Mannequin Dawn: A Webcomic

Hellboy won our ConnectiCon costume contest!  Thank you everyone who participated in any way (even if all you did was look at the pictures).  Hellboy--please contact POS and myself so that we can get your prize to you as speedily as possible!

Apologies for not posting this yesterday.  A bit of a hectic few days for me.  I'm leaving this morning to fly to Turkey for two weeks, so yesterday was filled with packing!  Anyway, I'm heading out--have a good two weeks everyone!

~Marion

POS drew a special image just for today.  It's posted  up in the Holidays & Special Occasions album on the "Comic" page.  We'd like to both wish you a happy (or scary) and safe Halloween. 

In other news, today is the last day to vote in the costume contest.  Hop on over to that page and vote!  We extended the deadline through today, so get your votes in by midnight to be counted.  Tomorrow, we'll announce the winner.

We've been a bit delayed this month, and for that we apologize.  We had some technical difficulties and scheduling difficulties, but things should get back to a normal pace very soon.  We appreciate your patience!

That's it for today--I will post again tomorrow to announce the winner of the contest.  GO VOTE!

ConnectiCon was a blast.  It was my first ever anime/video game/comic convention and I had a lot of fun.  One of my happiest observations was the way that everyone seemed to get along without issue.  Normally, when so many people are put into one space, tension is easy to find.  Everything was so...relaxed and about having fun yesterday--if you were at ConnectiCon, thank you for contributing to such a great atmosphere!

For those of you I met (and I believe that number to be large), I'm glad to have met you.  Even though we may not have introduced ourselves or may forget names, or perhaps think that, if and when we meet again, it's for the first time, I'm glad to have spoken with you, even if only for an instant! (And even if you were a zombie who ate one of our fliers! Haha!)

I feel compelled to make mention two individuals and one small group with whom we conversed, though please don't take offense if I don't list you--it doesn't mean you weren't important!  It just means that we didn't talk for very long, which is unfortunate and should be remedied!

I want to thank Mookie, artist and writer of Dominic Deegan (you can find it on our links page).  Sometimes, it's easy to be disappointed when meeting someone who you've looked up to and seen as a bit of a role model or inspiration.  Those experiences always leave behind a bitter aftertaste, so to speak.  However, yesterday, for the brief moments we spoke with Michael Terracciano, we walked away with a smile and P.O.S. walked away with a copy of one of his books.

Upstairs in the Artist's Alley (or Alcove or Colony, whatever it was called), P.O.S., our friend and myself had the opportunity to talk somewhat at length with Jeff Wamester (also can be found on our links page).  Jeff's artwork offers such attention to detail, and we wish him and every other artist we met or didn't meet the best for the future.  Hopefuly we'll be joining in next year with a table for Mannequin Dawn.

A personal shoutout, I feel, is necessary to the Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett.  For any of you who visit the "About" page here at Mannequin Dawn, I'm sure you'll see why.  We managed to catch their skit in the Masquerade, but unfortunately could not stay much longer before we had to head home.  Dogs had to be walked and links had to be added (seriously, check out our links page--it's quite extensive!  Also, if you were at ConnectiCon, you may be on it!).

I also added a guestbook page, so feel free to comment there if you like, or ask questions, or whatever.  Just no flaming!  If you'd like to flame us, please use the "Contact Us" page...much less of an administrative nightmare that way, haha!  Today, we loaded all of the costume pictures from yesterday onto our Facebook (Mannequin Dawn).  Voting will begin at 12:01 am Aug. 3, so be sure to check it out--you can vote even if you didn't attend the convention!

We also posted the next page of Mannequin Dawn, located in the Volume 1, Episode 2 album.  P.O.S. and I are both aware that webcomics updated irregularly are kind of a pain for readers.  To that end, I'm proud to announce that we will be updating weekly.  That's right, Mannequin Dawn will update every Sunday. 

Of course, technical difficulties pose an ever present threat.  However, P.O.S. and I are hopeful that a. those won't occur and b. we can overcome them by driving to one another's houses if necessary or some such other magical occurrence.

In other news, we're hosting the very first Mannequin Dawn Twitter contest (that's right, two contests at once!  We wouldn't want Twitterers to feel left out!).  The 100th poster will win, for free, the "Catnip City" wallpaper, which, at the end of the contest, will become available in exchange for donation.  The donations will be able to be any size, and will go toward continued betterment of Mannequin Dawn.

You can follow us @mannequindawn.  Be the 100th follower and win the wallpaper!

You'll want to follow us on Twitter and on Facebook as from time to time, we'll host contests available only to those who use those sites.  Accounts for both are free and easy to create.

One more newsworthy note-- The Mannequin Dawn store is now open for business!  You can find the link on the "Mannequin Dawn" page.  Deck out in Mannequin Dawn gear for a reasonable price.  All proceeds go toward betterment of the site.

As always, thank you for reading~

~Marion

POS and I are gearing up; Comic-con is in about a week! We'll definitely be in attendance on Saturday, though POS has to step out for a teensy portion of the afternoon. We're not hosting a panel or anything this year, just attending, spreading the word a bit and hoping to connect with any of you who might be planning to go, so feel free to hunt us down (not in a scary way) and say hi!

So what's going on for the webcomic? POS and I are working to get episode 2 finished and posted before the convention. After that, we're hoping to adopt a bimonthly or weekly posting schedule, on a given day, so that you'll know exactly when to check out the site.

Don't forget that you can follow us on Twitter @mannequindawn. We also have a Face Book page, so if you're a fan, join up and spread the news!

And that's not all that's new!  Ciara finally made her way onto the character page, to be joined shortly by Vais.  As each episode is uploaded, you'll be given insight into another character, as well as a character image!

The other good news is that our scanner difficulties appear to have reached an end, which means more frequent updating.  I'm starting to get really excited though because now that episode one of volume one is completed, the plot is beginning to emerge.  After we only had the first panel up, as a writer I wasn't as excited as I am now (though I was still pretty excited--after all, P.O.S. and I have wanted to make a comic for so long).

I hope you enjoy Episode One.  Ciara finds herself in a bit of a tight spot on the last panel, so make sure you keep Mannequin Dawn bookmarked so that you'll be able to find out what happens next.

In other news, I'm working on developing a Facebook page.  I'll link it when it's ready, but there are a few more tweaks that are necessary first.

As always, thanks for viewing Mannequin Dawn...and don't forget to spread it around!

Marion Reed

After much scanner trouble, we got page three of vol. 1, ep. 1 posted.  Don't worry folks, a new scanner is on its way to alleviate further issues.  So where do we stand for May?  This new scanner will allow us to update Mannequin Dawn much more frequently as we won't have to wait until schedules fit in order to pass files back and forth like secret agents (felt pretty cool though--all that was missing was a black trench coat).

POS and I started a MannequinDawn twitter, which I recommend following if you want to know first hand whenever we make an update!  You can either follow us on twitter or if you haven't been bitten by the twitter bug yet (get it?  rhymes with  jitter bug...) you can simply click on "Creators" up above.  I've installed our twitter widget there because we'll be posting more than update notices.

I have a personal twitter too, m_cubed, which is a little more random and whacky, but feel free to follow--I'll follow you back!  I'd love to connect with MannequinDawn readers.

Now that you know where we are, let me get to where we're going.  The biggest, most exciting news I have at this moment is that POS and I will be attending ConnectiCon this summer.  We'll likely be there Saturday, spreading the word about MannequinDawn and having fun.

Also this month, I'll be posting detailed character sections for Ciara and Vais.  And of course, we'll add in more characters as they're introduced in the story. 

POS and I have plenty in the works for the future too, in addition to regular additions to the webcomic, so stay posted, here or on Twitter, or both!

-Marion Reed

Don't worry, Mannequin Dawn is still very much alive.  I take full responsibility for the recent delay.  Poor POS--she's been so patient (as have you) in waiting for the next page of Vol. 1, Episode 1.  Your patience will soon be rewarded.

POS has also been waiting on me to give her the next part of the written story.  Why the delay?  I started a new job this month and have been, essentially, working and sleeping.  It's taken me a long time to retrain my brain to go to sleep before midnight (I finally was successful!).

You can look forward to the next panel this week.

I appreciate your patience!

-Marion Reed

P.S.--Want to follow me on Twitter?  m_cubed.  We also have a mannequindawn twitter.

P.O.S. and I are very excited today.  It's been almost a month since we first thought up Mannequin Dawn, and today we'll be posting the first panel and getting this website up and running.  (We've been temporarily using Wordpress, which is a great site but not as conducive to our needs.)

When you're reading Mannequin Dawn, remember that it reads like Manga and start from the upper right hand corner (as opposed to American comic book comics which start from the upper left corner).  

I hope you'll visit frequently.  Currently P.O.S. and I are aiming to post a new panel each week, but in the future we hope to post a new panel each day.  Check back often for even though we'll be posting comics once a week, we'll post other information and tidbits throughout the week.

-Marion Reed