Giving Thanks

It’s Thanksgiving once again boys and girls, and there’s a lot to be thankful for here at camp Boxcar! First up, a hearty thanks to Massawyrm, cranky movie reviewer extraordinaire for the number one destination on the ‘Net for movie news and rumors, Aint it Cool News. Marc drew up a mighty barbarian avatar for Mr. Wyrm, and he loved it so much that he posted a direct link to Boxcar Astronaut.Com right on AICN, which resulted in a HUGE spike in visitors. Hopefully a good percentage of them will stick around and become regular readers. Thanks Massawyrm! 

Thanks are also in order to the many fine webcomic creators and critics that have participated in link sharing with us and have offered their kind words of support for our fledgling webcomic. Thanks to Ron Phillips, Delos Woodruff, J. Tierney,  Mike Witmer, Benj Christensen, Scott Metzger, Jack Carter, Michelle/Mirz, Krishna M. Sadasivam, Alvaro Quesada, Ryan Midnight and Tyler Martin, just to name a few! I wish all of you continued success in the future and I hope you all have a great Turkey Day!

I would also like to extend a very special Thank you to, well….YOU! That’s right, the loyal readers and fans of Boxcar Astronaut who care enough to take a few minutes out of your lives each week to visit the site to find out what kind of trouble Ben, Devin, Diogee, and Robot are up to. It makes me feel so amazingly good to read your positive comments and feedback. It’s a great feeling to know I had some small part in brightening someone’s day or maybe bringing them back to a more innocent time. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and that goes for Marc as well. We wouldn’t be where we are now without you folks!

And speaking of Marc, I can’t finish this blog without  giving one of the biggest ‘Thank You’s’ to him. Without Marc, there is no Boxcar Astronaut, period. He has poured an incredible amount of his time and effort into this project, all while trying to juggle a full-time job, a marriage, and a newborn baby. That’s no easy task, but he always delivers the goods. The artwork and ideas he comes up with continue to amaze me.  He’s produced every single marketing image, banner ad, website header, designed the website, the myspace page…need I go on? All I had was an idea, a mental image of a kid who never took his oversized space helmet off, his spiky-haired pal, a loveable dog, and a robot from outer space. He reached right into my head and pulled out Ben, Devin, Diogee, and Robot, and he made them vibrant, whole, alive. I’ve known Marc for 20 years now, he’s one of the best friends anyone could ever have. We’ve always been a good team and we’re having a blast creating Boxcar Astronaut comics together. We don’t intend to stop anytime soon, so if you keep reading ‘em, we’ll keep making ‘em.  Thank you Marc, have a great Thanksgiving with your new family!

And what I most thankful for? Well, it’s like this…No one should have to work on a holiday, but that’s the predicament I find myself in this year. It’s not going to be a total wash, however. I still get to eat some homemade Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, albeit at the much later than usual hour of 7 PM EST. I’ll miss the football games, Santa making his way past Macy’s at the end of the parade, and the quiet contentment of sitting on a comfy couch surrounded by family members with nowhere to go and nothing to worry about, but at the end of the day I’ll get to see my brother who is home visiting from Pennsylvania, and eat some of my Mom’s home cookin’. I’ll be reminded that I have the warmth of a good home, a family, and some of the greatest friends anyone could ever have. That’s what I’m the most thankful for this year.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone. Thanks for reading.