School Spirit – The Webcomic -

Australia Day, 2012

by Mr V on January 26, 2012 at 12:01 am

It’s Australia Day, so make sure, if you get a chance, you have a nice barbecued lamb chop for lunch.

Or at least say ‘g’day’ to somebody for me!

First, yes, Australia Day is considered ‘Invasion Day’ by some Aboriginal groups, which I suppose is fair enough, but not sure if we’re supposed to feel guilty about it.

And yes, Australia Day lately seems to be a chance to tell Australians how racist they are, but… well… I figure just being nice to each other should be more than enough. I read the other week that Australians are generally very accepting. They’ll be mates with anybody no matter what religion or nationality… until they start trying to stuff that religion or nationality down our throats! Heheh… probably true!

But no, as I said on other Australia Day strips, if you don’t know some bloke’s name cos it’s hard to pronounce, just pronounce it ‘mate’ and you’re half way there. Either way, I’m waving the flag today no matter who thinks I’m a redneck for doing so!

Also, I posted a blog post about the 1,111th strip last update over at the School Spirit blog site, and also included a big thanks to all of you who have been a part of School Spirit in whatever capacity over the years. Go give it a read it you enjoy the strip. Your patronage is highly appreciated!

Cheers, and don’t forget about that lamb chop!

[ 12 Comments ]

Best School Spirit stories for New Readers?

by Mr V on January 10, 2012 at 12:01 am

Posted In: behind the scenes

G’day.

I’m looking to include a ‘New Readers’ page for, well, new readers to look at to get an overall idea of School Spirit without having to start right from the very beginning of the archive. I have a feeling that a relatively obscure yet clearly wonderful webcomic combined with an archive well into four digits is a bit of a turn off for prospective readers to even start, so I’m looking to make a page they can look at to move towards the important story lines that give the best perspective of what School Spirit is.

And I’d like your help.

You folks are the readers, after all. I want to know from you what your favourite story arcs have been, or what story arcs you think would be important for new readers to know about without having to trawl through the entire archive first off. Please leave a comment below with a few suggestions as quickly as you can, because I’m looking to put this together sometime over the next week or so before I have to worry about teaching again in three weeks. I’m interested to know what the real readers think, so please, do take part and speak up.

The kids will appreciate it too!

Cheers.

[ 1 Comment ]

Happy New Year, 2012!

by Mr V on January 1, 2012 at 1:00 am

Posted In: behind the scenes

Happy New Year, School Spiriters!

Welcome to another year of School Spirit fun and light hearted childhood adventure. A few things have changed over the New Year period. The strips coming up, at least the ones for January that have all been completed and hopefully the rest from now on too, look somewhat better than what has come before. A few little tweaks here and there and I think the results are looking pretty good. The kids’ world to me seems somewhat brighter and more deep and colourful in these new strips. I’m satisfied with them, so hopefully you’ll notice the changes too.

Also, I’ve restarted the School Spirit blog that used to run through 2008. The time seemed right to bring it back. Life has settled down from the huge upheavals of early 2009 on, so I’m giving it another go. There you’ll find anecdotes of my teaching and various related topics. I’m also intending to use it for more detailed behind the scenes information for the webcomic. Maybe parts of the School Spirit Musical Production will even have a place there as the year moves on. Give it a look, the link is just at the start of this paragraph. Keep coming back, too. I intend to update it fairly regularly even though the school year won’t start till February.

Now for you folk. Thanks for being part of School Spirit for so long, and I hope you all stick with the kids for another year. If you really enjoy the strips, by all means share them around! Use the social media buttons beneath each one, send them to mates via email or however you like to communicate! I’m hoping to make this year the year School Spirit rises from its slumber and gives the kids the piece of recognition they deserve. Word of mouth is a big part of that, and for that, I need you lot out there by our side. Who’s with me?

Okay, enough of that. Midnight’s just gone by. It’s time to get a glass of something not entirely pure and kick back for the rest of the night!

Happy New Year, School Spiriters!

Cheers.

[ No Comments ]

1100 Strips, and the End of Year Series, 2011

by Mr V on December 18, 2011 at 12:01 am

Posted In: behind the scenes

The kids have made it. 1100 School Spirit strips! It’s been seven and a half years, but there’s another little milestone knocked over. It was only mid year that I was saying this when we reached 1000, but thank you once again to everybody who has been enjoying School Spirit over the years. Your comments, your occasional links to forums or other places, or simply your returning presence hidden in the middle of the numbers popping up in the site’s traffic count have been nice little extras to read and see on top of the fun of making this strip.

If you’re looking for other ways to catch up with various School Spirit related bits and pieces, I’ll take this opportunity to point out a few. There’s a twitter button and a Facebook button on the sides there you can use to follow the background bits and pieces to the strip. If you’re a user of Inkoutbreak, you can use the little follow box on the right there and become a fan via that. If you’re a Google+ user, then you can also look me up on there.

Other than that, anything else you wish to do (and simply continuing to read about the kids’ adventures is more than enough!) to help the kids get their faces out there in the internet world, go for it! School Spirit is probably a little too innocent and friendly to appeal anywhere near as broadly as the vast majority of webcomics out there, but we know there are audiences out there who just haven’t found us yet. Anything any of us can do to bring the kids to those eyes is more than greatly appreciated!

Lastly, from the next update, December 20th, School Spirit will return to the regular three updates a week, at least while the End Of Year Series runs until the end of the year. The End of Year Report Strip, the End of Year School Excursion, the Cast Photo Album and a few Christmas and summery strips will see us through till New Years’. After that… well, we’ll just meet you there, eh?

Cheers, and thanks for being part of the kids’ extended family.

[ No Comments ]

Help write the kids’ end of year report!

by Mr V on November 6, 2011 at 12:00 am

Posted In: Uncategorized

November means report writing time for the end of the year. Join in! If you have anything interesting, constructive, amusing, funny, touching or even critical to say about the strip, let us know. Send your comments and ‘report’ to us through email or via the comment system here. They’ll be collated together and incorporated into School Spirit’s annual End Of Year Report Strip. It’s a School Spirit tradition, so whether you’re an old friend of the strip or just discovered the kids for the first time this year, or anywhere in between, if you want to make your thoughts known, pipe up and drop us a line!

Cheers.

[ No Comments ]

Hallowe’en Art Piece, 2011

by Mr V on November 1, 2011 at 8:12 am

Posted In: Uncategorized

This year I bit the bullet and decided to join a little Hallowe’en exchange over at the Comic Genesis forums, back where School Spirit spent it’s early years. The idea was to draw your own characters dressed up as the characters from the webcomic you were paired with. The School Spirit kids were paired up with Robot the Pirate. Being Australia where Hallowe’en is more a minor side show than anything serious, of course only Cody is really interested in chasing lollyroos.

When the return piece arrives featuring characters dressed up as the School Spirit kids, I’ll post it up here as well.