So long, folks. More words over here. And the archives are there!
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Remember when I said this?
“Rest assured that Chronillogical has a future. … The strip has certainly had ample time to die by now, if it were destined to die!” [Source]
I did not know it at the time, but that turned out to be a lie. Oops!
After three years, maybe 150 comics or so, blah blah blah, everyone’s heard this story before. In short, we lost interest, and now we are giving up (perhaps more accurately, we gave up a while ago, and are now owning up to it). We certainly didn’t set out to disappoint anybody, but it’s probably best to stop and move on instead of plodding ahead with something that just doesn’t have the same meaning it used to (for us, anyway). Right? That’s what I tell myself.*
So, as a send-off, let’s remember the good times as I link to some of my favorite comics that we’ve done:
The Most Important Moment in History (1 of 2)
Good Work Indeed
Brown Brown Brown
The Winter strips with Mr. Skeleton are all pretty good: [1] [2] [3]
And finally, Civil Discourse Man
So, to the long-haulers, thank you for reading! To those who just stopped by for a laugh or two, thank you for reading as well. To those who dared to share yet another webcomic with a friend, thank you twice. Thank you all. And be excellent to each other.
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* Greg and I have gotten accustomed to this comic-making thing, though, and we are playing around with some new ideas behind the scenes—ideas that are SO FRIGHTENINGLY PRELIMINARY, it would be foolish of us to go around making grand announcements about them right now. If and when they come to fruition, we’ll figure out a way to tell you. Announcements will appear here, I’m sure, and probably on Twitter, and maybe Facebook, and maybe Tumblr too.
Occasionally, a webcomic I like will stop updating for a while. And I might be tempted to think “Hey! What is up with this chumpzilla? Dude can’t draw summin’ twice a week? Once a week? I mean what is the deal! I still like that strip. Nuts to that guy!” At which point I might snap my fingers all sassy-like.
And after while, the artist (or writer) (or artist/writer combo) (or just the artist despite a combo, but I am getting ahead of myself) might walk into view from behind the content blackout, clear his throat, and offer excuses that are mostly unsatisfying.
So … hello again!
Yes, for the third time in a year, hello hello. Today, I speak to you on my own behalf, and not on Greg’s, because this is all my fault. (Mine. All of it!) Honestly, I’m not really sure what to say—it’s pretty clear that my interest in Chronillogical has waned a lot lately, and I need to figure out why. Right now, it feels as though there are a lot of reasons, nebulous and ill-defined, most of which fall under the umbrella of “my arting skills are pretty poor and drawing this strip is a pain, which makes me not want to do it!”
What’s frustrating is that, when the strip started, this was a problem that I could at least push aside long enough to finish something. For about a year and a half, we kept Chronillogical on a pretty regular schedule. But after a while, the strip didn’t feel right, and so I suggested making changes to it. Updates suffered. Then they suffered again. And now again. And I think it’s safe to say now that I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m not industrious enough to fake it! Not yet. With work and luck, that day will come. (On Eileen.)
Rest assured that Chronillogical has a future. (GET IT okay never mind this is not the time for that.) (Not the TIME okay seriously I will stop.) The strip has certainly had ample time to die by now, if it were destined to die! But I need to do some serious work before we’ll know what Chronillogical’s future should look like. Maybe when that day comes, I’ll be able to commit to a regular schedule, like the grownups do. Until then, subscribe to the feed and we’ll let you know what’s up, when it happens.
For right now? It would be irresponsible for me to make promises like “new comics next week!” so I’m not going to say that. Greg and I have some ideas to wrap up this arc, so we’ll probably move ahead with that before getting all experimental up in here. I don’t know exactly when they’ll show up on the site.
If I’ve left out any details you’re curious about, please sound off in the comments!
Season’s greetings to all the Christians, the ex-Christians, and the Christian-adjacent—plain ol’ regular greetings to everyone else!
So our hope was to have the latest strip done by Christmas Eve (today!), and that did not happen. Clearly! And it’s not our wish to leave folks without anything at all on this, the day before tomorrow, so I decided instead to briefly resurrect a hallowed Chronillogical tradition.
(I wonder if TUBACHRISTMAS organizers would consider incorporating any contemporary film scores into their caroling repertoire this year.)
All right, I’ve got presents to wrap, superstars. So you all have a Hoppin’ TUBACHRISTMAS, a Boppin’ BASSCLARINETHANUKKAH (belated), and a Zippy BANJOSATURNALIA!
So you’ve noticed that the next comic has been slow to appear. Nobody panic! You may not see it, but if you listen closely, you can hear its steady approach from beyond the horizon—like a herd of buffalo, or perhaps a horrifying war machine.
This next comic has had a couple of false starts, and after a night that yielded zero usable material, I said to myself, “Screw it. Screw this noise. I am going to draw Lucca Ashtear.” And, lacking a gavel, I pounded my fist upon the desk. The heavens thundered in assent. It was rad.
I will admit that I have played some Chrono Trigger these past few weeks on the DS—hence the picture. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Chrono Trigger is a game that both Greg and I have played1 and enjoyed and remember fondly. It’s easily one of the best RPGs I’ve met, which is a meaningless statement considering 1) how many other people say that and 2) how few RPGs I have in fact played. That doesn’t diminish its influence on our work, though.
In fact, when Greg and I find ourselves in a tough spot (with regards to story or characters or perhaps both at the same time), invariably we will ask ourselves “Why doesn’t this feel more like Chrono Trigger?”2 And for good reason! It’s a fun story with fun dialogue and fun characters3—do you sense the subtle pattern here?!
Funness is, after all, the essential element that we strive for. Sometimes we succeed more than other times, and I know that, for the long-term, we are headed in the right direction. All I have to do now is finish the next dang strip so that I can prove it to you.
tl;dr ct 4 lyfe
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1 Perhaps not so long ago as you’d expect—I didn’t touch it until my freshman year of college (!) and I don’t think Greg completed a full playthrough until he was well into high school.
2 Other inevitable comparisons include Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Back to the Future Part II, and Dresden Codak.
3 Lucca strikes me as one of the story’s less engaging characters, actually, but she has a fun look. (Fun!!) You know who has a flippin’ weird look? The protagonist. What is up with that hair, somebody please tell me what is up with it. (Aaand here I am, bewildered at the hairstyles in a JRPG. I am 65.)
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, too! Pretty much the perfect time for a content lull. I’ll do what I can to set things right before Wednesday, though it might be necessary to schedule the next comic for a Friday update. Not sure yet! The wait, I promise, will be worth it, as the comic features both robots (a type of apocalypse) and cheesecake (a type of dessert).
On top of that, the strip that follows this one will be about twice as long as the ones we’ve been posting lately. As a result, it will also be delayed a bit—so that’s some extra good news for everyone!
I feel I’ve fulfilled the Webcomics Artist archetype quite well today, I really do. Delays! Excuses! Apologies! These, my friends, are the fundamental elements that combine to spell “Professionalism”.
(Anyway. See you in a few days!)