Remember I mentioned the 2008 Drunk Duck Awards recently? Well, the five finalists in each category have just been announced and Shades has made it into the final round in six categories! Thanks to everyone who nominated us!

The six relevant categories are:

Just in case there's anyone reading who doesn't know, Drunk Duck is a webcomic hosting site and, towards the end of last year, we began serialising Shades there, as well as at our own BVC website.

Well, those nice people at DD have decided to give out lovely awards again this year, so - if you've been enjoying Shades at either site, please do support us by giving us your nomination!

I'm sure you've heard of Ain't it Cool News, right? The Harry Knowles website that gives brutally honest reviews of the latest movies and has a knack for unearthing the most closely guarded studio secrets? Of course you have. Well, unless you visit the AiCN website regularly, what you may not have realised is that they also review other things, like DVDs and comics. And more recently, it seems, even webcomics. Webcomics like ... Shades!

I try not to voice my personal opinions too loudly on the net, particularly on issues in respect of which too many other people's views are so firmly entrenched that a rational exchange of ideas just isn't possible. Religion is a big one. Feminism is another. And now the General Synod of the Church of England has voted to press ahead with plans for the ordination of women bishops, hitting both nails squarely on the head with - to extend the metaphor - a single hammer.

So - to break my customary silence on such matters: Yay, them!

Shades - it's the end!
Well, to be more accurate, it's the half-way point. Today we reach a huge milestone in Shades - the last page of what will eventually be Volume 1 of a print version!

We've seen a lot of creepy things in E.C. Nickel's and Alexandre Lobao's SciFi comic Thy Will Be Done but none, perhaps, quite so creepy as the mysterious "Doctor".

Can you remember when we first met the Shaman in Shades? One of the first things we learned was that he'd been in the spirit world for a very long time and was, therefore, far too weak to try another visit. So, what did he do?

Regular visitors to the BVC website will know that, for the past several weeks, we've been guilty of a little self indulgence.

The last time we looked in on The Spires we saw a bunch of politicians bickering. Will we find anything more interesting to look in on, this time?

You may have noticed, we've not been using this blog to advertise our updates as often as we used to. We've still been updating, but we're relying more on our shiny new RSS feed to let you know what we've been up to. If you haven't subscribed to it yet, just click that big orange button at the bottom there!

Anyway ... if you didn't visit the Broken Voice Comics website this week, this is what you've been missing: