Posts Tagged ‘crying’
9 items.
I don’t know if the theaters in your hometown do this, but at every theater I got to, I am bombarded by STUPID, LOCAL ADVERTISEMENTS! This annoys me to no end because I like to get to the theater early so as not to miss any previews. If you get there too early, being subjected to these ads is the equivalent to Chinese water torture.
In the theater, these ads are placed into a slide projector that automatically forwards. There is usually a mix between local ads and those for Coca-Cola (who has obviously sunk a lot of cash into sponsoring this subtle invasion of privacy). I don’t know whose ads offend me more – the shoddily designed local spots that aggravate my keen sense of composition and information hierarchy. Or the Coca-Cola ads – who’s lame trivia and “fun” games insult my intelligence.
Of course, to top it all off, they’ve got “Movie Tunes” blaring over the PA system before the start of the show. Movie Tunes masquerades itself as a radio station with one of the world’s largest listener-ship. Yeah, you’d have a pretty large listener-ship too if the audience was held captive. That’s like saying Saddam Hussien is the world’s most convincing public speaker.
Does anyone remember a time when you could go into a theater before a movie started and have a nice conversation? To hell with that!
A few things I’ll mention:
I want to give a shout out to Ctrl+Alt+Del. This strip has been getting a lot of attention lately and it’s well deserved. The drawing of this toon is excellent. It’s shaded and colored and looks like an animated short, or something. And the writing is top shelf to boot.
I also got an e-mail from my friend Nick who sent me a really funny short essay about working as a movie-theater projectionist which I will be posting to the site sometime later today. Nick and I are college buddies and he’s been in a couple of strips on the site. Nick graduated an English major, so soon you will be treated to the wonders of correct grammar, spelling and punctuation!
Sometimes I think I spoil you.
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For the record, I did not know that you had included an offer in Cami’s birthday card for a movie until just this evening – a whole DAY after I finished the comic.
Of course, that’s pretty lousy timing and I feel like an ass.
We would gladly have you spend your money on us anytime and thank you profusely afterwords.
Thanks, good buddy. 🙂
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Jan21
Don’t forget to vote for Theater Hopper at BuzzComix so you can see our extra-special incentive sketch! I was really happy with how this one turned out.
Speaking of happy endings, it doesn’t end with the incentive sketch. I’m darn pleased with how today’s comic panned out. As you can see, I broke the traditional 4 panel set up and it feels good. Plus, I’m happy with the script. I think it’s a good joke. I mean, what man *wouldn’t* try to cover up the fact he was watching Steel Magnolias by falsely admitting he was watching porn instead? I like doing the relationship stuff…
But enough bragging. I have VERY important news for all of you.
If you had an account before, please re-register. If you haven’t had a chance to participate in the community, now is an excellent time to start!
If you’ve had a chance to swing by them since our recent server outage, you may have noticed that the forums have a new look. In fact, this is as closely integrated to the overall site design as they have ever been. You can thank Michael Melgares for that. When I put out the call for a little help formatting the forum template pages, he answered and then went above and beyond the call of duty.
Michael instantly understood what I was looking for and took immediate steps to put it into action. Without any prompting from myself, Michael whipped up a demo version of the forums. A couple of small tweaks later and now we have the forum you see today! Michael did in just a few days what probably would have taken me weeks to do otherwise.
To thank Michael, he’ll be given full administrator status in the forum. So for those of you who do business there, please show him the respect he deserves. He’s earned it.
As for the rest of you who wrote in and offered your services, I’m sorry if I couldn’t return a personal note of thanks. Frankly, the outpouring of support was more than I bargained for. A lot of you took your time to write in and I sincerely appreciate it.
I think every web comic creator likes to think that their audience is the most loyal or most intelligent. But I think we have them all beat because we have the largest contingency of both! You guys are awesome. Thanks so much for your help!
Just as a clue to what’s coming down the pike, you can expect to see Micheal’s name popping up more often around here. He’s offered up great suggestions to make the site better. In fact, he’s working on a specialty application right now that I really think is going to add incredible value to the site. I won’t go into details as to what it is, but I can say it will bring a greater level of interactivity to the readers. I’m really looking forward to launching it.
I have a lot of great stuff lined up for the site including additions to the Bonus Materials pages. Guest strips and fan art, for starters (I know, I know. I’ve been talking about that for a while.) Plus a new movie review from my good friend Nick Caster. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for that.
Please take advantage of everything the site has to offer. I’m having a great time assembling everything and I hope you enjoy it.
Talk to you soon!
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I would notify you of the new incentive sketch I had drawn to go along with today’s comic, but as of this writing, buzzComix is experiencing some kind of outage. When their site is back up, I’ll let you know when you can check out the new sketch.
Today’s comic kicks off a new four-comic story arc. It revolves around the opening of Central Iowa’s newest theater, The Century 20.
I know that for most of you, the specifics of this announcement impacts you about as greatly as Kirstie Alley announcing she has a new show on cable announcing she’s fat. But I’ve given myself the challenge to make the experience of a new theater opening in a mid-sized metropolitan community relatable. I’ll FIND a way to make you care!
Hey, if I can do three strips in a row taking shots at the Wynnsong 16, I can unlock a method to make The Century 20 interesting! Trust me, the story line will be good.
Incidentally, Microsoft Word suggested “wincing” as a replacement for “Wynnsong.” See?! Even Bill Gates knows they suck!
The opening of The Century 20 coincides with the opening of the new Jordan Creek Town Center literally 5 minutes from my house. It’s Iowa’s largest retail complex ever and they’re expecting 100,000 people to be in attendance when they cut the ribbon on the place.
I, unfortunately, will be at work.
I think the mall will be nice, but a lot of the stores there are aiming for clients with more liquid amounts of cash. They are also targeting people who don’t care if they’re overspending 20 to 30%.
The real boon to me is the new theater. It didn’t dawn on me until Cami pointed it out a month ago, but in order for us to see any movies in the theater, we have to drive at least two towns over. That’s about 20 minutes in the car each way. Not a big deal cuz I like to drive, but it’ll be nice not to have to fight traffic just to see a simple movie. Especially after a late showing.
I’m also excited for The Century 20 because all the other theaters around us have basically given up trying to make your movie-going experience comfortable or even neutral. For the most part, they seem to go out of their way to annoy and inconvenience you.
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I know today’s comic seems like a partial retread of Friday’s comic, and I apologize for that. But it’s important to show that Charlie feels guilty for what she’s done. Charlie’s guilt over her actions is a necessary character moment in this story arc. One that will have important significance later on.
The implications of what’s being shown to you here should affect how everything else unfolds. Consider it the turning point in the storyline. Introductions are complete. Now it’s time to answer the questions. Why is Charlie being so defensive? What is her reason for coming back home? All of this will be revealed in time immediately following this comic.
An interesting thing happened last week. On Wednesday I asked for feedback because it seemed the readership was being usually mum on the subject of Charlie’s introduction. It turns out they were just being polite. After soliciting everyone, I received some positive feedback, but stronger negative notices. The pacing was too slow and unfunny, they said. It left me with serious doubts as to how I would progress the story.
On the one hand, I wanted to tell the story I wanted to tell and was fairly adamant about telling it in the time span I wanted to tell it.
On the other hand, I felt I was alienating readers who couldn’t see the bigger picture. That once told, Charlie’s full integration into the comic would provide new avenues for commentary when I returned to topic humor.
Sharing this on Friday resulted in a swell of positive feedback. “Don’t listen to them,” they said. “We’re interested in seeing where this goes. Stick with it!”
And so here we are…
I had given thought to suspend the two week story I had been building to return to topical humor for a week, and then pick up where I left off later. I felt it would have been a strong compromise between those looking for easy laughs and digestible humor.
And while I understand the need for that, I feel a stronger need to do what I need to do. So Charlie’s story will continue.
I know that will alienate some of you. All I can say is that I’m sorry. I hope you come back to us at a future date. In all honesty, I’m still trying to figure out how to make this work. Where to sacrifice characterization for laughs while still trying to establish that WITHOUT characterization – without the background knowledge of a character’s motivation and past experiences – those laughs will ring hollow. People won’t know where they’re coming from.
My thought is that the only way to resolve it is to plow through the exposition that gets us from Point A to Point B. Starting this week, you can expect a full week of comics. So come back tomorrow for an accelerated understanding of the Who, What, When, Why and How.
I don’t mean to assign more importance to what I do than it’s worth. But I made an effort to listen to You and now I need to listen to myself. My philosophy is that if I had to choose between being entertaining or lacking integrity as an artist capable of making his own decisions, I would choose the former and not the latter.
Those of you finding it difficult to cultivate your patience, I implore you to stick with it and trust that in the end, it will all be worth it.
Because it will be.
Even if this story line doesn’t cut it for you, allowing me to stretch out creatively in this way keeps me happy. And keeping my happy keeps me motivated. And keeping me motivated brings you one step closer to seeing the kind of comics we laid the foundation of Theater Hopper with. Except better, more involved and richer.
To those who support Theater Hopper unconditionally, your support will always be appreciated with sincerity. Thank you.
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Hey, guys. I’m back!
In case you missed the blog post on Monday, there was no comic due to my experiencing another hard drive crash. The same thing happened to me a year ago and I lost a TON of important information. There was less of an impact this time around because I’ve been backing up all of my art files, music, movies, photos and what not to a pair of Western Digital external passport drives. So once I went out and bought a new intern drive, I was up and running again fairly quickly.
One thing I’ve learned, though, is that I still don’t have enough redundancy on these files. I never used to have hard drive problems like this. In the past, I had machines that slowed down to the point of not functioning from years of disk rewrites and things picked up along the way surfing the internet. But I’ve never had machines outright fail like I have these last couple of years. So now I’m looking at online storage houses like Mozy and CrashPlan to help insure my data further.
I guess in the past I didn’t have as much important data as I do now and I’m finally to the point where I’m not going to take chances with it any more. A monthly investment in off-site data backup has finally penetrated my miserly bubble that kept me from springing for the service in the first place.
Anyway, I’m back and at full strength, so let’s talk about the new comic!
I was very excited to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D over the weekend. But monitoring Twitter (as I do) and reading all the posts from people wetting their pants about Zombieland, I started to experience a little buyers remorse. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you missed out on a cool, new movie. Especially after the extended dry spell we’ve been having at the multiplex lately.
Here’s something messed up that happened: You know how the advertisements for Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are all “Two movies for the price of one?” Yeah, not for us.
Looking at the start times for our local theater, we saw that they had a 7:00 and 8:55 showing. Assuming that they were playing the movies in two theaters, we figured that we’d go to the 8:55 showing (to reduce the chances of encountering a bunch of screaming kids at the theater). When we went to buy tickets, I said “Two for Toy Story, please” and the teenager behind the counter mumbled something about Toy Story 2.
Maybe it was my fault for not listening more closely, but I thought she was trying to tell me that I wasn’t buying a ticket for just Toy Story, but Toy Story 2 as well.
“Yeah, yeah. The whole package,” I said.
We went to the ticket taker who instructed us to wait as they cleaned the theater. “Great! A fresh theater!” I thought.
Imagine my surprise when they finally let us in and half the seats were already filled. Wait, what? How did these people get in?
We grabbed some seats and tried to make sense of the situation. I talked to some people sitting behind us. “Were you guys in here for Toy Story 1?” I asked. “Yeah,” they said. “This is the intermission part. We’re waiting for Toy Story 2 to start.”
Son of a bee! They sold us a full-price ticket for one movie!
I wanted to stir up trouble, but Cami told me not to. It worked out anyway because as great as Toy Story is, we were really more interested in seeing Toy Story 2. When it was all said and done, I don’t know if we would have lasted through two movies anyway.
I was a little peeved that I missed the intermission stuff. I heard there was some trivia and original Pixar content buffered between the two movies. But I did get to see the trailer for Toy Story 3 – which they won’t release online until after Toy Story and Toy Story 2 have finished their two week theatrical run – and the movie looks great.
If you haven’t heard the plot synopsis yet, basically they’ve followed the toys in real-time after the 1995 original. It’s 15 years later and the toy’s owner Andy has grown up. Since he’s outgrown his toys, he’s donated them to a children’s daycare center. The toys are sad to see Andy go, but are excited to be played with again. That is, until they wake up in the daycare and it is total mayhem! The rest of the trailer is the toys running around screaming about how they have to get back to Andy. It doesn’t give away a lot, so it should be interesting to see not only how they toys escape, but if they’ll be accepted back into Andy’s life.
The thought of a real-time sequel to the movie is very interesting to me. I hope they find a way to work in Sid, the sadistic toy-destroying neighbor from the first movie. Hey! Maybe he’s driving the Pizza Planet truck now!
As for Toy Story 2, the movie looks great in 3D, even if it doesn’t have a lot of effects that capitalize on the 3D technology. There aren’t really very many scenes that reach out and grab you. At the same time, there isn’t that gimmick exploitation of people pointing stuff down the lens of the camera or cheesy effects of things whizzing by you.
I will say this: I noticed A LOT more detail in the movie than I have in previous viewings. The opening sequence with Buzz Lightyear on the alien planet was a particular standout to me. I mean, I was noticing pebbles and stuff rolling around on the planet’s surface that I had never really noticed before. It looked great.
I could go on, but this blog entry is long enough. If you want to listen to a couple of thought provoking ideas about the Toy Story 2 universe, I encourage you to watch my uStream of this comic from last night. I was up very late working on it and came up with a few crackpot theories as to what it means to be a sentient toy.
Specifically, I discussed the main conflict in the movie for the toys – being abandoned. What happens when no one plays with them any more? They go into storage or into a landfill. Jessie (played by Joan Cusack) is very adamant in the second movie about NOT going back into storage. Her character is written as a little off-kilter, suggesting that all the time she’s spent in storage so far has made her a little nutty.
What does this mean? Does this mean that the toys are self-aware while they are locked away in darkness, immobile and trapped? Does this do something detrimental to them psychologically or do the toys “reboot” themselves between their animate and inanimate states?
Also, considering that Jessie, Woody, Stinky Pete and Bullseye are toys that a roughly 50 years old, does this mean they are immortal in some way? How long will they continue to live and what are they really?
Perhaps they are reincarnated souls? Imperfect people from a previous life reborn into the bodies of children’s toys to bring happiness to the world? But if that’s the case, how can you explain Buzz Lightyear – whose every single iteration of the character seems to share the same clueless template by assuming they are a real space ranger?
I think the concept of the Toy Story movies is charming and plays directly to the heart of the child in all of us. Who among us didn’t think of their toys as alive when we were young? Who among us didn’t wonder if they sprang to life while we weren’t around?
I’m not saying that the magic of the Toy Story universe needs to be thoroughly explained. All I’m saying is that if you follow the logic of sentient toys, it leads to some pretty disturbing questions.
Okay, okay. One more for your breadbasket. In Toy Story 2, Woody is completely oblivious to the fact that he is a toy based on a pop culture phenomenon that was popular 50 years ago. How does he live his life without the information and yet Jessie, Stinky Pete and Bullseye all see seem to be aware of their relevancy?
It could argued that they only know of their importance because they are surrounded by the artifacts of this phenomenon in the collector’s apartment. But if Buzz Lightyear emerges from his packaging thinking he’s the actual Buzz Lightyear, how did Woody emerge from his packaging and who did he think he was?
I’ll stop there because I’ve infected the internet enough with my particular brand of crazy this morning. But if anything I’ve said interests you, feel free to comment on it in our comment area below. I would be interested to hear your responses and maybe some theories of your own!
Thanks again for your patience as I got my hard drive situation figured out. See you back here again on Friday!
It’s all food for thought.
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So I guess you can consider this comic the companion piece to Wednesday’s comic where I suggested Sam Worthington was some kind of synthespian or artificial actor. I guess I don’t know what to say about it except that I can’t turn down a joke where someone is peeing their pants. I’m talking to my therapist about it.
I thought that I would see Clash of the Titans late Saturday evening. But it looks like I might be going this afternoon, instead. My father-in-law offered to watch Pearl for the afternoon while I go get an oil change for my car. I was kind of taken aback. I’m thankful for a little break, but I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do after the oil change. But when I saw a commercial last night advertising the Thursday midnight screenings of Clash of the Titans, I knew where to go.
This has been my first week home with Pearl since my contract job ended and it has been very rewarding. We have an opportunity to bond a little more now and I’m grateful for the opportunity. Having steady employment is great, but they’re not kidding when they say you don’t get this time back.
That said, taking care of a four-month-old can be time-consuming. Even when she’s napping, I’m taking care of the house so Cami doesn’t have to worry about it when she gets home. Laundry, dishes, dusting – all that. It’s only fair. As such, I feel like I’m not connected to things like I used to.
It was no big deal to take a 5 minute break at work every couple of hours and check things out online. Now I don’t have time to do that, so I feel like I’m floating a little bit.
But, like anything else, it’s about settling into a new routine. I guess I just wanted to share that this first week at home with Pearl has been a success.
Changing gears, I wanted to share something with you guys that kind of threw me for a loop.
First, I need you to take a look at this image. It’s a mockup for a new convention banner that I’m going to take as part of my booth setup to C2E2. I’ve been making the rounds, trying to gather feedback on it and figure out ways to make it more eye-catching. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen a few posts related to this.
The second thing you need to know is that I am a paying member at Webcomics.com – Brad Guigar’s site that provides support and feedback to webcomic artists trying to improve their work.
The last thing you need to know is that the general reaction to the banner is that it’s nice, but that the tag line does not reflect the characters. In other words, I’m setting up the expectations that my lead characters are “difficult,” but I show them being pleasant and non confrontational.
My reaction to this criticism can basically be summed up by the statement that I really like the tag line, but I don’t want people to think my characters are jerks.
Brad leveled me with some feedback over at Webcomics.com that must be pretty close to the truth, because I’m sharing it with you here right now.
“What you’ve got there is a derivation of the Mary Sue complex,” writes Brad. “You realize at a basic level that all of these characters are really you on a psychological level. The sooner you allow ‘yourself’ to be disliked for the sake of your humor, the sooner you can write better stuff.”
I’m under no impression that Brad follows what I do with any regularity. But his powers of observation uncovered a truth about me as an artist that I hear over and over again – My Need To Be Liked.
I think anyone that has read this blog for a while knows that I will sometimes apologize for a joke the minute after telling it. A lot of people scratch their heads and ask me “Why do you do that?” In the past, I’ve always said it was because I don’t want to accidentally offend people. But fundamentally, I think it’s because I have a need to be liked.
I don’t know that this was as much of a problem when I first started out. Probably because there weren’t any expectations. Less people were looking at the comic, so there was less of a chance that I was offending anyone.
But in the last few years I feel like I’ve suffered accusations that don’t represent me as a person that have probably changed the tone of my work. I don’t have a problem saying what’s on my mind, but I’m not the kind of person who seeks to offend. So, as a result, I’m starting to wonder I’ve been concentrating less on my work and concentrating more on trying to prove I’m not a bad guy.
I don’t know. I’m still working some of this out in my own head. But one of the advantages to the internet is that I can pose these scenarios to you guys and get an outsider’s perspective.
One of my failings as an individual is that I have absolutely no idea about how others perceive me. I try to lead a good life, I try to avoid hurting people and somehow this combination has lead me into a corner where I am not really letting me be myself through my work.
Maybe that’s the reason I’ve been toying around with the idea of doing a journal comic for so long.
Anyway, now that I’ve dumped that in your lap, I’m curious as to what you think. Is Brad onto something? If you’ve been reading the comic for more than a few years, have you detected a shift that has been otherwise invisible to me?
I appreciate your feedback!
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What do you guys think of Tom and Cami’s totally 70s kitchen wallpaper? Pimpin’, right?
If you’ve been following me at all on Facebook the last couple of days, you’ll know that I’ve been wrestling with a creative decision regarding the production of comics related to Toy Story 3. It seems no matter what I do, I keep thinking up jokes for this movie. Good jokes, too (or so I tell myself.) Jokes that I don’t want to let go to waste. It’s times like these that I lament making the decision to go to one comic a week.
Certainly nothing is iron-clad, though. I’m not purposefully restricting myself to one comic a week. If I have the time and the inclination, I have no problems throwing in a bonus comic or two.
The problem is that I don’t have the time at the moment. I’m wrapping up one of my summer night classes and I’m going two times a week. I’m reading case studies, writing essays and putting the finishing touches on a group project. I pretty much have time for work, school and sleep right now. It sucks, but after next Tuesday, I will have completed this latest gauntlet.
A few people have stepped up and volunteered themselves to illustrate my scripts – which is very generous. But I’ve never collaborated like that before and I’m very protective of my ideas. It’s hard to turn people down without sounding like a selfish jerk.
Some readers have told me to spread the comics out over the next three weeks. By their estimation. Toy Story 3 will still be the most popular movie in the country, so the jokes will still be timely. Looking ahead at the release schedule, maybe they’re right. Knight and Day? Grown Ups? The Twilight Saga: Eclipse? The Last Airbender? None of these movies inspire me like Toy Story 3 does.
So let’s talk about Toy Story 3 for a little bit, shall we?
Cami and I took Henry to the movie on Saturday and all of us had a blast. All three of us have been talking about it all weekend. Henry’s investment in the film has been exacerbated by a toy purchase reflecting on of the characters in the film. But, by in large, all of us have remained captivated by the film.
It’s been 11 years since Toy Story 2 and 15 years since the groundbreaking, original Toy Story. Despite a span of nearly two decades, the legacy and strength of Andy’s band of misfit toys remains in tact.
Pixar shows great care and concern for their flagship characters by maintaining the time line of the original films. Andy is now 17 years-old and heading off to college and he doesn’t have time for childish things. In a demonstration of both profound love and profound futility, his toys make a last-ditch effort to reconnect with their distant owner by hiding his cellphone in a dog pile beneath them in his toy chest. His disinterest signals the coming of their obsolescence.
The anxiety of these characters has always been something Pixar scribes have captured well on screen. The essence of the Toy Story movies have always been about the fear of abandonment and irrelevancy. In many ways, these toys reflect more about the human condition than any movie “aimed” at children has a right to. But it is because of these profound themes that audiences relate so well to Buzz, Woody and the rest of the gang. It’s the same reason we are so sad to see them go. Many of us have grown up with these characters. Like Andy, we’re being forced to say goodbye. But at the same time, we know we have to.
I won’t bore you with the plot details of the movie. How, in a series of misunderstandings, the toys end up donated at a daycare center whose toy population is run with a benevolent-on-the-surface strawberry-scented teddy bear. I won’t complicate my review by rehashing the Rube Goldberg-like escape plan hatched by Woody and his friends in the second act. I certainly won’t reveal where Andy’s toys finally end up. You need to experience all these things on your own because their staging and execution is absolutely brilliant. Especially the ending.
The ending of Toy Story 3 is note-perfect. It never talks down to us or makes us feel foolish for investing so much in these characters. It is a sublime love letter to fans of the Toy Story films that will leave you beaming while it breaks your heart.
Bring Kleenex.
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I didn’t post a new comic last week and I feel bad about that. But I’m also actually kind of glad I didn’t.
Something interesting happened this week and I don’t know if you saw it, but it was certainly relevant to the situation I find myself in, as we head into the home stretch toward Theater Hopper’s conclusion.
I’m not certain how much of our audience overlaps, but this week Tim Buckley decided to reboot his long-running gaming comic Ctrl+Alt+Del.
Tim and I started roughly the same time. We socialized a little at the beginning, but it wasn’t long after that his comic took off.
Tim’s kind of an odd cat in webcomics. He has an enormous following, but he’s a bit of a pariah among creators. I’ve never had a personal problem with the guy, but I’ve heard the stories about him and they’re kind of hard to ignore. So on Tuesday when Scott Kurtz, Dave Kellet, Brad Guigar and Kris Straub reassembled to produce a new episode of Webcomics Weekly to discuss Tim’s decision, the armchair analysis and schadenfreude were in full bloom.
I can’t quite articulate what it was about their recording that hit home for me, but a lot of what they expressed was immediately recognizable to me. There was a lot of talk about being burnt out, about maturing, about moving beyond the gag-a-day format and shedding the pursuit of persistent updates to generate revenue from advertising networks that don’t really pay out anymore.
I was listening and nodding my head the entire time.
I don’t know what’s going on right now, but I’m detecting this weird sea change in regards to web comics. Maybe I’m sensitive to it because I’m in the middle of it, but I’m hearing a lot of talk about ditching the traditional models, about moving into new territories.
I kind of consider myself to have caught the tail end of the “First Wave” of webcomics. Most of the big name web comics established themselves between 1998 and 2000 by people that wanted to be cartoonists but couldn’t get the time of day from the syndicates. Theater Hopper came along in 2002. So basically, I’m one of those people who looked at webcomics and said “I’ve never submitted to a syndicate, but I’ve always enjoyed cartooning and this looks viable.”
I don’t know. Maybe I’m Second Wave. Maybe it doesn’t matter. All I know is that 10 years in the game is a long time and it was comforting to know that other creators have struggled with the same issues, have the same thoughts and are afraid about throwing away the brand they’ve built up over the course of the “career.”
Now Tim didn’t exactly throw his comic away. His stripped it down. He got rid of what he thought wasn’t working and says he’s going to go back to more gag-a-day style comics about gaming. Some people have asked me why I don’t do the same thing with Theater Hopper – dump the stuff that I don’t think is working or is too time-intensive.
I know that I’ve expressed it before, but I never wanted to leave Theater Hopper in a “less than” position. In other words, having elevated the comic to a certain level from a time-investment standpoint and being unable to keep pace with it any longer, stripping things away from it for the sake of efficiency doesn’t feel fair to me. Fair for the audience, I mean.
For me – as much as it hurts to do it – letting Theater Hopper go is the best thing for it. That’s why it was important for me to communicate my goals for the last year of the comic – so that you guys knew what was going on and understood. More than anything else with these last few comics, I want to convey the idea that these characters will “be okay.” It’s as much for you as it is for me. Because I’ll be sorry to leave them behind.
I don’t know how successful I’ve been at communicating what I gleaned from Tim’s reboot or the Webcomics Weekly podcast this week. All I know is that it made me feel a little less haunted about the decision I made to end the comic.
Thanks for your understanding. Cheers.
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