…that Lights Out! is sporting a swish new look.

This is the reason the site has been running on virtual autopilot for the past few weeks, as I’ve been devoting all my energies to the redesign. Looking around, I hope you think it’s worth it.

First of all, none of this would have been possible without the latest version of ComicPress, so a big ‘Thank You’ is due to Tyler Martin. Fortuitously,  CP 2.5 launched just as I was commencing the revamp and it really is the big leap forward for webcomics using Word Press. Some of the stuff on the site (like tag search) is new to 2.5, and if you have a webcomic I really would recommend checking it out.

So, what’s new? Well, to quickly summerize:
- Every post is now fully tagged. Use the ’smart archive’ search in the sidebar to find the relevant strips for characters, locations, parodys…you name it. This is the feature I’m most excited about, though there is also standard archive page if that suits you better.
- The Introduction and Cast pages have been rewritten, and there is now the (long hinted-at) ‘Story So Far’ page. If you’ve just found Lights Out! and don’t have a lot of time to get up to speed, I recommened heading there first.
- I’ve rewritten the ‘Footnotes’ that occassionally appear below the strips. These now only mention references for that specific strip, and are much more like proper footnotes than before. I’ll keep the more chatty and off-topic stuff for these blog posts.
- Links and Contact stuff now have their own dedicated pages, along with the film poster I originally created for this year’s UK Comix Thing convention.
- Finally, as touched on above, blog posts now have their own dedicated section (right here!), seperate from the comic posts. Sadly, this may encourage more waffling from me.

There are other things I’m planning to add, such as more movie-related links and content, and perhaps a ‘webcomic-of-the-week’ bit, but that will come later.

For the moment, I hope you’ll enjoy the new look. Let me know what you think (and, more importantly, if things don’t work as they should)).

…and it’s time for me to take a short holiday.

This means the comic will be going on a couple of week’s hiatus.
However, normal service will resume on Monday 14th July,
when we’ll find out what’s been happening to Eleanor Shawcross.

See you then.

It’s been a relaxing two weeks away from the Lights Out!, however I’m now back and ready to kick on with the comic.

A couple of bits of housekeeping:
- Unfortunately I’ve been having issues with the RSS feed. Sorry everyone, but it’s still not working right. However, I hope to have it all shipshape in the next few days.
- Much of my time away from the comic was spent working on my ‘Concise History of the Disaster Movie’. As of writing this, it’s 80% done. ETA for it to appear on the site is start of August, and hopefully it will provide a bit more context to the comic (or just be a fun read, whatever). Consider yourselves duly warned.

…which means I have to put my slothful summer ways behind me.

For the past month or so, the comic been virtually running on autopilot (for various, very dull, reasons), which means I’ve managed to keep to my update schedule but all the extra features I’ve been promising were put on hold.

However, now that September is here, I plan to kick on and finally implement some improvements:

1. Firsty, and most importantly, the comic will now post three days a week (with a Wednesday update joining the existing Monday and Friday ones). This upping of pace will hopefully keep things more coherent as storylines become ever more involved, and there isn’t four days inbetween to lose track of them.

2. The RSS Feed is fixed!…and it only took me two months! Basically I did something very stupid and completely crippled the comic feed. Unfortuantely, though it was eventually a very simple problem, it took me weeks to actually track down the issue (Believe me, I never want to have to go through the site code line-by-line ever again). So, the subscribe button up to the right now has a purpose again. Feel free to click it.

3. The much-promised ‘Big Guide to Disaster Movies’ is nearly ready! I’m just giving it a final polish (and fact check), and hope to have it live on the site in the next fortnight. I’m rather excited by it, and look forward to lots of people disagreeing with my opinions.

4. And finally, an enhanced link section will be here before October, with links to movie stuff, not just webcomics.

Okay, I think that should be enough for now….

To cut a long story short, last Friday I sliced the knuckle on my right index finger quite badly (a silly accident, won’t bore you with the details).
This entailed quite a lot of bleeding and a trip to A&E. Luckily there was no permanent damage even though stitches were needed.
I’m due to have them removed next Monday. However, in the meantime, my right index finger resembles a large cocoon, so swaddled in gauze is it.
Unfortunately, as I am completely right-handed, I’m unable to draw until then as well. What this means for Lights Out!, with the current storyline coming to a finish today, is that I’ve had to rustle up some emergency filler. What that is you’ll find out on Friday.
Hopefully this state of affairs won’t be for long, just enough for me to check the drawing hand is still working and build up a small strip buffer.
Fingers-crossed (well, not in a literal sense at the moment) it will all be okay.

As of this week, Lights Out! is one year old!
And it feels like I’ve hardly begun…
(It’s also my own birthday, but that’s far less important)

The comic also passed the 100 page mark last month, which is another one of those milestones that you’re supposed to shout about and I completely missed (oh well).

Unfortunately, my marking of this event is a little less ideal than I would have liked.
Due to real-life pressures, I’m forced to go back to updating two pages a week (on Monday and Friday) for a short while.
Hopefully the Wednesday update will be back on the schedule sharpish, but until then please bear with me.