Hey guys. Not dead. Promise.
Maybe this is a thing that happens as you slowly stop being in your mid-20s, but I’m a giant pile of retrospection among a series of rapid changes over the last six months. I’m not at my old job, my old apartment, my old CITY… everything is changing, people are moving on to bigger and better things, people leave your life in other ways… it’s left me contemplative (while I’m pretending I know how to run a business).
During this, I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of the comic. I don’t want to see this die. I don’t want to just up and abandon it, but I am not the same girl I was when I started these stories. College is a much smaller part of my life now than it was as a junior, when this originally started, or as a senior, when this particular incarnation started. I love the community I’ve built up here, and all the people I’ve got to meet and opportunities I’ve had because of it. I had an ending in mind for the strip when I first started it; but as people evolve, so do ideas, and now I’m not sure how fitting that ending is, or when it should even come. I know I don’t wanna Garfield this comic up and drag it on longer than it should go for (and I don’t think I’m quite ready for a blaze of Dadaist glory) but I don’t know where to go from here, either. Let me know what you’d like to see.
In other news, I think I’m gonna go with ChromaCurves as my design business name. I angst over names, so this took… a while. It’s all colors and vectors and curvy and yeah. Thoughts?
STUFF I HAVE BEEN MAKING:
Everything artsy for PurpleMentat, a damn awesome Youtube Let’s Player. Check his stuff out.
Foam Brain’s most recent Kickstarter (all the class pins, potion bottles, meeples, baby dragons and Cthulhus, and the two bonus pins)
EDIT: And a bunch of art that I will put up on a new Deviantart or Tumblr or Facebook? (I’ll customize them all tomorrow, it’s way too late right now for me to art properly)
Three options you could think about:
1. End the comic in it’s current iteration, and start a new one under a different name but with you still as the main character.
2. Continue the comic with just a slight name-change with less emphasis on the scholarly goings-on and more on the day-to-day/slice-of-life stuff.
3. End the comic and do something completely different with all-new characters.
Whatever you decide to do is fine with me as long as you keep us all apprised of what’s going on and put up a link to the new project, should you decide to start one.
This web-comic helped me get through some tough times after I dropped out of RPI with severe depression. I would hate to see you forced to complete the story, not because you want to, but for completions sake. As long as their is still info on Dice Bubble, feel free to move onto pastures new.
Well, just because the strip no longer feels like it’s about you and your friends doesn’t mean it can’t still be about these characters you’ve created; most of us only know them as characters anyway, since we wouldn’t have met their IRL counterparts. I doubt your fans would object to seeing the strip play out toward whatever conclusion you had in mind, but we also don’t want to force you to do something you no longer want to do. If you keep doing Enjuhneer, well and good; we’ll keep enjoying it. And if you move on to something else, I think most of us would like to know what that is, too. In either case, thank you for a great comic.
If you want to leave off Enjuhneer but give the characters some kind of closure, is there an alternate ending that might work, or an expedited way to get to the ending you wanted? Or you could try that thing they do at the end of some movies where they show pictures of the characters along with a few sentences about what happened to each one. Sure, it’s cheesy, but I’ve never been one to shy away from cheese.
JENNY, CAN I GIVE YOU AN EXPLOSIVE HUG OF MANLINESS!!?? Ò‰ Ò‰
– Mr. Torgue
You can always try making a sequel comic. That’s what usually happens when authors of slice-of-life webcomics (or their characters) graduate from college.
Roomies! -> It’s Walky
Mac Hall -> Three Panel Soul
You can just end it and make a comic of post-college life.
Maybe do a time-skip to graduation and show what the various characters end up doing after their time at EIT (“Where are they now?” epilogue style). Maybe continue with the characters after that, or start a new story. But I think it’s be nice to see the characters graduate. It would be a fitting end for a comic that starts with freshman year of college.
Also, maybe we could get to see what Kali looks like when she isn’t invisible?
Though having it be an eternal mystery could be cool too…
Good to hear from you again, Jenny. Best of luck with ChromaCurves!
As for what to do with this comic, I’m digging KeyMakerAlchemist’s ideas.
WE DEMAND THAT YOU DO WHAT YOU THINK IS BEST!
Beyond that, we will follow you no matter the path you choose.
Personally, I just want to see you continue writing and drawing. Unless you actually intend to follow several of your various characters individually, I’d suggest spinning off a new name but link to it.
You clearly got a lot of inspiration from your own life experiences. Being an RPI alum myself, I could certainly relate, which is what drew me in to begin with. Revisiting that from a distance isn’t likely to stay fresh. I’d suggest either going with something you’re into now, or creating a completely fictional cast and story.
In the end, it’s up to you. Remember, you have readers and I think most of us will be happy to read whatever you come up with next.
The only character that needs more than a “Where are they now?” for closure is Kali, who really needs a few strips to round off whereever you were intending to take her storyline. Other than that, there’s no point in trying to keep telling stories that your heart isn’t in anymore, so my advice is for you to take a bit of time to decide what you want to do, and if it involves a new URL for a new strip, just make sure we can find you again. *hugs*
Have to admit that I would like to see some sort of graduation story line as well….
Honestly, I think most people are wondering about Kali. It seems like a view of the future would be popular. Personally, I still just want to see the cast as the crew of Firefly.
Enjuhneer been a real ride with ups and downs. And if this does mean the end, we’ll miss it. I don’t want to say goodbye; your art and your writing in this comic have been encouraging/inspiring (what’s the word?). There is one thing to say above all. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. Thank you for sharing with all of us. Thank you.
@LostMind
YOU JUST MADE ME SHED A TEAR OF MANLINESS!!!! Ò‰ Ò‰ Ò‰ Ò‰
– Mr. Torgue
I do wonder about Kali as well (heck, who doesn’t?). Other than that, I’m about on the same page as reynard61 up top.
In addition to Kali, I found Tails’ story compelling. He might be a good bridge to a new world with new characters (and later cameos, if you feel so inspired). But I agree; if you’re losing steam, KeyMakerAlchemist’s solution probably works best.
Life changes are a Good Thing, but of course disruptive. True for you, true for your characters. I’d like to see some kind of wrap-up before you move on to whatever’s next, comics-wise. Perhaps you could follow the example of Angela Melick’s “Wasted Talent” webcomic, and just move on to a work environment. Some of your characters could join you, and new ones would arise. The transition from school to work alone would be fertile ground for stories.
Just what ever you do, don’t introduce Ted McGinley into your characters. 😉
JENNY, INTRODUCE ME AS THE FINAL CHARACTER!! Ò‰ Ò‰
– Mr. Torgue
How about aliens come down and we discover that Kali is secretly their queen who has been in hiding all these years in fear of the evil Chukulakans of the Esperon system. Now that she’s of age, Kali has to return and defend her people….
Just binged the archives after finding the comic’s tropes page. Don’t really have much to say except that I’m somewhat curious as to why WiredWolf managed to turn into a werewolf in her backstory. Even for this universe, the fact that it was 11/11/11 only seems like the tip of the ice berg.
Anyway, do what you feel is right and you’d have the most fun with.
Oh, and while you haven’t mentioned it in a while in the comic, are you still fond of the game Werewolf? Because there’s this online game I play called Mush- it’s like Werewolf, only with alien mushrooms, RPG elements, detective work, and roleplay, among other things. I’ve set my website to the TV Tropes page if you’re curious.
In any case, good luck with post-college life!
Hmm. I think I would be alright if it follows the characters into post college life. Follow whatever you are doing into different scenes.
Don’t feel compelled to go back if you’re not comfortable with it at this time no matter what else is here. Sometimes, moving forward leaving something incomplete isn’t a bad idea.
Do or do not, there is no try.
Well, it has now been a year since the last proper strip (the last 2 strips, with Jenny speaking “to camera” about why there haven’t been any strips don’t really count), so farewell and good luck.
And it has now been a year since this strip. Happy Anniversary. And farewell and good luck.