Offline.
Just Something to Consider
Sooo, we could be looking at a format change. Going from one strip a day, to a half-page less frequently than that. What I’d like from you guys, tell me how you read Merunga. My wife stops by once a week to catch up, my brother checks in every other day, what’s your schedule, and how much would changing my schedule change your schedule?
To be honest, I’m a little on the fence about changing how I do things, which is almost entirely due to the fact that I’m comfortable drawing a single strip. Drawing much bigger than that makes me nervous. From a story-telling point though, more space is better space, and I wouldn’t mind having the extra room to try new things, and pace the story a little different.
It’s a 50/50 chance of happening right now, and if it does change, it’ll happen when we reach our next story arc, in a month-ish. So, drop me a line, let me know what you guys think.
I like the day update as it is.
To be honest, I do too. I like have something new come up every day, and that’s going to be the primary factor in my decision.
I for one read your strip daily (or daily-ish) as you can tell from the anonymous comments (assuming you get IP logs?).
So, obviously, I’d prefer you kept the present schedule. Then again, I don’t have any problem with comics that update less often (goblinscomic is very frustrating to that regard for example, but heh, still following it to date!).
As long as the result is worth the wait you’re very welcome to do as you please as far as I’m concerned. Your comics, your rules!
Up until now I think the single-strip format suits the pace quite well, but if you wish to change the pace you may end up feeling “caged” in the format which is not a good thing (it could give a “shoppy” feeling, for a start).
One last thing to consider: I bet you put at least SOME time in these titles, I kinda like them, it’s become a distinctive trait of Merunga at this point I think. Fewer updates means fewer titles, which may or may not be a good thing depending on the time it saves you, how much you like them, or (Dog forbid) the drying-up of your imagination.
Some comics around have a dual-format thing, e.g. single strips on regular updates and a full page once a week; it can work quite well but obviously there may be a bit more planning involved in the story arc pace (depending on how strictly you like to adhere to plans, which I suspect is “not too strictly as long as I hit the milestones some day” – i could be very mistaken)
Sorry for being so verbose.
Ah uh one last note if I may, regarding your “how much would changing my schedule change your schedule?”
The answer for me is “not even a little”. As a geek-beyond-help I have a browser that allows me to launch my (~15-tabs) “comics” session from the command line whenever in my day I need a break the most. That’s not going to change if you change your schedule, and I’m not removing the Menagerie’s tab from that session as long as you keep it that good (too much sucking up perhaps? Well, to even things out I don’t follow you on any social medium and probably never will ; just not my thing :p)
Well I kind of suck at social media, so you’re not missing a whole lot there. I might get it figured out in a couple of years and then you’ll be sorry.
Not even 24 hours after I posted this and seriously considered a change in format and frequency, I’ve completely talked myself out of it. I like updating daily, and I like the ‘strip’ size, so that’s what I’m going to stick with, I’m just going to focus on writing it better.
Since I recently invested a lot of time into catching up on Merunga (I followed closely at the launch and for the last couple months (ok, maybe 6 months) (…plus) just read what I could see on your facebook teaser). I vote that you keep your current format.
Since I pretty much only look at fb on my phone, that meant I got just the title and the first sentence or so of your post, no dialogue in the strip was legible. I knew enough to mourn Golm’s passing in advance of actually reading about it in full (loved the detail of him literally falling apart, btw). I had noticed Merunga’s long absence and wondered how her moustache tied in to the disappearance (the only letdown of the series- there was no mysterious moustache). And I was intrigued at how bad the naked lady’s hair day must be that she felt inclined to cover her head when the rest of her was on display (I’m now guessing she might not even have hair, nor flesh, nor maybe even skull up there).
I depend on Merunga to keep me entertained while I drink my first cup of coffee prior to actually getting any work done. Should you switch to a different format I’ll likely still check the website every day because I’m obsessive like that (so long as I’m in an obsessive mood, which as I admitted earlier, I do have periods of time in which I am the very opposite of of obsessive). I’d prefer my constant daily fix of the Menagerie.
Nevertheless, it would be fun to see some larger format stuff. I imagine that my coffee intake and productivity would still average out to about the same over the course of a week. If there is no post, I’ll just get to my email a little earlier and enjoy my coffee a little less. You’ll make it up to me when I get the excuse to snag a few extra minutes of procrastination on those big-production days.
I read the comic pretty much daily. I prefer it like that, though I don’t mind if the creator wants to change their schedule according to what suits them most.