Rose: What about you? You ever going to date again?
Aya: I'm not in a hurry.

Rose: Haven't had your eye on anybody?
Aya: Oh, I've had my eye on plenty of them. Swim team guys, nonbinary fashionistas, horse girls, hipster sadboys, that one cool lesbian with the green and purple hair...

Rose: Hold up, one of these things is not like the others. Green and purple hair?
Aya: It doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure she's taken.

Rose (mischievous): You never know unless you try.
Aya (looking away): Right now I just want to try to get some lunch before I have to sling coffee all night.

(EXTERIOR: Aya's car entering the Food Baron parking lot)
Rose: Uh, from the grocery store?
Aya: What? I like their deli sandwiches.
 

Chapter 2 | Page 10: Plenty

Wait a minute, that’s where Nate works! 😲

One thought on “Chapter 2 | Page 10: Plenty

  1. wow.
    can’t believe it.
    decide to re-read favorite webcomic from a long time ago.
    prepared to see website taken down and domain seized.
    but what I actually see is a bitching re-boot! and oh boy, I like what I see.

    FUCK YEAH, Nick! This is awesome! Your writing and drawing skills have gotten much better over time! I’m really hyped, this just made my day!

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[FANART] Rose by Stuart Gipp

I started out 2026 by getting knocked on my ass by the flu. I’m starting to feel better now, but not enough to get a comic done, so I wanted to share some fanart.

I recently received this great Rose from Stuart Gipp. He’s the British one off of Retronauts, the creator of Merry Hell, and overall a quality individual. Thanks Stu!!

We’ll be back next week with a new comic, unless I cough too hard and break my lung.

[NSFW-ish] Merriment will now commence

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I think we can all enjoy skimpy Santa suits. Rose certainly does!

If you want to get rid of the suit so you can focus on that great Santa hat alone, you know where to go.

This is actually a remake of a much older Christmas post I did way back in 2003, when Keenspace was a thing.

I may have improved a little since then. I do love that strategic foot placement, though.

And Rose has certainly gotten thiccer and less sickly over time! Good for her, I’m glad to see she’s eating.

Anyway, I hope you have a great holiday and a fantastic new year! We’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming next week.

Non-Thanksgiving-Related Fanart

Happy Thanksgiving! It’s totally in deference to that sacred holiday that I am taking this week off.

It’s definitely not because my tablet stylus broke and it’s really expensive to replace because it’s super old, why do you ask?

Anyway, here’s some art of Rose and Aya from my friend Mea. I love her interpretation of these characters!

You can get your own commission like this by reaching Mea on her Bluesky.

Anyway, I hope you have fun getting high with your cousins or however you choose to celebrate the day.

Sorry for not drawing Rose in, like, a sexy turkey costume, but maybe next year!

Treading Ground REBOOTS on March 20th!

We’re Going Back To The Start!

If you’re a TG Patron, you’ve been reading a never-released project I called Treading Ground Season 2, a followup to the original webcomic featuring Miranda as the main character.

That’s not even Tracy’s final form

It was a fun project, but eventually I realized that before I could move forward in the TG universe, I needed to take a fresh look at its origins.

TG Has Been Around A LONG Time

I started work on Treading Ground 22 years ago, with the comic debuting on Keenspace on October 13, 2003. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no YouTube. Even MySpace was only a few months old!

The original “First Comic,” before later restructures removed it from the archive. Nothing like wacky roommate antics that were already tired in 2003!
The original “First Comic,” before later restructures removed it from the archive. Nothing like wacky roommate antics that were already tired in 2003!

While I’m still happy overall with my work on the comic, it is, uh, of its time. There’s a lot of early-2000s edgelord humor and questionable narrative decisions, especially in those first few years. I always knew I’d do things differently from the start if I had the chance.

Well, now I have the chance.

I’m 22 years older and wiser since TG debuted. I’m a better artist and writer, I’ve worked on many more creative projects, and I’ve learned a lot about the craft of writing and just life in general.

And instead of just trying to fix old stuff, I can really expand this story and fully explore these characters in a way I couldn’t before. It’s time to put all that experience to good use!

New character designs!

What To Expect From The Reboot

  • Familiar Characters, New Story – You’ll see a lot of characters you know from the original comic, but their backgrounds, interactions, appearances, and personalities will take some different turns.
  • Bigger and Better – The original TG comic was around 250 strips total. I already have more pages than that written for the Reboot, and I’m not even halfway done. We’re in it for the long haul, and we’ll have a lot more time with these characters!
  • The Face to Face Prequel Is Still Canon – I’ve been planning this Reboot for a long time. When I wrote Face to Face, I wanted it to bridge the gap. The story of how Nate and Tracy got together fits nicely into the original narrative, but it also sets the stage for the Reboot. As for what happened between them after that, well, we’ll see!
  • Older Cast – If you did the math in the Prequel, you know at least that in [Current Year], Nate is 27 and Tracy is 29. The other characters will be aged up to roughly match. It’s not as much as the rest of us have aged in these last 22 years, but it will certainly add some more dimension to the characters.

It All Starts Next Week!

If you follow me elsewhere, you may know that I haven’t exactly been great about keeping this a secret, but it’s fantastic to finally be able to announce it officially.

As always, Patrons get the comic one week early, so they’re already reading the new stuff! If you don’t want to wait, why not jump on in?

I’m excited to bring you more Treading Ground, and I think you’re going to love what I’m cooking up!