Scott titles all the comics and he messed this one up. It should read “Keith is in Another Time Zone.” Which would have been a reference to Rock N Roll Racing. Instead it’s just nothing. That was supposed to be one of the two hidden jokes in the strip but what can you do?

So this is my first time at the helm of the strip in over a year. My last run ended on June 6th 2013 and started in May of that year. Then we took another long hiatus. This time though, this time we’re most definitely back and I think we’re in it for the long haul. Once a week, whether we need it or not.

You’ll notice that the old black and white strips aren’t even available right now on the new 9to5 (dot cc) site. They’ll be back in some form but for now they’re in the vault. Even then though, they were still only the first iteration of the strip, sort of a jumping off point for the gang. Clicking “First” down there at the bottom will take you to the second iteration of the strip (to a very NSFW comic called “Movember“, where we were playing around with scripted comics and fresh art instead of recycled images. That still only paved the way for the current (and in my opinion best) iteration, where we each take turns running a 4 comic storyline with the help and input of the other members of the site (the first strip made like this was Sophie’s 4 part story that started with “Zoinks“). I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from friends that the early black and whites were a little hard to follow and little too focused on inside jokes and that obviously our first few strips were a little rough and missing direction. I honestly believe we’ve come pretty far trying to address those issues and I think we’re currently seeing the best we have to offer (you’ll notice too that we’ve moved to the much more art friendly bigger strips too). If you’ve put 9to5 (illustrated) down, it’s a good time to pick it back up again. Every Wednesday. This time we’re here to stay (I think). Obviously share this if you enjoy what we’re doing.

One of the (few) downfalls with the “everyone gets a turn” method to writing is that sometimes you have an idea that is timely but it’s a) not your turn writing or b) wouldn’t make sense to jam into a storyline that we’ve got going. I actually had the concept for this Blue Shell strip right as I was playing the latest Mario Kart on the Wii U. It was funny enough to hang on though since Mario Kart is pretty timeless these days. As much as we might shit on the Blue Shell when it hits us, it makes the game more balanced in a way. I can be playing with a 5 year old and thanks to Goddamned Blue Shells he might still be able to take me out and get the win.

See ya next week kiddies.