#111!

This week's comic is up a little early (not that you mind).

Between finals, graduation, and other things (hooray DIY laptop repairs!), today has been a very busy day, and a pretty busy week too. And lots of things to continue to be busy about and with in the near future.

But for now... sleep. I'd say I've earned it.

See you next week!

Another Last Resort Interview... in an actual NEWSPAPER?!

Two months of keeping my mouth shut on this story is totally worth getting bragging rights on the cover.

The actual story (FUR-ther) only has a fraction of the interview I actually did for the paper, but I'm still thrilled to see it's finally gone to print. Go ahead and read the story for yourself; there's quite a few folks interviewed for this one, so you'll have to scroll down a bit to find my part.

In the meantime, I'm one step closer to a Wikipedia article. ;)

Just as a reminder for folks who haven't seen my earlier post or are just coming in from the paper, I still have auctions running for conbadge commissions through this week... the Dutch auction still has a few slots open, which means it's still quite possible to get your hands on some original work for downright cheap and not much effort.

And if you've come here after reading the article... leave a comment and say hi, will you?

What Everybody Ought to Know About Comic Buffers

I should really know better than to respond to anything written by Scott Kurtz.

For those who actually care about what the rest of the webcomic blogs (all four of them) are saying, Kurtz has a diatribe that doesn't really get to the heart of why cartoonists need buffers. Or rather, he talks about it but glosses over the reasons why, boiling them down to "Other people will think less of me".

I'll be the first to admit, having a buffer quickly becomes the best and the worst thing about your comic if you're not careful. It's good to have because it means you can relax and not have to worry about deadlines past a certain point. It's bad because if something about the comic ever gets received poorly, you're at a loss to do anything about it until your buffer runs out (especially if your plot continues on this hated portion for the next few strips)!

My main list of reasons for a buffer?

1. Having a professional comic means I respect deadlines -- because I've already told my readers to come check for the comic then.
2. Maintaining a constantly increasing archive / buffer makes the comic appear more "stable" and healthy.
   
3. Working on the buffer NOW means I'm not working on it during the school year -- or at least not as hard as I would over the summer.
   
4. I worry less about deadlines -- I have a hard enough time remembering what day to update the comic just to do the minor task of uploading it to the site, let alone if I had to work the week before to finish a comic in time!
5. Even if vacations are working vacations, I can relax on the weekends -- which are when I'd have to be working like mad to get the next comic ready for an update if I didn't work at least that far in advance!
   
6. Knowing what happens in future comics (and not just what I think will happen) gives me a sense of security -- because I'm following and reading along with my comic the same as everyone else, with the exception that I'm expected to figure out what happens next based off of these strips.
7. Maintaining a buffer and reducing the stress to pop out a comic rapidly gives me more opportunity to experiment with new ideas -- not just for saleable materials but also for advertising and general growth of the comic.
   

If you're comparing my list to Kurtz's, you'll notice that only the first two are "worrying about what other people think" -- and it's not even thinking about Joe Random, but about the perception of the comic as a whole. The rest are either somewhat selfish (work now to goof off later), or otherwise useful to the growth of the comic. Even if I sacrifice being able to react immediately to problems within the comic, I make up for it by having more time to tinker to be able to respond to those problems properly.

I'm not saying Kurtz's list is "bad" or even ill-informed, but he's working from the perspective of a mature comic -- PvP isn't struggling for acceptance and awareness now, except against those who don't read comics. He doesn't have to work at advertising his comic to say that it's different from other comics, or struggle for legitimacy, or even deal with the fact that his comic appeals to a certain audience like it was somehow a bad thing. He has a whole different set of problems to worry about, not the least of which is that the time he could spend on advertising PvP is having to be spent just advertising webcomics in general because being a big fish in a small pond does you no good if the entire pond exists inside of a water cooler.

Penny Arcade can't afford a large buffer because they're building off of pop culture, but there's no reason they can't build up a few PA-oriented strips that they can intersperse with the gaming-focused comics so at least they have something to throw on the fire when the news is slow or that next idea just isn't coming. If your comic isn't oriented on popular culture at all, there's little reason to NOT build up a buffer. In my case, having an insane buffer makes sense, especially while I'm still in school (I'm currently freaking out right now because I'm still two strips shy of having enough for the semester!), and because I want to be able to produce more pages for the comic -- having a buffer allows me to do that without having to stress over deadlines, at least!

You're going to have your own reasons for keeping a buffer, depending on what kind of comic you're doing, how much effort it takes you, and what length of a buffer you feel comfortable with. Regardless of which path you go, keeping at least "the next update" in your buffer is just good sense; if nothing else, it's insurance.

#101 is up, and we're at the Palace!

Here we are again!

For those of you paying attention, the old Entrecard box has disappeared... for now, anyway. I'm trying a little experiment with the folks at Palace in the Sky, and if it works out, I'll be one happy artist.

Now if only I could get my buffer back up...

YES! We've made #100!

The party starts a little early, after all.

And yes, I think you all know who she is... so go post on the forums and speculate like crazy!

It's been a long time in coming, but hey, 100 strips isn't an easy feat, and actually, as of writing this... I need to work on even more strips so I can graduate without further stress here. Even for a weekly strip, this thing still takes time.

Enjoy, and like I said, if you have any ideas about how the next hundred will go... the forums are waiting for you!

Another Bonus Comic, featuring: Alice and Jason!

Well, someone had to explain Light Children.

A few folks are still having trouble finding this week's (color) page, so here it is.

And, in case you missed it, here's our current lineup for the bonus pages so far:

• Cover: White Noise
• Page 1: Daisy Archanis
• Page 2: Alice & Jason

Remember, there's three more pages to come, and the next one will appear tomorrow, so don't miss it!

#77, And Summer Plans

Thanks to a few generous folks, we've had a bonus update this past week -- here it is again, just in case you missed it -- and after this current one, we'll be having another bonus update coming up Wednesday as well.

(Oh, and there's another $20 sitting around on top of that to count towards bonuses... Just, please, wait at least a week to give the buffer a chance to recharge.)

Thanks go out to those who've already offered suggestions on what else I should be working on this summer besides my buffer. If you're a little slow to reply, don't worry, I've not made any hard decisions yet.

The REAL hard one's already been made, anyway.

I've joked about it before in private conversations and otherwise, but summer's not vacation time for me so much as it is time for me to recharge the buffer. Quite literally, running this comic is a year-round job, and as such, I've found the best way to deal with it is to treat the summertime as my internship for the comic. And considering what this entails -- strip development, merchandising, advertising, and conventioneering -- it's no mystery why this stuff needs the extra attention. (Webcomics as a serious venture? Who'd have thought?)

For the long-term health of the comic (not to mention a real face-first lesson in running my own business, which let's face it, this is), it's something that I want to do. And if nothing else, it'll make my own plans for the future go a whole lot smoother.

Wish me luck.

TWO Bonus Updates You Won't Want to Miss!

Looks like someone decided to donate after all... enough to make it a pair of bonus updates, in fact. Check back this upcoming Wednesday (as well as next week's Wednesday!) to see the new pages.

... And I hope that you all enjoy them because that'll just about wipe out my buffer until I have a chance to draw more actual pages. Oy.