Poker has given the world some of its most colorful characters, tantalizing tales, and seductive language. A well-loved game worldwide, poker is difficult to keep out of popular culture. It has seeped into all the different facets representing our world today. And it’s not surprising to know that even comic artists and enthusiasts have found the card game a good subject to start their own new doodling strips.

Poker has two variations – offline and online. Offline poker or the real life poker game is very common not only in the {Las Vegas Strip}, but also in some households. In the United States, it’s a usual scene to see someone invite his buddies over for a poker night. Today, even online poker websites such as http://www.partypoker.com have garnered a hefty number of followers. Party Poker is one of the leading online poker gaming hubs on the web. It offers registered players more than 50 poker games and a chance to win cash prizes.

Bigger cash prizes and bonus are up for grabs for those players who join their tournaments. Apart from playing their favorite card game, players can also qualify for some of the most popular online and offline tournaments, and can interact with amateur and professional poker players from their vibrant community.

With a huge number of following, poker has become a great topic to doodle. Many artists use their pen and paper to draw and express their opinion on poker or use the poker scene to discuss recent political issues on a lighter note. Even poker websites have supported this trend and promote artists who love their craft and use poker as a topic to express their thoughts. There are various famous websites today that uses poker as a topic such as Plusev (+EV) and {Poker Doodle}, just to name a few.

Doodling has been an outlet for some people. If you flip through the middle section of {The New York Times} or your local news paper, you’ll notice a cartoon box there that is called an editorial cartoon. It illustrates a satirized political or cultural event in a way that’s funny or at least thought-provoking. You can also create the same illustration of an event that happened while playing poker. For example, while playing poker with your friends, you realize that the word ‘hand’ in poker is not literally your body part, but the set of cards that you have on your hands.
Indeed, poker is now part of our culture. And with its success, we can be sure that our doodles will go a long way too.

—— Copy Ends here ——

I’m bringing back IDK Chat!

What’s IDK Chat?

IDK Chat is an opportunity to chat with me, Will Hightower, about whatever you want using the IDK Chat Room! Past topics include:

• The Comic!
• Depression!
• Self-Harm!
• Arts and Crafts!
• Personal Anecdotes!
• And general rabble!

Who is invited?

You are! But only you. If you bring someone else, you have to have a convincing line like, “They’re with me” or “I brought pizza”.

Where is it?

It will be right on this website under the “Chat” tab. It will remain hidden until the day of the chat!

When is it?

It will be once a month! On a Saturday or Tuesday! It will be around 1pm or 6pm Arizona time!

The first new IDK Chat will be Saturday the 13^th at 1pm (MST – Arizona)!

Warning! Sometimes it turns into a group therapy kind of deal. So what happens in IDK Chat stays in IDK Chat.

Stay tuned for more information! More frequent updates are posted on the Facebook and the Twitter!

Need more info? Ask away via Facebook, Twitter, Email, or in the comments section below!

See ya there!

-Will

***Bonus***

Results from the last IDK Poll that has been running for about a year!

What’s Your Commitment to IDK?

Poll Options — Total Votes — Percentage

1. OMG I LOVE IDK! (Married) — 47 — 12.7%
2. I like IDK enough to make a small commitment. (Dating) — 42 — 11.35%
3. It’s okay. We hang out sometimes. (Friend-Zone) — 43 — 11.62%
4. I hate IDK! Imma kick his ass! (Enemy) — 0 — 0%
5. I just found IDK and am not sure how I feel (Stranger-Danger) — 31 —  8.38%
6. I only call IDK when I need something (“Friend”) — 16 — 4.32%
7. I cheat on IDK with QC/XKCD/C&H but he doesn’t know! (Boy/Girl-Friend) — 104 — 28.11%
8. I went to school with IDK. Is he still fat? (Acquaintance) — 8 — 2.16%
9. GIMME YOUR WALLET OR I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU! (Crack-Addict Mugger) — 57 — 15.41%
10. Other: — 22 — 5.95%

• IDK stop stealing my needles.
• i hold so muhc repsect for IDK that I i visit this site several times a day
• I call up a idk when i have needs that need ‘filling’ (sex-friend)
• Penis
• I met IDK at Comic Con and decided it was awesome
• I stalk IDK on Facebook and Google Reader. (Creeper)
• We know each other but at the same time meh.
• I’m a flying cactus from outa space, yo!
• Open relationship.
• Belligerent Therapist
• I only pretend to be his friend so after his suicide i can get his kidney.
• We don’t see each other much, but when we do it lasts a while. (Friend?)
• IDK is my secret lesbian dominatrix lover.
• Best friend!(:
• that last option must’ve been funny until you stopped getting any useful info
• ohai
• IDK is a homicidal maniac but I still hang around him (Stockholm Syndrome)
• I sell drugs to IDK
• lolzmolz
• IDK fucked me and never called me again.
• I resent IDK. It just ruined the best years of my life (ex-husband/ex-wife)
• IDK, stop stealing my needles.
• We flirt a LOT but never do anything about it (MoreThanFriendsButNotQuiteDating)

This was my final project for a film class at ASU. It was the only film I’ve every directed/edited/everything-else’d and it was a nightmare!

This is actually a heavily revised version of the original script. When the original rough cut was viewed, I was laughed out of the class! That “funny” footage is seen in B&W. To save the film I removed the audio, shot new scenes, and cut up the acting performances to make it more of a music video. Then, the external hard drive I was using to store all my data became corrupted so when I finished editing that day, I had to call the project finished. So, here it is!

Never again.

In Fact, here is the original script for you to look at! Even less people have seen this!

Happy Birthday Script

I’m pretty sure I wanted people to laugh at the end. Laugh-Cry would be ideal. But I’ll take shocked/bored expression during the film and a scoff at the end too!

Now let’s close up this wound forever!

-Will

As I am sure you can tell, things are in desperate need of a change here at IDK Comics/EasierSaid! That change is coming soon! Potentially, August will be the last month of the regular IDK Comics you have grown to know and love.

This is basically my new job. I eat cones.

Not shutting down, just remodeling and reevaluating.

The whole reason I started IDK was because I was asked to write for “Easier Said”. I started to have comic ideas of a different kind and thus IDK was born. Back then, I was just the writer and only writing. I was not any driving force, developer, or figurehead. Hell, I didn’t even want to have a blog on the site!

I had a bad case of paper face

Several things have changed since 2009. I no longer have an artist nor the time/energy/money to pour into making these comics on a regular basis by myself. Good for me, bad for IDK, is the fact that I have found a working program to finally get on top of my depression!

SKY LASERS!

More on that soon!

IDK has served as a great outlet for that and I thankful to have had it! Do I want to stop making IDK? Not necessarily! But doing comics and comics alone does not really fit into my future.

My life is in the theatre and the comic world doesn’t exactly blend too well into the acting world.

But Will! What about actors in comic book movies!

Yeah, those actors are actors, not comic creators.

Now writing does blend better! In the new EasierSaid.net you can expect to see a bunch of new things from me instead of just comics. We might see:

Blogs

Reviews

Short Stories

Videos

Plays

Poems

And the occasional IDK Comic!

I will still have some kind of deadline, but the comic will not be my only outlet. It will be more of a hub for all my projects rather than a single entity that was IDK Comics.

One month you might see a short play, a review for an iPhone game, and maybe a video of some kind. Whatever comes to mind I will post! Limitless possibilities*!

And this!

I hope that you’ll stick around for the ride.

-Will

“The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react”

~George Bernard Shaw

*Not actually limitless. I actually listed the potential limits above.

It is just me or has this been the longest year ever? What the hell even happened this year? I think I remember vaguely.

• We had our very first convention! (Jan – [Amazing Arizona Comic Con])
• We had our second convention! (May – [Phoenix Comic Con])
• I [lost my artist]!
• I went to [San Diego Comic Con] (July)!
• I had a [mid-life crisis] at 23! Let’s be honest, at this rate I won’t make it past 46.
• I had my [wisdom teeth] removed!
• I reached a whole new audience with this [Depression comic] and this other [Dealing with Depression comic]. It has given me this strange sense of responsibility I am still trying to process.
• IDK Survived its [2^nd birthday]!
• And more recently, I had lunch with a real, live IDK Fan!

Her name is Katie Hoy and she came all the way from Missouri! She was in Arizona for other reasons, not just me, but still! And she totally brought me gifts!

Obviously, she's the one with the beard

That’s an Oscar Wilde action figure, a Pi-Pie Jigsaw Puzzle, and the Pi wrapping paper they came in! That’s also a comic/card she made for me!

Now to answer the question you’ve wanted to ask this whole time, if you want to have lunch with me you’ll have to enter the upcoming Have Lunch with IDK Comics Contest! Details below!

Just ask

But seriously. If you are a fan that lives in Phoenix and you want to talk about the comics, the business, or have me sign your (man)boobs, it can totally be arranged. For those of you that don’t live in AZ, there is hope! Sometimes I travel! I’ll be going to San Francisco, CA and Tucson, AZ this winter. For those of you outside the country, sorry! You’ll have to settle for a Skype conversation or kicking my ass at an iPhone game like Ethan from Australia.

Oh, and please don’t murder me? kthxbi!

I think I did pretty damn well for 2011. Now let’s see what I have in store for 2012!

Maybe a [shirt]?

I’m working on a test print of a book!

Working on new types of IDK merchandise!

Also I am working on new IDK Button designs and getting a new button machine/thingy!

I’m rewriting and compiling my short plays into a book for possible publication!

I’ll be back at [Phoenix Comic-Con]! If you live in Arizona, keep an eye out for my [commercials]!

2012 is sizing up to be an exciting year! Are you along for the ride?

Happy New Year!

-Will

“How about you make your own quote for 2012?”

-IDK

…For now

I’m still not at 100% but I blame the fact that I’ve had a hellish cold on top of the surgery.

I was a little worried that after the operation I’d be like this

Or maybe this

But it looks like the combination of Xanax and anesthesia lead to me waking up and instantly doing the robot. From what I am told, I robot-ed all the way out of the office and into the car. Once in the car, I shifted into high gear by transforming those robot hands into fearsome fingers and I proceeded to flip everyone off on the drive home. While the brunt of the “bird” fell upon my girlfriend and my own reflection, I can’t help but wonder who else was insulted by a glossy-eyed, bloody-mouthed, dude in a Daewoo. Once home, I finally passed out on the couch—After several debates as to whose face I was wearing of course.

Now back to your regularly scheduled IDK!

-Will

This past week I spent a lot of time writing notes and blogs about how I was going to stop doing IDK Comics on December 1^st, 2011–our second anniversary. Obviously I didn’t post any of them because I felt like the “reasons” were whiney excuses. Finding reliable and decent people to work with is much harder than it should ever be. Readership is dropping, there are little-to-no comments/likes/tweets, and for the first time ever the number of Facebook fans has actually decreased. Aren’t those how you measure success—by the feedback?

No.

If you measure happiness/success by something quantifiable, you will never have enough. I used to be ecstatic to have 100 readers and now that I have 1000 readers I’m dissatisfied and shutting down? Fuck that.

You know what? I’ve never been good at taking a hint and I’m even worse at quitting things. I can not please the faceless, voiceless masses so why concern myself with the impossible? I started doing this as an outlet for myself and over the year I somehow lost that. Somewhere along the line my hobby became a business and my fun became work. I don’t need another job; I just want to play.

So…

Let’s play!

-Will

“Happiness is always a by-product.  It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular.  But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.”

~Robertson Davies

“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.” 

~Cynthia Nelms

It’s like a Comic Con fence! With the posts and the—Oh nevermind.

My Comic Con Experience was… interesting. I have never been to an event that freaking huge or crowded! I originally bought 2, 2-day tickets (Sat/Sun) for Cierra and myself, but she was unable to attend. So I trotted around SDCC all by my lonesome.

I’m not gonna lie to you, I didn’t have that great of a time and I didn’t pre-register for next year.

WHAT?! You didn’t have a fun time at the most amazing event ever?

Calm the hell down and let me explain myself. I don’t think I am fanatical enough for SDCC. The idea of waiting 4 hours to get tickets, or 2 hours to see a preview of games/movies doesn’t really appeal to me that much.

Comic Con is this great place where the nerds, geeks, losers, outcasts, and mega-fans can leave the world in which they are the minority and come to a place where they are the majority. It’s this place to unite with all your niche knowledge and finally belong!

Well… Ya see… I don’t think I belonged there. I don’t like dressing up and playing pretend (that’s my day job), I don’t watch TV or see too many movies, and finally, I don’t know comics (“IDK Comics”—See what I did there? Shut up). So maybe that’s not the place for me. I feel like if I don’t have an objective I don’t have a reason to be there so… yeah.

Now about the things I did do!

• I met Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)
• I met Kris and Matt (Explosm)
• I met Scott Kurtz (PvP)
• I met Robert something-something (Business end of Penny Arcade)
• I met Kris Straub (ChainsawSuit)
• I met Zach Weiner (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal)
• I met Joey Comeu (A Softer World)
• I met Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics/Project Wonderful)

Panels I attended:

• Attack of the Show
• Axe Cop
• Zombie Survival Guide
• Penny Arcade Q&A
• Webcomics Weekly Live!
• Digital Disruption (something about piracy?)

I’ll post pictures and such soon!

-Will

Some stupid-ass malware infected/hijacked the site and was redirecting everyone to some bogus scam-scan. I don’t know how it happened and I sure as hell hope it doesn’t happen again.

Why did it take so long to fix?

Well, as some of you know I received a full ride scholarship to Arizona State University for Computer Science BUT, I gave it up to go to Phoenix College (a community college) for theatre. I eventually did transfer and get my BA from ASU in Theatre which means… (Drum roll) I don’t know a damn thing about computers/servers/hacking/malware/or even Word/Comic Press! Do know that I did spend just about every moment that I was not onstage, teaching a class, or at my other jobs working on/leaning about this damn thing. And hey, it’s fixed and it’s like it never happened! Except for this blog saying it did.

I am super sorry to anyone who was affected by the attack. If you think you were infected with malware, I recommend [Malware-Bytes] free scan. It helped me when I was infected a few months back. Just make sure to run it in Safe Mode or whatever. Take the theatre teacher’s word for it.

Perhaps you remember when [Playstation Network was hacked] and went down for a whole month? To make up for the lost time and to draw players back to PS3/PSP they offered a “welcome back program” that included a lot of [free stuff] (up to 4 games)!

That’s a lot worse than IDK’s 48 hours downtime, but I’ve decided to offer a Welcome Back to IDK Comics Program! For all of you loyal readers out there who stuck with us during the outage I have prepared quite the package for you.

You will get:

• To read [IDK Comics] with access to the entire [archives]!
• To read [Easier Said]!
• To read some of the most mediocre [10-Minute Plays] ever skimmed!
• To read this awesome blog!
• Access to up-to-date [Facebook] and [Twitter] Feeds!
• The ability to post your own [Pi Sightings]!

And so much more! (Or less)

All of this absolutely FREE! (+s&h)

And if at any time you are dissatisfied with your results, you can shove it! …I mean, shove it into a box and send it back for a full refund (less s&h).

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, yeah?

…Eh

Anyway!

Some people have contacted me interested in being a potential artist for IDK. I have started handing out “application comics” to see how the process of working with them is and how well the final product turns out. If you’d like to apply shoot me an email at IDKComics[at]Hotmail.com with a short cover letter (unless I already know you) and a place where I can see some of your previous work. I’m looking at a lot of people before I decide so don’t get discouraged if it takes a while. But if your work is good enough I will post it as a comic and give you art credit (with a link to your site)! Who knows, maybe I won’t get a new artist at all!

Are these blogs too long? I think I’ll shorten this one a litt—

-Will

“Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don’t start measuring her limbs.”

~ Pablo Picasso

Does anyone else feel like their birthday is just another day when a payment is due for a bill? “Oh shit, it’s Will’s birthday. I guess I had better write that check to pay him off until next year.”

No, you deserve gifts on your birthday!

Okay, there are so many things wrong with that sentence.

1. Why do I deserve gifts on my birthday? It wasn’t my choice to be born and it took no effort on my part! If anything, each year I should send my mother a gift to apologize for the pain I caused her and a 6-pack to my father for the disappointment I caused him. Or does the effort come from staying alive another year? I mean, we don’t celebrate birthdays after death do we? (Celebrities/Presidents notwithstanding) More people stay alive each year than die, so why celebrate the ordinary? We should sooner celebrate the anniversary of my graduation from college! It took dedication, a lot of effort, and time. That would be deserved.

2. That word, “deserved”, I don’t like it. You can’t deserve gifts! If I deserve something—meaning I warrant the receiving of it, wouldn’t that be payment and not a gift? If my place of work ever said, “Oh, here is your giftcheck for the week. Good job!” I think I’d be too busy lighting the place on fire to hear “Good job!”

Moving on

As some of you readers know, my day job is that of an actor. I do staged plays and commercials for money and teach to help supplement that when I can. While I may not be famous or even that successful, I do get the occasional review. But, much like the review of my stand-up at Space 55, it is not terribly positive.

“If there was just one quibble in the lineup, it’s of Templeton the rat. Although an enthusiastic presence on stage, Will Hightower’s self-serving Templeton could be a more calculating menace to keep us wondering if he’ll do right in the end.

Instead, we probably would trust him with our wallet. Storybook or not, a rat is a rat, and a bit of dark in all this light would provide just enough contrast to Wilbur’s cheeriness. Instead, Hightower’s Templeton is too hyperactive and screechy.”

Anyway, I’ve got more important things to worry about! Like my next show, Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party!

-Will

“I don’t think, until the end, I had read a positive review…”
~Will Friedle (Fun Fact: He was on a radio show I had back in college!)

Well, kinda. Spring is Arizona only lasts about 3 weeks and I think we are nearing the end of that. Anyway, new things are springing up around here!

… See what I did there? Springing? Like the se—shut up.

Anyway… For those of you who follow us on Twitter and Facebook you may already know that I made our first IDK Comics shirt!

Yeah, yeah, it’s a prototype and it’s the only one I made so far. Notice I said I made? Yes, just like everything else that we sell for IDK, I make all this stuff in my kitchen. All by myself! …And the occasional child day-laborer. We are working on a better design, maybe one with a puzzle piece or something resembling more accidental bleach stains (check!). I killed 4 shirts before I got this one to kinda work out. If you want one, sign up otherwise I’m not wasting the cotton!

Also you’ll notice the “sharing” buttons have gotten a lot larger. I figured what better way to encourage you to click and share than to shove them in your face and show you how little they are being utilized with their respective counters above them.

I want to help out IDK, but I can’t/don’t-want-to donate! What can I do?

I’m glad you asked ambiguous line of text! If you really wanna help us out, you can click the hell out of those share buttons! Go back through the archives and “like”, “tweet”, “digg”, and submit your favorite comics till you are so sick of IDK that you’ll message your least favorite comics to your enemies!

Who has enemies anymore? Are we feudal lords now?

How about sea anemones?

That joke only works if you say it out loud.

…Moving on!

I added a “Reviews” tab to our Facebook page! You should tell us how cool/funny/bad/sucky/depressing/insensitive we are on there. Best news? I don’t think I can delete it if you say something random or distasteful. Our best review came to me via Facebook:

“Your comics are fucking incredible man. I’ve been meaning to tell you. You have struck on a very particular chord with what you do and it is beautiful. It is sad and sometimes funny. It reminds me much of pictures for sad children. It’s like a good feeling you have when you are feeling sad, or a sad feeling you have when you are feeling good.”

-T.L.

No, I’m not just fishing for complements… Okay, maybe a little. But I’d much rather you just tell your friends about us!

Recent Pi Day just passed! We need more Pi Sightings! Get to it people! I’ll be posting some soon too!

Oh yeah, and I’m in another play with Phoenix Theatre’s Cookie Company. It’s Charlotte’s Web and intended for k-5th graders.

This is me

-Will

“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat. ”
~Lily Tomlin

What’s up with that? I’m not sure, it’s definitely not because we are overwhelmingly busy! But here at IDK comics, we post more comics than blogs (unlike VGCats) so we can give you more funny and less personal anecdotes about our dogs.

Personal anecdote about my dog time!: She’s been dead for 6 years now. The End.

Alrighty, where to begin… First off, do you all notice the absence of some ads that were lurking about?

What? No… Ohhh! Yeah!

Yes! Because of your donations we were able to remove the “Play-Asia” buttons and leaderboard as well as the Google Ads skyscraper and leaderboard ads! [WARNING: This is a big fat lie!]

Actually, I removed the Play-Asia ads because they sucked and I would get 7 cents every 2 weeks and as for the Google Ads….

Well, no one was clicking the Google ads, which is fine because we were getting paid off of our views. Until SOMEONE, and I’m not naming names (because I have no idea who), clicked the ads like CrAzY! Cool right? We got like $6 that day instead of our usual $.06. But wait, Google seems to think that I paid someone to click or that I clicked myself or in someway they were fraudulent clicks! So guess what, our Google Ads account has been disabled.

Hey Will, can’t you like, appeal and explain the situation to the Google bros?

Yeah, I tried that and they rejected my appeal.

Dude, can’t you like, re-appeal?

Nope! Won’t allow it.

So what happens to all that money you made?

Well, all $70+ we made, pennies a day, “is refunded to the advertisers” and—

Dude that sucks!

Will you let me finish? And yes, it does so totally suck… bro. Anyway, so we lose the ability to use Google Ads and lose all the money we had in that account.

You should have gotten that money out earlier dude.

Yeah, yeah, right. Quiet you. Google doesn’t send out money until you hit $100. We were close! I think they sent a fraudulent click-ninja to assassinate our Google Ads account.

Oh well, fuck ‘em. We don’t need their stinking money when we have our filthy rich fans who donate like money is going out of style (it is by the way)! Nah, I wouldn’t worry about IDK Comics going under because of that just yet. I still have 4 jobs so I think I can continue to dump cash into the IDK Comics furnace. But if you do want to donate I can send you buttons!

Or whatever you want.

In other news, guess who is going to San Diego Comic Con in July?

IDK Comics?

IDK Mother-effing Comics yo! That’s right! While we couldn’t get a table/booth or even a 4-day pass, Cierra and I did manage to get tickets for Saturday and Sunday. So if you are going let us know and maybe we can meet up. Oh, only if you like our comics. If you want to meet up to have a showdown or a dance-off-pants-off then we are not going to be at SDCC, sorry! We will be brining buttons and stuff so you can get some for free!

So what else is new bro?

Why are you still here? Ugh, since you asked—No this blog is hella long. I’ll do that stuff next time.

-Will

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

Mark Twain

It was pretty cool. I don’t know if I was “Amazed” but I was there and didn’t hate every minute of it. I was a little upset at first because we brought all these lights and computer stuff and had no power or even any room to set it all up! Oh well, hopefully we can fix that before Phx ComicCon (we are totally going, table and all, BTW)

I think we gained some fans from it. It’s hard to say but we gave out A LOT of merch and took in maybe $100. That isn’t even close to covering expenses, but what did we expect, we were giving stuff away from free!

Our booth - Day 1

It was weird for me because I don’t know comics and I don’t really watch TV so… I was kind of underwhelmed with the lack of stuff that interested me. PHX will be much better! We made a list of problems and solutions from this con to better prepare for the next, so objective achieved!

Our booth day 2!

Oh, and we didn’t offend anyone so much that they flipped our table or anything. Plus, we made friends! Well, Cierra did. I was too hopped up on cold medicine and Monster to know what was going on.

More stuff coming soon! See ya at PHX CC!

Oh yeah! And today’s quote is from a special guest who stopped by at our table during the con. We can’t put their name for obvious reasons, but I’m sure you know the intials.

-Will

“I just love [IDK]; it’s the best thing I’ve found here [at AACC].”

-S.L.