It's 6AM and I've already eaten a Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin, Reese's Pieces, Pumpkin Spice Milanos, a Hammond's Candy Corn Chocolate Bar, a Hershey's Cookies 'n Creme Bar, and some Edy's Pumpkin Patch ice cream.

My tummy hurts. I'm so glad this holiday only comes once a year, because what I do to my stomach on it is scary.

Happy Halloween, readers!

By the way, in case a whole shmoon seems like more sugar than Nimoo needs for his costume, keep in mind, the next smallest bag down that they sell is only a glopf. And obviously, that wouldn't be nearly enough!

- Gunwild

Waaait a minute, didn't we show at the http://www.cassiopeiaquinn.com//comic/the-big-race-page-1">beginning of this chapter that Headhunter was sending the Old Salt after Cassiopeia, and NOT http://www.cassiopeiaquinn.com//comic/the-smooshsonian-institute-part-4">Mercy? What's goin' on here?

A comic I bought today was the first issue of James Bond 007 from Dynamite, which was good, although I was a little disappointed to find it's set in the modern day. When I heard it was going to be about the "original, literary" James Bond, I kind of hoped it meant the brutal but useful government assassin from really early in the book series. Y'know, the guy who tooled around the Cold War world being a complete bastard to everyone, and ended up being super interesting because of it. At least they got the "comma of black hair" right.

- Gunwild

So people following my twitter and junk might know that I've recently picked up a Wacom Intuos Pro medium. The transition back to a screenless tablet has gone quite well actually! I anticipated some rough times with the lineart but this page actually had me much more confident. It's feelin pretty good! Ironically it'll also be about time when I go on "vacation" for a week thanks to Fallout 4 and because I need a vacation or else I'm gonna go insane. Talk to you about it laters!

- Psu

Yes, we're cutting to commercials... but not really! We're going to go to guest comics for a little bit because we've been stockpiling them, and they deserve to be seen!

So uh, Takeda and Liu's Monstress #1 from Image Comics is one of those rare comics so good and so in my wheelhouse (at least as a reader) that it makes me kind of kind of upset I didn't write it myself.

That's a selfish thing to say about what's clearly a very personal and painstakingly crafted piece of work, but it's not quite as bad as it sounds. Being jealous of one's betters is all part of being inspired by them! Right? Right? Yeah!

Anyway, go buy the comic so they can keep making it, though. Uh, if you're old enough – it gets pretty flippin' dark. Also, lookit this cool fanart by someone you know, which one of the creators retweeted, even! That's good stuff.

- Gunwild

Oh man guys, that was a hard page. And that was a long year of working on this comic! It's been a fabulous run but it's time for a short break. Don't worry, I won't be gone more than a week. In the meantime we've got a few nice guest thingies lined up for you. And we did a guest page for another comic you'll be able to see. You'll still see plenty of Peia goodness all around.

In the meantime, I'm probably gonna spend a well-earned week off playing Fallout 4. Normally this is the kind of experience that'll nearly end me. But I've got some things I'd like to get back to, Cassiopeia Quinn's pretty close to my heart and worth leaving a bright Boston wasteland.

- Psu

Freeglass made us this guest update because he is very nice. He also helps out on the art duties for our idols over at Blaster Nation. Please offer him your thanks and praise for helping with the "cut to commercials" gag! Or better yet, support his job on that comic over here.

It's no secret that we like Mystery Science Theater 3000 around here... okay we might not have actively mentioned it, but surely it's bled into the Cassiopeia experience somehow, right? The point is, there's a Kickstarter going down to bring it back for a limited run of new episodes with the ever-charming Joel Hodgson, who's finally got some control of the rights back after ever-so-long. What will that be like? Dunno! But if you're interested (and I think I am), check it out.

- Gunwild

While I'm not sure how much utility I would get out of rocket boots (walking is fast enough for me thank you very much) I certainly would look at an ad! Especially an ad featuring a rather benevolent outlaw! I wonder if magazines carrying this ad would be removed from various locales in the galaxy... Anyway, I love ya Freeglass! I'm happy you drew for me.

Seriously, thank you guys so much for reading and I'll be back soon. Fallout 4 can't last forever... can it?

- Psu

Our very good friend Satellite Nine of Magical Girl Neil gave us another guest comic. You should do like I do and support the whole Magical Girl Neil experience on Patreon here, 'cause it nets you bonus cute doodles!

I have little of import to say in the face of a really, really bad Friday the 13th, so I'd just like to remind everyone that the American Red Cross provides worldwide disaster and crisis relief, and that donating in someone else's name makes a very mature Christmas gift.

- Gunwild

It's my niece's birthday tomorrow. I got her a cutout book with dress up fairies in it and this novel called The School for Good and Evil. It seemed nice! I enjoyed the premise and would like to read it myself sometime. I was thinking I should get her Amulet, and some other adventure comics but maybe that's for next year. Or Christmas. Whichever. In other news, my vacation with Fallout 4 has been going well and I've e-enjoyed the game a great deal. If you were to ask me for a longer complicated review, I could give you one. But on the plus side, no one makes games like Bethesda does. And that's for good and bad. I don't think their writing like text wise or character wise is the best. But their enviroments and their worlds and the massive events that you go through are always first rate. And that's ontop of this seriously engaging game engine. I'm loving it, even the new conversation system.

But mostly, I wanted to thank both Satellite 9 and Freeglass for their contributions this week. Satellite 9, who today, frequently visits my art stream. Drawing along side her has been swell. And I'm perfectly okay with adding the Satellite head radio interviewer to the universe lore. I just wonder what kind of show she runs, whether it's hard hitting events or just the occasional awkward encounters with guests. Either way, it's fun having her in there. Thanks!

- Psu

And we're back! Thanks for waiting, and now you get to learn that I ruined all the recuperative qualities of Psu's tiny two-update break with what I'm informed is the hardest-ever page of the comic yet. Ahaha.

(I'm really sorry.)

- Gunwild

It's nice to be back. But man... not gonna lie but this was a tough page.

- Psu

Unscheduled fill-in update by our dear friend Ian C. Samson, whose blog is here and features links to his many weird works. We wouldn't want him to be any other way!

- Gunwild

Heh, this is one rather lewd bit of guest artistry! And it certainly seems a little less than safe to be going around space like that miss Quinn. Thanks a ton, Ians. It helps a bunch.

Anyway, I owe you guys better than just a few actual updates in a month. But it's been a rough one here, combined with the holidays, responsibilities, and some of the toughest pages I wanna get exactly right it can feel a bit much. Please bear with me a little longer.

- Psu

So, Happy Thanksgiving! We'll probably have some announcements for you next time. Don't worry, nothing dire. It's likely to include some more Patreon-related stuff, trying to offer some incentives and things for Cassiopeia Quinn readers. Hopefully that'll make it more possible for us to put the time into the comic that we want to. If you can't tell, we're not professionals, and we do need all the help we can get to make sure the comic can stay a priority even when our lives demand a lot of attention.

You're worth it though, readers! You deserve the biggest thanks.

- Gunwild

I'm really tired guys, sorry for the late page and the lack of color. Gonna go get some bed and probably some turkey later today. I'll catcha guys next time!

- Psu

I'm now researching what rewards (scripts, work-in-progress pages, unused designs, hi-res images) would go on a Patreon that directly supports Cassiopeia Quinn. We're open to suggestions, though! Naturally, what we'd like to do if it starts making enough money is having some original stories and (sexy) pinups every month for people who kick in a couple bucks...

In the meantime, a much better use of money, one that I was thinking about while writing this strip, can be found in the form of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. They greatly increase the likelihood of enrolled kids finding homes, and find ways to make adoption affordable for working-class people. I don't need to tell you why that's really, really cool.

- Gunwild

Your Psuedofolio patreon dollars at work, I bought a new monitor specifically for drawing. It's really rather excellent with a semi matte high quality screen that can go vertical and is the unusual resolution of 16:10. I like it quite a bit! But I admit, I think drawing comics on a vertical screen isn't going to be as useful as I thought it would be. Still, it's not unpleasant and I'll keep working at it. I'm still trying to get my art muscles back in working order. But this little Thanksgiving breakish filler was a good start.

- Psu

In case you missed it, Psu and I did a guest comic over at Magical Girl Neil. If you've ever wondered what it would be like if we were making a Japanese magical girl comic together, it'd look something like that! Probably.

In fact, I like Magical Girl Neil and its creator, our ol' friend and sometimes guest strip provider Satellite Nine, a lot... so much that I wrote another guest strip right after that one, drawn by my longtime chum and noted doodling-guy Mindwipe.

Peace on Earth, y'all.

- Gunwild

When I heard the news about what happened in San Bernadino, I kinda lost it. I was so mad about another shooting. Hell, I'm still mad about it. And I think a lot of people should be too. I actually got so upset it got hard to draw for a while, like I forgot how. So I guess that bit didn't help anyone.

But I think about this Mr. Rogers quote a lot. If you'll forgive me I'll just put it here:

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."

- Psu

You readers are a discriminating bunch (I mean clearly you have taste, you read this comic). Is Just Cause 3 good? A worthy successor to Just Cause 2's wild and wacky wreck-o-rama? Should I ask Santa for it for Christmas? Keeping in mind that I'll have to play the console version... and also that I'm a very good kid, who deserves presents!

Note while you consider that apparently my standards are low, because I really enjoyed playing Halo 5's campaign... Psu and I shot a buncha guys with a buncha plasma.

- Gunwild

I really miss color guys, I'm gonna have to take a whole weekend to work on those for the older pages. This chapter was really meant to be seen vividly with all its rusty browns and Peia's big red bike.

We'll get those back, I have to promise ya!

- Psu

Motor Minx is a championship speeder driver in eight systems... but she's a championship fencer in twelve.

- Gunwild

It's a rule of thumb just to nod and pretend you planned anything that was just 'simple genius' in your work, but I'm perfectly okay with owning up to this. I really didn't notice I made them red and blue until coloring this page. And I'm really really glad to see the comic in color again

- Psu

I've been reading The Runagates Club by John  Buchan. I couldn't easily find a free ebook of it when I wanted one, despite it being public domain, but of course now that I've shelled out money for it I'm having no trouble.

It's fun, I haven't read an adventurous short story collection in a long time. Maybe it'll help me write the exclusive material for the soon-to-be-realized Cassiopeia Patreon I wanna do... you know, like short accounts of Farring's mustachioed mercenary misadventures! Or at least a Vanaa tale, fulla their squishy wordplay...

(Speaking of The Runagates Club, what the hell was up with the story The Green Wildebeest, anyway? Like, I get the themes, but... why a green wildebeest? For a second I thought it was a guy with Beast Boy's disease or something...)

- Gunwild

I've been really tired these days, but I've gotta say the page looks nice. I'm super glad to be drawing cyborg ninja action and I'm fairly sure it won't be the last time.

- Psu

You might notice this isn't Maddy's normal ride - it woulda been a boring scene to show, but she requesitioned and jumped in with this bomber once she saw Cassiopeia on Holovision. A job like this probably takes some precision in-atmosphere engagement. Theira's probably happy, always nice to use different guns. Not sure what the crew thinks about that nose-art though... personally, I like it quite a bit.

- Gunwild

This page was quite a labor of love, nothing less than the best for everyone's favorite captain. There're a lot of techniques I'd been getting better at in the recent months, and a bunch of different techniques are on display here. I think it came out well!

- Psu

I think I've wrapped everything. I think everything is under the tree that's supposed to be. I think that I think I bought everyone something? I dunno... I'm pretty tired. Happy, too, though.

You know, originally, there was dialogue in the last panel... it was decided that it's funnier without it, but I'll include it here anyway for interested parties who'd like to know what Cassiopeia is yelling.

(Hey, did you guys catch the Daniel Craig cameo in The Force Awakens? Yeah, I didn't when I saw it, either... okay movie, though.)

- Gunwild

I've gotta admit, this whole week had been a bit of a rough one, draining mentally and physically. But the page still looks good, and the holidays are coming. And ya know, somehow I've managed enough friends that people really came out to show their support. And that was nice. I guess Christmas is pretty nice from time to time.

But don't get me started on Star Wars.

- Psu

Yeah, Beebot is canon. The toy was eventually recalled because kids kept using them to fly, then falling and hurting themselves... Cassiopeia's the one girl who never let go. Now you know!

This is something we must unhappily announce: after The Big Race wraps, we're gonna bring Cassiopeia updates down to once a week, every Wednesday. At least for a while It's the best way to make sure they're all on-time and in color, and also rebuild a buffer, which we're totally without at the moment. That'll mean slowing down the pace at which we tell the story, but it's necessary for the art to get finished in a timely fashion, considering that this isn't how either of us make a living and there's other stuff to be worried about.

It's pretty disappointing, honestly, but it's what we've gotta do. Pull for us to find a way to go faster in the future, willya? Maybe we'll be able to raise extra money for that very purpose. Anyway, stick with us, 'cause we're gonna get back into the Big Race with the next update, and continue at full speed until it's done!

Oh, and Happy New Year!

- Gunwild

I've been feelin pretty raggedly lately. But it's been a good year, lookin back at it. We'll still be seeing each other plenty in the next one.

- Psu

Whew, we're back! Hope every's new year is, uh... new?

Panel 1 is really my favorite. I need to write people interacting more directly like that in this comic. Using language adds a lot of storytelling, we all know that, but apparently people touching each other does, too! Uh, in other ways than I knew about, I mean. Conflict and stuff. Yes.

- Gunwild

There isn't too much to say, I've been really dealing with illness throughout the rest of the holidays so there were clearly less updates than last year's holiday extravaganza. But it's usually fun to get to explore different aspects of the characters through the lenses of these kindsa holiday things.

I've been reading a lot of One Punch Man recently. It's the first comic I've been this engrossed in quite a while. And believe it or not, I've been reading the original webcomic version of it by One! And it's one of the most fun comics I've ever read, even when it veers dangerously to being like your normal tournament manga the creativity and distinct ONE weirdness constantly makes the comic a compelling read.

- Psu

I imagine we've gotten some new readers from the much-more-popular Nerf Now after they saw the guest comic over there. Welcome! If you're interested in what you're seeing here, please hop back to the very first update to know what the heck is going on.

Also, I don't have a lot to say about this page, I didn't have much dialogue going on to mess it up with... besides, I'm really bad at commenting on the work compared to someone like Adam Warren, whose long-running comic Empowered is now being hosted digitally by Hiveworks. You might have heard about that, and for good reason, so go check it out. I own a hard copy of the first volume, but it doesn't have all interesting the notes he's putting underneath... for free!

- Gunwild

Things going on right now, in a short list. I'm feelin much better, thank you folks. Two, this was a pretty productive week comic wise. The pages look excellent and I've actually done three. You can go check out the Nerf Now guest comic over here!

- Psu

One thing I'm going to miss when we go down to weekly updates after this story arc, is stuff like this page and the previous two, where there's a setup (Maddy smiling evilly), Cassiopeia gets to zigzag out of there all impressive-like, and then this happens... I mean, I'm not saying it's a great use of the whole "widescreen comics" thing I love about The Authority, say, because I'm not a great writer. But it is a use of it, and if the setup, build, and payoff were spread out over three weeks it wouldn't work too well for the readers, who'd very understandably lose track. That means I'm gonna have to change the way this stuff gets scripted, more "scenes" instead of long stories.

Ah well, that's fine. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the next page, where we call back to how this chapter started.

- Gunwild

So my computer is having some problems. This isn't a unique statement, that's for sure. But I should be grateful that this single install of Windows has lasted me this long. I'm very adverse to reformating a system, the idea of it terrifies me as generally speaking I'd rather stick with my comfort zone even if it's on fire. So, this one install of Windows 7 64bit Home Edition, has jumped not just from different motherboards and proccessors to different cases, but it's been copied wholesale from multiple hard drives. It was even a laptop at one point.

There have been so many different bits and pieces attatched to this thing, it's rather a miracle that the system managed to keep up with minimal problems. Until maybe now. There appears to be an error in the registry that I have no clue how to fix, even less what exactly the error is. Any help from Window's automated systems largely point to unidentifiable problems, that often actually say "the problem is unidentifiable."

So maybe it's time to bite the bullet. Pack up all my manga studio brushes and put them into a briefcase for later. Format the damn thing. And start clean for the first time in like 7 years.

- Psu

I haven't read the Animorphs series in years. Wonder if I'd still like it?

- Gunwild

Gunwild forces me to add update text even when I'm not particularly keen on posting random updates. So here we go. I still haven't updated my computer. I haven't done much this week except a bit of work and work on comic and commission stuff. I really wanna go somewhere and hang out but I also want some times to do nothing for a while. Ah well, see you guys next time.

- Psu