The Far Reaches Webcomic

Well, it’s definite. I’ve just finished a deal with DriveThruComics.com to make Far Reaches available as an electronic book. This will be nice for all you readers who couldn’t join Wowio because of being international, or because you just didn’t want to join something. It will not simply be the exact thing that’s online, however. The big problem I had with Wowio, is that everyone who saw the series downloaded issue one first, because it’s just natural to start at the beginning and see what it’s like. Unfortunately, chapter one was my very first foray into comics and is definitely my worst work. The ending is very anticlimactic. So it really sucked that people’s first impression was my worst work. Thus, a lot of people didn’t bother to download the other books. So it was a lot of work for nothing. Also, I failed in my attempt to really sell the series. Thus, sales have been mediocre on Wowio.

I have no desire to repeat my same mistakes on DriveThruComics. It would be stupid. First, I’m doing one full-length graphic novel instead of a bunch of smaller books. That way you get more for your money, including the big chase at the end. Also, as much as I hate to, I’m skipping chapter one and instead introducing the main characters and then jumping right into chapter two. Chapter one was kind of a prologue to the story anyway. I’m also redoing the bar scene in the beginning with Binder and Gilrec to improve the art and character development. That’s the only big scene I’m changing. Aside from that, I’m going to go through and fix some of the badly drawn faces, which shouldn’t be a big deal since I’ve got all those reusable sprites in Flash.

I now this will effect the continuation of the story for a few weeks, which sucks, I realize. But I’ve got to produce the best possible product or it just won’t sell and will be a huge waste of time…again. Besides, the graphic novel for DriveThruComics will be what I’m going to try and get published in print. So it’s critical that it be a solid work. I don’t have a hundred thousand readers to convince a publisher to publish it. If this isn’t successful and it just doesn’t do well, it will seriously call into question the wisdom of continuing Far Reaches. So, it’s worth taking a couple weeks to make it solid.

In addition, all this new material will only be available in the ebook, not online. It’s a special bonus to those that buy the book. But don’t worry. The story won’t stop completely. I have one page left in chapter four and then I’ll be ready to start fixing things for the ebook. You won’t see those changes until it’s available at DriveThruComics.

However, there will be comics during this time. Eventually I want to redo chapter one, but that will be much later. First, however, I’m going to do a couple brief prologues to the story. They are completely new, and have a lot to do with the future story, so I think they’re important. That will be what I’ll be posting online. They won’t be too long, and will give me a chance to experiment with a new, faster, easier to do style that will allow me to get more pages done, and get a buffer going. That’s why I’m doing the prologue before starting chapter five. I want to nail down this style and experiment. If it doesn’t work, then oh well. Otherwise, it will allow me to continue the story without breaks. Gone will most likely be the labor intensive 3d, because as much as I love it, it’s just too much set up time for what I have planned. And judging by it’s performance on Wowio, 3d doesn’t really sell comics anyway. Don’t worry, the vehicles and backgrounds will be even more detailed, and nicely painted. My goal is to do the nicest art in the shortest amount of time so that I can focus on the story. Well, this is a long article, so I write again when I get back in town if I can’t get online.