If you end up coming to our show at Red Hot Robot, you can get them first. All are 12×18 film, with a pleasing satin finish.

I’ll be adding them to the store soon.

But, this week’s theme of “Packed” made me immediately think of the highways of Phoenix, Arizona (and by extension the monster world of Monstru).

So, here’s a “Packed” highway of my monster world:

And yes, this was the opening to the comic (sans text), which begins right here.

- Daniel

This is an example of Beastio (the red one), daydreaming about how his commute should really go… through a golden, peaceful sky. In reality, he’s just stuck in traffic like the rest of us.

Wouldn’t your commute be better if you could fly?

Feel free to check out my free Monster Commute comic, about traffic, and join us in the forum.

- Daniel

Being one of the 13th sloppiest people in the world, I can assure you that cleaning is not one of my strengths. I’m messy, and I’m not terribly shy about admitting it.

However, there is one thing in my life (okay, two things, smartass) that I must keep clean at all costs; my glasses.

If my glasses get smudgy or covered in some strange life-putty, I HAVE to get them clean, at all costs. I go crazy and get all fidgety with dirty glasses, and it’s not nice.

That said, I can now understand just a little bit more of my Type-A friends out there. Yes, you know who you are.

And I feel sorry for you*.

- Daniel

*Okay, so I’m not that uppity. I’m just joshing.

Monstru Pirate Radio (MPR) is happy to be talking to Baba Jaga, today.

Monstru Pirate Radio logo

MPR: Baba Jaga (Baba) has spent the last few hundred years working as an assassin-hag, all across Monstru.

MPR: Welcome to our show!

Baba: Jes.

MPR: So, how long have you been an… assassin?

Baba: Many the time. I have killed with only hand and finger.

MPR: Why did you become a killer?

Baba: Okay. My husband, he left for the wars and he never came back. Mine father estate collapsed in plagues time, and my looks not paying bills so well.

MPR: So, you became an assassin?

Baba: No, I became angry, I became baker. I cook bones of childs to makes hot bread.

MPR: Um… interesting.

Baba: Later, I tire of children and I use talents for breaking men into pieces smaller than hand.

MPR: If you don’t mind, you seem a little… angry?

Baba: Would you be angry if love of life was left mostly dead? If everything dreamed upon, broken? If everything planned end in plague? Empty hearth, empty heart?

MPR: Well sure. But there is medicine for that now.

Baba: PAH! Medicine like ash. Only bread and time spoil pain.

MPR: Recently, you saw your ex-husband, Chadworth Machine… how was that for you?

Baba: We still married.

MPR: Oh.

Baba: Chadworth Barondook. He changed much. He is brass and bone. No heart. He dead, mostly.

MPR: Is there any chance to rekindle your old flames?

Baba: Too long ago. He make no child. I kill him, make him to bread.

MPR: We have a caller. Yes, hello there! What is your question?

Caller: Baba Jaga! Big fan. How do I become an assassin? What kind of weapons do you use? It’s so great to be talking to you!

Baba: Jes. Empty heart. Fill with hurt. Anger. Forgive not. These thing, they make for ill blood.

Baba: If you cannot kill with own hands, a killer you are not.

Caller: What kind of paperwork do you need to be a licensed assassin? How do you do get started as a hitwoman?

Baba: I care not. Stupid questions. Life is hate. Shoo!

MPR: Thank you, caller.

MPR: Well we’re about out of time today. Thanks to Baba Jaga, Hag Assassin, for joining us today.

Baba: Jes.

MPR: This is MPR, Monstru Pirate Radio.

Fake letter:

Dear D-Master Daniel-SAN -

Why do you do what you do, the way that you do?

Stay Cool!

- Fakus99

Dear Fakus -

Thank you for writing.

I do what I do, because it’s how I like to live. I live to create “stuff”. It could have been sand-sculpture or furniture making or BMX bike jumping… but none of those things involved monsters or art or world-building. (And I wasn’t any good at any of them.)

However, there is something in your letter that I simply must address.

Please don’t call me “Daniel-San.”

You see, ever since the Karate Kid movie debuted in 1984, people have been calling me “Daniel-San.”

That’s 25 years of hooking me up with a character that I have very little in common with, and less interest in. It’s been relentless. I’ve been called that by hundreds and hundreds of hobos, strangers, co-workers, and road charlatans.

Now, sure, “Daniel-San” was fun and cute at first. (Like maybe until July 1984.) But now, it’s a little ragged, tired and old as Master Miyagi was in the film itself.

So please: no more “Daniel-San.”

Here’s a quick guide, to help you out:

• Daniel – Yep, it’s my real name, and actually my preferred moniker. 1st choice all around. Go with that. You’ll be safe, and it ALWAYS works.
• Danny – If you’re a close friend (or my mom) and you already call me “Danny,” that’s cool. You keep doing that. I happen to like it. If not, avoid “Danny” like riding a glass camel.
• Dan – Okay, so if you met met me in High School, you can still call me “Dan.” Otherwise, it reminds me of an archetypal “Dan” who works at the office, and likes to talk monster-trucks, wrestling, classic rawk, and the hot secretary. (Well, that and STEELY DAN.)
• “D” or “Danny D” – These are fine in writing or when you’re drunk, though I refer to my persona as “Danny D.” To myself. Yeah, I’m a sicko.
• “Double D” is a bra size. I am a Daniel Davis, but you’re just reminding me that I’m fat.

It seems to be the default nickname for Daniel’s everywhere, especially from new people that I meet. That’s okay, but please just be more creative.

Here are some other Daniel-based nicknames that you can use instead of “Daniel-San”:

• DanYELL
• Danotaur (But please no “book ‘em Danno”)
• Daniel Spaniel
• Danielsaurus Rex
• Danny Inferno
• Dark Steel
• KRAWM

I hope that you now realize how damn serious that I am on this subject.

Thanks for writing.

- Daniel “_____” Davis

The design of  Chadworth Machine is an amalgamation of all kinds of robot designs I’ve seen, over the years. He’s got a Bender chest hatch, a Mignola dome-skull, and clank-janky hands.

I wanted him to be familliar and relateable.

To be perfectly honest, Chadworth’s skull is really where the soul of the character lives, regardless of his bodily trappings. So, in a lot of ways, the rest doesn’t really matter all that much.

Here are some “Separated at Birth” characters that I’ve found that remind me of old Chad:

Nazgar the Tyrant, plastic toy:

Robot 13

R 13 is a character by Arizona indie publisher, Blacklist Studio.

Created by Daniel Bradford (artist) and Thomas Hall (writer), Robot 13 draws some inspiration from the same well as Monster Commute: Mike Mignola.

Both Daniels (me and him) love Mike’s work.

I’ve been asked a couple of times if I was upset that the R 13 character design was so similar to Chadworths’. I am not.

1. Daniel and Thomas are actually real-life friends of mine.
2. Daniel had enough respect early on in his project, just to make sure that everything was cool with me. Very classy. Since I didn’t invent dome-skulled robots, I certainly have no reason to be upset.

Great stuff, I’ve heard some good buzz about this book. You oughta check it out.

We ought to do pinups in the back of each other’s books.

<>

There’s a bunch of other “separated at birth” artwork out there, but I’m out of time to find you anymore.

And maybe, it doesn’t matter.

- Daniel

Confession time: I’m obsessed with traffic.

No, no, not that kind. Seeing bunches of cars doesn’t help my heart rate, it just burns it up.

I’m talking about web traffic.

I’m obsessed with watching the numbers of people who visit our websites. I check Monster Commute’s traffic about 5 times per day. I check the others, daily.

Now, I’m not saying that it’s a good thing, either.

Good = I need to spend my energies talking to people, answering questions, and making comics, illustrations, products, and other content.

Bad = Spending time on stuff that doesn’t matter.

Really bad = doing it 5 times per day.

Web traffic doesn’t matter.

It is a single, thin indication of how things are going, but it isn’t the end-all, be all. It doesn’t really tell me how much people like what we’re doing, or if they get it, or how they feel about little Beastio.

Heck, a lot of you have told me that you catch up with the comic about once per week, so that you can read a bit more story all at once. That’s cool, have at it.

It skews the daily numbers some, but this isn’t about numbers. It’s about these characters, this world, and you.

So, I’m going to try not to obsess about traffic as much right now. I’ve got a bunch of other things to work on, instead.

Related facts:

• MonsterCommute.com is my most successful website, in terms of daily unique readers. That happened pretty fast, as the site isn’ t even a year old yet.
• SteamCrow.com was my best site, likely due to the articles. I got rid of the articles there, because it was distracting. I’ll post them again, elsewhere.
• Agyris.net is my eldest site, at nearly 9 years old.
• Agyris.net was once linked by Boingboing and Slashdot. I couldn’t keep the site up for a week.
• I own about 9 or 10 domains right now. I should haven’t let a couple expire. Oh well.
• All of my sites are really small pudding. However, I’d like to change that.

- Daniel

MONSTRU NEWS BRIEF #52983019574272-7

AXE SHORTAGE STRIKES THE MONSTRULAND

Iltak, Gabbat. Hundreds line up to purchase assorted axes from registered axe dealers, as fear of CREATU invasion grips the nation. Many have waited hours and even days, for the chance to purchase one double-bitted battleaxe.

“It’s the only thing that’ll stop those CREATU,” said Max Cannon, an out-of-work road paving instructor. “We all need to be able to fight back, and they have huge claws and metal fangs.”

Prices have escalated 600% as Patriots patiently wait in line for their share. To answer the need, Abe Linolnstein has graciously ordered the Gabjar AXE Works to double production! “It has to be done,” Lincolnstein said. “Our national freedom depends on the steady and regular flow of axes. We’ll get you, CREATU!” he pledged.

IN OTHER NEWS, chocolate dust rations have been increased from .11 ounces per month to .13 ounces, to reward the outstanding 86% increase in factory drygood production. “Child labor at work,” said Inquisinator Glee. “Those patriots really know how to pound pigiron and shovel coal!”

If you have children of your own (or see any unattended) please register them with your local Patriot Labor Union.

And yeah, I meant to leave out Chad’s head, there. It’s there, but you just can’t see it, because it floated too low.

<>

Growing up without electricity (through most of my Highschool years), we learned to do without.

We didn’t have a shower, so in the summer we’d hang a hose on a tree, and shower in that. We didn’t have a bathroom for a while, so I did my business in the woods. (Winter too.) We didn’t have running water, but we still had camping water containers to drink from. I didn’t have television, so I read. A lot.

Funny thing is that after a while, you kinda get used to it.

All of these experiences became pretty natural after just a little while. I could go naked in the woods, and there wasn’t anyone around to notice. (Our closest neighbor was a good 3/4 mile away.)

I didn’t love living there without these amenities at the time, but now, I’m pretty thankful for it. It was just the sort of thing that a city kid needed to help rewire the brain. Added to a few other traumatic events and an over-active imagination, and I’ve got the kind of disfunctional mind that creates the very best dreams.

I’m trying to harness some of this experience, and stuff it into the Monster Commute. Sometimes I’m more successful and other times, I’m not. But I guess lots of things in life are like that.

The most important bit is that I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been able to show you more of this world than anything else I’ve ever made.

I’ve got plenty more of MONSTRU to show you, if you’ll have me a little longer.

- Daniel

Tools that I can’t use very well:

• Chainsaw
• Hammer
• Electric knife
• Typewriter
• C++
• Hay Bale

Tools that I’m okay with:

• Tractor
• Computer
• Dog
• Dungeon and Dragons dice
• Goat
• Styro Medieval weapon

Tools I’m pretty good with:

• Vector art pen tool
• Bass guitar
• Bic pen
• Star Wars action figure
• Putty
• Woodland creature

- Daniel

Games

I like games, and like the idea of  games, much more than I actually get to play them.

I’ve always wanted to play Monsters Menace America, though I’ve only played it maybe twice, at work. My son Kaid is all over it, since it features his favorite thing  in the whole world: Kaiju. Once he’s a little older, we’ll give it a go.

So far, we’ve been playing a few improvised games: a chariot racing game, and a very simple miniatures battle game that uses some war dice I have from some other game. (Attack die 1 has 3 skulls and 3 blanks, defense die has 3 shields and 3 blanks.) Overall, we’ve had a  good time, and have avoided a complicated rule-set that might frustrate him too much.

I really like strategy games, but loath having to manually manage all of the resources, in some kind of epic 18 hour game. To me, this is where online games really shine. Let the computer do the heavy lifting, and let me decide on the right strategy for the game.

That said, I’m really interested in playing the Settlers of Catan game series. That seems like it could lead to epic fun.

What are your favorite games?

- Daniel

Preparation from the San Diego Comic-Con rolls on, at epic pace. I’m now hip-deep in about 10 different projects that I need to finish in 25 odd days.

This is a good thing, as these events really help drive us ahead to create new art, new products, and so on.

Those of you that we’ve never met in person benefit as well from all of the same stuff. I’m starting to get pretty good at getting our new stuff into our store, though I’m currently just a little behind.

I’ll be setting up our display in the living room here in another week or two, to finalize how we’re setting this dang thing up. We like to do a mock-up, to test the waters before it’s too late to change.

Here’s a quick list of just what’s new: (Photos coming later)

• AUTHORITY die metal pin
• 10 fresh new button designs (Designed, but I’ve got to make them)
• Battletown T-shirt (tentative, if they happen to arrive in time)
• 10 new art prints (In progress and looking nice)
• A 30th anniversary SDCC exclusive print – Monster Commute movie poster
• An ONI ONI Mart canvas tote (Ordered and on the way)
• 40 hand-made MNSTR Bags, that Dawna has been working on (fantastic!)
• A few Magic Ticket items
• And some surprises too…

Anyway, enough talk from me. I’ve got a buncha stuff to go get done.

- Daniel

Yeah, so sometimes I’ve touched things that I really shouldn’t have.

This includes:

• Fire. (I set my toys on fire. And carpet.)
• Barbed wire. (4 yr old Danny D.)
• The bottom of my belly button. (Direct connection to spinal cord.)
• Psycho-billy. (A deranged male goat.)
• Glass (On several occasions.)
• My mom’s antique butter churn. (Broken.)
• My first wife. (Nuff said.)

What have you touched, in hindsight was a bad idea?

- Daniel

As you might know, Monster Commute is a production of our company “Steam Crow.” It’s not like we’re corporate by any means (we’re not), as it’s just Dawna and me doing everything. However, I didn’t want to call the company “Daniel McDavis” since I wanted Dawna to be really involved.

Why “Steam Crow?”

Well, the company began quickly, after we attended the 2005 SDCC. I got right to work writing and drawing Caught Creatures, our monster haiku book, and eventually, this project needed a name.

I wanted a name that was unique, but also relevant to the monsters and creatures that I liked creating. After a few weeks of really working at it, I came up with our name:

Secret Creatures.

I loved the name. It was mysterious, and cool, and monstery and great. It did everything that I wanted it to do.

It was also trademarked by someone else.

Weeks before Caught Creatures went to press, I was contacted by the trademark holder to cease and disist using the Secret Creatures name. She then went on to offer it to me for a mere $10,000 which we simply didn’t have.

I was crushed.

We had to rush into a name selection, and it had to happen fast. I instantly thought of a character that I’d made up: Morrow Thatch, a steampunk powered scarecrow, who I always liked. He was a”Steam Crow.”

It was a very unique name, which was good as well. On the whole of the internet, I couldn’t find any other Steam Crow reference.

I did my due diligence, and did a trademark search. Clean, we moved ahead creating a new website, new logos, new cards… the works.

And, we’ve been Steam Crow ever since.

In fact, a lot of people think of ME personally as “SteamCrow” which is alright, but never my intention. I sorta think that fake artist tags are kinda lame, but on the other hand, there are millions of guys named “Daniel Davis” in the world.

- Daniel Steam Crow