Beaver and Steve

#346 - He ate us - part 1

2008-06-20

Yes, I'm afraid it's true: I'm putting Beaver and Steve on the dreaded 'indefinite hiatus'. I've been incredibly lucky and managed to get someone to pay me to draw a new comic, but I've realised that working a full time job, then coming home and working another full time job doesn't really leave me with much time to spend thinking up unfeasible new adventures. So rather than let the comic get gradually less and less funny I'm going to put it on hold until I have the time to give the comic the attention it needs, however long that takes. Sorry everyone! But don't feel too bad - here's a few ideas to take the sting out of it:

1) MAKE SURE YOU DON'T MISS BEAVER AND STEVE WHEN IT COMES BACK:

* Register to be on the Beaver and Steve newsletter by typing your email address here : I'll e-mail you the second I start updating again!
* Subscribe to the Beaver and Steve RSS feed! For the technically minded!
* Read my livejournal! I'm sure I'll mention it when I start drawing Beaver and Steve again. It has pictures!
* Join the Beaver and Steve group on facebook! So you can all complain about how I sold out together!
* Watch your TV! Beaver and Steve is currently in development as an animated series, so it might be appearing on your TV any year now!
* Or just keep checking this website obssessively every day until it returns. Frustrating!

2) RELIVE THE GLORY DAYS:
* Read the archives! There's 345 other episodes to see, so why not read 2 a week, and pretend I'm still updating for the next 3 years!
* Buy the books! Book 2 has been selling really badly, and both books contain all-new material!

3) READ MY NEW STUFF:
* I have a new strip The Super Animal Adventure Squad appearing in the weekly print comic the DFC - It's like Beaver and Steve, only with more ADVENTURE. Subscribe today and you'll get a new issue delivered to your house every week!
* I'll also be posting any new art and things that I make on my livejournal. Take a look!

4) READ OTHER COMICS:
* Don't worry there are millions of other comics on the internet! All the ones on my links page are excellent, and if that's not enough here's another page of all the other comics I read that I didn't have space to put on my links page. Enjoy!
* And if those aren't Beaver and Steve-y enough for you there are a whole pile of fan-made Beaver and Steve comics on the fan art page!

5) DRAW YOUR OWN DANG COMIC:
* I wrote an article for a paper about how to draw super heroes! Now you have no excuse not to start a comic yourself!

6) SUICIDE:
* Maybe that's going a bit far.

I hope that's been some help, and I hope I'll see you all here again in the not-too-distant future!

#345 - the one and clonely - part 6

2008-06-06

THE END.

Hey, I did some illustrations for the Times newspaper here in the UK - if you'd like to see you can take a look here. It is full of handy hints!

I am still very busy working on the second series of 'Super Animal Adventure Squad' for the DFC, so I am not sure what is going to happen to Beaver and Steve next week - I guess we will have to wait and see!

#344 - the one and clonely - part 5

2008-06-01

Sorry for the late update - I've been busy carrying boxes around for the last 3 days. Story finishes next week!

#343 - the one and clonely - part 4

2008-05-23

Part 4! Thanks to Daniel for coming up with the idea of that really disgusting eyelid trick for the finale. Ugh.

#342 - the one and clonely - part 3

2008-05-16

The adventure continues!

If you'd like to know what I'm working on while Daniel is taking care of business here, you might want to have a little look at this. Subscribe now and get 4 copies free!

#341 - the one and clonely - part 2

2008-05-09

Here's Dan's brilliantly illustrated second installment of the storyline. If you'd like to see more of Dan's work I recommend you check out his cyborg caveman epic (yes, that's right: CYBORG CAVEMAN) Thog Infinitron, and although it's not updating at the moment I strongly advise a browse through the archives of his other comic Anything Could Happen for some 5 star laffs.

And in other news, that master of photographic phoolery Chris Yates has just released his new book Set it to Awesome which looks like a cracking read. And on the subject of books, don't forget I still have plenty of copies of my own books for sale too. Fill those empty bookshelves now!

#340 - the one and clonely - part 1

2008-05-02

And the winner is: Dan Woodhouse! Woo! Dan will be handling the art work for the site for the next 5 weeks (and he'll also be getting signed copies of my books in the post) - I hope you will all enjoy his art as much as I do!

The runners up (who will all be receiving a set of Beaver and Steve badges) are Andy Powell, Rick Eades and Drew Mokris - as you can imagine it was incredibly hard to pick a winner since all of these are so good, and I hope they'll all provide some art for the comic in future. Also I'm awarding a bonus set of badges for the entry that made me laugh the most - that has to got to Jonathan DeBruyn for the creating the world's most graphic milk carton. Ew.

And finally I'd just like to thank everyone who entered for taking the time to help me out - all the entries were of an incredibly high standard, and I had to spend literally hours deliberating over the final winners: I wish you could all draw Beaver and Steve for me! I recommend you go and check out the competition entry page right now and take a look at each one, because they all have their own little bonus features - keep an eye out for an unusual sunrise, a shakespearian daydream, two tasteful duvet covers and one terrifying alarm clock, to name but a few.

Thank you all!

#339 - the amazing Beaver and Steve GUEST ARTIST competition!

2008-04-25

Hello! Are you intrigued by the message above? Would you like to have your artwork appear on the Beaver and Steve front page? Would you like to win signed copies of Beaver and Steve volumes 1&2? Do you know which end of a pencil is the one used for drawing with? If you answered yes to all these questions then this is the competition for you!

As you may have noticed from the prevelance of guest strips of late, I am suffering a little work overload at the moment. However, rather than abandon Beaver and Steve into the murky world of 'Hiatus' I have decided that for the next few weeks I will get someone else to provide the art for the comic, while I continue to produce the scripts. Which is the hard part obviously. So to determine who will be the 'lucky' person burdened, uh, I mean rewarded with the chance to illustrate my insane ramblings, I have decided to hold a competition! Woo! Prizes!

Ok, the competition goes something like this: I have written a script that will last for the next 4-5 weeks of updates, full of hilarity and pathos and intrigue (just like all my scripts), and I want YOU to illustrate the first episode! (the script and address to send it to are below) Then a panel of expert judges (me, and possibly my girlfriend) will look at all the entries and decide which artist has done the best job, and then that lucky individual will be sent the rest of the script to illustrate on a weekly basis until the end of the story! How does that sound? I know: it sounds UNIMAGINABLY EXCELLENT. And as if getting to slave away drawing as I send you pages and pages of barely intelligible scripts wasn't reward enough, I will also send you personalised copies of Beaver and Steve volumes 1&2 too! Joy!

Ok, now for some RULES:

1) The closing date for this competition is 12pm GMT on thursday the 1st of May. You've only got one week! Hurry!

2) Do NOT enter the competition if you will not have time to draw one comic a week for the next 4-5 weeks. Please! If you do win and then are unable to complete the full story line on schedule you will forfeit the prize, and the second-place artist will finish off the story. Hopefully!

3) You have to draw to my script(s), but variation within that is acceptable and encouraged. Put strange things in the background! Make Beaver wear a tie! Go mad!

4) You must not be, nor ever have been, a member of the Panda Appreciation Society.

5) Entries must be no wider than 750 pixels.

6) Three runners up will win a set of Beaver and Steve badges, and may be contacted for future guest artist work next time I am busy!

7) In the event of a draw the winner will be determined by a western-style shoot-out.

Ok, the script for episode one is in the form of a half finished comic which can be found HERE (it gets much more exciting after this. There are ALIENS. And David Hasselhoff.). Entries to the cometition should be sent to this address: (but don't forget - you only have one week in which to do it!). That's it - get drawing, and good luck!

I hope at least some of you have been inspired - this is a bit of an experiment and I have no idea how it will work or even if I will get any entries... but if it's successful I may want to take the winner and/or runners-up on to illustrate the strip on a more permanent basis until I can get more time to work on the comic again. Only time will tell! Oh and if you have any questions about the competition you can post them here.

#338 - GUEST STRIP! by Rebecca Clements

2008-04-18

Hey folks, today's guest strip is by Rebecca Clements who puts the fun into fungus with her comic KinokoFry. Take a LOOK!

Also Boxcar Comics has done their first podcast! I wasn't able to get involved in this one, but it seems like a lot of fun, and I hope I'll be able to call in in future. Take a listen!

#337 - GUEST STRIP! by Nobby Nobody

2008-04-11

Today's unimaginably excellent guest strip is by that master of the biro, Nobby Nobody, creator of the tentacle-tastic comic Odd Fish. Go read it, and marvel at the cross-hatching!