Updated Concept Sketch of The Ace of Spades - 21 June 09

Keep on the look out for bad guys.

~Hawk

Lost in Translation - 18 June 09

I usually write the dialogue for a strip in Word and then paste it into the strip when I'm done drawing everything. The downside to this is that when I'm drawing out a comic I'm not really thinking about word placement so a few little parts of the strip get covered up by text. Lost in Translation was one of those strips, so I've included the 'text-free' version of the strip so you can see all the little goings on.

Enjoy!

Keep on the look out for bad guys.

~Hawk
So I got some Legos... - 05 May 09

Keep on the look out for bad guys.

~Hawk
Talk about one note... - 04 May 09

So yea, another shirt design involving zombies in some fashion. Bet you can't guess what game is forcefully glued in my PS3?

As if the shirt weren't enough proof, my RE5 comic strip should be up by the end of the week. It's a fun little romp through the heart of darkness and a journey exploring the depths of man's soul entitled "Africanibals". My hope is that one day someone will lock me up. I'm too dangerous for normal society.

~Hawk
Zombie Cure - 02 May 09

That's right, a cure has been discovered for zombieism, its ingredients are described in my newest shirt design. Now because I'm over here in the middle of nowhere, Iraq, you may have to wait a month or two before these are actually available, but I'd thought I show the design at least.

Anyways, Earthbound is a-calling, so let me know what you think about the shirt, or don't, it's cool.

~Hawk
Skyshine - 01 May 09

Obviously you may have noticed that the site is undergoing a few aesthetic changes. I just wanted to tweak a few things, but worry not, the simple design of the site (which I've always been fond of) will remain unchanged. The updates are complete, which exception of the archive. You can still view all the old comics, but the links may be a little treacherous for a few days, so beware.

I got an idea for a shirt design, the sketch and/or finished drawing should be posted soon. I'll take it over to the shirt shop and get like 10 made and post ordering info on the site. If demand is good, I'll start taking orders and getting more made.

Resident Evil 5 has been, for the most part, controlling my free time. I haven't gotten 100% of the secrets/weapons/etc. yet, but I do feel comfortable giving my opinion of the game from a completion standpoint.

The Good: The graphics are amazing, of course, there is really nothing I can say on the matter, the game is just gorgeous. RE continues down the road from survival puzzle horror to action survival horror. Enemies carry weapons, dodge attacks, and communicate with each other. It's all about escalation my friends. The action aspects really makes the game more enjoyable, previous REs were usually a chore, completing it only to say I completed the damn thing. RE5, much like RE4, had me playing for the sheer fun of it. The environment is fully interactable and there seems to be multiple way to combat your foes! Scaffolds, gas cans, sewers, all sort of bad stuffs. It's like RE meets Gears of War, meets MGS, you can play the same game in way different ways! Unlike RE4, this time you have a competent partner who can actually fight and grab items, and save your sorry ass when some Swahili mother just bashed your face with a wine bottle. I can't say Ashley will be missed! But that brings me too...

The Bad: Yes, Ashley was useless, but in a way her uselessness really added to the experience. Like an annoying friend who gets made fun by the group, you only realize his/her value after they are gone and you have no one to make fun of. Only now do I realize that Ashley's worthless behind added to dramatic effect and made the game scarier in a way. Leon Kennedy can handle himself, you don't survive the Raccoon City incident on accident, but having to worry about Ashley makes you do just that, worry, worry about survival! In RE5, Chris' amigo, Sheva, is quite capable of handling herself! Now don't get me wrong, she does some really stupid things, and sometimes the computer AI is really annoying and puzzling, but for the most part, if you leave Sheva alone to fight, she will do fine. And that get's to my main bad point about the game, it's just not scary. I can't put my finger on it, maybe Africa just isn't as scary as a creepy European village, maybe it's the fact that most of the game takes place during the day, maybe it's because your enemies are more human than zombie now, maybe it's all of the above, but the game just isn't scary. I fear the series is sacrificing it's horror aspect for the sake of making RE a full action game. For lack of a better transition, the only other truly bad part of this game lies in the item system. I felt RE4 really hit the mark with it's item system, I loved the attaché case. RE5 improved upon it by allowing you to hotkey items to the D-Pad, but then took a step back by only allowing you to carry 18 items total, and not allowing you to pause while you choose your item, the game plays in real time. I realize that it's trying to add a sense or urgency to the game but, it really just makes the game frustrating.

The Ugly: Chris needs to lay of the roids. Seriously.

Final Thoughts: RE5 is a must have for any fan of the series, and a should have for anyone who wants a great action survival game. Sure the game has it's issues, but they aren't enough to warrent not trying this.

~Hawk
I Promise - 27 Apr 09

~Hawk
I Want You to Ignore Me - 27 Jan 09

So this is my first post from the middle of nowhere, Iraq. Yay. I’m trying to stay busy by drawing any free chance I get. I do have a new sketch of Hawkeye below. I know, I know, another drawing of Hawkeye, I’ll try to draw other stuff while I’m out here. The new comic should be posted by Thursday. I’m trying to take the comic in a less static direction. For the most part, Hawkeye and Mark have stayed the same, never really growing up, and never really becoming interesting characters. I slowly want to introduce Hawk and Mark to their environment; right now they both have jobs, but I’m going to starting giving them more indepth personal lives (relationships, dreams, all that good stuff.) Hopefully this will make Apple Scruffs more identifiable, but fret not I won’t abandon everything that made Apple Scruffs what it is. Basically, I just wanted to thank you, the reader, for your support !

By the by, if you have some free time, check out "Glitch Town"

~Hawk
Method to the Madness - 31 Oct 08

I thought I might give a little run-down on how the comic process work. First, I attempt to "write" the comic, which is another way of saying that I get an idea and write it as I go along. I have been trying to get better about this, by actually writing the jokes down. See for yourself!

~Hawk
A God falls asleep on the job - 10 Aug 08

Been busy playing Crisis Core and MGS4 lately, but I've been rushing through them, so I can't, in all good consciousness, give a full review of either game, I will say this though...

Crisis Core: Probably a game best left to FFVII fans, it dwells way too much in fan-dom and cycling through familiar faces, trying to tie up loose ends. On a story level, anyone not familar with the FFVII world will be quite confused. On a gameplay level, it's a solid action RPG game with a good combat system, could be better, but it's not bad...

MGS4: What can I say, this is a great game! the MGS stealth system has been uprooted and upgraded, taking out the bad, but leaving the good. Story is typical MGS, over-the-top, verbose, and slightly pretenious, but it's something that only Kojima can get a way with. Let this be said, It's the first game in a while that I couldn't put down for the life of me!

I've rambled enough, go check these games out and deicide for yourself!

~Hawk

Darkshines - 30 Mar 08

I made a commitment to update the blog portion of the site more often. Usually I through a sketch or drawing in and call it a day, but I figured I should try typing something, who knows, maybe someone reading might connect and say “Hey, he’s not as crazy as I thought”.

This weekend I was really in the mood to watch some movies, one of which was a movie I had heard about called ‘Sunshine’. I was directed by the guy who made ‘28 Days Later’, plus it was about space, so I figured, no brainer!

The plot is real basic, sun is about to die, crew goes to ignite sun with bomb, something goes wrong, drama ensues. It’s very predictable, and in some cases, implausible, but it’s one of those movies where you just need to turn your brain off and watch, you may actually enjoy yourself. Which I did. The movie was a freaky kinda cool that leaves an odd, yet addictive taste in your mouth. You catch yourself wanting to watch it again right away for some reason.

Anyways, too much rambling, If you like space movies, go rent/buy it, if not, I don’t know what to tell ya.

~Hawk
Jack Thompson is a Prevert - 16 Mar 08

I know, I know, very childish, but this man pisses me off so much, I couldn't help it! I was originally going to post some character sketches this week, but I came of with this idea, driving home yesterday. With all this hullabaloo going on with the upcoming election I thought it would be funny to make a political sketch relevant to gamers. I tried to make it a shirt, but, cafepress.com sucks, so the color of the shirt didn't match the color of the image, and I'm not about to release something I personally wouldn't wear.

~Hawk
Chick'n Bitch - 08 Mar 08

~Hawk
Give 'em Hell - 02 Mar 08

I have officially given up on Lost Odyssey, I got to the 3rd disk, but that game just can't keep my interest, I'm sorry. It's not that it's a bad game, it's just that I found myself just playing it to get through it. I had to stop myself and ask 'why?'

~Hawk
Just Break the Silence - 08 Dec 07

So I was quite excited to hear about a new Bob Dylan movie, he's probably my favorite song writer (even if he was recently in a lame car commercial). There are quite a few people portraying him, and I'm anxious to see how they all do it. Cate Blanchett was the biggest surprise, but from what I've seen, she's not too bad. Anyways I can't say whether or not this will be a good movie, only that I'm excited.

~Hawk
Assassin's Creed - 21 Nov 06

Boy was I excited for this game...

I'm a big fan of any stealth/sneak game. MGS/Splinter Cell/Sly Cooper, I love them all! Assassin's Creeds had the makings of what could of been a great game, it just fell a little short...

The opening scenes are incredible, it pans into this beautifully rendered city, then jumps into an awesome movie involving an assassination (go figure.) Well actually, it would of been incredible, if I hadn't seen it already on the four million commercials playing for the past month...

That's where the game fools you. You don't actually play as an assassin during the Crusades, you play as his descendant, trying unlock his memory for a creepy, pedophile scientist and his assistant. That's right, you are actually a bartender named Desmond dreaming about an assassin... Cool huh? I won't completely ruin the story for you, but the game plays like this: You climb into a machine to view your ancestors memories, which work sort of like 'levels' or 'missions'. You can't go to far ahead in memories until you have lived the earlier memories. There are other things the memory machine, or the Animus, can do, such as fast forward through boring or repetitive parts (i.e. warping), changing camera view during 'glitches', or blocking areas you're not advanced enough to goto. The game tries to be clever by doing this, but it comes off as distracting. The constant warping back to the future and data screens flashing back and forth really take a way from the feel of being in Jerusalem during the Crusades, it's like I was playing an ever lamer version of some Matrix game.

The game itself is beautiful, the graphics are amazing, I did catch a few glitches and lag time, but not enough to really take away from the game. The actual game-play gets a little mixed, you play as Al-Retard or something, a renegade assassin you doesn't take much stock in the 'creed' or what people think about him (make sure you note that, he only says it a hundred times.) The first portion of the game is more of a tutorial to walk you through the controls and how the game works, which is fine... until they show you FOUR times, I get it already, let me play! After that you begin the real game, which is accepting missions and killing people, should be a no-brainer, right? Every mission involves the exact same thing; Goto city, talk to local Bureau, climb towers to look for investigations, do said investigations, get enough to them to show the Bureau you know what you're doing, then go kill target.

Rinse, lather, and repeat.

The 'investigations' are broken up into three things; pick-pocketing (walking behind someone and pushing a button), interrogation (listening to someone on a podium, following, and beating the hell out of them), and eavesdropping (sitting on a bench). The investigations rarely change, and you just walk around until you have enough of them to please the Bureau. After that you go and assassinate the target (sort of like a boss battle), these vary but they all end the same, with the victim going emo and telling you why he's not so bad, and then dying, all in some weird data screen... lame. After that you report back to base and get a new weapon or ability. At first this is a very cool experience, riding to a city, collecting info on a mark, and ending his life... But then you do the same thing, over, and over, and over, and over again.

Enough of the bad stuff, let's get to the one thing this game has going for it, the crazy acrobatics. Assassin's Creed follows the basic "you see it, you can be there", which works most of the time. It can be annoying when you're trying to flee guards by climbing up a ladder and instead crash into an apple cart. I've thrown my controller in anger a few times. When you do have to fight, you're lucky enough to have various assassin weapons at your disposal, too bad they all suck. I'm sorry, the one button attack got very old, very fast!

Listen I've ranted too much, this game is a great play for the first couple hours, but quickly loses momentum, I suggest a rental before you buy...

Main Points
- Lame/weird story-
- Great 'acrobatics'-
- Game-play way to repetitive-

Overall Rating: Three (3) Stinky Apples

If you want to discuss the game with me, I'm always up to hear your views.

hawkeyehayes@hayescomics.com

~Hawk
Mario and Turkey Day! - 20 Nov 06

I realize I just kicked off this Turnip Empire series, and this isn't the best time, but I'll be taking a couple days off for Thanksgiving. Here's a Mario sketch to ease your pain! Have a happy holiday!

Mario.

The original sketch.

~Hawk
The Turnip Empire - 18 Nov 07

I've been working on a multi-strip story called 'The Turnip Empire'. It takes place in a post WWII Europe-type setting, in which Hawkeye and Mark are newspapermen caught up in a rebellion against the evil Turnip Empire. It'll be along the lines of the 'Aliem Invasion' series, and should be in production soon... until then, here are some concept sketches. Enjoy!

The is the Turnip Empire's common foot-soldier.

First concept of Hawk and Mark.

Second concept.

Final concept of Hawk and Mark.

Concept of a photographer and a fat guy.

~Hawk