Author: Ethan Nicolle

Mother's Day is this Sunday, so to celebrate we learn a little more about what a great mother Gobber Smartist is.

I apologize to any babies out their who may have been offended by this episode.  Malachai's obsession with babies was in full swing the day I asked him this question.  It does make Axe Cop a little more creepy to know that eating babies was part of his childhood… though in the conversation with Malachai he did say something about these being food babies and not normal babies.  I am not really sure what the distinction is.  Of course we did know that he was willing to eat a pear baby but that was only if they threatened to enslave mankind. 

A note on the note to our moms at the bottom of the page.  “I love you too much” is something Malachai says to me when we say good buy.  It has to be the cutest thing a kid can say.  It's also funny because it implies that I really don't deserve it and he needs to not love me so much, yet it still turns out to be about the sweetest thing a person could say.

In other news, if you didn't already know, CHOP CAST episode 2 is now up! 

There was also a great write up on Axe Cop at Stumptown Trade Review.

I should have some new stuff available in the Axe Cop Art Shop over the weekend, including some new prints and stuff.  Hopefully anyway.  Life never ceases to get in the way of getting more Axe Cop stuff done.  Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow as Baby Man's duck pursuit reaches a new level.

Ethan

Lobster Man is Hasta Mia's brother?? How did that happen?  Find out now:

What I love abou this origin story is how similar it is to archetypal hero origins, just with ridiculous props.  You have the parents, but they are German Shepherds.  You have the maguffin:  a lobster.  You have Cane and Abel, the obedient and the rebellious child.  It's so dramatic and dark, and yet so whimsical and silly at the same time. 

Now, I I could be getting a call from Al Sharpton… I have a character who is black who is the offspring of a dog and his name is Koko.  Honestly, Malachai came up with those plot points after the character was designed and whatever Al Sharpton would read into that, my brother definitely did not.  He thinks being half dog would be awesome, he picked the name because he thinks it's awesome.  Besides, I would have no issue if a pasty white guy resembling myself was the offspring of rats and his name was Vanilla McGee.  Who cares.  I think we can all agree the whole skin color issue is so ridiculous, I'd rather not even talk about it. 

Onto lighter fare… did you notice we added a downloads page under the “Extras” section on the menu?  Here you will find desktop wallpaper and icons for free.  Keep your eyes on this page, I will add other fun free stuff from time to time.

I would also like to give EboundHost.com a special mention here.  They have been the company who has hosted AxeCop.com and they have been very generous, helpful and are big Axe Cop fans too.  You'll see their ad at the top center of the home page.  If you need bandwidth, we highly recommend them and would like to thank them for helping us as we went from being a tiny insignificant web site to a site that generates steady large amounts of traffic. 

Tomorrow we will bring you a specil Mother's Day edition of Ask Axe Cop.  See you then!

Ethan

This episode of Ask Axe Cop, I must say, was a lot of work.  It seems like this strip just gets more and more complicated.  Today one of the most popular questions sent to us is answered… does Axe Cop's mustache have any powers?

I'd be interested to see, if Axe Cop is ever made into a live action film, how they would show Axe Cop removing a golden axe from his face hole.  Until then you just have to imagine it.

Oh and I should mention that “extroy” is how Malachai says “destroy.”  And when he says “destroyed” he says “extroyded.”  So it's not a typo.  It's canon.

I don't have a lot to say today, but plenty to do.  Working on getting some new prints available in the sketch and print shop.  We also have some new merch in the works with Topatoco including a hoodie, a new shirt, buttons and a sticker set.   So… stay tuned as usual.  Thanks for reading Axe Cop!

Ethan

Baby man continues to chase a duck today, and the danger level rises…

I'm glad most of you are enjoying this chase as much as I am.  The art is a lot of work, but the joy it brings me to create what a Baby Man film directed by Michael Bay may look like storyboarded out is all worth it. 

On tomorrow's Ask Axe Cop, Axe Cop will answer one of the most popular questions we have constantly asked.  He will reveal the secret of his awesome 'stache. 

See you then!

Ethan

P.S.  Can you tell who the three guys in the car are on panel 3?

Hasta Mia and Fishy Fish!  Enjoy your Friday cliffhanger episode…

My brother Noah is visiting me this weekend.  He is about to ship off the Afghanistan, he's a Marine.  I'd like to tell him right here, thank you for your service Noah.  I was always way too much of a pansy to be a military guy.  Heck, I was too much of a pansy for gym class.  Please feel free to leave Noah some encouragement in the comments here if you would like to. 

This page was a lot of work.  This story is getting complicated, and so is the art.  I need Malachai to kill off a bunch of characters and stick them all in a white room for a few episodes so I can give my hand a rest.  Next week we will be doing our first holiday episode of Ask Axe Cop for Mother's Day, so look forward to that.  Plus, you will get two Baby Man chase pages since Baby Man falls on Monday and Friday next week.  'Til then, have an awesome weekend.

Ethan

Once again, Axe Cop does not mess around.

I am not sure if I got the recording of the phone call when Malachai answered this one, but the tone of his voice was so funny because he was so logical and serious… like “well, obviously, you need to check if she is being kind of strange”  “like how?”  “like… does she act like she wants to punch you?”.  I think what I love about Axe Cop is how borderline psycho he is… I mean, maybe he is over the line, but whatever.

I just got an email from a guy named Daniel who has a band called “Hooray for Gooba!” and he sent me a video of him performing an Axe Cop song.  I like it, I think he needs to get it in the studio, I want to hear the produced version.

We now bring you back to Baby Man chasing a duck, still in progress…

I know that this portion of the Axe Cop comic is way different from anything else we have done with Axe Cop so far, but to me it is a fun aside and the dialog-free, high intensity chase just seems to be the perfect atmosphere for Baby Man to show us his stuff.

We are working on getting some new things in the Topatoco store, as well as the art shop.  I got an art banner up art Topatoco and immediately got a few orders for sketches, so I guess there was just a lot of people who did not realize sketches are still available.  Yes… the AXE SHOP has been divided into two shops… everything I don't need to sell myself (stuff I do not draw or sign) is sold at Topatoco.  Sketches, prints and other things that I am more immediately involved with are sold in the Axe Cop Art Shop (which you will notice is now a secure site).  We need to make some alterations to the menu, but my web slave Anthony is in the process of moving this week, so until then I'll just hope for the best. 

I have also started a sketch section in the gallery.  If you have ever received a sketch from me either online or at a convention, scan it in and send it so I can show them off here.  Also, don't forget to check out the fan art, head choppers and pin ups.  If you have a submission for any of these, send them to info@axecop.com I love to receive them.

Have a great day and watch out for ducks.

Ethan

Today's episode of Ask Axe Cop is all about Battle Cries.

I forgot to mention that in Calgary they sat me right next to web comics legend Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics.  We had our own little spot, hidden down by the big Red Skull banners.  This is the guy who makes a living on a comic that uses the same set of panels every day, and I think they are clip art.  You could either scoff, or be amazed at the fact that he can pull that off.  See… I like to think it takes a special touch for me to make what I do out of Malachai's thoughts, but I know that there are other artist/writers who could do just as good, and some much better.  I think there are very few people who could look at the same 6 panels every day and write a new comic that entertaines an average audience of something like 80-90 thousand people.  Laser high five to Ryan North  Not only that, but he created Project Wonderful, which is the company that runs all the ads on this site, and it really is wonderful.  To illustrate even further the genius of Ryan North, he sold out of everything he brought the first day of the convention, so that night he went to Wal Mart and bought shirts, underwear and puffy paint and made another set of merchandise just writing snappy sayings onto cheap garmnets.  He almost sold out of all of those too.  He's like the MacGyver of the comic world.  He can't draw, but he dominates many who can.  Any time someone whines they can't be a success in comics because they have no drawing skillz, I will direct them Northward.

Other than that, I am excited for tomorrow, because we're going back to Baby Man.  For now I am going to keep alternating between the Baby Man and Lobster Man plots probably page by page.  We'll see.  There may be times when the Baby Man story gets a few continuous pages, because it is basically all written and there is a lot of room for me to play, so when the Hasta Mia/Lobster Man plot is lacking input from the boss, I can fill in the space with the Baby Man chase story.  I may lay the whole thing out differently whenever it all goes into a book, but for now a lot of it just depends on how much material I can get from talking with Malachai.

To those of you who have ordered sketches, I am REALLY SORRY it has taken so long for them to get to you.  I am going to try to get the rest of them done, packaged and shipped out by tomorrow.  Thanks for being patient.  To the rest of you… people basically stopped buying sketches when we switched to Topatoco.  Either people don't realize there is still a sketch shop here or you got spooked by the problems we had with the store.  Well, I can assure you we've taken care of the problem, but if you are worried about it, just pay using paypal- all that info is taken at Paypal's site and we don't get any of it.  If you want to talk about other methods of payment, custom sketches and requests, whatever… just send me an email.  I am flexible. 

Thanks for reading Axe Cop, see you tomorrow!

Ethan

I have returned from Calgary a happy man.  My first trip ever to Canada was a good one.  I sold everything I brought, I sold a lot of sketches and met a lot of very nice people.  You Canadians are a friendly bunch.  But you came here to read the latest episode, not me gushing about a great time up North.

I do have to tell you that over the weekend a new podcast got started called CHOP CAST.  It is the first ever Axe Cop fan cast and it's a lot of fun.  The guys who do the show do a great job and if you are a lover of the Axe Cop universe you will love this show.  Check out the links to follow them in Twitter and Facebook and send them emails.

Well, I don't know if I will be doing any more conventions until San Diego.  I have a trip to plan… a trip up to spend a while with Malachai in person so we can really get some writing done.  I have noticed a lot of people who read the comic are from Seattle.  If there are any events (or if a comic shop or someone would like to set up an event) between now and July that we could be a part of, let me know.  I know we missed Emerald City because it happened so close to Axe Cop's birth, but I'd like to explore the idea of a little road trip to Seattle while I am up there, and who knows, maybe Malachai can come.  Thanks for reading!

Ethan

Word up homies…

Ok so, to answer a few questions about today's episode first… yes, I stuck Jhonen V in for a cameo along with a few other comic artist friends who are a little less well known.  The bearded guy on the bench is my good friend Ryan Agadoni who is a comic superstar, he just hasn't put a book out yet.  The guy in the back with a bit of a beard is Josh Kenfield who has helped me with coloring on various projects and is also a swell guy.

And yes, the eggs are exploding.  I thought it would be self-evident but this is Axe Cop, anything could be happening. 

As for Calgary, if you plan on stopping by to see me I will be at booth 502, near the entrance.(I'll be off to the right when you come in the main entrance).  it looks like they stuck me in with the web comics guys.  I always used to avoid the web comics section so now I guess I have to shake hands and admit I have joined the club… and along with that admit web comics really are the future of comics I think, at least to some extent.  I had said I would be sharing a booth with Doug, but that was a misuderstanding, they actually gave me my own table. 

This morning when Doug and I went to the airport he tried to use an expired passport to get on the plane and it didn't work out.  So Doug had to stay home and find the right passport and I had to fly up to Canada all by myself.  I have to admit it was awesome having an open seat next to me on the plane.  I spread out and worked on Axe Cop's power struggle with Lobster Man. 

Oh yeah and if you were hoping to get one of those Wexter prints, as I mentioned, I won't have them, but I will have some other stuff and will be doing paper ink sketches for $15-20 (much lower than my online prices).  For more info on the Calgary Expo go to http://www.calgaryexpo.com/

Ethan