New Website Hosting

Same provider (GoDaddy), just different plan. Major headache -- not as easy as in the old days. Used to be you get a new server, copy over the files, change the DNS and bam! you're done. Now there's SSL certs to rekey, PayPal certs to copy over, mySQL databases to export/import, PHP to test. All of my CSS or JS minifying was broken. Some of which GoDaddy mistakened for malware (maybe because CSS and JS files aren't compressed -- yet). HTACCESS needs to be retested, which I don't know if cPanel even allows (previous plan didn't have cPanel).

GoDaddy costs more but tried the cheaper ones (InMotion and BlueHost), but they sucked -- hidden costs, poor customer service, no process or clue on transferring a site, SSL, et al from one host to another.

Wut Duh?

Two things... updated the blog with some old entries from my original blog (before the blogger.com blog), so now this blog goes back to 2005. Note the Year dropdown above.

Resurrected some old interviews from the Wayback Machine. With these old interviews, the operative theme is ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. Also, these pages are the original html, so they're definitely not mobile-friendly.

2003: ralphsnartfanclub
2003: www.newsarama.com
2004: www.ralphsnart.com
2006: www.popthought.com
2007: www.thecartoonists.ca
2008: www.jazmaonline.com
2012: www.comicchatcast.com

Here's one interview from 2013 that's still online.

Here's Tony Caputo's response to my popthought.com interview.

Finally, noticed that Tony Caputo gave up on the dream. So if you want to start a comic book company called NOW Comics, go for it.

Inking a comic book panel of Ralph Snart

[UPDATE] Ralph Snart #7 has now released.

Here I am inking panel one of page five of the upcoming issue of Ralph Snart Adventures (#7). It's strangely relaxing to watch.
The GIF below shows the progression of storyboard script to pencil to ink and then to lettered and colored final. One thing to note is how close the storyboard script is to the final, even though, in this instance, it's very rough. The pencil is pretty simple too, but since I'm also the inker, I can get away with that. This makes the inking a bit more creative -- I'm not just delineating, I'm drawing as I ink.

The storyboard scripts I did for other artists, like the stuff I did for NOW (Married... With Children) and Disney (Goofy, Roger Rabbit), were much tighter. In most cases, the artists followed my storyboards as if they were layouts, which is the main reason I stopped doing work for Disney -- they didn't pay enough to justify what I was contributing. Sorry, but $50 per page for story idea, script and layouts doesn't cut it.

Keep Your Ebooks Safe

Good article.
"One preservation network is known under the acronym LOCKSS Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe and that's a good rule of thumb. Always have a backup, and always have multiple backups." LOCKSS

I keep all of my comic book production files on my daily user laptop and backup often to one of these. I also have two more of them, which I keep updated (one is kept in a fireproof safe). I also backup the entire hard drive of the laptop periodically to multiple external drives and burn DVDs annually and keep in the safe.

I don't keep anything on a cloud server, although my website, with all of it's files, are technically on another server. Don't use the cloud for anything proprietary. Google, et al can't be trusted to keep your files safe or private.

Not saying you need to go to these extremes, but, at the minimum, have at least one means of backup and do it often.

Blog Move

Moved my blog from Google's Blogger to my own domain. I've also restricted Facebook posts to a weekly blurb. If you'd like to be added to a list to receive major news, like if a new book drops, just send me your email address to mh@marchansenstuff.com.

Meanwhile, when I finish coloring the cover for Ralph Snart Adventures #7, I'll update the store link.

Latest Poop 04-16-19

RSA #8Just finished writing, layouts and lettering for RSA #8. Final part of the Frump Trilogy.

Ralph, Doofus and Fat Louie are on the lam after Ralph killed Vladimir Poopin and put President Frump in a coma (with Fat Louie's unknowing help). Foreign spies turn Frump into a 25-foot tall monster with only one thought on it's mind -- KILL SNART. Ralph also finds love (love is a loose term here). Doctor Goot cameo.

Beer #44 is priming, #45 is fermenting and #46 is in the planning stages.

Twitter Impressions

Something amiss with Twitter...Not enough likes or retweets to justify 80k impressions.

Latest Crap #234

Work begins on Ralph Snart Adventures Vol 8 No 7 -- the last part of the Frump Trilogy.

Printed comics and paperbacks are once again available. Quantities, as they say, are limited.

New updates to my pioneer breweries site: link 1, link 2, link 3.

Website Update

UPDATE: Total redo. Had to make initial page faster. Using JSON (and some tricks), rendering is now 30x faster - typical load time should be less than a one second. Also fixed some bugs and added some enhancements. Even works in IE 9-11. Good Lord!

Had to update php up from version 5.2 (old as hell) to at least 5.6, but is now compatible up to 7.2. Also, made more mobile friendly. Cut a lot of fat and a lot of bad coding. Overall, much more solid and secure. COOL!

Cartoon Confidential Cover

Forgot I even did the cover to this book -- Cartoon Confidential published by Malibu in June, 1991. I probably forgot because Tom Smith did such a crappy job of coloring my black & white line art. I think it came about after I had contacted Tom Mason at Malibu about publishing Doctor Gorpon in early 1991.

You can read it here.
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Marc Hansen
Marc Hansen

Cartoonist and creator of Ralph Snart Adventures, Weird Melvin and Doctor Gorpon. Hansen has done most of his work for NOW Comics, but has also done work for Marvel, Disney and Kitchen Sink Press.

Ralph Snart Adventures was published from 1986-1993 by now defunct NOW Comics, and was the longest running comic in the entire NOW catalog, selling an average of 50,000 copies a month during that nine year period. Over two million comics were published, and it was the first indy comic to receive the Comics Code.

Today, Marc Hansen publishes Ralph Snart Adventures as an ebook on a sporadic basis. Current issues are available on his website. Keep up with Ralph Snart on Twitter and Facebook.

Ralph Snart is a registered trademark. Copyright 2024 by Marc Hansen.