In honor of the impending arrival of Halloween, I have replaced the first Basic Instructions Clip Art pack with the Basic Instructions Clip Art Pack Volume 2: “Monsters, Moon-Men and … Misc!” This pack features most of the monsters from my run of monster-themed comics from earlier this year, and Rocket-Hat, the Emperor of the moon and his Moon-Minion.

As before, the clip art pack is a small thank you gift for making a donation to help keep Basic Instructions afloat.

So, I've been shaving with the safety razor for about a week and a half (without changing blades), and am now getting as clean a shave as I used to get on the first shave with a fresh Fusion cartridge. It is taking longer though, and I do still nick myself in the neck region. That'll hopefully change with time. I've dropped the hot towel in favor of this technique a reader directed me to.

I have now finished the first draft of book 2. It will be entitled "Made with 90% Recycled Art." It has a lot more commentaries than the first book did.

The other day I was working on a drawing and Missy happened to look at my monitor. She suggested that I should post the art in its half finished state because it "looks cool." Here it is. I call it "Laser Wife."

Just a quick update, and a little clarification, but first I'd like to thank everyone who commented on the previous post. It may be the most comments any post I've ever made has received. Shaving is unique as a subject in that most men do it almost every day, and I think most of us suspect we are doing it wrong.

I've shaved with an old Gillette safety razor handle and brand new (albeit generic) blades for the last three mornings.

Day one: Shaved using normal methods. Result: Close shave. Many nicks on my neck.

Day two: Shaved using normal methods, but more carefully. Result: Took longer. Even more nicks on my neck.

Day three: Applied a hot towel to my face five minutes before shaving. Only shaved with the grain (Usually I shave with the grain, then across, then against. I have very dark, thick, fast-growing facial hair. They say baldness is caused by too much testosterone. My beard seems to bear this theory out, even if my behavior doesn't.) Result: No nicks whatsoever, but it looked as if I had shaved a few hours earlier. By time I got done with work, I looked like a normal person who hadn't shaved at all that day.

Tomorrow I intend to try the hot towel, and shaving with and across the grain, but not against. I'll keep you posted.

To answer a couple of questions: I don't really shave my head anymore. I run over it with a pair of clipperts set to their shortest setting every two weeks. Seems to work pretty well for me.

I will not be trying a straight razor. The whole reason I use the art methods I do is that I am cursed with unsteady hands. if I used a straight razor, I'd most likely cut off my nose. No amount of toilet paper will stop that nick from bleeding.

I'm going to use the safety razor for at least two weeks, but at some point I should be receiving a package from a company called "King of Shaves." They generously offered to send me some of their products to try.  I'll let you all know what I think.

I've decided to experiment with a few shaving methods and tell you the results. So far I've tried:

Electrics- which can't stand up to the incredible stresses my beard subjects them to.

The Fusion- A five bladed monstrosity. It gave me a really good shave, but the cartridges are ridiculously expensive, and the handle has a vibrator built in, which is worse than useless.

Disposables- Shick Extreme3, to be exact. Cheaper than the Fusion, but they don't shave quite as well, and feel really wasteful.

Starting tomorrow I will spend at least a week shaving with a double-edged safety razor. I happened to have one lying around due to my mother’s love of antiques and lack of storage space. I had to hunt around for blades. I see you can buy them from amazon, including a sampler pack of blades from around the world.  I can’t help but wonder if razor blades are really that different from region to region. Do the Catalonians like their blades serrated?

I've used a safety razor before, long ago, but that was back when I was just shaving my neck. I've never used one on my whole face before, so this should be interesting.

I'll keep you posted.

Sorry about that. Between the numerous server problems, issues with my spam filter, my day job and the book (which is coming along well, btw) I only had time to finish one strip this week.