I’m writing this blog on Friday, so let’s ASSUME that I had a great time at the Rose City Comic Con. If Not, I’ll tell you all about it on Wednesday.
Lauren Davis over at “io9” added “Spacetrawler” to her list of 10 webcomics that would make great shows. That would be SO. MUCH. FUN.
Thursday was the rain date for Glens Falls APE Chalk Fest, where I was the featured chalked. it rained AGAIN. But was intermittent enough, and enough people showed up, that it went forward. However, I only had about half the time to work as I needed (due to the weather), and so I didn’t finish it. But I got the important parts done.
Or…. the full vid walk around.
Don’t knock yourself out, Angie. Let Gordon do it. He has experience knocking out captains.
I hate to say it, but… I’m starting to get a little impatient waiting for something to happen in this comic. I know that’s terrible, and I’m sorry, but as a reader I feel it’s my job to bring it up. So, in all honesty… yeah, I’m getting a little tired of just watching these folks meander around their ship.
The total opposite is also true, as in the six month street fight on Grrl Power. All the same thing all the same time is almost as boring as watching Warhol’s Empire.
But it isn’t that bad, c’mon…
I get that this is a comic about character development, and that’s reallly cool. And I get that this format mimics space travel: you’re put with a handful of strangers in a small space for ages and except for moments of acute danger, it’s pretty quiet. It’s forcing you to experience the stuff scifi often glosses over. That said, I’m dying for some of the mysteries to be paid off, and nothing is happening. If this were a book, I’d be checking to see how many pages are left.
Love you, Chris!
It will be over in three and a half months at most.
It’s what @Amanda said, it’s an exploration of character over story really. I’ve had many people tell me they’re loving it, and others… Not as much. If not, consider this project a whim of mine I wanted to see played out. 🙂
But, also, what @Herandar said. It’s a one year project, ending near the end of this year. And I can tell you, the comic after that (which is already 1/4 written) is a plot/adventure comedy story which sounds like it’ll please. 🙂
A bit impatient here too I have to confess, but the style starts to grow on me.
I have followed your comics since before you started spacetrawler (little Dee got me there)and I really like your quirky sense of humor. So though this isn´t as action packed as space trawler, I will just wait and see how it plays out. Thanks and keep up the good work.
It’s again one of these books that are better off read all at once, as once a day is really stretching patience.
But I can’t help myself. Action could be just around the corner!!
When does Dmitri shows up, and tell them to keep Earth out of galactic affairs, after that one incredibly dangerous mission??
Long time follower, first time commenter. Chris, love your work but this comic is starting to drag – as several people have mentioned above. I get the character development objective but all it’s doing is making me care less about the crew and hoping for something to happen soon, even if it’s their demise.
Throw us a bone and explore the saboteur mystery, government conspiracy regarding the mission, SOMETHING, anything. Please?
Thanks so much, brother.
I personally like this pace. There’s nothing I love more than a good boat story, with Captain Jack Aubrey or whoever spending seventeen chapters looking at the stars and scratching itches and regretting things said ten years ago. I am thrilled that so much sci fi is just more boat story. The transition from Treasure Island to Star Trek was made seamlessly by my child self. This fits.
Normally it would go slow for me, too, but being a retired GI, I am interested in the way command is playing out and how Chris will deal with writing what amounts to a suicide mission. At least APPEARS to be a suicide mission. The pair finding that the word emphasis was different than the way they originally interpreted leaves an out.
I have been in desperate circumstances a time or two where I was fairly sure we would not make it home, but got lucky, so I can empathize with the feelings they’re having. When we decided, blatz it, if we’re going we’ll take as many of the 1!@#$%^&^%$#@ with us as we can, we went all beast mode and actually won.
There’s something to be said for going berserk at certain times.
PS: If the former captain gets out of line again, they need to either restrain him in his cabin or shove him out a space lock with no suit.
I’d like to compare this comic with Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odessey”, and the sequence set on the Discovery. The movie did a good job of showing just how boring a long duration space mission is (and should be!) up until HAL started losing it. And also like 2001, they’ve determined that their mission is not what they were told it was. I’m not expecting them to find any monoliths, tho.
What they are finding so far is (for the most part) their better selves in the face of probable annihilation. This is often how true heroism happens — “I just found myself doing it” or “It needed doing and I did it” are often what you hear. A lot of the crew have gone from being self-absorbed misfits to far more likeable people now.
Good story, Chris!
I had started out with expectations I have since rethought. And in doing so I can enjoy this story so much better. No space battles, no aliens (I don’t expect to see them even now) and just enjoy the unfolding of the characters. Imagine that character driven SiFi, who would have thought of it? And with the contraction of patience in our culture to a mere fraction of what it was 100 years ago. It will be trying for some use to near instant gratification. Too many quick cuts and the honing of our attention spans to seconds instead of hours. I have to fight it myself.
Chris, I lived in Glens Falls until a few months before you moved there. I really appreciate these little glimpses of “home.” Thanks.
A science museum that would have been very cool to visit. http://evoluon.org/ Shut down in 1989, it’s now a conference center.
If this were the only webcomic in the netz that I read, maybe I’d be bored, but as it is, it is one of many, and I’m enjoying the slow, lazy stroll toward oblivion. My advice to anyone who’s bored? Bookmark it and come back when the year’s up. Read it then. =)
@BoldODonahue, Hey, THERE’S an idea! In theory they’re slowing down. Vagus’s corpse isn’t. Pretty soon his body is going to catch up to the ship. How’s THAT for “throwing a bone”?
Unless, of course, they move the ship out of the Vagus…
@Phecta, No, I don’t expect them to find any monoliths, either.
But maybe the monoliths will find THEM!