Well, the way I’m gonna share this is by first giving you the bad news. Then talk I’ll talk just briefly about how I came to the good news.
The bad news is: After less than a month, I’ve doubled production on STC. Prior to September, STC was updated once a week. To go along with the launch, I wanted to do something special, so I made the update schedule to be Mondays and Thursdays. Well, each strip takes me about 5 hours each to do. That’s a big commitment for me. STC is not going away, but the bad news is, this will probably be the last Thursday strip that I’ll be putting out in a long, long time. I’m sorry if this disappoints you.
Two nights ago I had the chance to visit Agnes Scott College, a mostly all-girl college in Decatur, GA. While that definitely has its upsides, girls was not the reason I traveled over an hour by train. Scott “infinite canvas” McCloud was giving a talk there. I had to go. Luckily I have an Aunt that goes there and she made arrangements for me to be able to attend. It was really worth the trip. I came out of the talk more inspired about my artistic direction than I think I have ever been. Mr. McCloud is a really nice guy, and is a guy that will garner all the respect in the world from me.
I was able to get two of my books signed by him, as well as Zots! (which I purchased at the event) I think he’s underrated as a creator. I also had the chance to get up and ask him a couple of questions regarding webcomics at the talk, something I never thought I’d do in my lifetime. Hell, I never thought those how-to books I bought so long ago, and devoured over and over again would have the authors signature personalized to me (over a decade later).
So, you’ve made it this far. And I did promise some good news. My original plans were to announce this at new years. Since I started this movement, back in mid March, I’ve started gaining momentum and over the last 3-4 months have really turned up the effort to make sure that I don’t miss an update. I’ve been making sure to work ahead too. The strip you see up there is #31. By the end of tonight, I expect to have #87 done and ready to go. I have a fear that if my buffer dwindles then I’ll pressure myself to a point where the artwork and strip will suffer. To avoid that, I came up with a plan to debut the strip slowly. Doing updates once a week until the premiere. Then, I’d have 3 months to further add to my buffer until the new year arrived. Well, coming back from Agnes Scott, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t be patient any longer. I’ve got stories to tell and I want them told now. I don’t want to be brash, so I’m still committed to the long term success of Steal This Comic, so what I’m about to say has been thought about for quite a while.
Starting Monday September 22nd, Steal This Comic will be updated 3x a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Considering the time it takes me to do each strip and the time I have to do them, this is the best I can offer at this time. For the loyal fans of STC, I hope you consider this good news. I’m excited to get more story out there, and sooner. This is not a gag a day strip, and I’ve decided that my storylines need to come out at a quicker pace. Anyway, thanks for reading everyone. And as I’ve stated before: The best is yet to come.
-C.
