Okay, okay, I know. I ran out on you guys like a deadbeat dad. It was a bad move, but I’m back and I have a new gripe. This time it doesn’t involve language or anything dealing with morals or the like.
My gripe today is with something I’ve seen a lot of in forums dedicated to webcomics, the 37th strip post. Now, I’m all for letting people know when you hit a milestone with your comic. Things like hitting your one year mark, your 100th strip, killing a character, or re-inventing the wheel. Just because you made it to your 37th update isn’t a reason to go shouting it from the rooftops. That’s like marking off the fact that you made it to two and a half months without missing an update. You have a comic, that comic is comprised of strips, most of these strips are released on a scheduled picked by you. That means it should be no surprise when you update your comic regularly.
I’m always happy to hear about new comics, but if I see another forum post that runs like this I’m going to have to hurt someone.
“Hey dudes, I just hit my 37th comic! Check it out! Maybe I should put some news about it on Comixpedia!”
No, you shouldn’t. In fact, you should wait for another 63 strips to come out, or until it’s been a year from when you started to post something about your comic. Of course this is all trumped if something actually worthy of being posted happens in your comic before either of these milestones are hit. I can’t speak for other creators, but to me it seems pointless to post something like that.
At any rate, the entire point I’m trying to make is that you should save the news posts for actual news. I know hitting 37 strips, or whatever the number happens to be, is a big deal to you. However, when you look at someone like Pete Abrams, who has posted something in the neighborhood 3,000 strips and doesn’t go on about each and every one of them, it might give you a reason to hold out for a better subject to go on about. Just a thought.
Ahhh… you\’re just a Grumpy Gus.
I don\’t think there\’s anything wrong with celebrating early milestones. Sure, your 37th strip seems like an… obtuse event to celebrate. But sometimes those little victories is all that keeps you going.
Think about it. Starting your comic in relative obscurity, you\’ll celebrate changing the color of your lead character\’s shirt if it\’ll bring attention to your work.
I don\’t think it\’s fair to cite Abrams as a reference. Of course he\’s not going to toot his own horn for doing 3,000 comics. He\’s established. That\’s not something worth celebrating.
It\’s all about keeping it in perspective, m\’man.
Good point about Abrams, Tom. That wasn\’t fair of me. I\’ve got no problem with early milestones, just most of them seem like the sort of things that are worth a brief mention not a masters thesus. I\’m probably just looking at it all wrong.
As a relatively fresh face to the world of webcomics, I\’ve tended to adopt the same outlook that I have in everyday life. \”Don\’t make a big deal out of nothing. Keep yourself seen and not heard, that way you don\’t get drama directed your way.\”
I probably am being a grumpy bastard though. I\’ll work on changing that. I\’m getting tired of writing negative articles, they make me angry even after I\’m done writing them. I\’ve got plenty of good things to say, but I\’d hate to sound like I\’m just geeking out over the comics of my friends.
Thanks for the feedback, boss. I\’ll definitely keep it in mind on the next article.