What’s the full story? That’s a bit more in depth, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I didn’t realize it’s been over two months since an update. That kind of slipped by me. This comic has been penciled for about a month, then it was inked for about a month. I had the time, I just worked on other projects. It seems like I always have several projects going, and maybe 10% of them ever see the light of day. Of those, maybe 10% actually go anywhere. I’m trying to get traction in other avenues, plus I have a family, so scheduling conflicts are becoming more and more a reality. The comic is a time and money sink, so it gets cut from the project list early.

That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it, but I had to remember why I started it to begin with. YAWC is a drawing board for me, really. It’s an experiment. I never intended for it to be a big thing. If I wanted to make a big thing, I think I’d start fresh. The comic will always live in some form or fashion, however. It’s a scratch pad, a place that’s safe to experiment, because it was designed that way. And it made it to the 1% of projects that has actually gone anywhere, so I’m pretty happy with that.

So I apologize in advance, but the update schedule will be rocky. I’ll update as much as I can around everything else. I hope you continue to enjoy reading it as much as I continue to enjoy producing it, and thanks for your patience.

They were originally intended to be part of the “extra” stuff for Book 2, and I wasn’t going to post them until the books were in peoples’ hands. That’s not an issue now, so enjoy these four comics as an update.

The comics start here:
http://www.yawcomic.com/2009/09/22/304-concerned-citizens/

And the story line starts here:
http://www.yawcomic.com/2009/09/13/302-meet-bill/

1) Timing: I wanted to be able to get books to everyone by Christmas, but I probably should have waited to do the Kickstarter until I was updating regularly again. Not only would I have had more traffic, but all this time I spent on the book took me away from other projects (including the comic itself). I think, as usual, I tried to bite off a bit too much.

2) Best fans ever: Not that I didn’t already know this, but I have the best fans ever. Look at what you guys managed to do! It’s incredible! Seriously, if someone told me this would happen I would not have believed them. I need higher reward levels because, man, you guys are amazing. I got some feedback, but perhaps I should have gotten more, because I missed some great reward opportunities, and y’all deserve the best.

3) It’s not so bad: Becoming someone who sells stuff, that is. I have long been afraid that it would fundamentally change the relationship I have with my readers, and that I wouldn’t like it. That it would become insincere. I’m certainly not thinking that anymore. I think it actually helped, in a way. Also,

4) I need to better engage you guys: Right now, I really just stick to Twitter. I’m still not convinced that comments on the web page is the right thing, and Facebook just plain isn’t doing anything besides draining time I could be drawing. Forcing people to come to Twitter isn’t quite right, though, and it is a very transitory medium anyway. I’m thinking of getting rid of Facebook (don’t worry, you can still get the RSS feed) and trying to find an open way to have better discussions. I’m open to suggestions. Don’t worry, Twitter’s not going anywhere. I just want to be more accessible to y’all.

Thanks so much, again! Maybe in a little while, when my numbers jump up a bit, we can try again. I’ll keep an eye on the stats, you guys keep an eye on the comics, and we’ll all keep having fun.

Lou

If you haven’t heard about Kickstarter, it’s a way to raise support for projects, and nobody pays unless all the funding comes through. Basically, it’s a method of collecting pre-orders. For more information, you should check out the site. It’s a neat idea!

It’s not often I ask people to share my posts, so if you would be willing to consider this next one I’d greatly appreciate it. Of course, if comics aren’t your thing, I totally understand. You’re a great bunch of people with a diverse range of interests, and I get that. Thanks for being so cool, everyone!

By the way, I haven’t put the guest strip on my site in the comic rotation, so you’ll need to click that link to check it out. It will make its way into the gallery at some point, but that isn’t on the RSS feed. If you follow the feed or only follow me on Facebook, you NEED to go to Bill’s site to see the comic.

You can find the podcast in episode 67 of The D6 Generation podcast at about 2:38 in (that’s hours:minutes, yes).  It’s a great show about gaming, too, so for those of you who do like games the whole thing is a good investment of your ears’ time.  They savage Agricola, which is a game I like, but they make many valid points about it.  It’s not the most accessible of games.

As far as updates go, I will post tonight.  I have had a busy week with extracurricular activities, but I should be free of obligations for a while and I’m too broke to go hang out downtown drawing.  Since I’ll be homebound, I’ll have plenty of time to build a fire and put out a comic tonight.

* Common wisdom is you get to use the exclamation point three times in your writing career.  Mine is officially over.

• All the comics are now in a storyline.  All of them.  Every.  Last.  One.
• All comics are also tagged with all of the main characters present.
• Tags have been added for the minor characters with names…even if those names have never been used in the comic proper.  Just what IS her bosses’ name.  Trivia!
• Also, I have added a tag “Company” for corporate-related comics. Perfect for your next meeting!
• All images have been fixed, including missing comics and thumbnails.
• All links in comic posts have been fixed.  I plan on fixing the apostrophe next.
• A gallery is in the process of being added.  It’s half-fast right now, but hold tight.  I should have it all up by the end of the week.  This replaces the gallery code that I never did roll forward with the other upgrades.
• I added a limited shop function!  All comics are available in print form, and the originals from roughly 95 on are available.  I think they’re all marked appropriately, but I’ll let you know if not.  They’re “Not Available” if I don’t have them, “Sold” if I already sold them (just a handful) and “Available” otherwise.  Shoot me an e-mail if you have any questions, prints before roughly 100 are all shapes and sizes.

I hope you guys enjoy this!  It should be snappier, so that’s a plus.  If you’re seeing oddities such as menu bars being garbled or missing icons, that should settle out over the next day.  It’s a result of changing servers (well, technically, directory structures) and will go away eventually.  If you still see noise by the end of the week, let me know.

Also, I hope you guys enjoy the original art/prints function.  For nearly four years I have felt weird taking money for my art.  There are professionals out there (I have linked a subset of them exhaustively) who deserve that money.  I finally realized that I’ve put enough money into sharing my doodles with you that I don’t feel bad about recouping some of that.  Trust me, I won’t be making a profit unless you guys buy out every comic I’ve ever drawn by the end of the year.  It’s there if you want it, and it would definitely make me very happy.  If you’re happy with a low-res print on your dorm printer, that’s cool, too.  Enjoyment is the Prime Directive, so to speak.

Thanks, guys.  Can you believe it’s just about four years?  I can’t, and it’s because I have the best fans a cartoonist could ask for.  If it weren’t for you, I would never have made it to year one.  Congratulations to you guys, these upgrades are my thank you.

Lou

But short post long, I will be returning to the drawing board and the next post will be Wednesday July 14th, just two short weeks away.  I am definitely in a lot better frame of mind now, and there is no significant chance that I will decide to end it at this point.  That’s a good thing as I see it, because I think we can all agree on one thing:  If there’s one thing the Internet is short on, it’s poorly-executed amateur comics by young, white males.

I am not creating the comic I want to create.  I am not giving you my best work.  I never set out for this to be my magnum opus of course, but I still expect it to reflect my work towards improvement.  I have been taking shortcuts and putting out comics simply to have an update, and that is wrong.  It doesn’t help me get better, and it doesn’t give you the entertainment you’ve come to expect.  Worse, for you new readers you expect less out of me, which doesn’t keep me on my creative toes.

I simply have hit a creative wall.  There is so much going on right now that I need time to regroup and recalibrate.  It’s not a time issue, in fact I spent a good 15 hours this week playing Red Dead Redemption.  That’s enough for three comics, at least.  I have been putting out garbage, detritus which shames me, and I can’t in good conscience keep doing so.

There’s a small chance I may end the comic.  Unlikely, but possible.  If so, I’ll undoubtedly replace it with some other creative endeavor.  Also, I will have a proper ending.  I don’t know how long it will run, but I know how I want it to end and I will give you that satisfaction.  You should be comforted by that.  At least, that was my intent.

I hope you, my loyal readers, understand.  If not, well, I didn’t give you much to go on besides “I don’t want to, wah wah wah”.  I can’t say I blame you for not understanding.  But if you don’t understand, I do request your patience.  As always, I am available by e-mail and I highly encourage you to follow me on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/LouManglass).  Any comic news appears there first, so it’s worth checking out.

I will most likely be making changes in the next few months as well, as I decide what kind of future I want for my comic.  I have a small (but awesome!) readership, so commercializing it is right out at this point.  That doesn’t mean I couldn’t start advertising and such.  A change I am most likely going to make is closing down my Facebook site.  I have someone in mind to start a fan page which everyone can follow, and I will post instructions as to how to get my comic’s RSS feed integrated in to your Facebook, er, whatever it’s called.  I may even create a Facebook app, if that’s your thing.  I don’t know yet, but know that if I do close the Facebook account I will not leave you Facebookers hanging.  If anything, I’ll give you more options.

That’s all for now.  If you have any questions, I always accept comments.  Please e-mail, call, tweet, what-have-you and I shall respond.

Thanks for all the laughs, guys!  I remain yours,

Lou