Planet Karen

2006-08-02T01:11:00.000Z

This site will no longer be updated.

Planet Karen continues at http://planetkaren.girl-wonder.org

No, really. I mean it.

Hard to believe, but six months after I last posted here, this site still gets more hits per day than it did for Planet Karen's first month or so online.

Karen 06/02/07

2006-07-31T23:32:00.000Z

http://planetkaren.girl-wonder.org/ is now live!

Friday 21 July

2006-07-21T01:44:00.000Z

Thursday 20 July

2006-07-20T10:57:00.000Z

Wednesday 19 July

2006-07-19T21:11:00.000Z

Tuesday 18 July

2006-07-18T17:01:00.000Z

Monday 17 July

2006-07-17T08:32:00.000Z

Sunday 16 July

2006-07-16T12:07:00.000Z

Computer fund update: it looks like just about everyone who wanted to help out has done so now. I'm going to wait one more day in case anyone else wants to throw me a few dollars, pounds, yen, or groats, and then I'll use it to get the best computer I can afford. If you need any extra incentive I intend to do a special exclusive desktop wallpaper that will only go to people who have donated this week.

Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed. You have saved Planet Karen. You have a right to feel smug.

Saturday 15 July

2006-07-15T13:09:00.000Z

Friday 14 July

2006-07-14T12:04:00.000Z

So it's not as finished as I'd like, but it's scanned and up on time. Go public library computers!

Fund update: I'm staggered to find how much has been donated. It's getting close enough that a replacement computer is now looking like a real possibility rather than a nice idea. I don't know how to thank you, other than by giving you more comics.

The "Get Karen a Computer" fund

2006-07-13T09:50:00.000Z

Things are starting to get a bit difficult. I have a couple more completed strips ready to upload but they aren't in order. I'm starting to accumulate a pile of comics waiting to be scanned. I haven't missed a day since I first started this strip, and it's depressing that the run is going to be broken by computer problems.

If everyone who read this comic regularly were to donate $2 then I could get a whole new computer. I'm not expecting that; replacing the dead one would be quite enough. So far six people have donated, and they have been so generous that I am one quarter of the way to affording a replacement. I'm going to stick some junk on ebay and see if I can generate some cash that way, too, but I know that's not going to be enough.

I really need your help to keep Planet Karen alive. And not even a lot of help. The cost of one comic or magazine would be enough. You could make the difference. You could save the comic.

Thursday 13 July

2006-07-13T09:45:00.000Z

Problems

2006-07-12T16:42:00.000Z

I'm having some computer problems. A little earlier my computer shut down without warning - I suspect it was overheating, since it refused to boot up for a while and then worked again. My monitor is also being problematic. If I vanish for a while you will know why.

I don't like handing around the begging bowl, but I don't have any money to fix the computer if there is anything seriously wrong with it, so a few donations could make the difference between me continuing to give you comics on a daily basis and me vanishing offline for an indeterminate period.

I'm not a happy bunny,

Update: I switched on the machine long enough to download all the finished strips to my MP3 player so I can upload them whenever I get access to a computer, and even after a few minutes it was getting very hot. I'm pretty certain that the main fan has died so I need to get that fixed before I can even look to see what else is wrong.

Karen

Wednesday 12 July

2006-07-12T16:14:00.000Z

Tuesday 11 July

2006-07-11T07:37:00.000Z

Monday 10 July

2006-07-10T03:27:00.000Z

I changed the punchline! Click on the image to see the original version. More info here.

sunday 09 July

2006-07-09T00:50:00.000Z

Saturday 08 July

2006-07-08T01:08:00.000Z

Friday 07 July

2006-07-07T01:51:00.000Z

Thursday 06 July

2006-07-06T02:40:00.000Z

Wednesday 05 July

2006-07-05T00:43:00.000Z

Tuesday 04 July

2006-07-04T23:22:00.000Z

The Planet Karen forum is now live at girl-wonder. Come say hi!

Monday 03 July

2006-07-03T23:08:00.000Z

For more thoughts and the opportunity to express your own views on this topic go here.

Sunday 02 July

2006-07-02T18:26:00.000Z

Saturday 01 July

2006-07-01T08:08:00.000Z

Friday 30 June

2006-06-30T09:41:00.000Z

Thursday 29 June

2006-06-29T23:10:00.000Z

So it looks like I'll be moving soon. I'm so excited!

Wednesday 28 June

2006-06-28T02:39:00.000Z

Tuesday 27 June

2006-06-27T18:57:00.000Z

Monday 26 June

2006-06-26T23:36:00.000Z

Sunday 25 June

2006-06-25T23:56:00.000Z

Saturday 24 June

2006-06-24T01:21:00.000Z

Friday 23 June

2006-06-23T01:15:00.000Z

Thursday 22 June

2006-06-22T02:08:00.000Z

Wednesday 21 June

2006-06-21T23:05:00.000Z

Tuesday 20 June

2006-06-19T23:33:00.000Z

Monday 19 June

2006-06-19T01:02:00.000Z

Sunday 18 June

2006-06-18T02:25:00.000Z

Saturday 17 June

2006-06-17T13:13:00.000Z

Friday 16 June

2006-06-16T03:57:00.000Z

Frequently Asked Questions

2006-06-16T02:05:00.000Z

Because Occasionally Asked Questions makes it sound like a tree.

Why is the date on the comic always ten days behind the actual date?

Because it is a diary, and I could not publish a comic on the date it covers because I won't know what it will be about until that day is mostly over. Ten days gives me some lead time to allow for being ill, having too much fun to draw, or technical problems, and still be able to update without a break. Most comic artists work with a longer lead time, but I didn't want to get such a distance between the actual date and the publish date that it lost that sense of nowness, and ten days seeemed like a workable compromise.

Is this really your diary? Is it true?

This question is answered here.

Can you tell me a bit more about yourself?

I publish a daily diary of my inmost thoughts. If that doesn't say enough about me, tough.

Why don't you do your comics in colour? They'd look really good and more people would like them.

Because there are only so many creative hours in a day. Given a choice between 7 comics in b/w a week or 3 in colour, which would you prefer?

Is Planet Karen available as an actual comic I can read on the bus?

Yes. It is published monthly as a mini-comic and each issue contains (unsurprisingly) a month's worth of comics. These are available from Scar Comics.

Will you draw stuff for me if I give you money?

Yes I will. Information on commissions can be found here.

Why should I make a Paypal donation?

Planet Karen is available entirely free of charge, and I recieve no income from it. That's cool because I do it primarily because I like doing it, but art materials and computers are not free. Any money donated goes toward keeping the comic running (and in emergencies, paying the rent). So if you like Planet Karen this is a concrete way of showing your appreciation as well as helping ensure that it continues to be produced in the future even if the scanner explodes.

Where do you get your ideas from?

The Muse Agency. One of these days I'll get around to writing a comic about them.

If you have any more questions I haven't covered, leave a comment.

Thursday 15 June

2006-06-15T03:10:00.000Z

It's not often a sculpture gets its own website, but this is the WEEE man. Find out more here.

Wednesday 14 June

2006-06-14T11:29:00.000Z

Tuesday 13 June

2006-06-13T00:14:00.000Z

Monday 12 June

2006-06-12T01:46:00.000Z

Sunday 11 June

2006-06-11T00:05:00.000Z

Saturday 10 June

2006-06-10T23:48:00.000Z

Friday 09 June

2006-06-09T23:09:00.000Z

Thursday 08 June

2006-06-08T05:46:00.000Z

Here is the final news report from the BBC on the incident the next day.

Oh yeah, one other thing. This is my 100th episode. Go me.

Wednesday 07 June

2006-06-07T01:18:00.000Z

Tuesday 06 June

2006-06-06T03:34:00.000Z

You can see how this turned out by visiting Homie Bear's wonderful blog.

Monday 05 June

2006-06-05T00:25:00.000Z

Sunday 04 June

2006-06-04T02:19:00.000Z

Saturday 03 June

2006-06-03T04:53:00.000Z

Yay! I think I've worked out how to get Blogger to let me post images slightly bigger. Does that help the eyestrain any?

Friday 02 June

2006-06-02T01:55:00.000Z

Thursday 01 June

2006-06-01T12:07:00.000Z

Wednesday 31 May

2006-05-31T04:45:00.000Z

Tuesday 30 May

2006-05-30T09:56:00.000Z

Monday 29 May

2006-05-29T11:07:00.000Z

Sunday 28 May

2006-05-28T04:05:00.000Z

Saturday 27th May

2006-05-27T10:17:00.000Z

Friday 26 May

2006-05-26T01:55:00.000Z

Commissions

2006-05-26T01:30:00.000Z

It just occured to me that I can draw. Yeah, I know, it was a shock to me too.

What I mean is, it occured to me that people could pay me to draw stuff for them. Yay. Finally this whole drawing gig starts to pay off.

Anyhow, so I'm going to start small and see how it goes. This a limited time offer which I will probably revise as I go along, or indeed stop altogether if it's too much of a pain in the ass, or I can't hack it. For a mere $13 I'll do an inked illustration of a single character and email it to you as a hi-res JPG. If you want more in the picture like a background or another character, that will cost extra. If you want colour, that's extra too. Want the original art posted to you? Also extra (but basically just P&P for that).

I'll do your game character, your fanfic heroine, your favourite comic book character, or any other fantasy you can think of. Email me a detailed description of the character you would like me to draw and we'll see what can be done. I reserve the right to refuse anything that's gross or icky, or just plain dull.

Coming Soon

2006-05-25T18:29:00.000Z

Plans are under foot to move Planet Karen to a home more suitable for a comic. There's not much to see at http://planetkaren.comicgenesis.com yet, but in theory this should mean I'll be able to include all the clever stuff that you find in real web comics like navigation buttons and extra pages.

But this could take a while because I'm not that skilled with the coding side of it, and making a pretty website takes second place to producing the comic. And doing stuff to make comics about. Because the last thing anyone wants is day after day of comics about what a pain it is designing websites. Other people already have that covered.

But anyway, if there's anything you think I should include, leave a comment. Right now I'm thinking of running the strip a little larger, but I haven't decided how much.

Thursday 25 May

2006-05-25T06:33:00.000Z

New celebrity stick figure Votey image is some cheap tat by Dave Gibbons that I'm only including as revenge.

Wednesday 24th May

2006-05-24T04:45:00.000Z

Tuesday 23 May

2006-05-23T00:46:00.000Z

New Celebrity Stick figure is Wild Stick Girl .by Leah Moore.

Monday 22 May

2006-05-22T02:21:00.000Z

Sunday 21 May

2006-05-21T05:09:00.000Z

Saturday 20 May

2006-05-20T02:50:00.000Z

Friday 19 May

2006-05-19T04:50:00.000Z

New celebrity stick figure in the gallery is Fat Freddy's stick cat by Gilbert Shelton.
Poke this graphic to see it:

Thursday 18 May

2006-05-18T11:29:00.000Z

Martin Lawson of the soon to be famous Cape & Cowl was kind enough to send me some soup to make me feel better in this pic he did for me.

Wednesday 17 May

2006-05-17T10:00:00.000Z

Tuesday 16 May

2006-05-16T04:01:00.000Z

Second Celebrity Stick figure is what I can only describe as
\ for \ endetta by David Lloyd.

Monday 15 May

2006-05-15T10:26:00.000Z

Sunday 14 May

2006-05-14T12:13:00.000Z

A scan of Ian Churchill's Super Stick-girl can be found here.

Saturday 13 May

2006-05-13T23:24:00.000Z

Sally's diary comic Sex, Drawn & Rock 'n' Roll is available from Scar Comics. Tell them I sent you.
...

If you don't usually read the comic every day I suggest you try and check in tomorrow as there will be something fun and special that you won't want to miss.

Friday 12 May

2006-05-12T02:15:00.000Z

Thursday 11 May

2006-05-11T00:21:00.000Z

Wednesday 10 May

2006-05-10T09:38:00.000Z

Tuesday 09 May

2006-05-09T03:34:00.000Z

Monday 08 May

2006-05-08T21:21:00.000Z

New votey image is a parody advert I ran up while I was running a fever of 105 so it may not be as funny as I think it is.

Sunday 07 May

2006-05-07T03:49:00.000Z

Saturday 06 May

2006-05-06T06:42:00.000Z

Friday 05 May

2006-05-05T01:12:00.000Z

New Votey image: somewhat different early version of Scar Tissue cover.

Thursday 04 May

2006-05-04T01:04:00.000Z

Bristol Comics Con!

2006-05-03T22:10:00.001Z

Anyone attending the Bristol Comic convention this weekend should seek out the Smallzone stand, your one stop location for all things Planet Karen. There will be comics, badges, cards, and maybe even me.

Bring cash.

Wednesday 03 May

2006-05-03T22:09:00.000Z

Tuesday 02 May

2006-05-02T23:42:00.000Z

New votey image today: Magical Goth Princess Pretty Karen!

Monday 01 May

2006-05-01T21:48:00.000Z

I've added a donation button, so anyone who would like to show their appreciation of Planet Karen in a monetary form can do so. All contributions will go toward improving the Planet Karen experience. As a thankyou I have created a desktop wallpaper which is a variation on the cover art I did for Scar Tissue #2, which will be available from Scar Comics Real Soon Now™, and will include an exclusive PK strip.

Sunday 30 April

2006-04-30T09:23:00.000Z

Saturday 29 April

2006-04-29T03:05:00.000Z

New Votey image is the original one-off spoof diary strip I did that got this whole thing started.

Friday 28 April

2006-04-28T02:21:00.000Z

Alternatively...

2006-04-27T14:02:00.000Z

Yeah, my lettering sucks. So as an experiment here is a typeset version of today's installment. Does it work? Or does it stand out and jarr with the style of the strip? I tried dozens of different fonts but this was the best I could come up with (that worked this small) without spending lots of money at Blambot. Is it really necessary anyway to change it, or is my hand lettering legible enough?

I'm really not sure about this, so I would appreciate any feedback, even if it's just yes or no to typsetting.

Thanks,

Karen

Thursday 27 April

2006-04-27T12:36:00.000Z

Wednesday 26 April

2006-04-26T03:31:00.000Z

2006-04-25T06:04:00.000Z

Wow! Throwing in a little extra really seems to have boosted my score at Top Web Comics. We've been hovering around the 500 mark for most of the last month and now today I find Planet Karen at 197!

Thanks everyone!

To celebrate, I just got myself a new votey button, and I put in a new picture. Some webcomics put in a new thing every day but I know a lot of people don't drop by that often and I wouldn't want them to miss out. Plus I don't have enough extra stuff to do that. But I'll see if I can find something new a couple of times a week.

Since I did the variant cover last time, it seemed appropriate to give you the regular cover. Next time I'll find something a little more interesting. Promise.

Karen

Tuesday 25 April

2006-04-25T05:58:00.000Z

Bristol Comics Con

2006-04-25T04:09:00.000Z

There's a big comics convention in Bristol next weekend where I am told issues #1 & 2 of Planet Karen will be available (that's all of March and April in convenient portable dead tree format), as well as Scar Tissue #2, which will have a special PK strip not available anywhere else. I may even be there for a while myself, although I don't really like cons so I probably won't stay long.

Monday 24 April

2006-04-24T04:08:00.000Z