So I ate a hearty breakfast this morning, cleared some time, and sat down with a pen and my form.  Wife was nearby to help with any questions.  I opened the envelope.  A few directions and it started…

“How many people live in your household” – that was easy “2″ !

Very exciting.

Then I flipped the page.  Age, date of birth, race, done.  That was it?  No cool questions?  Nothing else?  In fact, my wife didn’t even want to answer the race question, after all, it shouldn’t be important.  But it was “The Census”, so race, income, how often I brush my teeth…this was the one time I was willing to answer everything – nothing should be off limits.  But in the end, all the hype was just a fancy way of asking, “how many people live there”.  That’s it. Couldn’t I have just sent a text?

“2 … sigh”

First, astute fans may have noticed that Comics by Brad just reached the 1-year milestone! It all started on September 12, 2008, so this is a proud accomplishment to say the least.  I once promised a book at the 1-year mark, but I have since decided that it would be too premature.  Look for a more awesomer/bigger book to come out at the end of year-2 (that’s right, I have no plans of going away!).

Second, the name “The BIG cheese” is being done away with.  Soon I will clean house, and this little corner of the web will be simply known as Comics by Brad.  “The BIG cheese” is superfluous and unnecessary.  Besides, what will I do when sponsors come knocking on the door – “Comics by Brad presents The BIG cheese by Brad Carey presented by The Home Depot…”  – that’s way, way too long.

Lastly, I will be taking a couple weeks off to take it all in.  I’m planning on being off for 2 weeks… 3 tops.  We’ll see.  October is a hectic month at my other job, plus I have some short vacation time planned with the wife. I will do my best to get a head start going into next month.

Thanks again for all your support, and stay awesome.

- Brad

Thanks again to everyone for your continued support, and we can’t wait to be back (or can we?) and see you all soon.

As of this week, new BIG cheese comics will be posted every Monday and Thursday.  I am cutting back from 3 comics a week to 2.  I’ve been doing some more ambitious comics lately, longer comics, and I want to keep doing those types of things. The cutback will also give me time to make minor tweaks to the site when needed, to keep everything fresh. 

This is just a heads up so nobody freaks out on Wednesday.  I’ll see everyone on Thursday.

Wow that’s a lot of green. Let me know if the green is hurting anyone’s eyes.

For those of you who visit this site often, you may have noticed the new look.  For those of you who don’t visit often or are here for the first time, the website is now pink instead of blue.  This is the Valentine’s seasonal look for 2009.

I’ve been planning to create seasonal themes on Comics by Brad for a while now, and I finally took the time to create one.  Other themes will come later this year.  Hopefully, this will keep the website looking fresh, and keep everyone in the spirit of the current season.

Due to budget cuts, I will be taking over the blog for a while.  It probably won’t affect you all that much, but it’s fun to know.  The website has been going great.  I am currently working about a week ahead, which is a fairly short amount of time, but the pressure keeps me motivated. 

Dear Earmouse, I currently run a website and need to make budget cuts.  I have an employee who dropped the ball last month on his blog-advice-column, so I have decided to drop him, and run the blog myself.  He is a bit of an ego-maniac, and I fear he won’t take the news well.  How should I tell him I’m firing him from his blog?
– B.C., Big City, USA

It’s simple, B.C., don’t hold back.  Just tell him “you’re fired!”  Point your finger at him and everything… it’ll be hilarious.

Thanks to everyone who sent in questions, but “Ask Earmouse” is going on hiatus for a while. 

What?

Brad will be taking over the blog to save on costs.  There will be no regular schedule for Brad’s Blog, he will just post whenever he feels like it, about whatever he feels like

Will the Dodgers sign Manny?
– Scott B., Newport Beach, CA
Good question.  As many people know, I am a huge fan of anything of or relating to “Hollywood”, including (but not limited to): Universal Studies, The Getty Museum, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Of course, I’m not going to answer your question directly, because I prefer to answer questions that can’t be verified for accuracy.  So Instead I will let you know what I would do if I were the Dodgers.  OF COURSE I WOULD SIGN MANNY!  And for whatever it took.  The guy is a star!  He reminds me of a bigger, dread-locked version of myself.  In fact, I would sign Man Ram and fire everyone else.  It would be a two-man show: “Earmouse and Manny Ramirez Live!”  The stadium would be packed every night to see me do my variety show, while Manny hits baseballs.  Every night would be a win.

Hey Earmouse, where can a cool guy like me acquire a good entourage for cheap?
– David L., Grants Pass, OR
An entourage for cheap!  Don’t you know there is no such thing?  Have you ever watched “Entourage” on HBO?  Look, David, this is one area in life where you don’t want to skimp.  Hook yourself up with a bad entourage and you could wind up stranded on the side of the PCH, with a flat tire on your Humvee, trying to wave down a hot chick to help you out … so I’ve heard.

Luckily, if you are really cool enough for an entourage, money should not be a problem.  First off, you need to relocate to someplace other than Grants Pass.  Have you thought about moving to someplace more “hip” like Las Vegas… or Burbank?  Second, star in a couple “B” comedies over the next 6 months, and then sign on for the leading role in a Hollywood blockbuster, for a cool $10 million.  Do those things and you will be well on your way to the perfect entourage.

Earmouse, do you ever review other webcomics?
– Stephanie H.,  St Paul, Minnesota
I have never done it before, but there’s a first time for everything.  If it’s reviews my fans want, it’s reviews they shall get!  So without further ado, here are reviews for 3 webcomics I found while Googling “webcomic” and “mouse” – a sure fire way to find quality work – right?

1) Misty the Mouse
I have to say I was intrigued by the name, after all, anyone named Misty is bound to be smoking hot.  Here’s a quick link Misty the Mouse  ummm… I don’t know who this Misty character is, but it’s pretty obvious the artist is not familiar with basic mouse anatomy.  Grade F

2) The Mouse Trap
I was expecting a scary, horror comic – but I was let down miserably.  First off, the main page The Mouse Trap has no comics on it.  In fact there isn’t really much of anything on this page, just a link to an old archive page.  And the archive page is where the disappointment continues.  I scrolled through the archive, and it was OK if you find video game jokes and Comic Sans original.  Myself I was looking for the star character… where’s the mouse?

I think the following sample comic sums up this strip, just replace the word “game” with the word “webcomic” Sample Comic (note: I would’ve linked to the actual page this comic was on, instead of the graphic, but someone is in love with frames). Grade F-

3) Beebleville
Now this is just one comic titled “mouse”… but it is brilliant!  Beebleville  I’m not sure I get the humor in the comic, but the fact that the mouse is hanging out in the guy’s pocket is very representative of what us mice like to do.  Also, I enjoy the fact that the female character does not want to harm the mouse.  My only criticism is that Beebleville should bring the mouse back for more episodes.  Let his character develop – he does good work.  Other than that, this comic is great!  Grade A+

 Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  I apologize that I am not able to answer everyone’s questions, but that is the price for being popular.  Please continue to send questions to earmouse@comicsbybrad.com.  You can ask me about the web, comics, cheese, sports, or anything else you can think of. 
“Ask Earmouse!” is a ComicsbyBrad.com exclusive, published monthly.