The Update Archive:
Communiques from Comus, 2000-2001

Three years' worth of updates on one page can tax anyone's web browser... which is why I've decided to give my earliest (pre-2002) entries a page of their own...

(note: links in the updates below -- especially to other websites & E-mail addresses -- may no longer be active)

12 December 2001
Here it is folks - the last update... of 2001, that is. (Gotcha!)

A new (semi) sequence in Miscellania is the reason for this update. Also, here's a link to an online article about Hiyao Miyazaki's newest film (as usual, a monster hit in Japan), Spirited Away, about a girl whose parents are... turned into pigs! See if the description in this article doesn't sound like a visit to the Funhouse (emphasis added by yours truly):

"Spirited Away centers on the Pollyanna-esque transformation of a sulky 10-year-old named
Chihiro. She and her parents take a wrong turn on a drive and wind up in WHAT SEEMS LIKE
A DESERTED THEME PARK. When the grown-ups turn into pigs after tucking into A BUFFET
THAT APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE, Chihiro must find a way to return them to human form.
Meanwhile, she learns to fend for herself — and care for others — in the fantasy land occupied
by various spirits, kindly and malicious..."

(I'll move this link into That's Transformation next time I update that pavillion...)

And the count as of 2 seconds ago: 39,757.

25 November 2001
Boy, life just doesn't get any less complicated as you go along...

Down to brass tacks: a new pavilion just for you overlooked dragon TF fans out there, the Szechuan Fire Restaurant; also, the Funhouse is now a member of the new Animal Transformation Webring. If the HTML patch worked, you should see a new navigation panel on the Funhouse's opening page.

And tonight's count: 38,420

16 October 2001
NOW the Funhouse is back online!

I have no idea why Dreamweaver is suddenly extending all my link addresses with the storage file info, which is just what you DON'T need attached once the files are uploaded onto the server; go figure.

Anyway, I've gone in and revised just about every screwy link by hand to eliminate the erroneous info - with the exception of THIS page, which must have a zillion links on it since I opened the Funhouse. So until further notice, DON'T try to use ANY of the links below this point on this page. Okay, here's further notice: as of Jan 2002, links have been repaired!!! Thanks! And as for today's count: 35,979.

Well, I guess I owe everybody an explanation...

Prior to my disastrous update of 3 days ago, I had consolidated all my TF pictures (both original, large-file versions and rendered for web display smaller files) and Funhouse HTML pages from several zip discs and burned them onto a single CD-Rom...

For some mysterious, arcane reason, when I copied everything onto the CD Rom, the file extensions automatically rewrote themselves & everything became a variation on "E:\\pagemill\original name of file" (Pagemill was the original web design program I used way back when, & the name of the folder I put my files in to upload.) Don't ask me why, it's all beyond me.

Anyway, am I glad I saved those original zip discs! (I'm still thanking the goddess for that 'just in case' caution I felt.) I've gone back to them, updated the pages & uploaded them directly to the Funhouse. Things should be under control now. (Guess my next update came a little quicker than I'd originally planned.) Happy TF's everyone!

09 October 2001
Finally, a long overdue update - and probably my last one for a while.

I've spent the last month or so trying to improve my RL circumstances and as of tomorrow I'm about to begin a new job (as in employment, as in income...) The items I'm adding today have been ready to go up for a few weeks, but I figured it was time to add them to the Funhouse before my leisure time goes poof. The new additions: A new pavilion dedicated to Real World Transformation(?), a superb story by Mr. F in That's TF! - and an accompanying illustration by yours truly, which can be accessed by itself in Miscellania.

While I may not be adding much to the Funhouse over the next few months, TF ideas are always percolating inside this head of mine, and I can promise 'll be thinking about them even while I'm at work. I can also guarantee I'll be back just after New Year's day to announce the Circe's Funhouse SECOND Anniversary Contest. As in the 1st contest, the prize will once again be an original TF picture drawn by yours truly to your (that's you) specific TF specifications. (Also, this time around I'll make sure to clarify the rules so I only have to do one picture!)

Today's count: 35,123.

18 August 2001
Two updates today! First, a really cool picture added to That's TF! - a Bart Simpson TF (!) from a Simpsons comic book Halloween story called 'Bart People,' a spoof of the Cat People movie. Over the years, The Simpsons TV show has featured more than its share of TF/morphic imagery (more than Seinfeld, at any rate): Lisa turning into a snail and camel in separate episodes, Bart as the Raven in the very first Halloween special, Homer as an ape, Homer & Bart as Yogi & BooBoo, a vulture that was a dead ringer for Mr. Burns - and that's not even mentioning numerous fursuit gags along the way...

The second update: A Funhouse oldie, Unda Da' Sea (in the Miscellania pavilion) has been revised into an almost twice-its-original-size version. I happened to take a look at it today & realized it was tiny onscreen - but no longer!

Today's count, as of right now: 32,578.

8 August 2001
Whew! At long last, feast your eyes on the long-promised, second prize winning picture (that means it's the second of the two winners, not the 2nd-place winner, okay?) of the

Just like the first one, I think you'll agree it was worth the wait. Wanna see it already? Just click here, on the contest logo above! And if you like a little prose to go with your TF art (or want to know the picture's 'backstory'), visit Miscellania to read the intro

A lot of goodies have been streaming in from Funhouse fans over the last several months, including a bunch of great TF stories. I finally sat down and added them to ...As Seen By Others, too. Sorry I haven't had a chance to update sooner, but I've been way busy; hope this update makes up for making you wait.

And as for the counter: 31,590.

22 June 2001
Not an update this time around, although stuff (especially from some of the Funhouse's fans) is beginning to seriously back up. I'm just taking a brief break from RL to do a little housekeeping.

For starters, for some reason the Funhouse opening page appears as code gibberish; not sure when or why this happened, but I'll try to reload the page & see if that fixes it up. And as long as I'm reloading my opening page, I've added links to 2 new transformation webrings that might possibly accept the Funhouse; apparently you have to put up the link info FIRST, and THEN they tell you whether you've been accepted or not. I can't figure it out either, but well see what happens.

29 May 2001
A request from the Artist Formerly Known As 'FFM:' from here on in, he prefers to be known as 'Mr. F' Okay, Mr. F, your wish is our transformation.

Two more pictures I neglected to add to As Seen By Others in yesterday's update: one more from the selfsame Mr. F, and the Funhouse's very first animated transformation. It's an animated GIF from another Funhouse Fan we'll call 'Bear' (unless of course he asks for a different name too). If you can't figure out what TF it is from the artist's name, and you'll just have to take a look at it...

Oh yes, and the counter: right now it reads 27,738.

28 May 2001
Okay, I promise - from now on, I'm not going to make a big deal about the counter. I'll just quietly add it in at the bottom of each update. Promise.

Anyhoo, As long as I'm on roll with these May updates, here's one last one. As promised last time, here's the first batch of revamped images in the Donkeydope Pavillion. If you think you've seen these already, you're in for a treat. Also, 1 more new pigpic in the Dessert Parlour, another new FFM pic in As Seen By Others, and maybe even another goody or two along the way.

And as for the counter: right now it reads 27,406. (See, I didn't make a big deal out of - WHOOPEE, YEEHAHAHA...)

21 May 2001
If I thought the counter had been flying before... well, I've never seen anything like this since I opened the Funhouse: in the first 24 hours after the last update, it registered a 325 leap in visitors - wow! And as of a moment or two ago, it read 26,636 - a 750+ increase in just 4 days.

A mini-update this time around, led off by new art in As Seen By Others by one of the Funhouse's very, very first fans, and superb artist in his own right: "FFM." Feel free to E-mail him - he'd like to hear from you.

In the meantime, I'm about to start a long-overdue campaign to rescan & reprep some of the images with which I first opened the Funhouse over a year ago. I was still unfamiliar with working with the web at the time, so a lot of those pics went up with less-than-stellar size and toning. Hopefully this will make them much more palatable to the eye, and you should start seeing some of those revised images with the next update. Oh, and by the way - I owe an apology of sorts to Eala Dubh: I guess I made the same mistake as George Harrison and was unconciously inspired by his "One Temple Too Many" picture featured on his website when I drew my "Temple of the Alligators" picture for the 2001/20001 Contest winner. I didn't even realize it until I revisted his site a few days ago. Sorry Eala - I'm molting in embarassment!

17 May 2001
Wow, did the counter take off after the last update! On the average, over 100 visitors are now visiting Circe's Funhouse every day, and as of a few moments ago, the counter read 25,875.

Let's see if we can keep things cooking with a really, really big update this time around: First, a heapin' helpin' of fresh lard hog in Circe's All-U-Can-Eat Dessert Parlour, some more horsy hi-jinx at the Sexy Stable (including 2 new pictures and some major tweaks to some of the pics I added last week - can you spot the changes?), a new starting-off TF pic in Lion Taming While-U-Wait, and from out of the Archives, a busty pin-up of Saurina in all her reptillian glory.

What's that? Oh, I almost forgot - how silly of me. Ah yes: I'm proud to unveil - at long last - the first winning picture in the glorious

How could I have forgotten? Wanna see the darn picture already? For the proper dramatic effect, go to In A While - Crocodile! and read the ever-so evocative introduction before viewing this contest-winning transformation in all its glory. (Or just click on the Contest graphic to go right to the picture if you can't wait.)

For those who are new to the Funhouse, or in case you've forgotten, read all about how the Contest started and how it ended. And in the meantime, let's all congratulate winner "Volk-Oboroten" for his inspiring request to yours truly: this is my very first attempt at colouring one of my pictures using Photoshop (in place of my previous medium of coloured pencils) - I don't think it came out half bad at all. (And yes, I know the contest promised the winner a black & white picture, not a colour one - but to paraphrase Monty Python, "I could be colouring on my own time...")

Anyway, now it's time for me to get to work on the picture requested by Contest co-winner "Dopester Donkey" - something for the next update, perchance?

I have to confess I've already thought up a new contest for the Funhouse's second anniversary in March of next year, so you folks who'd like a Comus drawing of your dream transformation have another shot at your wish coming true. I won't be announcing the new contest until January rolls around, so put on your thinking caps in the meantime...

11 May 2001
Sorry, nothing new today. I was finally able to get the Funhouse online after my upload so I came back in to tweak 1 or 3 things from the upload. But, oh yeah -over 240 hits in a little over 24 hours since the update - way cool!

9 May 2001
Three months? Where the hell have I been? Busy as hell, that's where! I even missed commemorating the Funhouse's first birthday back on March 9. Now that things are even busier, I've decided to spend time on a (way too) long overdue update to the Funhouse. (Don't ask why - that's just the way my mind works.)

First off, there's a whole mess of new pictures in The Sexy Stable. (Actually, they've been languishing in the archives just about forever.) The Stable's intro page has promised "More Pictures Soon" since the Funhouse first opened - and at long last, here they are. These pics actually depict the goings-on at the Stable that are lovingly described on the intro page, as opposed to the plain-vanilla TF sequence that's been there since day 1. Enjoy the bunch of them, all you wanna-be horses out there!

Speaking of equines, I also posted another new pic (again, new to the Funhouse, but languishing in my "Must Finish" file for way too long): "Sisters of Circe." The pic can be found both in The DonkeyDope Pavilion and Miscellania (since its TF is taking place outside the good ol' DD pavilion itself.) It was inspired by the story of the same name by "Lampwickxxx" in The Transformation Story Archive - here's to you, Lampy.

The big news is that THE FIRST OF THE 2001/20001 PRIZE WINNING PICTURES IS ALMOST FINISHED! Yep, that's right! - so I decided to spend time on prepping archive pictures to go up first. (Again, don't ask why.) I can promise you it will be a doozy, and it also means there'll be another update in the very near future, to make up for the long interval between this and the previous one.

And yes, the counter; well, it's cracked the 25,000 mark (which means the Funhouse has had over 5,000 visitors in just a little over three months!), and is climbing ever northward. As of this upload, in fact, it just hit 25,080.

17 February 2001 - Take 2
Went back in & fixed a couple of bad links off the Attractions page - That's Transformation! and As Seen by Others should be accessible now. Also, I've replaced the opening page logo with a beautiful animated GIF donated by a Funhouse fan who prefers to remain anonymous for the moment. And the Funhouse count: 20,909 as of this morning...

17 February 2001
Well, the contest winners have made their wishes known, and all that remains for me is to get to work....

In the meantime, a whole bunch of new goodies for you all: Three new pavillions, as a matter of fact! Come visit the Hotel Drake, experience That's Transformation! and see the Funhouse through the imaginations of other folks besides myself!

Counter looks to be around 20,800 right about now, by the way.

29January 2001
And in just a few amazingly short weeks the Contest has come to an end; learn how it all turned out by clicking here.

7 January 2001
As of a few moments ago, the Funhouse Visitor Counter reads 18,477; that's an increase of over 500 in less than a week.

Now usually I don't make (that) big a deal over the counter, but starting right now, the counter will be a little bit more important than usual. To find out why, click the graphic - quick!

1 January 2001
Just back from a trip to Jupiter & beyond the infinite... & boy are my arms tired.

Since I'm back - along with TransFur - thought it was time for a bit of an update: new images can be found in In A While...Crocodile!, You're Getting to Be A Rabbit With Me, Bull by the Horns and Miscellania, along with even more overdue & hopefully slicker graphics here 'n there (like the little icons indicating New Images and works done by Guest Artists). A word or two about the "Two Friends" pictures in Miscellania: they (and the previously added "Caught In The Act") were done for "Elwood", the extremely talented proprietor of Elwood's Raccoon Page - who seems to have unfortunately dropped from sight. He was kind enough to send me some absolutely amazing TF art of his own during the year just ended, which I'll be adding to the site shortly. Elwood, if you're out there, please drop me a line!

Thanks to everyone your patience & continued Funhouse patronage. Keep an eye out for the debut of the long promised "That's Transformation" and "...As Seen By Others" attractions! (Oh, and the count is somewhere just slightly south of 17,900 Funhouse visits at the moment...)

27 October
Finally, a few moments to spare for a long overdue, if not quite big enough update. Apologies to one and all, but real life has been a b*tch and 1/2 the last month or two. One big reason for the delay is the intensive class I'm taking in web design. (The payoff - in addition to one of those big-$ new media jobs I've read so much about - will be the long-promised classy new look for the site at some point down the road.)

First, the good news: two new images starring our favorite enchantress make their debut in the Miscellania Pavillion: "Hi, I'm Circe" and "Caught In The Act." This last one is inspired by (but not a literal scene from) "Sticky Fingers," a story of mine appearing in the hallowed Transformation Story Archive (the TF in that story is actually quite a bit different). Also, you can now access my images (except - for the moment - these two new ones) directly at the TransFur Image Archive; but you'll miss all the fun of a Funhouse visit if you don't come here as well!

Now, the sad news: mere weeks after becoming a Furnpike site, the powers that be at that TF-themed site have seen fit to 'ban' the Funhouse together with all other TransFur-based sites from their linkage - something to do with TransFur supposedly being less than technically top-notch. (You can read all the details at this Furnpike page.) So, until this little tiff (or giff, or j-peg, or whatever) is settled, the Furnpike logo will sport its 'verboten' symbol.

Again, thank you all you TFanatics for your suggestions - and pictures - for Funhouse attractions & stories! A pavillion devoted to your contributions is definitely in the pipeline. (Now if I can just remember where I left that pipeline...) Oh, and I just checked the counter (did you really think I'd forget?): as of this moment (11.45pm EDT) Circe's Funhouse is just 2 hits away from welcoming its 15,000th visitor!!!

15 September
Not a real update, just adding the revised intro page for "In A While... Crocodile" that I forgot to upload 2 days ago, along with newly added graphic links on the Funhouse entrance page for the TF-Ring and the Furnpike. The big news: over 250 hits in less than 24 hours following the 13 Sept. update! Looks like the Funhouse is becoming the place for the best in transfortainment! Yesss! (Was that a forked tongue I just saw in front of me...? ;-)

13 September
A slightly bigger than usual update this time, with all sorts of (hopefully) delightfully tempting goodies. (Please pay no attention to any sensations of bodily metamorphosis you may experience as you view these images...) For those of you who are visiting for the first time via the newly added link from the Furnpike website, greetings!
For starters, check out the very first non-Comus illustration to grace the Funhouse: Gator Tan, a new addition to the In A While... Crocodile! Pavillion. I came across this image on an animation art gallery website, a cel for sale from some presumably long-forgotten TV commercial. (Is this guy a regular mascot for this product?) Even though in all likelihood it was never intended as a TF image, its vibe is so perfect I couldn't resist adding it to the Funhouse.
Then it's time to get all bouncy 'n fluffy-tailed with our rabbit friends in Bonita's Bunny Hutch and a major addition to the You're Getting to Be A Rabbit With Me Pavillion, including song lyrics guaranteed to grow a powder-puff on your backside in no time whatsoever! A few of this last batch are rough sketches on lined notepads, doodled when I should've been working, so I beg your apologies in advance.
And oh yeah: as of this update, the counter shows that over 12,500 folks have visited the Funhouse since its opening back in March; thanks once again to all of you!

15 August
Well, the Funhouse has finally broken into the 5 digits - and then some, with a whopping 10,700+ and counting. (I may stop logging the count in these updates now that we've reached this dizzying plateau... then again, I may just keep on doing so, since it's a nice touch for the record books of millennia hence...) That celebration I mentioned in the last update will have to wait a bit, unfortunately (until I figure out what the heck it'll be!). In the meantime, a few new images from Mr. Airwick's Perfume Garden, Lion Taming While-U-Wait and Pig Out!; enjoy!

26 July
Some more aromatic art debuts in Mr. Airwick's Perfume Garden... and boy, if I thought the counter was zooming before, it leapt from 8000 to 9500 in just a few weeks, with close to 100 people visiting the Funhouse daily! At this rate, that counter is going to crack the five-digit, 10,000 mark any day now, which is going to call for a major celebration!

Don't ask me what's causing the surge in traffic (have to confess I don't mind one little bit!) Perhaps my recent addition to the Animal Transformation Archive's art gallery and artists' directory. (Thanks guys, and especially you, Mr. Eala Dubh!) Keep an eye out for more updates, folks; I'm going to try to add art (& maybe other stuff too) on a more regular basis from here on...

7 July
First update in a while, as the visitor counter tops the 8000 mark. A few more pig-tures for your sweet tooth, with more from the archives on the way soon. Also, I may be adding work TF art created by others in a new section, once and if the creators of those images give their OK, and a little further down the road I'm planning a serious upgrade to the site's plain vanilla graphics; stay tuned...

1 June
Wow, what a difference an update makes! The counter increased by over 400 in the space of just 2-3 days since the last update & now nears the 6200 mark! Just two new pictures this time, a small thank you to everyone for their continued Funhouse patronage: check out You're Getting to Be A Rabbit With Me for its first fluffy-tailed image, and the new one in Miscellania. I'm planning a big scan-in blow-out from the archives soon for what will hopefully be a massive update sometime over the next month or two! Also, lots of folks (you know who you are & thanks!) have sent me ideas for Funhouse attractions & even their own illustrations for same; I'm giving serious thought to creating a new attraction devoted to their efforts, tentatively titled "The Funhouse - As Seen By Others." As soon as I check with them & make sure it's OK to add their stuff in... I'll start to add their stuff in!

29 May

Saurina's Bog of Delights and The Sexy Stable both finally feature long-overdue TF sequences - while the counter tops the 5700 mark! (Also, I've (hopefully) fixed the messed-up links to my Donkeydope story in the The Transformation Story Archive that I klutzily added in the previous update.) Stay tuned for more additions - plenty of stuff lurching out of the archives, eager to see the light of day!

15 May

Finally, back behind the computer, for some long awaited updates. Sorry real life has kept me away this long, but hope the new images make up for it a bit. The counter keeps going up (just shy of 4500 last I looked!) even though the Funhouse's been unchanged for a few months - are new people continually discovering the site, are previous visitors constantly checking for new art - or is it just me seeing what number the counter's reached? In any event, "Pig Out! The All-U-Can-Eat Dessert Parlour," "In A While... Crocodile!" and "Miscellania" are now on line, while Mr. Airwick's Perfume Garden and "Saurina's Bog of Delights" have changed a bit (but change is what the Funhouse is all about!), and I've finally added a link from The Donkeydope Pavilion here at the Funhouse to "The Donkeydope Pavilion" story that I contributed to The Transformation Story Archive long ago. (Then again, they finally got around to adding an Email link to my name atop the story, so I guess we're even.) Also, the Funhouse has been invited to join, and is now a proud founding member of the newly formed Sorceress Fetish Web Ring; Circe seems to be quite popular on this ring, so greetings to all you enchantress fans who may have come across the Funhouse for the first time. Let me know what you think - & suggestions for attractions are always welcome!

17 March

1054 hits and counting in just its first week online! The celebration continues with another new image! Joining the fun in the Donkeydope Pavilion: a Winsor McCay homage inspired by his classic, early 20th-century comic strip (no, not Little Nemo in Slumberland) Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: "Animal Condo."

13 March

The Funhouse's first weekend open to the public tallies a staggering 552 hits!!! Thank you, TF fans everywhere! To celebrate, here's the first added-on picture to join the original line-up: "Unda Da' Sea."

11 March

Over 100 hits in the Funhouse's first 36 hours online - yess! Also, the Funhouse joins The TF-Ring!

CIRCE'S FUNHOUSE -- The Origin

Spring 2000 (9 March, to be exact - okay, so winter's not quite over yet...)

Welcome to the on-line (and long-overdue!) grand opening of Circe's Funhouse!

Like most of you, I've had a life-long interest in transformation, specifically human-to-animal transformation. I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated, not to say transfixed by stories & images of metamorphosis I'd read or seen on television. Disney's The Shaggy Dog had to be one of the formative experiences of my childhood; combine that with learning about Greek mythology in elementary school… the many comic books of the period featuring transformation as a plot device… mix it all together in one kid's vivid imagination - and I was hooked at an early age. Why this primal human fantasy spoke to me so strongly - while millions of others who were exposed to the same material never gave it a second thought - is probably a question that can never be answered.

All this exposure to tales of transformation led me to imagine - and to draw - my own transformation ideas, which grew more numerous, and elaborate, as the years passed. Then one day I came to a sudden realization: these various transformations were taking place in a single, magical locale - an amusement park created expressly for that purpose by the most renown enchantress & practitioner of the metamorphic arts of all time - Circe herself!

I kept this realization to myself; it was the mid-1980s and my discovery of furry fandom was still several years in the future. I couldn't help but think of myself as the only person on the planet obsessed by such imaginings; and even if there were others like myself (which there had to be, I would tell myself in more optimistic moments: even if we only constituted the tiniest fraction of humanity, 1% of 1% of the U.S. population still equaled some 25,000 people!), how could I possibly make contact with them without exposing myself to the ridicule of people who would find the whole affair ludicrous?

Then I discovered furry fandom, and an entire subculture of people who shared my related & overlapping interest in anthropomorphic animal characters. I was part of a community, I had a peer group -- I was a furry! And even better, many of these people were also transformation enthusiasts! In short order they led me to Mark Phaedrus' Transformation Story List & the legendary Transformation Story Archive. But the best was yet to come when a random web search for "transformation" I launched one day out of sheer curiosity led me to the Transformation Ring - and the rest is hysteria…

But enough about me. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Duster, Werekatt & especially Picklejuice for posting my 1st publicly displayed transformation art … & the various folks (& friends I've made as a result) who E-mailed to say how much they liked my art they saw on those sites. It was the validation I'd been looking for all my life, & it helped me decide to open the Funhouse to one & all!

And here we are. For want of a better description, this is Circe's Funhouse version 1.0. Rather than wait until I have every picture scanned in from my archive & the entire site designed to a T (a moment of perfection that will probably never arrive), I've put it online in its current condition. As time progresses (and as time allows) I will be posting more images … improving the site's graphics & navigation options … as well as adding new features and links to other sites of related interest. All of these changes will be noted atop this update page as they occur.

So please, browse away if you haven't already done so on your way here. And if you have any comments, critiques, thoughts you'd like to share with me or suggestions for the Funhouse, go for it! Just click right here to Email me like so. (Hey, this crazy technology really works…)

Regards,
Myron J. Comus, Esq., Ph.D., TF