First up this awesome Khensu plush toy sewed together by the talented Dee Pirko:

Aint he cute? You can see more of Dee’s custom made plushies in her Etsy shop. I’m pretty sure she takes commissions!

Second, my coworker (a HUGE ray gun aficionado if there ever was one) took it upon himself to build this life-sized replica of Cleo’s ray gun:

How cool is that? I’m thinking he and I should mass produce those suckers. They could make excellent laser pointers.

This week’s catastic guest strip comes courtesy of Mr James Anderson. I love it! Khensu’s expression and pose in that middle panel is perfect. Thanks so much James!

James draws the simultaneously adorable and elegant sci-fi webcomic, Ellie on Planet X, about a young exploratory robot well… exploring the day to day craziness on a newly discovered planet. It’s both funny and often times a wonderful commentary on the craziness that happens on our own planet. Make sure to check it out!

As I mentioned in my blog post last Friday, a bunch of my favorite comic makers are stepping in with some Cleopatra in Space guest strips while I finish up some projects and continue learning to be a dad.

First up is this simply wonderful strip by fellow SD7 crewmate, Dani Jones. I just LOVE this comic! And yes, I probably am bias since not only am I in it by also my son. But still- this is so great. Completely in tune with the personalities of Cleo and Khensu. Thanks so much, Dani!

Dani should be a household name by now when it comes to comics. Not only is she the creator of countless children’s books, short stories and the all-ages opus, My Sister, The Freak, but she’s also the brains behind The Illustrated Section- an online store for digital picture books and comics! If you haven’t already, I highly recommend downloading My Sister, The Freak Volume 1 (available now). Not only is there a great guest gallery in there by some amazing artists (also me!) but it’s a super entertaining story to boot.

Thankfully, a few of my friends and fellow comic makers are stepping in to make sure this site does not go unupdated any longer. Starting Monday, I’m going to be posting guest strips from some of my favorite people working in comics. Just judging from the handful of strips I’ve already received, you guys are in for a treat. I don’t even think you’re going to miss me. But just in case you are, I’ve written a four page “deleted scene” from chapter two that Wes Molebash and Josh Ulrich are lending their fantastic artistic talents to. Akila fans should definitely enjoy it. I can’t express how thankful I am that all of  these creators are taking time out of their own busy schedules to offer some content for this site. I hope you are as excited to see what they have in store as I am.

I want to be clear though that I am NOT ending this webcomic. This story was planned as a three chapter arc and I’m going to finish it one way or another. I even started working on it before that other stuff came along. It’s just going to take a little longer than planned is all.

Sorry for the lack of posts on here! Here’s a little Cleo illustration I drew this morning to hopefully make up for it.

Some updates:

• Yes, my son was born (a little over three weeks ago). Oliver Prime Maihack was born on October 13th at 7 lbs, 10z, 20″ and he’s pretty much the best baby ever. But those of you following me elsewhere know this already since there’s been a gazillion pics of him online already (mostly posted by my wife).
• The plan is still to continue Cleopatra in Space in January. Although my pace on the comic has slowed down a bit (see above bullet point).
• I have plans to give a you a bit of a bonus comic before then. More details later!
• There’s also some uh… other Cleopatra in Space stuff going on. Maybe more on that later, maybe not. We’ll see what happens. Regardless, I’m staying busy!

I really appreciate everyone’s patience while I figure out this new life schedule I’m on and work ahead to make sure chapter 3 is updated regularly. Seriously can’t wait to start sharing  this comic with everyone again!

The other is more of a conversation with me about all my comic work pre-supergirl/batgirl craziness. Lots of fun tidbits about all things Mike Maihack in that one. [LINK]

Speaking of Supergirl and Batgirl, I’m doing something new and putting the orginal art for both my DC Fiifty-TOO cover and my 6-panel comic up for bid! Check them out and place a bit if you want. [LINK]

Also, I’m getting a lot of questions asking when Cleo is returning. The plan is still the beginning of next year. But I do have plans to bring you some other stuff before that. More on that later!

The other question I keep getting asked is when the baby is due. The answer is October 13th. No, that’s not a Friday. I already checked.

I can so see this happening in the actual comic. And wow, love the colors on this too! See more of Cas’ art on her blog, as well as a process for this piece.

Thanks, Cas!

There’s a pretty extensive interview with me up on Ziggy Nixon. I talk about my comics, faith, influences, all sorts of stuff. Read the interview HERE if you’re curious to know more about me and/or Cleopatra in Space. There are two parts so make sure to click on both.

Speaking of Cleo, as of last week all of the preorders have been sent out! I’m already hearing from people that have gotten theirs in the mail, so if you haven’t received yours yet expect it any day now. Here’s a quick snapshot of the book and some pics of  a few of the Artist Edition sketches I posted around the various social networks last week:

New Cleo books, both regular and Artist Editions are available HERE.

Also, a reminder that I’ll be at Baltimore Comic-Con this weekend, Aug 20-21! I’ll be sitting with the Comic Book Diner folks again. LOVE this show. Can’t wait.

I just wanted to give a big THANK YOU to all of YOU who stopped by or made a concerted effort to find me (I know it’s tough in the circus that is SDCC). I think there were more people that told me they read Cleopatra in Space then their has at any other convention I’ve been too. That was amazing! And encouraging! Totally charged up to work on chapter 3 now.

I’m not going to do a big con-sketch collage like I usually do since all I really did was head/torso sketches but if you want to see some samples of what I drew, you can check out the few I was able to toss on TwitPic.

Next (and last) stop for me will be Baltimore, August 20-21. Hope to see more of you there!

You can click HERE for where that is in relationship to the entire gigantic floor.

What I’ll have: Cleoptra in Space #2 (which debuts at the show), copies of Cleo #1 and limited copies of Cow & Buffalo. Also lots of prints and I’ll probably throw some original art into my suitcase as well.

As far as commissions go, since this show is so insane and I’ll be handling sales solo this year (my lovely, child-carrying wife is understandably sitting this one out), I’m only going to be offering head/bust sketches this time around. But super cheap: only $25. If during the weekend I feel caught up, I might offer more. But judging from last year that’s not likely to happen.

SDCC is always a fun time. Can’t wait! Hope to see a lot of you there!

EDIT: If anyone would like to commission a sketch early for pickup at the show, feel free to PayPal me at mike@cowshell.com. $25 head/bust sketches only.