by Brian Gott
News Archives
July-September, 2006
July 24, 2006
STATE OF THE DODO ADDRESS
Good (insert local time of day), my fellow Dodocahedrons.
Incidentally, I've just arbitrarily decided that Way of the Dodo readers will henceforth be referred to as Dodocahedrons. So there. Now that that's out of the way:
Good (insert local time of day), my fellow Dodocahedrons. I'd like to take a moment and talk at you about this little comic enterprise called Way of the Dodo.
First off, you'll notice that the update schedule posted above the comic has been altered slightly. Mind you, I'm still updating on an "as often as I can" basis. However, Monday/Wednesday/Friday-ish is and has been the schedule for which I've been shooting. (With mixed results, true dat.) So all I'm doing is making that official.
Notice that I make no promises with regards to missed updates. Dodo isn't a paying job. If it were, I'd certainly have a responsibility to produce. As it is, though, my compensation for this takes the form of a handful of people reading (and hopefully enjoying) it, maybe even helping to spread the word.
So, in short: if I can update, I plan to shoot for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If I miss an update or three, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I'd appreciate it if you didn't, either. Got that? Good.
Secondly, there is a matter of content I want to cover. Those of you who've been following along have doubtless noticed a trend evolving. I'm turning out to be quite good at introducing plot threads, and then dropping them like stones before moving on to something else.
You may ask yourself, "What is he driveling on about now?" Well, for starters, there's ... (deep breath)
The CEO
thinks he's a king. The company wants to
take over
the world. Meanwhile,
the computer wants to
destroy the world.
To prevent Oswald from stopping its plans, it altered his employee records so he'd be constantly bounced from one issue to another. This may be related to his
past
relationship with the machine. In other news:
Zoe's grandfather left her that book, and
predicted the end of the world while he was at it. He turns out to have been the
last member of the
Ancient Order of the Dodo, who raised Oswald. (And his brother, whose name happens to be Max.) The book was last seen
running some sort of DNA analysis, presumably to tell whether or not Oswald is
the "him" to whom Gramps had alluded. Meanwhile, the company's got that whole
"Employee Humiliation" policy designed to make its staff miserable. And the Tads have some kind of
slavish devotion to mindless conformity
(not to mention messing with the new guy's mind). And oh, Rupert's got some kind of
obsession with reports.
(And I haven't even mentioned the things I haven't gotten around to, such as the "Blindspot Effect" or the Lost City of -- oops. Erm, you never heard that.)
The moral of the story is that you shouldn't introduce plot threads unless you know what you're going to do with them. And now that I've learned that lesson ...
The good news is that I (finally) have a basic idea of how everything fits together. (Which is also part of why there was no comic Friday.) The Dodos, the company, the computer, the cosmic puppet mistress(ahem) ... Possibly even the
virulently contagious
speech difficulties
that afflict our heroes from time to time. Possibly even that guard at the beginning who kept calling Oswald by different names. We shall see.
The bad news is that it may take me a while to get through everything. I may have to impose on your patience from time to time. And more than likely, I'll be jumping whole schools of sharks along the way. Consider yourselves warned.
Meanwhile, I appreciate your support. (You are supporting this, aren't you?) I'm working on one or two means by which Oswald can start earning his keep. I'll say more about that as events develop. For now, you can best support Dodo by reading it, and maybe telling someone.
Thank you, peace out, and play nice. (And don't worry, I've already forgotten about the whole 'Dodocahedrons' thing.)
September 22, 2006 (Hm. I wonder if I should update this more often? Nah.)
HEY EDITORS!
Well, as you may have seen if you've plowed through the archives lately, I've gotten it into my head to try and get Way of the Dodo's occasional understudy Plan B, into syndication. I figured, what the heck, worst case scenario, I get to add to my collection of rejection slips. (That's a big part of why Dodo updates have been so erratic of late, by the way.)
Well, I've got the initial submission package finished. These include versions of the thirteen cartoons I posted from 2003-5, as well as eleven previously un-posted installments. (Unposted because I just recently finished them, for the most part!)
You can view the package by clicking on any of the Plan B links I've scattered all over this site.
What's that? You say you want to see black & white versions? Not a problem.
I plan to add to this package as time and opportunity permit. Most likely, I'll be adding a week's worth of comics at a time, on an irregular schedule like Dodo's, only more irregular. (Don't get me wrong, I'd like to be able to pour gobs of time on my creative projects completely guilt-free. But sometimes life has other ideas.)
And if somehow Plan B ends up in the world of dead trees, rest assured that I'm still not letting go of Way of the Dodo. I'll try to keep it going as best as I can. But you understand that if this does work out, Plan B's going to have to be my priority.