Stuntmutt

I have a bit of a treat here. No less than three strips from Zzombie 13. First up, a timely crossover jibe.



I know how the Chief feels...



And this is great.



I've also been sent this from Nathaniel Clements.



And one from the red thangapin.

So three years ago, I did the whole bit - queued up in Oxford Street for a midnight opening and a copy of Halo 2. Well, this time around, a couple of things were slightly against me. Firstly, I became a Dad a few months ago and staying out late isn't really up there on the responsible parenting chart. Secondly, Westminster Council banned midnight openings this year for fear of overcrowding.

There was, however, a big launch party going on at Waterloo.



The London IMAX had been done up nice 'n' tidy and would be host to all sorts of celebs, press, industry figures and lucky compo winners.



Well, just when I thought I'd have to wait until the morning of the 26th, I was lucky enough to accompany my mate, LawlessBig Dal to the aforementioned event.



This is me queuing.



This is me saying sod the queue, let's head back in an hour.



I was a little bit worried it would just turn out to be stuff I'd seen on the internet. Sure enough, we got the Diorama video, and a walkthrough of Tsavo Highway by bungie's Joe Tung and Lee Wilson. Interesting enough, but not really gripping. The much feted celebrity deathmatch was a bit shonky. Pharrell slunk on, mumbled a hello, then proceeded to suck like a thirsty horse. Sure, the names on the screen said Carmen Electra and LL Cool J were his opponents, but they were in other countries playing via Xbox Live. So all we could see was a bunch of people who looked like they'd never played Halo before missing each other with rockets and falling off the map on a big screen. Yes, I do realise the pot just cast aspersions at the kettle.



But the night took a sweet turn. On entering, we had all been given either red or blue wristbands. Two red crowd members and two blue were called down to the front for 2v2 game of slayer. We were told that if the red team won, everyone with a red wristband would get a free copy of the game, same for blues if their team won. Well that got the crowd behind the players. The reds spanked the blues by about forty points. Of course, it was all a bit of schtick and as consolation prizes, everyone was to be given a free copy of Halo 3 when they left.

I was out of there like a shot. Sod the umpteen networked HD setups in the lobby. Sod the free bar. By 8.20pm, I had a copy of the game in my hand. And at a price that was right.



I went home and finished the fight (going to work the following day after just two hours of sleep). I dashed through on Normal just to see how the story ended and I loved it. I'm now going back through on Heroic and it's even better. Next week, I'll make a start on Legendary. And hopefully, I'll get a chance to play a little multiplayer too.

A momentous day for Halo fans. Here's a celebratory strip.



Let's see, I have some guest submissions here somewhere. Ah yes. First up, one from HaLo2FrEeEk, pondering life after death.



And now, one of the many 'jokes' that Phidgers insists on telling me over XBox Live.



Pixellated has been making some very nice comics featuring HBO Helljumper clan members. He was kind enough to feature One One Se7en in a cameo appearance.



Finally, Louis Wu forwarded this on to me. I contacted the creator, Aidan Sloan, to ask about the intention behind it. He replied - Well, it shows that BOLL will strike anytime, anywhere. Then, his son makes a little mod of his own. Heh heh heh. Call it, "The return of BOLL..."



Um, right. Have a great Bungie Day. I'll be back doing One One Se7en as of Monday.

Louis Wu forwarded me an email he'd been sent by a gentleman named Skipp. It's a very nice email indeed, and I thought I'd post it here. Skipp also submitted a guest strip which you can see below.

Subject: One One Se7en's my saviour
To: halo@bungie.org

MC,

My infinite gratitude goes to you for saving my sanity...

I'm a 50+ year old NASA "rocket scientist" and also an avid FPS gamer (funny that, but oddly enough there's a lot of us) that had to work a bunch of 16 hour shifts in a row. Much like policemen or firemen (and 117) my job is 1% frantic activity and 99% waiting for the results of same. Found your site while generically searching for the newest "Red vs. Blue" and read the current comic.

Count me as a captive. I was immediately held hostage by the simplicity yet depth of the 117 series. I immediately clicked on "first" and read the entire strip from day one. Helped me to pass so much of that 99% uselessness productively. Laughed my ass off out loud on occasion while other times I was reduced to "How true, how true" reflectivity. And it kept me awake.

Just wanted to thank you again for the life and vitality you've imbued 117 with and shared...I consider the strip somewhat of a CGA version of RvB...Are you even old enough to remember what CGA graphics were? Probably not...No one is anymore...

P.S. Although I perused the rest of the site and found you're not accepting any more "Guest Comics" for 117 I made one anyway (That wasted another 4 hours or so...Thanx again) and included it for your dismissal and/or disposal as you choose...

Sincerely, Skipp (or Ppla 'Epsodee - Gold)

So today heralds a new beginning for One One Se7en. My scribbles have (rightly) copped some stick in the past. So from today, the strip is receiving a complete makeover. Badly drawn cartoons out, photoshopped screengrabs in. The strips will all be made using Comic Life, which gives much better results than Word. Also, I'll be using this nifty Bad Joke Generator. According to its blurb, "The Bad Joke Generator autogenerates terrible, terrible puns about any person or object or archetype, based on the keywords you give it. You need never buy another Christmas cracker again." Sounds like the standard of humour should stay relatively the same, then.

It's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog. But here are a few bits and bobs. First up, a strip from me. I was going to submit this for tomorrow's One One Se7en on HBO. But this morning, I discovered Froggy has beaten me to the punch(line).




Here are a couple of guest submissions. This one is from Joe Gribble, and certainly has a ring of truth to it. I've been on both these teams at one time or another.


Next, a strip from Captain Foxx, featuring his own character.


And a one-shot from Cypher.


This is a little sight gag from Jordan 117. Guess he's saying my interpretation of the MC is a little... rectangular.


And finally, for some bizarre reason, One One Se7en goes rave. Retsof-Noraa put this underground scene together. To check it out at full bass-in-me-face volume and bangin' bpm, click here. Th-th-th-that's all folks.

Just a catch up and round up of some of the One One Se7en related goings on since the last update. A little while ago, Paul Maestri featured the Chief in his Halo Heads comic.


You can check out the whole strip here.

In response to this strip, Mondo J. Gecko made a follow up (borrowing a little inspiration from BOLL)-


And speaking of BOLL, check out these 360 faceplates he made for an HBO competition.




Still haven't invested in a 360 myself. But Christmas is coming. If I'm a good boy, who knows what Santa might bring down my chimney? From one HBO competition to another (ooh, the slinky links are just flowing). Someone entered a One One Se7en pumpkin to the annual Guilt O'Lantern contest. I would credit whoever it was - but I don't actually know who made it. Nice job though.



I happened upon (what I assume to be) a clan picture on a Halo forum. Hello ladies!



Now for a couple of 'dead' strips. These are comics I submitted to HBO that never saw the light of day. This first one was pulled because Bentllama had made the same joke on the HBO forum (a couple of times in fact!).


And this one never ran for a similar reason - a few people had already made the same observation.


Of course, some may think it a tad hypocritical that these comics were deemed unsuitable because they contained material that had been used before...

The slew of new Halo 3 screenshots have thrown up all sorts of discussions and theories. There was speculation as to what a mysterious blur hiding in the background of this shot might be. RVideo thinks he knows...



Those nice chaps at Podtacular invited me on as guest host a while back.
Have a listen.


That's yer lot. Apart from this seasonal little trinket by Omega. Happy Christmas!