by Brian Gott
News Archives
July-September, 2005
July 6, 2005
LOOKIT DIS! DIS RIGHT HERE! LOOKIT!
My brother (otherwise known as He Who Still Has All His Hair, not that I'm jealous or anything) entirely failed to mention that he has a sketch blog, which can be found here. You should check it out. Unlike certain people, he knows what he's doing with alla this art-type stuff.
STATE OF THE COMIC
or,
WHITHER OSWALD?
or,
WHITHER OSWALD?
First of all, the whole talking-in-Haiku jazz is going to wrap up this week. I think I'm just about done flogging that particular horse.
After this ... well, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what will happen. There are several different directions in which the strip could go. The next item on my schedule is a sizeable storyline that's about half written, and I would prefer not to start it until I know how it's going to end. That story will also require a bit of a recap, and I'm still trying to figure out what novel, creative approach I'm going to take to do that. I may have to push the beginning of that story back a bit further and draw something else in the meantime. That could be Dodo, or that could be Plan B or some similar filler. We shall see.
Alternatively, I'm considering a "Zero Hour"-type resetting of the continuity. There are some things that really should have happened before now. I'm confident that what I have in mind for the long term can work without starting over. But it's starting to look to me like a reset might not be a bad idea.
Sadly, there is also a possibility that I will have to step away from Dodo for a while. Not permanently -- I'm too stubborn for that. But for some period of time yet to be determined.
A creative writing teacher of mine in college had a sign on her office door that said, "I hate to write -- I love to have written." That sums up my feelings about Dodo pretty well. I like having a Web comic, and having the creative freedom to do what I will with it.
But I'll admit, there are times when it is tempting to just pull the plug and move on to something else. It's frustrating when it seems like I'm shouting to an empty room. As Webcomics go, Dodo is relatively obscure. This was not quite what I had in mind when I brought it online. < /whine >
And doing battle with Illustrator can get to be a pain. Some days it seems like there's a malevolent intelligence at work, deliberately crashing programs and generally making a mess of whatever I'm trying to do. Of course, I've always felt that way about computers, including the Mac on which I'm wri*crash*
I assure you that Way of the Dodo is not going to go the way of the dodo, not if I can help it. I've put too much time and effort into the strip to let it go without a fight. But I wonder sometimes how much longer I'll be able to keep on putting that time and effort in. And yes, I know I've said things like that before.
Anyway, there are four likely possibilities:
1) Do some simpler (Dodo or non-Dodo) comics and push the half-written storyline back until I'm ready to do it.
2) Do some simpler (Dodo or non-Dodo) comics and reset the continuity when I'm ready.
3) Put the strip on hiatus for some period of time and turn my attention to one of the other creative projects running around in my head.
4) Stick with the schedule as planned, even if that means updating when I can and back-dating strips until I'm caught up, and even if it means starting the story before I've written the end.
I'll be sure to let you know what I decide.
July 20, 2005
IT'S KEENSPACE -- NO, WAIT, IT'S TOONSPACE -- WAIT, COMIC, UH ... WHAT?
EDIT: after a good half-hour of search-and-replace, I've completed the Orwellian revision of this site's history. Keenspace is pretty much vaporized, with Comic Genesis set up in its place. (Why, yes, I have been reading 1984. How did you know?)
So now they've decided to change Keenspace's name to Comic Genesis. I have yet to see how this change will affect me, other than the fact that dodocomic.KEENSPACE.com will become dodocomic.COMICGEN.com at some point. Oh, and we can't call ourselves 'Spacers anymore. And I'm going to have to change those "Way of the Dodo is hosted on Keenspace" notices to read ... yeah, you get the idea. Nothing massive, just a lot of little changes I'll have to make.
Hey, maybe I should commemorate the changeover by completely redesigning my Website. Yeah. *snort* That's gonna happen. And then for an encore I'll write a completely foolproof Spam blocker, make a fortune, buy out TCTSNBN and fire my old bosses. It's good to have a dream.
Seriously, I'm not expecting any Earth-shattering changes to come out of this. Dodo will still be here when the dust settles and this free Webcomic hosting service is well and truly known as Comic Genesis.
(It was of course just after this that reality reared up and choked Way of the Dodoout of my life. But I am slowly learning the art of perseverance, and I am determined that this comic will not go the way of the Dodo.