Mad Props to Jeff Zugale

On Tuesday, April 16th I was supposed to meet with Travis Walton (our colorist) to talk about upcoming projects. It was going to be a fun time over food in which some of the financial support you've shown Schlock Mercenary recently could be applied to making new and better things.

Have you ever been waiting for somebody to arrive, and they don't, and you are frustrated, and then worried, and hope they're okay, and then it turns out they ARE okay and this was just a misunderstanding, they're at the wrong restaurant? That was how I expected this to turn out. Pretty surreal to have it go the other direction. Travis was in the emergency room getting stitched up from a car accident.

Well, piling on the mirth, that same Tuesday night I visited the ER on my own account because the fever and cramps didn't make sense, the nice doctor diagnosed me with a pretty scary bacterial infection, clostridium dificile, which I'm still fighting two weeks later. I'm not bedridden, but this has been similar to walking pneumonia in the way it wipes me out. The result is that I can't pick up the slack from Travis, and can barely get my own stuff done in a timely manner.

Enter Jeff Zugale, who has taken up the Schlock Mercenary coloring mantle for a couple of weeks. If you haven't noticed, that's because Jeff is just that good. His job is to make it seamless, so that Travis can get well. I'm still paying Travis the same as I would if he were doing this coloring, but I'm also paying Jeff to get the work done. You folks didn't drop six figures on me so that I can be stingy, and I'm certainly not allowed to be a jerk. 

Jeff colored today's strips, as well as everything that airs this week and next. He did great work, and he did it at a time when he was no less busy than any of the rest of us, but just happened to be healthy enough to carry the extra load. Thank you, Jeff! You should check out his other work at Not Invented Here, and if you're hiring in the video game space, Jeff is totally your guy. He can deliver.