semi nonsexual polyfarms enjoyer

The Ilya we see in Heated rivalry would not be throwing the first punch, he's not an enforcer. Ilya is a star center and a Pest. He wouldn't be doing his job correctly if he was punching players every other game, it would end up with not enough ice time to let him be the playmaker he's paid to be.

But being a pest can be playmaking! Find a player to bait, emotionally push them just enough that they try to fight you, and then get the fuck out of there before the ref gives you both penalties. This gets your team the power play. There is probably someone on Ilya's line dedicated to helping him get out of the fights he starts, and finishing them for him!

I also think this is also something that Shane would respect. Ilya is good at it and it's a good strategy for his team. I don't think Shane would see it as some dirty tactic, because Shane probably thinks everyone with a brain can see it for what it is! He probably thinks everyone should be able to see that being an asshole is a tactic for Ilya, that it's something to ignore and not fall for, that it's a strategy and not personal beef.

The good news is that I've completed the full manuscript for John Rich & The Big Picture, formatted it and killed some darlings, and have sent it to my agent. What started out as a practice novel has become, truly, A Regular Novel. That practice worked—I learned so much! You guys taught me so much. With your gasps, groans, and laughter, you showed me what hit and what didn't. Thank you.

The inconvenient news—I will be closing this Tumblr in the next few days. This is, yes, for #publishing reasons. You will only be able to read John Rich & The Big Picture at the dedicated website for the foreseeable future.

Tumblr is where I got my start sharing stories. I love how I can, like, post 400 words of smut and have that up for 48 hours. I can type up a random thought on the current chapter I'm working on. I can rant. Or drop a poll about whether or not you think John is inspired by John Mulaney. (For legal reasons, he's not. Why would you even think that?) Tumblr is a great place to build community, but not the ideal place potential publishers wants certain stories to exist. (That gay hockey comic is an anomaly.)

Chapter 19 and all subsequent chapters will be up on okjohnrich.site. You'll read the ending there. That site, too, will have to be taken down at some point, but I'll let the finale breathe before putting it under lock and key. This means your friends should start reading now before they have to buy the eBook for the price of two Manhattan lattes.

I’ve decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: combine the comic, blog posts, extras, and tweets from Check, Please! into one document, because I’m crazy.

I read the main comic the night of The Sophomore Year Kiss™ and went back to read the extras shortly after. Going back and reading the extras was a daunting task back in 2016, and it’s much harder today - there’s so much stuff! Not to mention that Bitty’s Twitter was private by the time I started reading the comic, so I didn’t see most of the tweets until Chirpbook was published. Plus, I struggle to find all the blog posts on the official site, and I am a blog post truther! Sophomore Year doesn’t hit the same without the commentary! Nothing emotionally destroys me like: “The secret to drawing a younger Jack is making him smile, the end. Hahaha, now we’re all sad.” Lastly, some of my friends love the comic and find both Tumblr and the official site hard to navigate, so I wanted to make this a resource for them so they don’t miss out on all those delightful ask-a-wellies and sketch jams.

What I always wanted was to have that true multi-platform experience (comics, blogs, tweets, and extras) in order. With that, I present this slideshow.

The extras on these slides are ONLY things that (as far as I know) aren't available anywhere other than Tumblr/the website. Please buy the comic and also Chirpbook and Madison and the Huddles. They’re worth every penny!!!!!! (seriously please please please please this comic is so good you want to give Ngozi all of your money please please please you want to so bad subscribe to the patreon while you're at it)

Also, if you want to help with this project, think anything should be edited, or have ideas on how to make it more effective/better/fun, please let me know! I just love this comic so much!!! I have only done through the end of Year 2 right now.