Because YOU demanded it:

The smoldering despair and giddy optimism that led to the Ecto's upcoming collaboration with one N. Tuazon, Elk's Run artist extraordinaire.

That, and some really good advice not to follow.

Read Joyeux Noel today, ONLY @ Scryptic Studios.

After a week-long hiatus spent digging himself out from beneath an ever-growing pile of rejection letters, the Ecto returns to his humble origins as a Scryptic Studios columnist and aspiring comic book writer.

This week, the sad but true saga of Shark-Man, Twilife, and the Submission/Rejection Shuffle.

In this week's Running Up That Hill, I interview writers Caleb Monroe, Drew Melbourne, and Joshua Hale Fialkov -- along with editors Jason Rodriguez, Kristen Simon, and the mysterious TEFKAT – to find the answers to Everything I Always Wanted to Know About the San Diego Comic-Con, and Wasn't Afraid to Ask.

In this week's Running Up That Hill, Elton ponies up a three-page script-to-page comparison of his upcoming first published story, "Fall of the Triumvirate," and shares 4 valuable lessons -- or perhaps only 2? -- that he learned from collaborating on this story with (should be) award-winning artist Juan Romera.

Read The 4 Things I Learned from Sequential Suicide today!

In this week's column, Elton spills the beans (well, only a couple of them for now) on his upcoming, first-ever submission for a comic book series, TWILIFE, and shares his fascination with adapting novels and short stories into comic book form. Plus, he proclaims Meltdown to be the most surprisingly wonderful book in years!

Presenting part one of a special two-part, column-spanning interview with Jason Aaron, writer of the Vietnam War mini-series THE OTHER SIDE and the ongoing crime series SCALPED, both for Vertigo (including an exclusive script-to-page comparison of four pages from THE OTHER SIDE #1!)

Read Jason Aaron: The Deluxe Interview - Part 1 in this week's edition of my weekly column, Running Up That Hill.

And be sure to tune in tomorrow for Part 2, appearing exclusively in Caleb Monroe's Making Good column.

In the spirit of the season, Elton gets all earnest and heartfelt as he talks about a recurring dream of France, artists reinventing themselves, and how there are only four degrees of separation between him and Aimee Mann.

And a little bit about comic books, too!

Read Dreams of France, and 4 Degrees from Aimee Mann today!

In last week's Running Up That Hill, we learned the shocking truth about how Elizabeth Genco's butt inspired Elton to get serious about his writing. This week, Elton answers the question of the ages (“Where do you get your ideas?”) while introducing us to bizarre concepts like MindSpace, Idea Balloons, and an Aimee Mann Christmas album.

Plus, Elton reveals the titles of 2 of his next 4 comic book projects, all while referring to himself in the third person as “the Ecto” (and with a straight face no less!)

Read MindSpace, Idea Balloons, and Aimee Mann's Christmas Album today!