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We return on Friday, with the next comic and standard Friday quantity of accompanying Q and A. If you've got a question of your own that you'd like tossed into the mix, just send an i-telegram my way with "Q and A" in the subject line.

-Sam Logan

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Reinvigorated Friday Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"What time does Sam and Fuzzy actually update? 3 AM? 4 AM? When I stay up past Midnight I never see the magical event occur." -Daniel

With rare exception, midnight PST. That's when the auto-updater runs, anyhow! Every now and then I'll clock in a little closer to one or two... usually because I was out somewhere and forget to set up the auto-updater before I left!

"So I noticed that this comic used a nice spacing out between the thin panels to add to the humor. Did you do this intentionally, or not?Just curious how much thought you put into the layout of the comics." -Danny

Utilizing the size and shape of panels, as well as the spaces inbetween them (which we comic book types call "gutters"), is something I'm really trying to work on.

It's pretty amazing how you can change the "feel" of a panel just by changing the amount of space around it. For ages, I just flipped back and forth trying to pick the one "perfect" gutter size to use uniformly in every comic. But treating it organically gives you a surprisingly powerful tool... you can alter the reader's perception of time and mood and all sorts of other strange and intangible things.

Here's another recent attempt that I was really happy with.

"Why aren't there any ninjas visible in the new chapter? (Other than Blank in "The Big Cheat".)" -Anthony

Well, you saw a few of them in the "Ninja Mafia Services" storyline. But the end result of N-M-S's current budget and staff cuts is that the comic is now considerably less... uh... ninja-enriched. Which is probably just as well! If there was such a condition as ninja-fatigue, then Volume 4 of Sam and Fuzzy would be one heck of a pathogen.

That's it for this week. See you on Monday!

-Sam Logan