I was hoping to be able to get comics ready for today and tomorrow, but that “real life” thing is being a jackass. Long story short, no updates this week or next week while I do real life things. After that I’m going to be cutting back to two updates a week to leave me time to work on another project that I can’t really talk about right now.

In the meantime I’ll try to post some art for the illustration gallery so that at least there’s something to look at on this here chunk of internets.

Sorry folks, but there won’t be a new comic today. Without getting into details, unfortunate real life circumstances have prevented me from doing any productive comic work over the last few days. Hopefully I can get something done by Wednesday, but if I can’t I’ll try to do a Thursday/Friday thing or something.

To start, just a quick follow-up on the academic conference I mentioned my last blog post. I didn’t stay for the entire conference because I had to work on my stupid Classics paper, but it turns out that I had actually won the Marrie Prize for best undergraduate paper. When the organizer emailed me to let me know, it shocked the crap out of me. I met with the organizer yesterday to collect my prize, a copy of a book called Fish On Friday. I’m not entirely sure what it’s about, but I imagine it will be heavily fish-related.

The NHL regular season is just about over, with only one Oilers game left (tonight against the Calgary Flames). The Oil were eliminated from playoff contention after losing to the LA Kings on Tuesday night, so since then I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to see happen in the off-season to get ready for next year, as well as which teams to cheer for in the playoffs. The Chicago Blackhawks are my favourite team after the Oilers, so I’ll be rooting for them, but I think the Boston Bruins are going to win the Stanley Cup this year.

As for the Oilers, some sort of changes are definitely going to have to be made in the face of this year’s mediocrity. There is a loud, obnoxious subset of Oiler fans who bray like donkeys for the heads of Kevin Lowe and head coach Craig MacTavish, but I don’t think that’s the answer. I think a roster revamp needs to happen before throwing a world class coach out on his butt to appease the fans’ figurative bloodlust. I fully expect workhorse goaltender Dwayne Roloson to be re-signed to a two or three year contract while rookie Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers gets the experience he needs to become the starter that I think he has the skill to be. I very much hope that Ales Kotalik is also re-signed, as he’s one of the few Oiler forwards with size who can put pucks in the net. Dustin Penner can as well, when he doesn’t just coast, but he makes too much money for what he produces. Kotalik makes less money, is more physical, and produces more points, so hopefully the Oilers can get a new deal in place with him. Defenceman Denis Grebeshkov is apparently already close to re-signing, which I give a thumbs up.

In terms of what the Oilers need to change on their roster, there’s a lot that needs improvement. The power play and the penalty kill are both pretty weak, although Lubomir Visnovsky’s return next season should help out the PP a little bit. The penalty kill, on the other hand, ties in nicely with one of the other major needs for the Oilers: a centre who is strong in the face-off circle. Shawn Horcoff is the best Oiler in the face-off circle, followed by Kyle Brodziak, but beyond that there isn’t anybody on the roster who can impose their will on the dot. The Oil need to pick up a centre who can kill penalties and win face-offs to take some of the pressure off of Horcoff, who does pretty much everything. The first name that comes to mind is former Oiler Marty Reasoner, but I’m not sure Atlanta would be willing to give him up, as they’re looking like they’re going to be a playoff contender next year. Radek Bonk in Nashville might be a good choice (with the added benefit of having a fun name to say), or that guy in Florida whose name I can’t remember but has a 60-some percent face-off win percentage. If Andrew Cogliano could learn to play on the wing, or improve his face-off skills substantially, he could be promoted to the second line where his offensive talents would be better-utilized. Although, on the other hand, since Fernando Pisani’s return the Moreau-Cogliano-Pisani line has found the back of the net pretty regularly.Another oft-mentioned addition to the line-up would be more big forwards who can score to balance out the smaller skill guys like Gagner and Cogliano (and Jordan Eberle, if he makes the big team next year).

The Oilers will likely have to deal a defenceman to get what they want, though, which is the position that they’re deepest at. Puck-moving defencemen are a hot commodity in the NHL nowadays, and the Oilers happen to have four of them in their starting line-up, plus a few youngsters that could develop into solid puck-movers in the future. If the Oilers deal a defenceman I’m guessing it’ll be Tom Gilbert. I like Gilbert, but the Oilers have a lot of D-men making big money and I’m not sure they’ll be able to afford Souray, Visnovsky, Gilbert, and Grebeshkov without sacrificing at other positions. Unless they can offload Dustin Penner and his fat contract, although even if they can get rid of Penner they might replace his fat contract with an even fatter one if they can sign Marian Hossa. But any team willing to deal a forward of the quality that the Oilers are looking for is probably going to want a puck-moving D-man, so I expect that at least one of them won’t be back next year. On the plus side, that would likely result in Jason Strudwick becoming a permanent fixture on the blue line, which I’m all for. Souray/Staios, Grebeshkov or Gilbert/Visnovsky, and Strudwick/Smid would still be a very formidable d-corps. I wouldn’t mind seeing Penner, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, and Gilbert dealt to Atlanta for Bryan Little (who I believe is an Edmonton native) and Marty Reasoner.

I presented a paper this morning at the History of Medicine Day conference at the University of Alberta. It went a lot better than I was expecting, to be honest. I created the powerpoint slides with pictures on it the other day and only actually read through the paper to see if it fit into the time limit last night. The question period also went rather nicely, as well, since it lacked the subdued one-ups-manship of normal classes. It’s amazing how dick-ish discussions can become when participation marks get thrown into the equation. I presented a paper I wrote last semester about the development of the ambulance system and field hospitals in the American Civil War. It was a lot of fun (the really, really nerdy kind of fun).

In other news, I’ve also been doing a bit of work on a comic side project that I’m thinking of doing something with called ‘BotCops. It’s, shockingly enough, about robot cops. I’ve written 7 or 8 pages of script and done a bunch of design stuff for it. I’ve been thinking for a long while about cutting Rent-A-Thug back to two pages a week, which would give me a nice opportunity to work on some other stuff. I’m thinking that two Rent-A-Thug comics a week plus a ‘BotCops page would give me a good variety in drawing, as well as a variety of stuff for you guys to read. But before I make any actual decisions I’ve got 23 or so pages worth of academic papers that are refusing to write themselves. Whee.

The Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show is coming up this Sunday (March 29th). I’ve got a table in the aritst alley along with Deathworld creator Rudi Gunther, so you should stop by and say hi. Or just show up to meet the dude who plays Ando on Heroes. I’ll have copies of Rent-A-Thug: First Offence on hand, as well as some of the few remaining hats. I’ll also have the usual assortment of prints (Charlie No-Aim and G-Fresh) along with the second print run of the Hockeypocalypse print, which has proved to be rather popular. Rudi and I will be at table A20, which is apparently not far from the entrance. Local pencil-wielding-dyanmo Dan Schneider will also be there, as well as Paul Lavallee who is rocking a new book called Induced, which looks pretty rad. Check out the show’s website for the rundown on all the special guests.