I am snowed under with work and unable to make new comics in time for this week so I'm taking a break and doing reruns this week, from 23-27 May. I hope to have new comics again next week.

There is a UTF8 encoding error in the transcripts for comics 4756 and 4758 (and probably future comics too), which renders apostrophes as gibberish. I'm aware of this problem, but it's non-trivial to fix. The webhost database server was upgraded and has apparently messed up the character encoding configuration. I need to take a close look at it and I don't have time for probably several days. I'll get to it when I can find some time.

Sorry everyone - I intended to make a new batch of comics for this week, but work and time got away from me. This will be another rerun week, and I'll try to get new comics ready for Monday 14 March.

Lego has announced a new promotional set honouring none other than Jane Freakin' Goodall! You won't be able to buy this set - the only way to get it is to spend above a certain amount (varying by currency) on other Lego sets, from 3 March this year. Now I have a good excuse to buy another big Lego set...

Sorry folks, the new comics hiatus will extend for one more week. There will be rerun strips for the weekdays 21-25 February. I plan to make new strips in time for the following week, beginning on 28 February.

I need some time to devote to higher priority (work-related) activities right now, so I'm taking a brief break from making new Irregular Webcomic! strips. The week of 14-18 February will be reruns instead of new strips. I'm planning for new strips to return on 21 Feb, but it's possible I'll need another week.

Irregular Webcomic! is going on a brief hiatus, for at least the week of 10-15 January. My buffer has run out, and I haven't been able to find the time to make a new batch of comics in time. I have several urgent things that I need to be doing in the next few weeks, so I need a bit of time away from making new comics. I'll try to get a batch made in time for next week, but no guarantees. In the meantime, enjoy extra reruns every day this week.

I have a new class on Outschool: It's a community group for kids aged 12-16 who play tabletop roleplaying games, moderated by me. Students will learn social skills, creative skills, history, mythology, roleplaying techniques, game mastering skills, and adventure writing techniques. If you know a kid in the right age range interested in TTRPGs, please check it out!

Tabletop Roleplaying Games - Playing, Game Mastering & Writing Adventures on Outschool.

It's a monthly subscription community. Readers of this comic can use this code to get your child's first month free: MORGANMAR5

I have launched a new online class for kids on Outschool: Creative Thinking & Problem Solving - Let's Design a Game. This is a 6-week course for kids aged 11-13, covering various structured thinking techniques for focusing creativity and problem solving, reinforced by a group class project to design a brand new board game. If you have or know any kids who might be interested, please check it out!

I'm also still running my ongoing classes on Critical & Ethical Thinking, for ages 10-12. This class has become very popular!

My dog Scully now has her own fashion brand! Scully XO.

My wife is sewing handmade bandanas for dogs and cats, and she's set up an Etsy shop (ScullyxoShop) where you can get them, and an Instagram account for showing off new designs and doggie models. She has some really cool fabrics, including these Dungeons & Dragons and comic book sound effects ones. And our dog Scully is modelling the 60s Vibe, Summer of Love bandana.

The bandanas come in 4 sizes, suitable for all dogs (and also cats). She ships worldwide, and US costumers are eligible for a special Etsy free postage deal for orders over $35. Perfect gifts for your dog, or the dog-lover in your life!

I am teaching on Outschool's online education platform, and I now have two courses available:

• Vision and Colour Perception: How We See & How Colour Works (for ages 10-12) - a one-off class covering the physics and biology of human vision.
• NEW: Critical and Ethical Thinking - Let's Talk About Tricky Stuff (for ages 10-12) - an ongoing weekly discussion class in which we think about tricky questions and ethical problems.

I have years of experience teaching these topics in New South Wales schools. If you have (or know) kids of the right age, please take a look and maybe share with your friends.

I am going on a short road trip vacation from Monday 15 to Friday 19 March. Comics should update automatically as usual, but if something goes wrong I won't be able to fix it until I get home.

Do you like cool historical facts? Check out Bisecting History, a new Twitter account posting daily historical facts based on folding history back on itself...

It's run by a friend of mine, one of the authors of Darths & Droids.

I've signed up as a teacher on Outschool, an online teaching platform, and today I listed my first class. It's a one-off class on Human Vision and Colour Perception, for students aged 12-14 years. If you have (or know) children of this age who might like to learn this stuff, please feel free to sign up for a class! It's taught via Zoom and is available to students all around the world.

Here's a link to the class. I'm currently offering two time slots in a couple of weeks, but will open up more slots as demand allows. I'm also planning to add other classes on different topics, so you could follow my teacher profile too, if you like.

It's holiday and gift season! Need a gift for someone? I have books!

I also have my wildlife and landscape photography available on greeting cards on Etsy, and as large poster-sized prints ready to frame (or pre-framed in Australia) on my own photography website. Everything ships worldwide (except the pre-framed photo prints).

Looking back at previous news items, I realised I never announced my primary photography site. Since losing my job in 2019, this is what I'm trying to do for a living - sell prints of my photos. The main goal is to sell large museum-quality fine art prints for wall mounting. Fine art prints can be shipped mounted/ready to hang in Australia, and rolled in a tube ready for framing worldwide. So here are both sites: Portfolio and fine art print shop, and greeting cards on Etsy.

As part of my ongoing attempt to start a photography business so that I can avoid going back to working for The Man, I have opened an Etsy shop, selling greeting cards featuring prints of my wildlife and landscape photography. I ship worldwide. If you'd like to support me, and get some cool greeting cards, please check it out, and maybe mention to your friends and family.

Due to the recent change to daylight saving time here in the southern hemisphere, and longer term changes to my sleeping habits, I've moved the update time for comics one hour earlier. Instead of updating at 10:11 UTC, comics from now on will update at 09:11 UTC. This is to allow me time to check the comic update has happened without incident and (hopefully) fix any errors before I go to sleep. This is a permanent change, until further notice.

Hey everyone! The good folks at Make That Thing/Topatoco, who helped me create the first two Irregular Webcomic! books, have had to start charging me a monthly warehousing fee for unsold copies. The best way for me to avoid paying these fees is to sell the remaining stock!

If you'd like to help reduce my fees, and get a couple of cool books in the process, you can buy them direct from Topatoco. They contain bonus comics not available on the website, plus other bonus material including a map in each book. They'll make a great gift for friends and family too!

Due to an accidental injury to my left hand which required ten stitches today, I will be unable to make new IWC comics for at least two weeks. The currently buffered strips will run out on Thursday 11 June. I anticipate approximately a one to two week hiatus in new strips after that while I get back up to speed with the hand. This is an issue with making the Lego sets and doing the photography, for which I really need two hands. At this point I don't anticipate any disruption to Darths & Droids, as I think I can manage that one-handed.

I know you will all be wishing me well, and I thank you for your kind thoughts. If you'd like more information and to track my progress, you can read my daily blog.