We’re about to round a corner with the completion of this week’s two pages from The Utopian. Page 31 is now live, but Friday’s strip is not only the tense conclusion of Part 4 of the serial (“Out of the Closet”), but also will be the last page in the first print collection, which will be released this fall. I received cover art from Mark T. Zeilman (also bass player in a certain awesome local rock band) last week, and, well, I am trying really hard not to post it yet, because it’s pretty rad.

As I’m heading to San Diego for Comic-Con International tomorrow, there will be no new Utopian pages posted next week, but I’ll be back with Part 5, “Revelations,” the first week of August. Which is, coincidentally, 33rd Annual International Pj Week. Bring your party hats.

I’m sure I’ll have all sorts of news for you after I get back from Comic-Con, but until then, chew on the latest article I posted on Examiner.com about Nevada Ballet Theatre’s fall season, and keep your eyes out for tomorrow’s Las Vegas Weekly, in which there should be a Pj-penned article about fast-rising Vegas electro-core band This Romantic Tragedy.

Oh yeah, if you want to be really amused, check out Cracked.com’s “Worst Webcomic” forum, in which the forum trolls dwelling there do their best to ooze snarky criticisms all over The Utopian. Of course, since someone started posting links to my webcomic over there, traffic on my site has increased hundredfold, so I guess that goes to prove, once again, there’s no such thing as bad press. If I get really bored one of these days (because, you know, that happens), I might address each of their complaints in a blog post in my own refined and delicate manner.

And to end on a more positive note, how about good press? Internet pals Kevin Church, Benjamin Birdie, Max Riffner and others get some love for their webcomics over at NPR.com, which is about the most awesome sauce you’ll ever taste.