This Comic, Swallow You Whole

arrrrr

Yeaaaaaah.. it’s been a while! Suffice to say, yes I’m still working on The Book. It is loooong. Over 400 pages of comics! Analytical Engine diagrams such as have never been seen before! Footnotes, and footnotes to footnotes, and endnotes, and still more footnotes! But take cheer, me hearties, I do believe that is land I see, in the far-off distance.. or it could just be more comic in this endless sea..

Lovelace and Babbage, Thrilling Adventures Thereof, coming out in 2015 sometime, partly because it takes like 9 months to actually print a book apparently and partly because I’m a terrible human being. 2015 happily also happens to be Ada Lovelace’s 200 birthday so it will be a big year all around!

As I slowly surface from the inky depths I’ll start posting here again, gently and slowly. Watch out for those comics, kids, they’ll get ya..

dollseyes

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35 Comments

  1. SimonJM on August 5, 2014 at 1:48 pm

    Almost don’t care how much this is going to be when it arrives – I AM BUYING IT! :)
    Good to hear that you are ploughing on .. nil illustrati carborundum? ;)

  2. Dan S on June 28, 2014 at 7:25 pm

    Yeah! Hang in there. Making sacrifices to Fineline, the God of Engineers to help you. (And I think L&B would be proud of this http://blog.longnow.org/02014/06/27/orrery-prototype-long-now-interval/ )

  3. Yllaria on June 25, 2014 at 3:28 pm

    Wonderful filler. Loved the use of vertical space.

    Also, this is going to be embarrassing, but I’m going to do it anyway. (Clears throat.) Damn you Dead Yans Puy!*

    Sorry about that. But it’s the only thing I can do that creates an admittedly false sense of helping. Sigh. Maybe ordering a coffee mug would be more useful.

    * A small god put up for adoption on a writing forum (NaNoWriMo). He has charge of “really good webcomics that update erratically and not nearly often enough” and being excoriated and insulted is his preferred form of worship.

  4. Joe Green on June 10, 2014 at 4:04 pm

    I envy Zoe Anderson having only just discovered L&B and having all that backlog of material to chortle her way through.

  5. John Spencer on June 4, 2014 at 11:27 am

    Congrats on the heroism, keep it up. Your fans will all be delighted, and there will be a little (not so little ?) corner of the British Library that will be forever yours.

  6. Ken Estes on June 2, 2014 at 7:39 am

    “I think you’re going to need a bigger book.”

    • Joe Green on June 10, 2014 at 4:03 pm

      Nice one! Why didn’t I thinkof that?

      • Kenne Estes on June 13, 2014 at 6:07 am

        It was that or “I think you’re going to need a bigger footnote.” It rhymes with the original but it doesn’t sound quite as funny. “K’s” are funny. “I’m punning with K’s to k-k-k-k-kill Kenny”



  7. Michael on May 31, 2014 at 3:04 am

    This book sounds amazing, and I can’t wait to have it!
    I have discovered a perfectly marvellous proof [of the previous], but this margin is not big enough to hold it (especially since it’s already full of notes!).

  8. =Tamar on May 28, 2014 at 5:48 am

    Yay!

  9. Ann on May 27, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    Your loyal fans are a multitudinous mass! We await, in the margins of the internet, ready to pounce the minute this book comes out!

    (So good to hear from you, and good luck with the book!)

  10. chicgeek on May 27, 2014 at 12:00 am

    When the book is released into the wild, I shall demand one from my family for whatever holiday it coincides with. Birthday, christmas, anniversary, groundhogs day, star wars day….I’ll think of something!
    *throws you a life preserver and a rope*

  11. sweetfa on May 26, 2014 at 11:06 pm

    Well, that’s cheered me up no end!

  12. WOL on May 25, 2014 at 4:37 am

    Four hundred pages of Lovelace and Babbage?!?! Let joy be unconfined!

  13. Dar Puss on May 24, 2014 at 5:42 pm

    Hurrah! Recently bought a couple of your T-shirts to keep your work in my mind. I’m so looking forward to buying “the book” too.

  14. Stephen on May 24, 2014 at 1:51 pm

    Thank you for letting us know you are still doing your best with Lovelace and Babbage. I will certainly be buying a copy of The Book when it’s finally available. And thank you for letting us know with such a splendid single-frame comic!

  15. Scott on May 23, 2014 at 11:56 pm

    You’re alive! Oh thank God, I thought we’d lost you forever! Ummm…I guess this means I should bring back your furniture and silverware.

  16. The doodler on May 22, 2014 at 3:18 am

    I giggled. This is great. :D

    And comics? MORE COMICS? PAPER COMICS???

  17. Barnesm on May 21, 2014 at 1:01 pm

    Hey always glad to hear of more Lovelace and Babbage on the way. Never worry about the time it is taking, the story you are crafting is a magnificent madness so take all the time you need we will be waiting eagerly no matter how long it takes.

    As long as there is also Brunel.

  18. Wonx on May 21, 2014 at 9:02 am

    OMGOMGOMG! I have revisited your comic every day since last October, waiting for The Return! Oh Callooh! Callay!

    (@good to have you back, and *can’t wait* for The Book!)

  19. Mac on May 21, 2014 at 2:49 am

    Huzzah!

    You are not a horrible person. You are incredibly generous to put so much time and effort into this project. I look forward to 400 pages of booky footnoted goodness.

  20. Profpatsch on May 20, 2014 at 9:19 pm

    Yup, RSS saved me, too.

    I’m so going to buy this book. Just make sure you ship to Germany.

    Btw, very nice font for the comments, I make writing here look very smooth somehow.

  21. Keith on May 20, 2014 at 2:03 pm

    RSS. Bah – you kids nowadays want things the easy way. I come to the site every day. With a web browser. In person! I just knew there’d be an update someday. Great to hear the news. Can’t wait for the book.

  22. ajay on May 20, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    And I recently discovered via Wikipedia that Babbage invented the railroad “cowcatcher”, also known as a “pilot”. There’s got to be a way that this is relevant to the comic.

    She’s well ahead of you… Babbage considers attaching “some sort of inclined plane at the leading edge” of his steam powered Economic Model as it proceeds apace through London, destroying non-depreciated capital investment as it goes. http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/lovelace-and-babbage-vs-the-economy-part-3/#more-86

  23. Morris on May 20, 2014 at 3:20 am

    Yay! An update! You’re still alive! Yay!
    And I recently discovered via Wikipedia that Babbage invented the railroad “cowcatcher”, also known as a “pilot”. There’s got to be a way that this is relevant to the comic.

  24. Robert Gray on May 20, 2014 at 2:15 am

    *snerk* Jaws reference…ROFL!

  25. Brian on May 20, 2014 at 1:19 am

    Thank you for the update! What are you doing, updating this site instead of working on the book?! (Sincerely, your schizophrenic fans.)

  26. Roberto Keller on May 20, 2014 at 1:04 am

    Yay!!

  27. John on May 19, 2014 at 11:48 pm

    Fear not, fair lady. For, while we shan’t save you, as the comic is something we, y’know, want, nobody has ever been considered a terrible person for doing good things well and entertaining us along the way, and we’ll throw money at you in exchange for the book.

    Plus, you can totally claim the 200th birthday was the entire point all along. Marksmen call their target after they hit it, and all that.

    But is that really what the high-pitched screamin’ is? I thought it was the pipes, but I guess I’ve got comics. They spray for comics, I think.

    Also: I really hope those are balloonfish.

  28. Subbak on May 19, 2014 at 11:40 pm

    Yay for book news! I knew I was right not to remove that RSS from my feed.

  29. phillippa on May 19, 2014 at 11:15 pm

    just waiting patiently, sydney! still love everything about lovelace and babbage.

  30. Michael on May 19, 2014 at 10:50 pm

    This makes me happy [1]

    [1] Footnotes of zero factual content are far faster. No pressure…

  31. Tealin on May 19, 2014 at 10:48 pm

    Best update ever!

  32. Kat Slonaker on May 19, 2014 at 10:46 pm

    Thank goodness for RSS! (and thank you for the laugh – needing one!)

  33. Zoe Anderson on May 19, 2014 at 10:44 pm

    Hello! I discovered your Lovelace and Babbage comic yesterday, and I adore it. So now I’m dancing up and down at the thought of 400 pages of it! And footnotes! *swoons* *fans self*. HAPPY.

    Good luck with the writing and the endless sea, and thanks for all the fabulousness you’ve already done.

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