Reddit reviews Dinosaur Empire! (Earth Before Us #1): Journey through the Mesozoic Era

Autogenerated.

I'm Abby Howard, I wrote and illustrated a new graphic novel about dinosaurs and also one about the end of the world, AMA!

EDIT: All right, folks, it's time for me to go get lunch so I'd better wrap it up-- thank you all for your kind comments and questions, this was a lovely experience and everyone has been wonderful!

I'm a cartoonist who makes the webcomics The Last Halloween and Junior Scientist Power Hour, both of which I self-published, and I just released my first work with a publisher-- Earth Before Us: Dinosaur Empire! It's all about dinosaurs and everything else that lived in days gone by. You can buy it on Amazon and in book stores! I know a lot about ancient beasts, horror movies, and self publishing, so AMA.

I'll start answering questions at noon!

Proof: http://imgur.com/a/BEncg


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captainwho42 :



Hey Abby you're amazing, and happy belated! ALSO! I wanted to ask if The

Sistertime Podcast is lost to the sands of time, just as the very shows it

speaks about are lost to the ether, or have you just been busy? I miss

listening to you and Maddie talk about crazy kids shows!



: abby722 :

:

: Aw, thank you so much for enjoying the podcast! Unfortunately for us but

: fortunately for Massachusetts, Maddie has become extremely involved in local

: politics and hasn't had as much time to spend watching old shows. It's a real

: shame, but also she is doing very good organizing so I guess we can't be

: toooo disappointed... However, I do have a copy of the Are You Afraid Of The

: Dark game I'd love to play with her, so maybe there is hope for the podcast

: yet! She still wants to do it, too, because she loves hanging out with me and

: she thinks we're funny~

:


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Socashi :



For people interested in Paleontology like myself, Do you see a future in that

type of work? Also have you heard if its a sustainable career choice.



: abby722 :

:

: Hmm, that's a tricky one, because you never really know what opportunities

: will present themselves along the way, and if it's what you're passionate

: about it's always worth a try. There are plenty of discoveries to be made in

: paleontology (we are currently in a peak of fossil discovery, amazing new

: things are being found all the time!) so the work won't run dry or anything.

: But the job pool is a bit small, and you'll wind up working in academia

: forever, which was not the path for me. I'd definitely also research which

: universities are good for paleontology, because you'll want to meet good

: mentors to get into the field and many schools don't have paleontology

: programs at all! Anyway, I'd say if it's what you enjoy, you should try to

: pursue it. You never know what job you'll wind up in, but if you never try,

: you'll never know what paleontology job might be out there waiting for you!

:


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beetnemesis :



So, I just saw this [guest comic you drew over at SMBC](http://smbc-

comics.com/comic/apocalypse-soon), and I guess that means today is Abby Howard

day on the Internet or whatever, so cool. How did that guest comic come about?

Did you request it, or did Zach? Did you specifically time it for today? It

says Zach wrote it and you drew it, how did that collaboration work? Did he

just send you a random script and you rolled with it, did you specifically

request something about cannibalism, were you two locked in a room together

until you made something acceptable? Also - What is your biggest regret?



: abby722 :

:

: Zach and I are pals, and since I just released a book, he wanted to help me

: get the word out because he is one of the nicest and most hard-working people

: I have ever met. So after deliberation about what he could do to help he sent

: along a few scripts and I chose which one I wanted to draw, which, naturally,

: was the one about cannibals. It was a really fun one to draw, and I am so

: grateful to him for the opportunity! My biggest regret is one time in high

: school there was a girl that got picked on a lot and I had lost a lot of

: weight the year before, so I was suddenly no longer someone who got picked

: on. I was finally One Of The Cool Kids, and it felt so tenuous. So of course,

: when everyone in a group was making fun of the girl in hushed tones, I joined

: in because I didn't want them to see me as connected to anyone they might

: want to make fun of. And partway through our Cruelty Session I got a text

: that just read "I can hear you", and it was from the girl, and I never

: apologized and I will feel like shit about it until the end of time.

:


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Panwall :



Why beans?



: abby722 :

:

: Beans Good For You

:


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Meddygon :



art questions: do you prefer working black on white or white on black? on a

scale of one to bullet ants how much do you hate stippling? hatching? also

congratulations on the Last Halloween being the first webcomic I let my son

read (he is 8 and he loves it and I swear he has made up his own monster)



: abby722 :

:

: I haven't worked with white-on-black since high school, so I don't really

: have a lot of experience with it-- however, I absolutely adore working with

: black on white. A lot of folks look at the TLH book and think it's white ink

: on black paper, but all that black is actually ink on white paper! It's a

: whole lotta ink. I find stippling to be a little less fun than hatching,

: which gets the job done a lot quicker, but I adore both. They're so calming,

: I just sit there and listen to spooky podcasts and do this repetitive task

: that magically gives form to whatever I've drawn. Coloring, on the other

: hand, is from heck-- picking colors takes so long! And what if I picked the

: wrong color? And you have to put all these effects on top of it, there's all

: these steps! It's always so daunting. Thank you so much for letting your son

: read TLH, that's awesome!! I love that kids enjoy reading it, it's the best

: feeling. And even designing his own monster!! That's so cool!

:


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SensualHarasment :



How is Wednesday the snake doing?



: abby722 :

:

: It's summer, so she's doing well! Our first Boston winter caused a hunger

: strike, so this year I upgraded the heating system and she seems a lot

: happier. Which definitely doesn't mean I don't still worry about her all the

: time, my sweet Wednesday!

:


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IamAbot_v01. Alpha version. Under care of /u/oppon.
Comment 1 of 7
Updated at 2017-08-08 11:33:35.973056

This is the final update to this thread

Hey, happy to hear your kid is into this stuff! I was quite a dinosaur-obsessed eight-year-old myself.

I just really wanted to recommend Abby Howard's Dinosaur Empire. By which I mean, I haven't actually read it, but I'm a fan of Howard's other work, and this one looks like something your daughter might really be into.

and this one: https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaur-Empire-Earth-Before-Us/dp/1419723065