Well, that’s the end of it. Now you know the story of Jimmy’s and Charlie’s past. Will they get together in the future? Time will tell. But for now, consider this chapter closed.
Sincere thanks to everyone for indulging me these last few weeks. It was important for me to do this. I know longer story lines aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they help me from going stir crazy. It helps me shake the cobwebs off, creatively-speaking. It’s easy for me to fall into a “talking heads” kind of situation and these longer story line with their specific demands help me break free of that.
I suppose if I wasn’t completely afraid of alienating people this storyline could have gone on a little longer. There were a few contrivances that I used to get the characters where I needed them to be. But, compared to when I first introduced Charlie and wandered, lost in the desert for two months, I think this was a nice piece of economical story telling.
Agghh. You know what? I feel like I’ve been defending this story line since day one. I need to stop that. The majority of you – and I’m talking, like 95% of you – have been great. So encouraging and helpful. I really appreciate it. I need to stop apologizing for doing a longer story line.
I have a bad habit of defending myself before I’m even attacked and I can see that being very annoying to people who are already on my side. So you know what? This story line was AWESOME and I had a blast doing it.
What else is there to say? Well, I’m working on a t-shirt design for “KISS EACH OTHER WITH YOUR MOUTHS” and I’m going to see Watchmen this weekend. Other than that, Cami is having a girls night out and I’m going to do more comic stuff this evening.
It’s been a stressful week for me. I had my first performance review at my new job, my first physical in 15 years, a midterm and worked hard to try and end this storyline in a way I could be proud of. I had a lot on my plate. So I think now I’m just looking forward to relaxing a little bit.
We’re back to regular comics on Monday. It’s a safe bet I’ll be talking about Watchmen.
THANKS AGAIN AND HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Permalink to this comment
Tom,
The story arc was a good one. If you can’t stretch yourself creatively you will never grow and arcs like this are a good jumping off point. I’d like to see another one in the future. Although I will admit the ending of this was kind of cheeseball reminded me a lot of a romantic comedy ending.
Anyways just wanted to say trust your instincts they got you this far and this many readers so you must be doing something right.
Permalink to this comment
I thought it would have been more cheeseball for them to walk into the sunset together. Instead, I wanted to leave it more open-ended.
But I appreciate your compliments all the same. I’m glad you enjoyed the arc!
Permalink to this comment
Tom,
I am shocked that you didn’t take the time to incorporate any kind of Watchmen angle these past weeks and chose to focus on this backstory. Unfortunately you have almost a good month and a half until another major movie comes out. It just surprises me that as the comic guru you are, you didn’t want to get a piece of the action here. Oh well. Keep up the good work.
Permalink to this comment
I like it a bit more when you are directally commenting on movies, but this story wasen’t too bad. Sounds like you had a heck of a week btw, I don’t care for performance reviews myself.
Permalink to this comment
Shaun,
Chalk it up to bad timing, I guess. I still plan on covering Watchmen next week, though. Reactions to it, I suppose, rather than anticipation for it.
Truthfully, I haven’t been all too hot on Watchmen. Too much footage out there and Zach Snyder at the helm doesn’t endear me to it.
Permalink to this comment
Hi,
It’s the first time i’m commenting here, but i have been following your comic for a while now. This storyline was okay – but it dragged a little too long.
As for Watchmen – i suggest sparing yourself the three unbearable hours and do something fun.
Permalink to this comment
Ive actually enjoyed the story line, which is why it probably bothers me, How did they get to the parking lot? What happened to Tom? Why she carrying the hat around all these years?
Permalink to this comment
um… does this mean that Jimmy has done his penance and is riding off into the distance? Or is he still going to be working at the Theater? I don’t want to read too much into it…
Permalink to this comment
Shawn,
There were a few leaps in time to help wrap things up. I probably could have stretched things out another week. But more than a month was kind of pushing it. How did they get to the parking lot? They walked there after having their heart-to-heart. What happened to Tom? Probably distracted by a shiny object. Where was Charlie keeping the hat? Her purse!
Jesee,
I never thought about the broader implications of Jimmy riding off into the sunset in the last panel. But rest assured he’s not going anywhere. Working at the theater might have started as penance, but the transformation into a better person worked, didn’t it? Now he has a purpose.
Thanks for reading!
Permalink to this comment
The lighting in this one – especially the second panel – is really cool. Good job!
I liked this arc (and the others) a lot, perhaps because I’m not as into movies as most of the comic’s audience probably is. I enjoy seeing the characters developed some more once in a while.
Permalink to this comment
Hello, relatively new reader here (I followed a link a week before you started the arc and stuck around). Have to say you’ve done a great job and a nice arc plot here. Tying in a bit of back story I hunted my way through earier added resonance to everyone involved. A little criticism though, the ending felt a bit rushed. She appears, accepts his story as only Hollywood fantasy could and suddenly we jump to an end.
It’s a little irritating how good this plot is right up until the last bit, where it feels like we’ve all missed a comic strip somewhere.
I know your eager to get on to Watchmen (who isn’t?) but afterwards, if you’ve got time, it might be an idea to see this from Cammi and Charlie’s perspective for a week. I think it would help in the long run.
I mean it’s easy to predict that Tom is going to drag his wife into a convoluted plot to throw Jimmy and Charlie together again (that will more than likely fail)…
I’ll stop there, I’m reading too far ahead.
So, over all, great arc and character development, just needs the ending tweaked.
Permalink to this comment
Hey, Thomas. Thanks for your feedback. I don’t disagree the ending was rushed. Again, if this was a full-fledged story comic like Questionable Content, I could probable get into things a little more. But I feel obligated to balance that with the more current stuff.
That’s a good idea about having the story re-examined from Charlie and/or Cami’s perspective in the future. I might explore that after the blockbuster season is over this summer.
Also, there is no guarantee that Charlie and Jimmy are getting back together. But things are considerably better in their relationship then when they first parted ways.