Revenge of Ask T Questions

[TCampbell]

Wow, it's been a few more pages than I thought since T last commented on the spin-off. Here's what he said last time it was publicly brought up:

Have you decided about that spin-off possibility yet?

It's definitely something that I want to do, and I'd like for the transition to be smooth so this community can more or less come right over. But I still need to sort out some details.

Then someone suggested he could ease the transition by posting concept sketches and the like - sorry, whoever that was, I forgot to look to see who you are - which I think is a good idea if such exist, or will exist by the time the strip proper ends...any chance of that, T?

Okay! Let's answer some questions!

I've committed to some form of spinoff in the Plus announcement that's linked from the homepage, but there will almost certainly be a time gap between the last P&A strip and its first one. I may end up just sharing some of the fruits of this forum in the meantime. Maritza Campos has donated a sketch too, which you will definitely see.

Truth to tell, I'm pretty tired and I need a little rest. "The Last Summer of Youth" hasn't been as punishing, page by page, as "Missing Person" was... but it was no cakewalk either, and my juggling act has gotten a little stretched lately (just ask Phil Kahn). We're soon to be ending Widgetitis, and I just wrapped "Callin' Them Squares," which should ease the pressure a bit, but I have to take it slow still.

This spinoff, I want to be about alternate sexuality, as Penny and Aggie was primarily about youth (and just had a lot of alternate sexuality in it). That means a ton of research to build a mostly-new cast, and to come up with stories that are contemporary and fresh and honest. Beyond that, there's an awful lot that I need to nail down. I'm actually not sorry at all that our scheduled end date has been moved back one slot-- gives me more time to figure things out.

[TCampbell]

T... I think none of us know what the hell just happened. Some of us think P&A just broke up, some of us think they're agreeing to stay together to try and work things out, some of us are reading it as the two not even leaning one way or the other... So seriously, whaaaat.

This is one I wouldn't have answered, even if I'd been around to answer it at the time.

As you may have guessed, the final chapter will be casting some illumination on that. I was amused at how many people interpreted the end of "August" differently than I expected them to, even after we revised the hell out of both the script and the art of that page.

[TCampbell]

But sometimes change means making way for something better.

Feh! First CoolCats Studio goes away, and now Penny and Aggie? What's all this about you doing stories that have a beginning, middle, and end?

Don't you know that comic strips are run into the ground, with all their great concepts and ideas having every last possible drip of creativity wrung out of them like gym towels?

What's WITH you, man?

Seriously, dude, I am in awe of your writing talents. You've woven stories that I've followed for just about five years now, and it's taking the end of my favorite one to get me to register and post.

So, apparently I'm the one that sucks.


Thanks.

Thank YOU, CrankyViking, for not pillaging my city! I know how hard it is not to pillage when you're in a bad mood.

[TCampbell]

Multipart question.

1) Will the new strip still have Jason as artist, a new artist, or is that still undergoing development on your part?

2) Given that P&A started as a newspaper strip, and as such needed each strip to be 'self contained', it was okay to update one page at a time in the beginning. Do you see that changing given that you want to do a spinoff of a character that's already familiar to your base group? In other words, are you thinking about a big mega-update beginning, both to familiarize new readers who haven't seen P&A before and give some basics (the whos, whats, and wheres) of the strip and it's location? If not, I'm interested in hearing from you as to why it would or would not work in your view.

3) Will you be delaying a Plus! feature for the new untitled strip until you've established a bit of an archive? Just curious.

1) Jason is interested. I would like to work with him. But I don't want to nail us into a commitment yet. I will be asking around a bit and looking at options. The Brothers Waltrip and I have been working together for a long time, though, and I think it's fair to say I'll keep finding projects for them as long as I'm in comics.

2) I've toyed with numerous ideas about the schedule, from a once-a-week giant-sized update to something more akin to a daily strip, with the SOP for my comics-- three pages a week-- right in the middle. I haven't made up my mind yet.

3) Currently the idea is that P&A Plus will support the spinoff project, as parents support their children for a while.

[TCampbell]

Tech question: will this page ever correctly list all the subforums again (including Fans, Guilded Age and Widgetitis)?

Bo pointed out the right answer here. Fixing links to the forum is something on my list of "post-P&A chores."

[TCampbell]

Um. This might be silly, but seeing as I don't think I've seen any posts from T in a minute... You're okay, right? I don't remember which part of the country you're in.

I'm sorry to make you worry, Valerie! I was fully EXPECTING to lose power, and almost disappointed when all my disaster preparedness amounted to nothing. The Waltrips have lost power and taken some storm damage, but we're okay all in all.

[ann]

This spinoff, I want to be about alternate sexuality,

This makes me so very happy!

One of the things I found really interesting in P&A is the way that, while lots of characters seem to be attracted to people of various genders, nobody identifies as bi (at least, not in the strip). Lisa and Cyndi both explicitly reject the label. This is something which is quite controversial in the bi* community - some people think we need a label for visibility, some people think there are all kinds of things wrong with "bisexual" as a label and want to use something else like pansexual or omnisexual, some people are like Lisa and don't want to use any label at all. Is the whole issue of labels something you'll be exploring more?

*for want of a better word

[TCampbell]

This spinoff, I want to be about alternate sexuality,

This makes me so very happy!

One of the things I found really interesting in P&A is the way that, while lots of characters seem to be attracted to people of various genders, nobody identifies as bi (at least, not in the strip). Lisa and Cyndi both explicitly reject the label. This is something which is quite controversial in the bi* community - some people think we need a label for visibility, some people think there are all kinds of things wrong with "bisexual" as a label and want to use something else like pansexual or omnisexual, some people are like Lisa and don't want to use any label at all. Is the whole issue of labels something you'll be exploring more?

*for want of a better word

Cyndi might not mind the label herself, but she thought Marshall would prefer it if she didn't use it.

But yeah, you can pretty much count on the labels question coming up a lot. Self-discovery is likely to continue to be a big theme.

[Freemage]

Tech question: will this page ever correctly list all the subforums again (including Fans, Guilded Age and Widgetitis)?

Bo pointed out the right answer here. Fixing links to the forum is something on my list of "post-P&A chores."

I also recommend updating your link-scheme for different projects. I know I've harped on this before, but given that you're looking at housecleaning chores, this is one I'd strongly urge taking the time to get right. I remain convinced that the lack of ~simple~ access to widgititis is one of the factors that held it back from gaining popularity.

I envision one of three basic options as the way to go:

1: A bunch of simple text links at the top of each of your projects, set aside from other links (like the specific comic's archives and forum). Since you do collaboration, your collaborator would get a similar set of links. This was what you had at one point, but maintenance seems to be a big issue, as new projects came up and old ones went away.

2: An image-based set of links, similar to the one that appears as a scrollbar on Evil Cuties and Magic Chicks. Both your and your collaborator on that project's works would appear in the scrollbar.

3: A drop-down menu in the upper corner, similar to what you have now on the P&A page, but with current projects listed first, then 'archived' projects that have been closed/finished. Collaborators who have other projects would get their own, separate drop-down that would be clearly labelled as such.

The ideal, in any case, is to make it possible for me (the hypothetical reader) to go from any one project of yours to any one other project, with the least amount of intermediary steps. The second advantage of all of these is that it serves as advertising for those projects, informing people who might otherwise miss their existence. A tertiary goal is to make sure that all the pages have a consistent approach (this may require some negotiation with your collaborators, especially if they have projects of their own that are also being included in this web of cross-links). If I'm on Guilded Age's front page, I should be able to look in the same general location for links that I do on Penny & Aggie's last page, or on the new strip's current page.

In essence, you should assume that I (again, as stand-in for the hypothetical reader) am a 70-year-old AOL user with the patience of a four-year-old. Easy and fast, easy and fast, easy and fast. A broad "projects" page can be useful, but don't expect it to serve as your 'hub'--it should simply be another link I can go to if I want a quick descriptor of your other works, before diving into archive trawls and such.

[TCampbell]

This general issue is something I will be working on, all right.

[Cheshire]

Two questions that have been rolling around in my mind for a while:

1. Did Marshall ever actually find out about Karen cheating on him with Omar? Granted, I'd imagine it wouldn't change much about how the Popsicle War ended, but I'm still curious.

2. I reread 20/20 Pennies recently for fairly obvious reasons. It's always been one of my favorite arcs because all of the possible Pennies have some very interesting implied back stories. Are there any favorites that you'd like to elaborate on as to what happened to them and why they would vote the way that they did? (Obviously the Penny in my icon never got over Rich, and counselor Penny was likely abused by him, but why would actress Penny want her future undone?)

[Freemage]

Did you and Randy talk about his plans for Helen prior to the most recent update, and is this going to count as 'canon' for her development in S*P?

[Valerie]

Cyndi might not mind the label herself, but she thought Marshall would prefer it if she didn't use it.

Is this supposed to imply that Marshall is homo/biphobic or that Cyndi thought he was?

[Freemage]

Cyndi might not mind the label herself, but she thought Marshall would prefer it if she didn't use it.

Is this supposed to imply that Marshall is homo/biphobic or that Cyndi thought he was?

I suspect closer to the latter, or rather, that she figured guys were just more into girl-girl scenes for their own amusement--a genuinely bi girl (as opposed to a party-bi like Cyndi was claiming to be) is technically cheating, and thus theoretically not reliable, while one who is just making out with girls as eye-candy for guys is likely to be up for a threesome. Note that there's a LOT of Cyndi's baggage in that assessment, especially w/re: Marshall.

[Arky]

Did you and Randy talk about his plans for Helen prior to the most recent update, and is this going to count as 'canon' for her development in S*P?

I have to admit that, as an SP reader, this strip actually interested me more as SP canon than P&A canon. Namely because it means Randy can't kill Helen with a car (although he could still Kestrel her).

I would say "and it guarantees Nancy lives!" but the Randy Milholland I know would take that as a challenge to kill off Nancy and have Helen make a new best friend also named Nancy, so I won't say that.