2944 It Is You Who Are The Boyfriend.
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Well, here we are again. Was your weekend nice? I tried hard but achieved little, as is often the case with me.
Do any of you remember the game Bad Piggies? It was a spin off of Angry Birds when the series was at the height of its cultural relevance. If you’ve never heard of it, it was basically a flash game with a simple physics engine that simulated gravity in the game world. You built contraptions in order to transport a pig from point A to point B. Most levels after the tutorial could be finished in more than one way. That kind of game was trendy at that time. Stuff like Happy Wheels. Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that the theme song was very fun. The music for the entire Angry Birds series was quite good. Ilmari Hakkola is the composer for several of the Angry Birds games and Bad Piggies. Anyway, I tell you all of that because there’s a guy on youtube called Luke Pickman who made a cover of the Bad Piggies theme that is lovingly crafted. It made me think how nice it is when someone loves your work so much that they are compelled to make an homage to it that is, very often in my case, better than the actual work. I don’t get a lot of fanart, but I’ve had a few pieces that put my work to shame, even though they were created out of love. Of course the problem with very high quality work is that it takes more time to make, which is why my stuff has always been unpolished, even for a webcomic. Making something at all is better than making something very well that comes out too slowly to build an audience. It’s nice to see what could potentially be done if I were faster, or more talented though.
I’ve tried to work with fans on things over the years but it has never worked out because most people can’t dedicate the time it takes to create their great art without a lot of compensation and I could never offer that. With my stuff you have to survive without compensation now and hope to get some later on. My work also has a tendency to resonate with people who end up hating me when they actually meet me, which is kind of odd since my work is very much a reflection of me in many ways…
Anyway, that’s just something I was thinking about. I hope you have a nice start to your week. As always I urge you to browse the various support links I’ve plastered about the page. I will return on Wednesday with more comic for you. Until then, ride the pig!
28 Comments
Really hope that Alex explicitly calling Reggie her boyfriend without him denying it can put the idea that Alex is still holding out for John to bed. She’s moved on, he can do the same. (Preferably with Victoria)
If we are lucky.
Alex is still holding out, and Jackie said it’s still a possibility.
How is she holding out?
She’s said part of her still wants him.
Jackie also said she might still end up with him eventually.
When did Jackie say that?
Probably at some point on discord. I sometimes expound upon ideas there. The fate of the characters are not set in stone.
that’s part of the draw of this comic; you let the characters argue with you about what would happen, like the way Dan Shive, author of El Goonish Shive does things
I remember dear a couple times but not boyfriend.
Yes, I can definitely agree, Jackie. There was one webcomic I got into, the art was beautiful and the story had a good hook. I actually wrote the creator fan mail, which I never really do, because I was impressed by how quality both aspects were. However, once I read through the archives and got to the “waiting for updates” point, I realized the story was absolutely glacial. The pages were only half-pages, and she couldn’t stick to the schedule even then, and the story was written with a slow pace where individual pages didn’t have their own punchlines or anything; you had to wait for the end of the entire scene or conversation, for weeks, before you could finally sink your teeth in to anything. But, she took commissions where she drew gay twink art of her characters for quick cash. When asked if she could perhaps stop spending all of her time drawing her own Rule 34 and actually focus on the comic, she basically said that’s the more profitable endeavor, not realizing that she was driving away her own audience as they got bored waiting for something to happen, leaving her solely with the horny slashfic crowd. I followed another comic that had chapters of like 10 pages or so each, but then there was an intro page first, and an ending page (sort of like the front and back covers of a comic), and then he always had a week-long break between chapters as well when he’d just post doodles or answer a question–add that all together and it’s like 30% of his updates were irrelevant. Point is, I agree that many webcomics died because the creators didn’t understand that it is absolutely critical to keep delivering content consistently and with enough meat to keep people engaged, no matter how good your art is. If it looks great but people are forgetting what’s even going on because you’ve been maintaining the same conversation for 6 weeks straight, or you just have nothing going on for 2 weeks out of each month, people check out. They certainly don’t want to send monthly donations for sporadic and unpredictable output.
This reminds me of Shotgun Shuffle.
It started as a good comics, updating regularly.
Then the artist went short on time because of IRL reason and decided it was more profitable spending time on Patreon stuff than on the comics itself, and therefore started to update the comics only sparingly. That’s when I dropped reading it.
Then the whole lolcow debacle hit and that was the end of that. At least a dozen unfinished plot threads died on the vine.
The readers ROUTINELY called for Rusche to dial back the art quality in favor of updating FOR GOD’S SAKE SOMETHING, but he would not hear of it.
Yeppers, even the patreon supporters were saying just update on a schedule, but life got to much in the way. I notice he has a placeholder on webtoons, so I’m hoping it might come back because I REALLY liked the story, but I may be too old to see that happen
I would do fanart, but where would we send it?
You can use the site’s email, or just at me on social media with a link to where you post it. Betweenfailures at hotmail is the site’s email in case you don’t know where to find it.
“My work also has a tendency to resonate with people who end up hating me when they actually meet me, which is kind of odd since my work is very much a reflection of me in many ways…”
An adventure is a situation where you are uncomfortable, worried and deprived of comforts. They’re great to read and hear about as entertainment but shitty to live through.
Comparably with personalities, the most entertaining characters in fiction and gossip often tend to be giant assholes, and strong personalities, who do and say things that make them interesting at a distance but less pleasant up close.
“I tried hard but achieved little”
To me, what is important is that you tried hard. I hope you continue to keep trying. Progress isn’t always made in leaps and bounds. It’s slow and gradual, so I appreciate what “little” you achieved and I hope you do too.
I appreciate any progress I make.
At the very least, Jackie, you achieved an awesome Monday comic…
I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Wait, I thought Alex was from a rich family/ seemed to just kind of exist in a ‘this is our family’s library’ ‘job’ without really needing to overthink money? Giving the lie perhaps to that is her living with Jo in a not-exactly-ostentatiously-flash apartment, but still. Never really thought about her finances since she seemed to come off as the ‘scion of the town’s founding family’, ‘works in her family’s privately-established library’ type.
She is in no actual danger of going hungry or homeless, but she also doesn’t have infinite money. She functionally works for her family and can’t simply magic up money at will. If she was ever in any real financial danger her mother would help, but Alex is technically a private entity like anyone else. She just has access to the kinds of financial opportunities that generational wealth affords. Much like Reggie her family has money, but she does not. Or at least not the vast wealth that will come with her inheritance at some point in the future.
“It Is You Who Are The Boyfriend”.
Is that like:
“It is WE who are your fire dogs” ?
I am a fantastic artist. I’m also ADHD and autistic, with high function. Meaning I can deal with day to day and make a living. But projects pop in and out randomly. I do better when there is an end goal on the basis of a commission. I wish I had Jackie’s commitment to one thing. I’ve actually done a couple of fan pieces for him, which I am certain horrified him.
Anyway, random bit with this. OH! Also, patreon shut down my donation again. I’m going to have to start it up fresh. Again.
“Where them breadsticks are?”
Is that a Midwest saying?
I just took it as her having fun with the language as only a native speaker can do.
“I found Reggie”…and dragged him around like a shopping cart!
:)
The Pizza Pope is low on breadsticks???
Remember our motto:
“Poor Pope Planning, makes Poor Pope Performance!”
:)