Comics not dead, just trying to juggle some things. Updates have been spotty lately, and I don’t really know what to say about that except to say that I have no intention of just evaporating wordlessly. So… words.
Comics not dead, just trying to juggle some things. Updates have been spotty lately, and I don’t really know what to say about that except to say that I have no intention of just evaporating wordlessly. So… words.
Why do I think Todd should eventually invest in lakefront property?
For some reason I had assumed that, like many small business owners back in the early 1900s, they lived over the store. Why buy, or rent, two separate pieces of property when it would be so much cheaper to get one two story. And I’m sitting here thinking that if she doesn’t know the bus route from here in the morning, how was she planning to get home that night? Buses change at different intersections in the daytime as they do at night?
But obviously they live elsewhere, and go to the store to go to work.
Yes, bus routes change at night. And even when any given bus still runs at night that doesn’t mean there are as many buses running that route, so if you need to change buses at some point the timing may be different.
The United States has some weird zoning rules that largely prevent the combination of residential and commercial properties. This feeds into the car-centric city design, making it much harder for anyone to live within walking distance of their basic necessities.
Yes, it *would* be better if we could live above a grocery store, but there aren’t many places where that’s allowed.
That’s becoming the norm for much of the new housing development being built around here in Los Angeles: apartments or condos over retail/office spaces.
I was about to post the same question before coming to the same conclusion.
If you know the route from point A to point B, and you know the route from point B to point C, that doesn’t automatically mean you know the route from point A to point C… at least without taking a needlessly circuitrous detour.
Why does what is essentially a speak&spell have video chat functionality?
Why can your computer do text to speech and also host a discord call?
The question is more, just how much can this thing do? If it’s really a general-purpose computing device that can be programmed to do a bunch of different things, then someone would have had the idea to program it to play games by now, and we know it doesn’t do that. Non-computer devices are much more limited in what they do, as each function is basically completely separate.
Also I’m just kinda getting annoyed at almost all fiction treating video chat as the standard for all forms of sci-fi or fantasy communication devices. In real life, video chat is rather bandwidth-intensive and it took a long time before it became technologically feasible, and even now that it’s possible many people still don’t opt for it because it has negligible benefit over voice-only and has the downside of needing to make sure you’re presentable before picking up the phone. Also, this here post is text with neither voice nor video, and I’d say this is a pretty convenient way to communicate, what do you think?
Maybe they can hold games, but Te Fahn’s specifically doesn’t for whatever reason. It’s also possible that it simply never occurred to the Sarnothi that a terln could be programmed for games – societies have different priorities in both work and pleasure.
As for video chat, I think a lot of sci-fi defaults to it because it’s been the dream of “futuristic” technology for a long time; that is, being able to see and talk to your friend at the same time while not physically occupying the same space, or doing the same with your boss or coworkers without ever needing to go into the office. The benefit of video chat, other than that, is that a lot of people prefer to actually see who they’re talking to for various reasons.
It’s true that video chat in the real world can be inconvenient, but the idea behind video chat in sci-fi is that it’s come so far from what we have IRL that the benefits outweigh the downsides, if there are any. Maybe the terln video call doesn’t use a lot of whatever the equivalent of bandwidth is, you know?
https://modestmedusa.com/ posts pictures of his main character in costume when he can’t do a regular post. I’m sure EVERYONE here would rather you do something like that, or a quick one-panel comic.
Also, you can ask for fan art/guest comics from us. I’m sure you can get a whole stash you can post whenever you aren’t up to a regular comic. None of us want you to burn yourself out or push yourself when you’re exhausted.
Honestly, even an “I aten’t dead” post is enough.
I’ve enjoyed the behind-the-scenes sketchy pics before.
Also it was fun to put together a guest comic for Christmas that one year (2015). I couldn’t devote that much time to a comic at this point in my life, but guest comics are indeed a fun diversion to given the creator a chance to breathe.
Let’s see, what other variations have I noticed?
ErfWorld went to full text updates for a while, with some amount of pics here or there, instead of full pages. You could write little vignettes for various characters. Or have a set of Amanda’s journal entries. Or Selkie reviewing some video games or shows or movies. Maybe some Sarnothi folk lore in short story form.
Girl Genius fills the breaks with gorgeously detailed wallpapers. That might be a bit more effort, but it might also feel a bit like a break from the norm.
Gunnerkrigg Court has sections of alternate, low-effort comics during the breaks between major comics. Heck, with a little clever thought you could probably put together a page similar to Dinosaur Comics that lets you make several variations with the same art but different text each time.
If you *really* needed a next-to-no-effort break but felt bad about saying “be back in a month”, another possibility is posting updates that are just links to neat things, possibly related to Selkie. E.g. videos about ocean life or conspiracy theories related to undersea facilities, neat art about mermaids or actual selkies, or just your favorite pages from your favorite webcomics.
Or provide some prompts for fanworks. There’s apparently just one Selkie fanfic on AO3 right now, so perhaps it’s time to encourage fans to write more. Or make fan art, or filk songs, or arts and crafts (why am I envisioning a Pants-shaped piñata?).
There’s a lot of possibilities — just gotta think through which one works best for you at this point. We’re here to support you in whichever path you choose.
I have rectified the “only one Selkie fanfic” problem. Now there are two.
Mine is a retrospective on Selkie’s relationship with her grandma over time, plus the changes her hair has been through.
I’d be interested to see your worldbuilding notes – either as they are, or presented as in-universe documents.
Also, “unpoisoned”, wonderful.
Ooooh, some secret agent documents about the girls, that could be fun.
I mean, they’re not wrong. Chlorine IS poison, and it’s added to water in that capacity. Humans are just like, the rats of primates. Our digestive system is stronger than the piddly little amount of chlorine it takes to kill the stuff that’d kill us.
Get plenty of rest.
That and we aren’t breathing it in. We might have a worse reaction if we were suddenly breathing in chlorine fumes when we aren’t used to that.
I meant for that to be a reply to Anvil dude above.
at least you aint sick 😛