For about three months, I’ve wrestled with the idea of pulling the webcomic I draw and write offline. It’s been a while since I’ve done an edition of “Brothers in Virtual Arms.” There’s are a myriad reasons for not doing one. I hate excuses. But it feels right to explain how my creative process works.
Within the comic exist three separate entities. One is a storyline involving Steve Jobs and Tiger Woods. Another involves the day-to-day lives of four friends. A third splinter is something called “Angry John Rants.”
I stopped the “Steve Jobs” storyline when he got sick. I waited for him to get better. He did. But I didn’t have any fresh material, so it sat shelved. When I started to churn some fresh material, Tiger Woods decided to have sex with almost everyone but me. I took the high road, figuring Tiger needed time to recover. About a month ago, I figured I would continue the strip.
Compounding the problem is the Web site design. I mistakenly deleted my previous design and the pages look like the generic template. I don’t know when I’ll get around to designing a new version.
However, I’m not a very good artist. I’m a better designer. In looking at some of my favorite Webcomic strips, I realized that my work fails by comparison, and that’s not good in a market SATURATED with entries. I also don’t have a workflow that I can stand by. I could go on and on with the excuses. The point is that while I have some great ideas for continuing BVA, I’m not sure I will and I’ve given myself until Feb. 15 to make a decision.
I have, however, restarted Galactic Milk, my science fiction writing experiment (http://galacticmilk.twodoorspress.net). To refresh, I wanted to will myself to write 2,000 words a day. Each of those 2,000 words would be one chapter. I wanted to take my love of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” and a number of other science fiction properties and write a funny space opera.
As it’s an experiment, I don’t do much editing, save what I catch before I press publish (and after I press publish). I’m through 24 chapters. I’ve penned about 44,000 words. I’ve also included Web-based references for many of the pop culture items I’ve included in the tome.
So, I’ll ask you to read it. My goal is to update it once a day until it ends, and, I predict it will end around Chapter 40. I’ll also have a great “I read Galactic Milk” T-shirt available this weekend.
If you liked the comic, please let me know. It may return as something else. It may not return. However, if you enjoyed it, please let me know that, too.
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I know exactly what you’re going through. I did it with my webcomic KAT AND MOUSE: GUNS FOR HIRE a few years ago. I ended up pulling it offline. It, too, was not up to par with some of the webcomics out there.
So I also turned to the webfiction serial format and revived KAT AND MOUSE: GUNS FOR HIRE as a serial story. Found I did lots better with that version–it’s been running since December 2008 (currently on break while I play catch up).
I ran into Galactic Milk once, forgot the link, and am happy to run into it again.
Ace, thank you for the nice note and taking the time to write. Some days you can feel like the only one embroiled in a situation like this. i bet others can benefit from the reflection we take on our work as well, so maybe this post helps. I’ve added your blog and Kat to my Google Reader. Again, thanks!
I always enjoy your comic and I like your artistic style — it’s what I prefer. *shrugs*
I’m kicking myself for still not reading Galactic Milk, but now that I know there’s a t-shirt I can buy, I may have too.