ph33r t3h y34r
What i can hardly believe is that last year about this time, Sarah and i were getting ready for Jack to arrive. We knew that he was probably going to come early, as it was a high risk pregnancy, and we were going to the hospital several times each week to keep an eye on the little guy. I thought things were hectic then. Hah. How blissfully unaware we were of the fact that in three days he wasn’t going to so much “arrive” as impact like a huge meteor. For any of you ‘parents to be’ out there who are visiting the hospital for checkups during the last month or so… BRING YOUR BIRTH DAY BAGS AND CAMERAS AND STUFF WITH YOU. Don’t be like us, who figured “we won’t need that stuff till next week.” Hah. Right.
It’s been both an amazing and frustrating year for me, to be honest with you. Pretty much everything surrounding Jack and my family has been wonderful. I’ve been and continue to feel both daunted and challenged by this whole ‘being a dad’ thing. I think i’ve done ok. Jack is a happy and healthy baby, soon to be a toddler (he’s experimenting with walking). He’s a true joy, and i have kept my promise not to disgust all of you with insessent prattling about how awesome my son’s drool is and how impressed i was about a spectactularly filled diaper. Thank you for induldging me with a few pictures here and there.
The frustrating things about the past year have had a lot to do with the constant struggle between sharing the responsibilities of taking care of Jack, doing the comic, writing thinking and being creative so i can do a good job on the comic and related thing, design new products, take care of the MegaGear store and things at the warehouse, as well as the other baby we took on this year – our new shirt printer, which lets us print shirts on demand but has one small drawback – I have to make all of the shirts we sell now. 
It’s been a long time since i have been able to pull off a 3 comic week, and things like this site and the rant column on Megatokyo have been deathly quiet, but I’m hopeful that with this 1 year milestone i can finally work towards getting things more up to speed. I think my artwork is as good as it’s ever been, and the storyline for both Megatokyo and other things i have been doing a lot of development thinking and working on are really quite good. The holdup has been the raw time for production, which has been a real problem for quite some time. As Jack has grown, however, i’m starting to see some easing up on the constant attention he used to require when he couldn’t really move around or play on his own.
So, that said, i’m working to start bringing more things back to life, like the rants on MT, the blogs here, and even some of the drawings and sketches i’ve been doing – i have quite a few that i can post here. I am also looking forward to a new version of this site, which the web guys are keen to start working on. Of prime importance is also the fact that we’re finally getting somewhere with the email – the spam has been so bad for the past six months that i literally have just not even been checking email. Once that is fixed, i’ll feel like i can actually hear the world yell at me again. 
Thank you for your patience with me for the past two years. It’s been a long, difficult but ultimately rather amazing road. I’m looking foreward to showing you just how much depth this experience has added to my work. Thanks for reading.
I think a lot of people agree with me that we’d rather see quality than quantity, and that’s something you’re bloody good at.
I’m looking forward to the rants, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed^^
Don’t worry Fred; we MT fans know that you’re very busy with your family, the store, the comic production etc. No matter how much they’re delayed, all of your products are worth the wait. Whether it is a comic, a Mega-Gear related item or an actual whiny blog. Which haven’t appeared in a while. I wonder why..?
May I please suggest some advice? If at certain points, you can’t make it to create comics for the week, even if you manage to complete one out of three, hatching and all, you should still take the week off in order to relax a little and spend more time with your family and yourself. ‘Cause you know, forced creativity is not good for your health.
That is all. Have a nice day Fred.
~Serena~
You’ve come a long way and I sense great things to come.
I hope you continue with your path, sir, and are able to appreciate every step.
Family is always first. I think you’re doing a bang-up job of things, actually. And I know when Jack’s older and you tell him about all of this (leave out the parts about Largo, though ~_^) he’ll go, “Wow, Dad. You did all of that AND took care of me??”
=D
I think it’s a mutual feeling when I say that if you had chosen the comic over your son, us loyal fans would have hunted you down with those little midget cars and hit you with a frying pan. XD
Speaking of e-mails, I think I’ve got a couple thousand myself to check. >.< Best of luck with yours!
Just curious, but as I recently came into possession of a copy of the March ‘03 AmeriManga from Steve Bennett, are you gonna go back and continue Warmth in this new wave of updates? I’m afraid I got rather hooked on it.
~Ecole
As a parent – I understand.
Good luck!
Hi fred!
Lucky Jack, having a famous dad.
We don’t really care about the rants and stuff, but you haven’t updated the art on fredart for a while (wink wink nudge nudge)…joking. Take care of Jack and Seraphim and maaaaybe fit in a few MT comics.
With love, from Sarah
PS: coincidence, maybe, but my name is Sarah and my brother is called Jack.
Will forever be an MT fan, the pics are just icing on the cake (babies and cats, two of my favorite things to coo over)… Having Largo to laugh at and Piro to think over just makes me happy, no matter how often it happens…
I like seeing the baby photos. By the way… what was the title of the pattern book Jack had in the one photo? My son is almost 3 months & I’d like to get him a few books like that.
no one worries if you tell about jack it’s cool for one i think having a baby is like the best thing you can do in life it gives you the the challenge of a being a parent im 21 and i hope to be a dad one day god willing of course my girlfriend wants 2 but i havent even got my bank account sorted out yet O_o freaking thing O_o…….keep rocking with the MT bro its the best manga out since it came out PH34R TEH L33T!!!!!!!!!
Love Justin (Ruki)
Fred;
one dad to another, if you’re seriously caught up in the delusion that you’ll have more time once Jack starts walking, go talk to some friends with toddlers, quick! By all means, enjoy your time with your son (they’re only babies once), and do the comic when you can; but if I were you, I’d find someone to take over the store. You simply won’t have time. Good journey.
Happy Birthday!
We’re celebrating a birthday today for our early one-year old too. Hers actually isn’t for 2 more days, but since my sister’s was last week we’re doubling up. I never thought a singing birthday card could make a baby dance like that!
ah. quite an interesting thing, to see into other’s lives. good luck with the webcomic. do you use photoshop or another program, i myself prefer Gimp, only because i do not have photoshop, and it is free. If you had to chose between 1 billion dollars and being able to fly, which would you pick? good luck. and im pleased that the rants are returning.
fred..lol ik this might seem kinda out of the blue but as i guy whos been around and has dealth through a lot for some reason the damn mt manga just makes me wanna cry because its so damn good. ur son is kool. and it makes me happy that my favorite manga artist is a good dad since i never had a dad. but yea i hope ur time with ur son is well spent and im hoping new volumes of megatokyo will come out. btw u inspired me to draw. a huge fan
BRYANT. ^_^
ps. if u write back u have no idea how happy ill be. well anyways im probably starting to sound like a fool complimenting u so much or w.e now so ill leave u be.
I look foward to the DPD as much as the comic. Take your time enjoy your son we will be here.
hey fred I know it’s been rough over the past year but you’ve been keeping up with more than your share of things and have still managed to keep the amazing story of MT going, I really respect you for that. and we the fans understand that family is more important that comics, we’re just happy to know that you are happy, right everyone? -pulls out a mug of “magic b33r+1″- here’s to another l33t y34r!! you pwnz fred. that’s all I have to say.
Hey, I’m really liking where the story is going, and I’m glad you would rather focus on other parts of your life. I mean, this isn’t all your life! We appreciate that you’ve been doing this for so long, and just because it’s slowed down doesn’t mean we haven’t stopped appreciating it; it just means that those of us whom are more selfish than others can’t appreciate the fact that you have a life OUTSIDE of the Internet. I hope your family life is only getting better, and I hope that you, Sarah and Jack have a very Happy New Year!
Xanatrix, the avid Megatokyo fanboy
(PS, I’ve been supporting your efforts on the front lines. I have all the hardcopy books! GO Megatokyo!)
Just wanted to leave a comment somewhere. I read in your twitter “no one really cares about the comic anymore”. I care. I want to know where Largo and Erica go. If Kimiko and Piro go official. Ping’s development as her own person. And how they all react when they find out what happened to Miho.
Maybe a small voice in the crowds, but I still care Fred.
I will keep reading to the end. And from there I will follow your new projects. Especially Warmth.
I love the manga.
Captivating to say the very least. Though Largo is my favorite character, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude and interactions with Erica. This is top quality manga and I love your drawings. It is a captivating story which i stumbled upon and read all 1177 pages in a row. But for the sake of all that is worthwhile don’t ever put it in front of your kid or family, a sea of fans is something, but nothing in comparison to your own family.
Though you may already know this, thought I might say something ^^
In any case, Thank you. I look forward to anything you put forward.
Best of 2009 to you.
Agreed.
Please don’t feel like we (the fans) are ever more important than Sarah or Jack. Remember, they’re your biggest fans!:)
Hey there Fred, I’ve been following MT since I was in highschool (this was about… 3-4 years ago) and I’m still blown away by your artistic talent, your ability to hold into details while keeping the style whimsical and engaging.
As a fellow artist, and soon-to-be webmanga-ka, I wish to congratulate you on your family and your successes thus far. Maybe a late reply, but I hope your new years was good.
As much as I love seeing your latest updates on MT, I strongly believe, with everybody else here, that family comes first and I’m very glad that you are taking time for your family before anything else.
Thank you, good luck, and Hope to see something new soon.
PS Take your time.
Best of luck, Fred. I’ve been a MT fan since it first came of nowhere thanks to a friend of mine. I think you make good quality manga very few can accomplish online. Thank you so much adding a bit of humor and a good storyline to read over again and again. Best of luck to your family and I hope little Jack will grow up and be proud you made something very special. So take your time, be a dad and a husband. We’ll be waiting and have TONS of MT to keep reading again. PH33R tEh L337, g0 MT!!!! (Gotta love Largo, but I admit I miss Miho. I’d be surprised if I run into someone like Miho.)
I’m the ph342 PH342 /\/\3 don’t worry Piro WE… can wait for up dates just worry about the little ninja.
P.S. an evil aura haunts this place