It’s funny. Well, funny to me anyway. If this were a print comic, and I hope someday it is, this would be the second page of the third issue. I’m gaining a whole new level of respect for the guys who can pump out an issue or more a month. Of course, in my mind I have to justify my slowness. I can’t walk around all day feeling guilty that I don’t do more pages. So… here’s why I’m not Mark Bagley: he’s awesome. And it’s as simple as that. Now I know you’re thinking “What’s Mark Bagley have to do with anything?” Well, the guy’s output is phenomonal. I would love to be able to create that much good work. And his style is distinctive, without much (if any) obvious photo references. I’m not real good at spotting the use of photoreferences, so some may have slipped by me, but in this case, I don’t think so. Now, I do about 2 pages every week, on average. I don’t know how many pages Bagley is doing exactly, but he’s turning out more then five every week for Trinity from DC. That is a heck of an accomplishment. If you are wondering why I’m going on about this, you aren’t alone. I was just looking at what I’ve done so far and realizing just how impressive his work is. He is a force of nature.
I believe Tuesday, March 31 marks the series 48th episode or the equivalent of 2 issues of printed comics. At some point I will try publishing, but haven’t quite decided on format yet. Right now, I think the print version will have color. I’ve been going back and working on color pallettes and doing some coloring of the early pages and am really enjoying how that’s turning out. I’ve got a huge backlog of pages to do and the coloring takes almost as long as it does to actually draw and ink the page. The hardest part is keeping my crayons sharpened. I might have to get an intern for that. As the 48th episode goes online, I’m actually finishing the 72nd page, which means there’s a good bit of story still coming your way. Anyway, if you’re reading the series and enjoying it, let me know if you’d like to see a print version. My email is Cactus.comics@yahoo.com. You can also post comments here on the site.
Later.
Dave
I’ll be slowing the pace of updates down to 3 times per week now. Updates will occur on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sometime in April the updates will be backed down to Tuesdays and Thursdays. The reason for this is simple, right now I have a huge buffer between what has been posted and what I’ve actually created. I’m able to do about 2 1/2 pages every week and I don’t want to lose all my buffer, just catch up a little. By April I should be just about caught up.
Hi, I’m Dave. Welcome! The above image is just a colored version of the first episode of Misadventures of a Comic Fan. No, I’m not starting over and I’ve been illustrating this comic for awhile and have recently realized that it took a… darker(?) tone for a bit. I’m not sure “darker” is quite the right word, but the story has moved from goofy little gags to something different. Those pages/episodes haven’t been posted yet, but they are coming, and you’ll probably notice what I’m talking about once they’re posted. I’ve been trying to work a little more of the adventure end of it into the story and let the humor slip from the pages. The humor will return, probably just about when you think that it won’t, so hang in there. If you have any thoughts on what you’re seeing, good or bad, please let me know. I’d love to hear from you. I guess I should give you the email address here: Cactus.comics@yahoo.com. You can also post a comment right here on the site.
A little bit about myself, I promise I won’t bore you too much here. I’m married with three kids and a full time job. I don’t know where I find the time to do this webcomic – it’s like magic. And by magic, I mean a little insomnia. You may wonder how much of my life is in the comic. I’ll admit to a little bit. My youngest does have a tendancy to wear Spider-Man Halloween costumes for long periods of time. I pluralized “costumes” for a reason. My daughter does have two left feet, although not literally – she punched my arm when she saw the page containing that joke. (That page will appear about three episodes from today.) The other characters have very little in common with the other people in my life, although eventually I’m sure similarities will crop up. I’m sure a character based loosely on my oldest son will eventually appear. Oh, and for clarification purposes, I have never tried to use Spider-Man web blasters to swing from my roof top. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Until next time, stay safe and healthy.
Additional news:
Forum: I’m still setting up the forum and trying to figure out the ins and outs of running it before I activate it. I should be announcing its “Grand Opening” soon.
Podcast: Yes, that’s right, I said it. This one’s a little more tricky, mostly because I’m working on figuring out content and format. There will be one coming though. Content is currently intended to be a brief update of what’s going on in this comic and then a more in depth spotlight on a webcomic I’m reading or an interview with another webcomic creator.
