Uncertainty Principle News

Animation by Me!

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:31:31 GMT

To hold you over until more comics get posted, check my stuffs out on YouTube!

http://youtube.com/profile?user=lunchtabler

Funny stuff!

-Darrell M.

Man, where've I been?

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:04:22 GMT

Hey guys. Sorry about no comickage. I've had a busy end o' summer / 21st birthday. I'm gonna try and keep at least one comic a week. Let's see how that goes!

-Darrell M.

Bah!

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 08:44:53 GMT

Sorry, folks. No comic until Wednesday.

I've been busy these last few weeks with school and side projects. I will do my best to keep UP going at least once a week, but from time to time I may miss an update or two.

Apologies in advance and thanks for putting up with me,
-Darrell M.

Comic mirror!

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 21:36:09 GMT

The comic. Let's see ComicGenesis stop this!

-Darrell M.

And my return has been delayed by server problems...

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 07:36:15 GMT

So, yeah. I drew a new comic, finally, but of course, there's a crazy backlog of comics that have to update before me. So, check back. It'll be up soon.

Apologies,
-Darrell M.

No comic today.

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 07:32:48 GMT

Yup. No comic today. My time management skills failed me this time. But I will be back! Same Wednesday time, Same http://uncertaintyprinciple.comicgenesis.com channel.

-Darrell M.

Late start for Issue 5...

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:25:22 GMT

Hey there.

The first page of Issue 5, Three Point Turn, is taking much longer then I envisioned. So, I'm gonna postpone it a single day to give myself more time to make it look good.

Check back tomorrow for it.

-Darrell M.

Taking a break.

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 07:10:09 GMT

I'm enjoying my New Year best by hanging out with the friends I only see during the New Year. So, Uncertainty Principle will be back after a short break lasting until Wednesday, January 10th.

See youse then.

-Darrell M.

Whoops.

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 07:48:41 GMT

I apologize for the lackocomicage, but I was busy... doing nothing.

Yeah, I totally dropped the ball on this one.

I'll see youse on Wednesday though...

-Darrell M.

BAH! Finals delay!

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 02:18:30 GMT

Sorry everybody, but my finals have gotten the best of me. So, no comic tomorrow (Saturday). But, once I've gotten my work for my Tuesday classes done, I'll have all of Tuesday night to crank out Wednesday's comic, so there should be no problem there.

*sigh...*
-Darrell M.

Sorry folks...

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 06:03:11 GMT

Due to Scott making his way into America and bothering me with his crazy Scottish antics, there will be no comic today. There'll be more info on our crazy adventures later, but for now just hang on and comics'll resume shortly.

And thus, I'm off to get four hours of sleep before we bus into New York City for a high-larious adventure.

-Darrell M.

Sorry, folks...

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 03:21:38 GMT

...but due to midterms for my current quarter at the Art Institute, I have been unable to finish today's (Wednesday's) comic. So, check back on Saturday, folks... Apologies.

-Darrell M.

Once the other 3970 comics update...

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:37:41 GMT

...there'll be a comic up on the site.

But, for those who don't want to wait, click here!

Enjoy.

-Darrell M.

Hey guys. Comic Delays!

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 05:11:28 GMT

Yeah, the comic's delayed a bit because of my brithday! Woo!

It'll be up on Wednesday.

"Wednesday?" you ask? You read that right...

Starting Wednesday, the comic's'll update Wednesdays and Saturdays. This is because of my new school schedule for the quarter. My nights off have switched, so I need to switch everything else around to find homework time and comic time. I think this'll work best.

So, comics up on Weds and Sats, okay? Alrighty.

See you for the start of Issue Four: "Arms to Call" on Wednesday!

Peace!

Cast page?

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 19:43:30 GMT

I finally finished the cast page for UP. Hey, at least it didn't take me a full year to do it, like Lunchtable!'s...

Check it out by clicking that 'cast' button at the top.

While I was at it, I rearranged some things on the site layout and added navigation buttons above the comic as well. I got really annoying trying to go backwards through the archives and having to scroll down on every page to find the buttons.

Good times.

-Darrell M.

Cabinet of Taco Sauce

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 03:23:39 GMT

*shameless plug alert*

You may or may not know that during my senior year of high school I created 23 tracks of music in Garageband during classes and mastered it together as an album called Cabinet of Taco Sauce'(who's cover art I created for a project in my Desktop Publishing class). Thanks to Jamie McGarry (who I told about it once and has bugged me about listening to it), the entire album is up for download on archive.org. Check it out! I honestly still listen to it myself a lot these days and I really think you'll enjoy it.

http://www.archive.org/details/DarrellMStarkDarrellMStarkCabinetOfTacoSauce

If you enjoyed that, head on over to my Myspace music page. I've got a few other songs I did there. Well, more of the a cappella variety, anyway.
http://www.myspace.com/DarrellMStark

And, in not-music-related news, check out my Gami-TV intro that I animated during my senior year, also on archive.org!
http://www.archive.org/details/dms-gamitvintro

Also, last but not least, BUY MY COMMON SENSE BOOK!
http://www.lulu.com/content/183006

(Sorry, folks. I'm just in a plugging-my-own-work mood tonight.)

*end shameless plug alert*

-Darrell M.

New avatar?!?

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 22:17:53 GMT

I felt it was about time to update my avatar so I drew myself, updated, and in a BSG uniform this time.

Clicky!

(That's Battlestar Galactica for the uninformed.)

I think it turned out pretty well.

Comments?

-Darrell M.

Just to show how much detail I put into these comics...

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:34:32 GMT

Here's the entire menu board for Baker's Donutological Coffiffications...

Thought ya'll'd enjoy it.

-Darrell M.

The Black Spot

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 00:06:19 GMT

What's the betting that when Darrell says he was "sick", he means he buggered off to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 instead of doing the comics?

Yeah, I died again.

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:33:47 GMT

Sorry folks. I got rather sick after I returned from Florida over a week ago and it still hasn't entirely gone away. I've also been busy with my Borders job and getting back into the swing of things at school, because the Art Institute of Philly's quarterly system had me starting back up again this morning. I've got some free time (finally!) coming up soon so I'm going to try and get a comic up for ya'll on Thursday. Wish me luck.

-Darrell M.

Howdy, folks....

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 15:51:28 GMT

Sorry about the lack of a new comic on Monday. My vacation has really screwed with my productivity. I'll try and have one up on Thursday, but I doubt I'll actually finish it. So, at the very least, I'll put something up for Thursday. And if comic's aren't back on Thursday, then expect a new one on Monday.

-Darrell M.

Dooooomed!

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:44:38 GMT

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! He's dead! It's all over! The comic's done! It'll never get finished now!

Or, y'know, he's late due to his holiday fun, I dunno.

Take care,

-Scott

Yarrr!

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 13:01:08 GMT

Arrr! I be in Florida from now til the 2nd!

Arg!

Updates continue in my absence!

Erg!

That's about it! See you later!

Clarg!

-Darrell M.

Visual Memory

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:14:20 GMT

Hiya,

Darrell drops off another page for your perusal. Well? What are you waiting for? Get perusing!

In an effort to pick up the pace around this journal, I thought I'd swipe this meme from Sharon:

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in/curious about - it can be anything from the house I live in to my favourite shoes. Leave your choice here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them as an LJ entry. That way you get to know a little bit about my life.

This goes for you too Mr Stark. I don't mean you have to answer (it's up to you, though). I mean you can join in the asking of questions.

Awright? I'll let this one percolate then.

-Scott

Seven Samurai

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 22:33:57 GMT

OK. Later than intended, my second Samurai Jack post. My seven favourite episodes, and why.

Episode VI: Jack, The Woolies and the Critchellites

This one is always going to be on any list of favourite Jack episodes. Even though the other six may fluctuate depending on the weather, how recently I watched them or others, this one remains constant. This was the first one I ever saw. Thus, I'll probably have the most to say about it.

I wasn't sure what to make of the concept of Samurai Jack when I first started to hear of it on various websites. At the time I think I mentally wrote it off because it wasn't an adaptation of anything I knew, nor was it some Japanese import I had long craved. Poor reasons to ignore it (Of course, as it would turn out, the series ate loads of things I knew and reinvented them in it's own hyperkinetic style), but understandable surely? What do I the hardened comic book geek care for a cartoon that's not pushing some kind of nostalgia button for me? Of course, this was without ever actually seeing it.

One night, I'm over at a friends and checking out his cable television. I don't think I had it at home yet, so it was still novel to flick through the assorted channels and see shows I wasn't likely to see for months, assuming they ever made it onto terrestrial channels at all. I think I was checking out X-Men: Evolution for the first time, not quite getting it and going back into the other room to get schooled on some video game or other. One of our other friends was eating in the living room and he left it on the Cartoon Network (this was before the UK Toonami channel. Hell, this was before CNX existed.) after I was done with X-Men. He was waiting for Samurai Jack. This startled me. My friend was, and is, notorious for a high-action, the more violent the better, entertainment diet. He liked this show. Now, he and I don't see eye-to-eye all the time on this subject, but I had to see what was special about this show that he would check it out.

Dipping in and out the room I saw about 90% of it, missing only those bits near the start where Jack spoke. I think I asked "does he ever speak" quite a few times. I think that's what struck me about this episode. The contrast between the quiet, peaceable Jack and the jabbering, nasty Critchellites. There was just something simple and enjoyable about watching him gradually learn the truth about the adorable Woolies. I think I spent a lot of the first watching waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the Woolies to actually turn out to be evil. In a world traumatised by the need for plot twists, this show had the audacity to do the simple formula. Hero finds enslaved race, hero batters the crap out of the slavers. Everyone lives free. That was it. No angst, no complications, just straightforwardness.

Then, there was the visuals. Here it was, something that I had hoped to achieve on Wake Up Screaming, but never managed. The beauty of simplicity. Evocative while giving the illusion of complexity, Jack brings a mini-epic to your tv screen for the length of an episode. Dammit, I need some screen caps for this one. But, anyway, it laid the foundation and the standard for what was to come. The unfolding and execution of the story is so much more than desperately ramming in plot twists and mugging for drama. Action adventure in a pure, childlike form.

Episode VIII: Jack versus Mad Jack

Aku uses his powers to create an evil duplicate of Jack, manifesting the samurai's frustration in corporeal form. The thing that I remember most about this episode is the sound. It's a horrible thing to encounter with the volume up, especially if you have a headache like I did the first time I saw it. The moment (ahem, I mean tortuous sequence) where Mad Jack materialises nearly did my brain pan in. From then the action accelerates, with all the screaming and the clanging and the aural violence and the sound really punishes. Sound and fury? Yep. But it's all worth it. It pays off in that classic moment where Jack sees himself reflected in his own sword and realises that he's the source of the all the rage. There is no enemy, only himself. A calmness of both sound and visuals wash over Jack and the viewers and we both find ourselves at peace.

XI: Jack and the Scotsman

OK, to be honest, I don't know if this is the favourite, but I can't fit all the episodes where John DiMaggio's crap scottish accent manic delivery humour me in. I loves the big ginger nutter with the machine gun for a leg. Best stupid Scottish stereotype, ever. Beats out Groundskeeper Willy, if only because the accent isn't as bad as Willy's. Consider this a sneaky backhanded shoutout for all the Scotsman episodes.

XIV: Jack Learns to Jump Good

Silly, fun, nonsense yet totally logical within the whole context of Jack. How does he get such amazing air time? He learns off a boy raised by a tribe of small blue-hued monkeys, for whom it's the only means of defence against their gorilla-like enemies. They teach Jack how to jump, he teaches them how to open up a can of whupass. I can't go into too much depth on this one because it's just a fun episode. Simplicity of story and visuals win out again.

"You can fly?"
"No, jump good!"

XX: Jack and the Monks

Again, it's an obvious one. Much like Jack versus Mad Jack this episode is really about reminding the hero about what he's all about. There's something compelling I find in that moment where the hero doesn't think he can take any more, when he loses sight of the stakes, but something manages to make him dig deep, suck it up, and throw himself back into the war. I suspect that on some subconscious level, I remember old UK Transformers comics from when I was a young 'un, with Ultra Magnus getting repeatedly thrashed by Galvatron, and really, really wanting to give up. He fizzled, he popped, but man that big trucky roboty guy always seemed to find a way to go at it again, because there was more riding on it than his sore frame and bruised ego.

XXX : Jack and the Zombies

There were so many episodes I hummed and hawwed over to give this slot to. There are many episodes I feel I neglected. Jack and the Three Blind Archers, Jack and the Lava Monster, Jack and the Spartans, Jack in Egypt, Jack and the Haunted House, Jack, the Monks and the Ancient Master's Son, The Aku Infection and The Princess and the Bounty Hunters were all ones I considered. Technically, I suppose you could add all those up and count this as my unofficial Top 16 Episodes, but in the end there could only be one.

I think The Princess and the Bounty Hunters almost made it because it was a fun example of the whole "journey is better than the destination" thing, which I ramble about in the next entry. It's also, I think, the only episode where Jack never actually speaks. A series of fun little tales, each with their own visual style. It's great fun watching the whole episode building to one punchline, which is obvious but satisfying. However, there reason I changed my mind and dropped it from this place was simple: Aku.

There are a whole host of great voice talents working on Samurai Jack, who churn out a plethora of background characters and villains for every occasion, and now and again, a few recurring gems (The Scotsman and Jack's father spring to mind). But at the heart of this are two very talented people who embody the spirit of it all. Phil LaMarr brings a light touch to Jack, managing to make him nicely rounded, despite the fact he's not prone to long discussions. Friendly, polite, delicate, charmingly simplistic, and then sternly resolute. The measured tones of a hero. Trust me, he's great.

Then there's Mako, playing the bad guy. You can't talk about Samurai Jack and not bring up Aku. The villain of the piece who's opening narration accompanies every episode. That voice. That scenery chewing bigness that fills the room. But it's not just the voice. The voice is symptom of that design. That evil black mass that writhes and slashes and burns and shifts. One could not exist without the other, one feels. He's evil, but he's also hilarious. There's a moment in the Making of Legacy of Kain: Defiance movies that you can unlock in the game where you see voice actor Tony Jay faffing around, delivering his lines as the Elder God in various silly modes. Finally he buckles down and rumbles forth in that immense tone "You think you have defeated me? It is not possible! I exist in places you cannot find. Fellow cast member Simon Templeman assumes a post of mock fear and declares "I think I need a bathroom break". You, the viewer, are left to realise that the voice did not in fact come from some bottomless trench of the netherworld, nor was it the result of computer trickery. It came out of a blummin' human being. That's pretty much the same feeling as I get from Mako, as he cackles and roars and rolls his lines, searing them into your head. Tell me, once you've heard it, don't you just want to be able to rumble "Foooolish Samurai Warrior!" all the time? Anyway, I saw this episode recently and it was a furious affair, which was probably intended to remind the viewer of just what a force of violence Aku is. This one's for him.

"We'll meet again Samurai!"

XXII: Jack and the Travelling Creatures

An episode that encompasses the very soul of the series: The journey is so much more than the destination, and anyway, we know how it ends, so let's never get to the end. An excellent wee trip through the weird and wonderful world of Samurai Jack and the reassurance that, at the end of the day, good triumphs over evil.

So, there you go. The Seven.

-Scott