It doesn't come up too often, so if you've forgotten, Becky is Melissa's roommate.

There will be three strips this week — plus at least one comic at my new blog.

In the big hullaballoo last Thursday about the pre-orders, I neglected to mention this, but there is a new feature here at the Multiplex site — Multiplex: Deleted Scenes (or, just Deleted Scenes). It's sort of a sketch blog and then some, basically, featuring comics, drawings, movie reviews, and occasional other stuff from yours truly. Some of the comics may be Multiplex-related (but non-continuity or out-of-continuity — such as bonus strips that will appear in Book 2). Some of them won't be. But I think if you like Multiplex, you'll enjoy seeing me cut loose from all the rules of (semi-)realism that I adhere to in Multiplex.

I'm running into some technical hurdles about putting the articles on the front page of this site, so for right now, it just shows the headlines — but you can head over to blog and check out what's gone up so far. Most of the archives is populated with older stuff (reviews from my Gapers Block days, comics from various places, etc.), but there are a couple of new things from near the end of last week.

How often I update Deleted Scenes depends on how much time I can devote to comics. I'd love to post something two to three times a week — basically whenever Multiplex isn't updating, so that this site has new content every single weekday — but if I'm forced back to work come November (after I get a few comic book conventions out of the way), then it won't update quite so much — to say nothing of the fact that Book 2 will be a lot farther away.

I'll be including Multiplex: Deleted Scenes updates in my Twitter (@gmcalpin) — but not @Multiplex10 — and you can subscribe to three flavors of Multiplex RSS feeds now:

(1) Multiplex Updates only,

(2) Multiplex: Deleted Scenes only, or

(3) A combined feed with both the regular Multiplex updates and Deleted Scenes.

As the book gets ever closer to arriving from the printer, and I plug away at the last of the Kickstarter rewards, I'm finding that the extra two months of production time has eaten into my finances… about as much as you would expect two months without significant income to affect someone living in a major city.

So… I need some help, but rather than doing another fund-raising sort of thing (ugh), I just want to sell these books fast. If you love Multiplex and want to see it thrive, please consider pre-ordering the Multiplex: Enjoy Your Show book — either the regular edition, or the Artist's Edition with a quick sketch on the opening page. If you missed out on being a Kickstarter backer, you can now pick up just everything offered as a reward through the Multiplex Store, including hand-drawn sketches and vector portraits of yourself (or a friend).

As for the book, though, I wanted to sweeten the pot a tiny bit: if we can make it to 250 pre-orders by September 18th, everyone who has pre-ordered the book — including Kickstarter backers and anyone who has pre-ordered a book in the past four days — will get a little something extra: namely, a Multiplex: Enjoy Your Show bookmark. It's not much more than a "thank you," but, you know… that's what it is. (If we don't make it to 250 pre-orders, then… no bookmarks for anyone, but thank you all the same.)

If you've already pre-ordered the book, or you're already a Kickstarter backer, tell your friends (especially the ones who read Multiplex!) — or pre-order another book as a gift for someone. 

How well Book 1 does will determine how quickly I can move forward onto Book 2. So help spread the word!