So, many of you are wondering, “Hey, Dirk, you finished Part Three back in November, and launched it in January. Why the hold up for Part Four?” The answer, my friends, is that I’m getting ready to go a on Book Tour next month. Starting the first weekend of April, I’ll be doing four conventions in a row: Anime Boston, Tekkoshocon, The Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), and finally, Anime St. Louis, where I will the Artist Guest of Honor!

While Anime Boston will be a local show for me, the others will be taking me back into the Midwest. Considering I mostly recently hailed from Chicago, and my home town is near St. Louis, I have decided to make a road trip out of it. I’ll be leaving for Pittsburgh for Tekkoshocon a few days after Anime Boston, where I will be joined by my talented brother Kurt. After that, I will spend a couple of days visiting friends and family in Ohio and Michigan before arriving in Chicago, where I plan to stay for a few days on each end of C2E2, so I can visit a few more people. I will then make my way down to St. Louis and visit my folks before arriving at Anime St. Louis. Finally, I will make the two-day trek back to Boston, arriving just under three weeks after I left. In addition to visiting friends and family, I will also be taking time to do some research trips around the region to scout locations and take photos for scenes in the upcoming book. I may also drop in on a few comic shops and deliver a few copies of PS on the way. I will also be making frequent updates from the road, and I’ll let you track my progress as I go.

If you plan on coming to any of these upcoming conventions, please take time to come look for me. I’ll be at Table #53 (Row P) in Artist’s Alley at Anime Boston. Likewise, I’ll also in Artist’s Alley at Tekkoshocon, though I do not have my table assignment #, yet. Look for me at Haven’s Indy Island at C2E2. As a Guest of Honor at Anime St. Louis, in addition to a table, I will also be giving an art workshop and Q&A during the weekend.

I must admit I’m delighted to be invited to Anime St. Louis as a guest this year. While most of you know me as a Chicago guy, I actually spent my junior high and high school years in St. Louis’s Metro East (the IL side of the Mississippi), and the convention will be held only a couple of towns away from where I graduated. Quite honestly, I doubt I would be drawing comics if I hadn’t moved to that area, because it was there that I first discovered comic books, role-playing games, anime, and other geeky pursuits. So in some ways it feels as if I’ll be coming full-circle as I return next month, almost exactly 20 years after I first started drawing comics in high school.

So, when can you expect Paradigm Shift’s triumphant return? I decided to delay the launch of Part Four until after I completed this marathon, because it’s highly doubtful I’ll be doing much drawing while driving halfway across this beautiful country. I also promised myself I would not start drawing until I had a completed script in hand, and I intend to keep that promise. After launching this website at the end of February, I’ve been spending this month deep in the writing process, and hope to have a completed first draft of the Part Four script in hand before I leave, so I will be ready to start drawing again upon my return. Expect the launch of Part Four sometime in May. I’ll continue to post more daily artwork until it’s ready to go. Thanks again for your patience. I promise this season break will be worth the wait!