I decided some time ago that Episode #50 would be the final installment of my webcomic. However, the fictional universe where it took place, as well as the cast of characters that inhabited it, is still only in embryonic form. Having had nearly 30 years on this planet in which to observe the kind of head-spinning changes that a medium can go through in less than a decade, (there was no such thing as “streaming video”, much less a “platform” capable of “hosting” it, at the time when I first saw the comics and animated cartoons that still my divining rod for the meaning of “quality content” to this day) I never made it much of a priority to decide what sort of constraints I expected to find myself eventually working within – I.E. feature films, television, comics, etc….
Making a webcomic was an opportunity for me to do something that could focus me and free me up at the same time. Its basic demands as a medium are small, but it also leaves room for an immense amount of innovation and experimentation. I treated it as a challenge, as well – A new standard time budget/schedule (new comics published weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.) could not merely be decided upon on a whim. I had to “negotiate” this matter with my “Boss Self”, and if I could convince HIM that such a choice could yield superior results without giving me an over-abundance of time to kill, I could then go ahead with it ON THE CONDITION that I shared this information on this blog so that my audience -NO MATTER IT’S PRESENT SIZE- would know what to expect….
While I haven’t yet made up my mind about what avenue of creation to pursue next, I’m keeping my list of options short. Each presents its own advantages and drawbacks – Creating short pieces of animation would give me the opportunity to really sink my teeth into figuring out how these characters move, but it could also make me get VERY rusty as a writer, since I can’t possibly advance my storylines at anything like the pace with which the webcomic did when I’m drawing every frame of every movement. Conversely, a graphic novel, which might be a blast to write, could also potentially box me in a bit where design is concerned…..
In the longer run, I think that Lolly’s share of the storyline has a lot of both cinematic and theatrical potentialies locked inside it, both in terms of re-dramatization and further development. I’m also seriously considering making a limited run of some t-shirts. I’ve had good results making custom shirts in the past and I think a market for them could emerge pretty quickly if I can bring some more traffic to this site….oh, and speaking of which, I also intend to use this blog to talk about other things in the near future. I always have plenty of things on my mind, but I’ve rarely been tempted to use this space to share them before….
Was that too vague? I hope not…..
You can always reread the comics, y’know. They’re still good…..