiku Comics Friends You

Bob and I have started up a fan page for Haiku Comics on Facebook. If you use the service and would like to let all of your friends know that you’re a fan of the strip, you can do so here.

Update: Just to clarify, there isn’t really any point to this. We don’t have any plans to do anything in particular with the Facebook page. It isn’t meant to be one of those stupid apps that starts sending out virtual-hamsters to your friends and you certainly will not start getting spammed for fanning Haiku Comics. I wouldn’t even rely on it for news updates — those are best found here on the site. It’s just a way that you can help us spread the word about the comic. Thanks!

WARNING

Haiku Comics often pokes fun at the horror film genre and may contain humorous drawings of nudity and violence not suitable for children or the workplace.