The New Style

I've decided to commit to making a web comic, at least for a while. I'm not doing any of that sissy single strip web comic what-not though... Nope, I'm going full page... 11"x17" one a week (I hope). I'm thinking that each page could be a single adventure... and you wouldn't need to read them in sequential order. I think I really need the full page to bring my idea to life... I want to play around with a variety of narrative devices, and I don't see any other way than take it to the full page.
Plus, I like adding more detail than a small strip will allow. I've got to get down to business and just make a few and see how it goes.

Considerations...

I've been feeling really stifled recently. It's the space, the space in which I am trying to cram my comic. That cursedly small newspaper space, or in my case, that cursedly small sherpa space (which is where I'm considering going...) it's just too little... too confining. But what option do I have? I've got to work in that format if I want to be syndicated don't I?

It's at this point that I begin to consider the basic assumption underlying that question. I want to be syndicated... or I did... when I first started my serious attempt at cartooning three years ago. I've come a long way since then. I know more now than ever before, and I realize that I don't really know that much. What I do know is that I need to take a long look at what my goals are. I'm discovering some real issues with syndication that I tended to ignore before.

This is all water under the bridge right now though... I've got a ways to go figuring out what I'm gonna do... My primary objective has not changed. I still plan on making the best comic I possibly can. I think the question might be whether or not it will be in the "strip" format...

With all that in mind, here are some more character studies I've been working on...



Monkeys, robots, old decrepit retired super-villain, a half robot boy and his nerdy friend... How will I fit all this into a panel that will be printed about two inches tall? Or have they reduced the size again?

Words but no drawings...

Ok, no drawings will be accompanying my latest comic decision... My decision? I'm changing it up again. I'm losing the remote controlled boy. Why? I've been trying to write the jokes for him, but it just hasn't been working... So I've decided... Adam is no longer remote controlled. I'm not going to redesign the character, and I plan on keeping the basic concept of a main character with an internal struggle. The change though, is that instead of being remote controlled, he's going to be part robot, or half-android... The stuggle is between this logic-based side of him, and the illogical dreamer that he tends to be.

I'm going to change up his family as well... Originally, I had planned on giving Adam a standard mother and father. Then when I decided he was half android (a cyborg I guess, but I don't like that term...seems kinda menacing) I though maybe his mom was an android, but I thought the suggestion that his dad was fornicating with an android might be kinda weird, so instead his dad will be a freelance scientist, and the suggestion will be that his dad made him that way (or maybe he was in an accident or something... I don't know yet, still working on it.) I thought maybe he'd have a brother as well... A robot that's been programmed to believe that he's a human boy. He knows that he's a robot, but his programming keeps telling him that he isn't... so he constantly tries to fit in with the other kids. He's more of a side character, so I'll see if he works out.

I think this weirder set-up fits better with the super-villain grandpa... but I'm hoping to portray it more like a dysfunctional home life than anything else...

I realize I'm putting a whole lot of thought into the back story and the set-up. I also realize that most people will not really be aware of all the work that goes into it, considering how small a space I have to deliver a joke within. Regardless, I don't view this as a wasted effort, but rather as a crucial foundation to help accomplish my goal of creating a comic strip that's more than just a gag a day... I'm trying to really create a believable world. Or as believable as possible for a family with a super-villain grandfather, a freelance scientist father, and two kids that combined only make up 1/2 of a human boy... Did I mention it takes place in the future?