Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated

by Armando on December 8, 2016

I don’t even know where to start this post. So I guess let’s get the obvious things out of the way.

No, the comic is not dead or abandoned.

No, I did not disappear in China (although that almost happened).

Yes, I will take the comic to its intended conclusion (story-wise, it’s at least a couple of years away).

Yes, apologies for the radio silence.

Getting that out of the way… I guess the next thing to address is why there hasn’t been work on the comic or an update. There’s a ton of different ways to express why or how, but it boils down to one simple way to put it.

I just haven’t been able to draw a single thing.

Rather simple/unapologetic statement – but there IS a lot behind it. I’m a notoriously shy/reclusive person online so I’m not prone to sharing a lot (to a fault, where I will go dark… like what was happening right now). But I’m battling stuff from all sides right now. These things include crippling anxiety/depression (I know, a depressed artist – so cliche), increased demands from the day job (including conference calls at all hours of the night, apparently) and other assorted things (notoriously reclusive, remember?). This is not an excuse or an apology. It’s not a call for pity or “woe is me” to fish for compliments and encouragement. It’s a statement of fact. This is what is going on.

There are the artists out there who can do it all (or can mount the bravado of an online persona that can do it all) – juggle full time dayjob, familiar obligations, side projects and a comic without (apparently) breaking a sweat. I’m not one of those people, apparently – I did try for a while. Something had to give, and the comic is paying (part) of the price. This is not a “just sit down and draw” situation – I tried that and I discovered the hard way that’s not really the way to go about it (not for me and not for right now). There’s only so many “sit down in front of an empty file on the cintiq for hours” sessions I can take.

Going forward and the foreseeable future, the best way to describe the update schedule is “sporadic”. I will shoot to update at least once a week to keep the comic moving. The only advantage I can see is that I do envision updates that are longer or more varied — having more time does allow to break free a bit out of the three/four panel structure that is starting to feel constraining for the story I want to tell. Again, I will do my best to post on this frequency — “my best” being the operative word. I’d really recommend subscribing to the RSS (where I post the full comic, not excerpts) or my social media channels so you are aware of updates. I’m not in the business of wasting your time, so you can’t be expected to refresh the page hoping there’s an update.

Thank you for reading. Here’s looking forward to seeing David’s story through and that you are able to stick around.