Bladen Force

You know, I’ve noticed that all we have done is consistently drop in ranking since we joined the Webcomic List. In the span of four months, we’ve dropped more than 3,000 ranks, and I’m starting to wonder how exactly ranking is determined. The actual website has this in their faq: “The ranking algorithm works by considering the number of visits per update. We do this to ensure that popular comics that update infrequently get a fair ranking. Certain other things are taken into consideration when doing comic rankings but we would prefer to keep those secret.” I’m wondering if that you don’t get rankings if that perl script doesn’t go and call your comic and then people click on it to see the latest updates. If that’s the case, then Bladen Force will never go up in ratings, since the XDL comic system Chaz programmed doesn’t have an actual “latest comic” page. I imagine the “secret” thing is that Tim Buckley slips some $100 bills under the table to keep CAD up there in rankings above PA, PvP and Bob and George.

So, here’s the first sketch I attempted with my shiny new Wacom tablet. Tell me what you think. (Note: This is with me just doodling with it.)

The ninth BladenCast has been uploaded to the womb that is the Internet and Saddam is now dead.
In other news, I am currently over at Coyote’s house, abusing his internets, but have also discovered something funny that made me laugh for a solid minute.

We now know what Coyote’s family is REALLY all about. >_>
I was looking at our stats and I noticed an interesting thing about the top 10 website referrers. I thought I should post them here.
233 - 23.89% - http://www.xanga.com/JazonBladen
181 - 18.55% - http://www.skyscrapersoup.com
165 - 16.92% - http://www.dolari.org/
17 - 1.74% - http://www.shatteredequinox.com/
22 - 2.24% - http://wd.pathwaytomysoul.com/oekaki/
8 - 0.82% - http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/p/8152/Bladen-Force
7 - 0.71% - http://forums.cosplay.com/member.php
6 - 0.61% - http://forum.canucks.com/viewtopic.php
5 - 0.51% - http://z11.invisionfree.com/sealliance/index.php
3 - 0.30% - http://www.cad-forums.com/member.php

Apparently, Coyote’s short, but well-met drunken tirade actually got three whole people to visit from CAD. Honorable mentions are:
3 - 0.30% - http://gotham-gal.livejournal.com/
3 - 0.30% - http://www.xanga.com/amani576
3 - 0.30% - http://www.livejournal.com/users/renahyrota/
3 - 0.30% - http://www.quadrain.com/
2 - 0.20% - http://slashdot.org/

Well, it is after Christmas, and here is a little synopsis of what has happened since we last spoke.
Many of you might have thought, “Hmm, Jazon might get the internets back for his Christmas.” Those of you who thought that have clearly never met my father. I gave him 340$ to hook it up from the money I received from a settlement, in which we sued a construction company because the driver of one of their large vehicles smashed into our tiny little red Pontiac Grand-AM and turned it into powder. (Granted, our lawyer sucked and I could’ve gotten more,) We now have 20k profit from the sale of our house, and he has not gotten the Internet yet. I’m hoping he hooks it up this week, as I will be gone next week. My next stop will be East Carolina University, where I will be forced into this supposed “real world”. As for Christmas, I received a brand new Toshiba Satellite Notebook, a mouse to go with it, brand new headphones,and a new bookbag. Of course, this is only the beginning, as I will be getting all new clothes, shoes, etc. in order to survive in college. It turns out that Coyote went and bought me a lovely, lovely, WACOM tablet, so Bladen Force will be 100x easier to draw. Ah, here is a picture of said laptop in case you were wondering:

And here is Kenoli getting gas. His car ran out of gas when he came over so we had to go get some and come back, put it in his car, then fill up his tank in Bunn.

Here’s hoping that I shall triumphantly return soon! PS: Firefox 2 pwns. I just got it because I haven’t been online in a while and I love it!

10 Days Until New Years.
I don’t normally do this but I’d like to address the readers of BladenForce, who I’m assured by topcomics actually do exist.

Dear Readers, I want you to know that you have never gotten to see an actual BladenForce comic. You’v seen simplistic parodies (The Otaku Chronicles, The B-Force Show) but never the true glory that is the long and historied thing that is the Bladen Force. You see, the Bladen Force (and I’m not talking about our creative team) has been around in one incarnation or another for about 8 years at least.

And the great thing is, Jazon, the main man behind the Bladen Force, has been working on the comics throughout his many months without the internet, since July.

He’s about to get the internet, this time for real, and should be posting comics regularily by the New Year.

I want you to give the comic a try, and you’ll see what I’m talking about when I say how important is to me. Bladen Force is the world we live in, the town we the creative team grew up in, through the eyes of the first generation that grew up exposed to videogames, anime, and the internet all at once. It has action, drama, and comedy. It ranges from the truly bizzare to the epicly heroic. And ladies and gentleman, the creative team behind the Bladen Force has been sharpening their skills in anticipation of this moment. You’ll see art of better quality than you have ever seen on this website. You’ll see color, and wit, and most of all the fruits of a labor that has been a labor of love for this team.

Anyways, I hope you all look forward to the new year, because it’s going to knock your socks off.