All site blogs : Sluggy Freelance

[—] Top of the Pile in early 2025!
Posted Nov 20, 2024 Comments (3) (Permalink)
I’m shooting for February and March of 2025 to get on top of the pile! What could go wrong? :)

OK, so I’m still working on the bonus content for Sluggy Freelance Book 23, Mohkadun. This bonus story (called, suspiciously enough, Family Reunion) is going to be very nifty and touch on some cool plot points. But life events and rewrites caused a delay of a couple of weeks on this project.

I was very aggravated when I realized I would NOT have Book 23 available to offer to you all in December for the holidays. But I’ve come to realize it’s OK. I fall behind sometimes. But I always get there eventually. I’ve currently sequestered myself in my office-cave and I have removed all non-essential distractions to work on this thing (and maintain the flow of new strips). It should just be a few weeks more, I hope!

What about the store?!? I was going to keep the store closed until the new book was in my hands, but I’ve decided on a different plan. I do have small quantities of some of the older books. I also have plenty of Megatome 1’s (Contains books 1-3) and Book 9’s and the Beanie-style plush Bun-buns which are still the best and you all should own one! So on the off chance anyone wants these in time for the holidays for any reason, I feel like it’s my duty to give you a chance to!

Sluggy Store Opening- November and December
The Sluggy Store will open around noon-ish Eastern Time on Wednesday November 27th. All international orders need to be in by Wednesday December 4th or they might not make it to you by Christmas. The store will close on Wednesday December 11th. I will push to get all international orders out first, but domestic orders might take a week longer to fulfill. I’ll have family invading my house at that time, so I’ll make them do some of the packing-and-shipping leg-work. That’ll teach ‘em!

Sluggy Store Reopening- March
Unless something unforeseen happens, the Store will Reopen with a full book catalog including the new BOOK 23 MOHKADUN by March!
It will take about a month for the printer to turn the book around once I get them the files. So I’m just going to assume I’ll have it in hand February at the latest. The first batch will go off to the higher level Defenders, as always. But then my intention it to open the store AGAIN, early March, with stock of all the other books! It’s like Christmas in March! I know SOME of you will still have your decorations up! That's not my style, but I understand.

The Pawnz and Bookmarks Sitch
TL;DR: I’m behind on Pawnz and Bookmarks (as usual these last few years). I’m taking off a lot of February and March to get on top of that pile. I NEED to do this as the END LOOMS CLOSER...

So I’m over a year behind on sending these postcards and bookmarks out. Again. But now I’m almost a year behind on designing and announcing them! In January 2024 I was supposed to start laying out Mohkadun style Pawnz and Bookmarks and catch up. It’s perplexing to even me, who is living it, why I was not able to succeed on this.

I’m slowing down. It’s getting harder and harder simply keeping up with one-to-three strips a week, let alone moving the ball forward on something else, like books or Pawnz and Bookmarks.

I want you all to know this is important to me. I will get you what I owe you. I’m just trying to figure out how without sacrificing the comic itself.

What I’m going to try is to limit new comic strip releases in the months of February and March, and dedicating myself to getting on top of that pile. Sending out Book 23s and creating and distributing Pawnz and Bookmarks is going to be my focus at that point.

I tried this two years ago with subpar results. This time I’m going to task some friends to help me.

Once I’m past that I can focus on the most important thing. The comic itself. You’ve all put such faith in me to do right by it. And I must. Because it is coming to an end.

The End Looms Closer...
Sluggy Freelance will end in the not too distant future. I’ve mentioned this in more detail in the Defenders Blog. And I’ll discuss it here with you all once Book 23 is in hand. For now I’ll say it’s still at least a couple of years away. Two major stories beyond Monstrous.

This is why its so important for me to get on top of the pile and stay on top of the pile, early 2025. So I can focus on ending things right. By the way, those of you who became Defenders of the Nifty are the sole reason the strip didn’t vanish years ago. My appreciation knows no bounds. And all the non-Defender readers owe you thanks as well. THANKS for being the Niftiest.

Onwards and sideways, with, perhaps, a slightly upward turn!
Be Nifty to each other.

-Pete
[+] The End of 2023 and the Things Beside the Comic Itself
Posted 12 Nov 2023 (Permalink)
Can I walk and chew gum at the same time? I sure couldn't during Immortal King, but I hope I'll be able to with the current chapter. Shorter stories and fewer characters will hopefully allow me to catch up and keep up with things beyond the comic. Here's where we stand.

Sluggy Freelance Book 22 R&D WARS: The free copies for higher level eligible Defenders have been sent out! Only the highest tier remain as I reach out to them for customization and bundly goodness (check your email level 6 Chazzers!). Everyone else will be able to purchase them from the Sluggy Store when it opens, and will be available from IndyPlanet shortly thereafter.

I'm very proud of the end result of the book. I'm less proud of the months upon months where I only created one comic a week while trying to finish the additional creative parts of the book (and playing Pawnz and Bookamrs catch-up). Its never been this creatively hard before. Not by miles. Since this is the only time it's happened to this extreme degree, I'm chalking it up to a fluke, but we don't want a repeat of that. I'll be aware of this as I begin layout of Sluggy Freelance Book 23 Mohkadun.

Sluggy Freelance Store: When the store opens (hopefully in the next week or two) I'll have a bunch of BOOK 22's on hand for you to purchase as well as small quantities of all the other books. For the past few years, I only open the store for less than a month around Christmas. I feel like this is, perhaps, less than optimal. But its harder and harder to run a store while keeping the comics going at the trickle they are so please forgive me on this for now. I may be outsourcing the store in the future. Then again, where do I find the time to organize that? (I'm such a dummy). Anywho hopeful store opens in a week or two, and I should have limited supplies of all books!

Pawnz and Bookmarks Catch-up: I was doing a good job on catching up on the Pawnz and Bookmarks I need to send out physically and digitally to Defenders, but there came I time where I felt better to focus on the conclusion of Immortal King. Now that were in to "lighter story" territory, I'm back to catching up! I'm using the Set Numbers established in the previous news story entitled "MAY 2023 CHECK-IN".

SET 4: 2022-09,10,11,12 Off to the printers! Mailed (starting today)! (ALSO DIGITALLY RELEASED)

SET 5: 2023-01,02,03,04: Being printed up!
SET 6: 2023-05,06,07,08: Upcoming!
SET 7: 2023-09,10,11,12: Upcoming!
SET 8: 2023-01,02,03,04: Design stage, Work in Progress, nothing to show yet- There's going to be a lot of Mohkadun Pawnz in 2024, so were going to start with the core pantheon.
In conclusion: With Immortal King completed, and with smaller scope and character stories in the future I hope to make headway on the things beyond the comics (Defender Rewards, Book production, Store) while maintaining 2 to 3 comics a week. We'll see how I do. Know I'm always trying my best. And Defenders of the Nifty, thank you for your support through all these complicated years. I can't thank you guys enough. In the meantime, everyone, I'm back to the drawing board to make something monstrous.
-Pete
[+] Sluggy Turns 26!!!
Posted 28 Aug 2023 Comments (5) (Permalink)
Another anniversary? It feels like the 25th anniversary was two minutes ago! Possibly in real time for the characters! Admittedly 'Immortal King' is probably the longest story* I have ever done, and the less-comic-output for the majority of this year has made it feel like a much shorter year.

*I say "probably the longest story" because I can't remember crap and I'm too busy to check! Yay old age!

Anywho, I finally have Book 22 in my hands from the printer and its perfect! It will still be a month or two before you can order one. I need to get some of these doodled in and sent off to the highest tier Defenders of the Nifty, and I want to get some more books in inventory before I reopen the store for the 2023 holiday season. So look for that to happen soonish. And on to book 23, Mohkadun. That should be a big one!

Oh, and big thanks to Reactions Mod Zillatain for creating youtube videos to replace the old flash animations that we had to drop when flash was no longer supported! They're in the archives right now! THANKS ZILLATAIN! 5th Anny | Torg Potter (1) (2) (3) (4)

That's about it for now! "Onward and sideways!" :) thanks for sticking with me all these years! And Defenders? Blog post!
[+] Quick post for the August Pawnz and Bookmark!
Posted 9 Aug 2023 (Permalink)

Hey guys! A quick "head's-up!" I'm trying to keep up with announcing Pawnz & Bookmarks on a timely basis so here's the one for August 2023! More details in two weeks for Sluggy's 26th anniversary! And, side-note, Book 22 is being printed NOW!!!

[+] May 2023 Check-In!

Posted 13 Feb 2023 Comments (5) (Permalink)

Originally published in February, this news story has been updated for May!

As you guys probably noticed, and as explained in the last news story, I've restricted myself to one comic a week until I've caught up with mailing out pawnz and bookmarks to eligible Defenders, and have sent Book 22 (R&D WARS) to the printer. I'm over a year behind on both projects and that is too long!

---PAWNZ & BOOKMARKS---
I've broken the "Pawnz and Bookmarks" situation into five sets. Here's where we stand...
SET1: 2021-11,12, 2022-01 (Edda, Anise, Farahn): Mailed! (ALSO DIGITALLY RELEASED)
SET2: 2022-02,03,04 (Yffi, Chilus, Ozzid): Mailed! (ALSO DIGITALLY RELEASED)
SET3: 2022-05,06,07,08 (Olebelle, Basphomy, DemonKiki, Aylee) Mailed! (ALSO DIGITALLY RELEASED)
SET4: 2022-09,10,11,12 Off to the printers! (See below, Heart-1 has been renamed Siphy, 'cause "f" Farahn.)

SET 5: 2023-01,02,03,04: A fully R&D Wars set! (See below) Will be sent to printer soon once set 4 goes out!

My plan going forward is to send these out three times a year. If I can get Set 5 out by the end of May I will be back and on time with regards to Pawnz & Bookmarks!

Current and Upcoming Pawnz & Bookmarks:

May 2023- the Tragic "Ink Angel" form of Edda.
Going for a design match to "Siphy Book Mummy" above.

June 2023- Agent N'aaaw
Human form!

July 2023- Kira the Chain Serpent
Rounding out our 3 hearts set.

---BOOK 22, "R&D WARS"---

I've tackled all of the scripting and designing of bonus content, bonus story, cover, and intro pages. Despite having "more to show" on the Pawnz & Bookmark front, what I've been doing for the creative additions to book 22 are what were the most nebulous and took the most blood sweat and tears. Now that's the hard part is done for getting the book to the printers, it's being preempted by the creative work on the current comics. Even though it's only one comic a week, things are coming to a crescendo with Immortal King. So I'm constantly pivoting focus right now.

Short version: The tough parts of getting book 22 completed have been conquered. But the executions of those designs will be time consuming and I'm still not in a good position to estimate when it will be done.

I'm anxious to get back to more comics each week, and I deeply appreciate your support through this and through all the recent turbulence. I'm lucky and honored to have you guys. We will get there!

[+] I Fought the Time and the Time Won.
Posted 7 Dec 2022 Comments (5) (Permalink)
Here's references for "Krohnus" and "Pete" if you need them.

So it feels like Halloween was just the other day. "Hey kids, did you enjoy your Halloween? Nice costumes!" Suddenly I get tapped on the shoulder : "Pete, you need to get those turkeys in the brine!" I'm like, "it can't be Thanksgiving already?!?" This is followed by my wife saying "No, Thanksgiving was days ago, you were supposed to announce store order deadlines because it's almost Christmas." "Oh well, what day do international orders need to be placed by?" "Yesterday. Deadline has past" Me: "Fuuuuuuhhhh....."

So this is how time has been going for me lately. Speeding by while my creative output has slowed down.

The current story-line, Immortal King, has been a culmination of so much of Sluggy lore coming together and being revealed, and it’s been a lot of work. It’s more involved then just about any other story. Although this process is more difficult, I am really happy with how it is coming together.

But coming to the end of the year, I find myself over a year behind on mailing out physical Pawnz and Bookmarks to eligible Defenders, and we've been two years without a new book (I'm not counting re-releasing Megatome 02).

Being a one-man show, things can be difficult, take longer and I can get behind on tasks, but this is way too far behind. It has been stressing me out and it has to stop. I have a solution, and it’s not great, but it is the better than falling further behind or stopping the comics all together.

Starting next week, I will restrict myself to one comic a week. The weekly comic will mostly land on Wednesdays. I will NOT increase comic output until a) I'm caught up to the plan of quarterly Pawnz and Bookmarks releases, and b) Sluggy Freelance Book 22 'R&D Wars', is off to the printers.

How long will this take? I honestly don’t know, and I don’t want to guess wrong. Did I say how much I hate to do it? For me, it extra painful because we are hitting an action-climax, and the momentum is going to drop from slow to a trickle. Grrr.

I remember the frustration from when I did this "one comic a week" thing last February-ish. So I understand this will be difficult for you as well. But I feel strongly I need to do this to attend to the eligible Defenders who have been supporting the strip and deserve the book and bookmarks and pawnz rewards.

Plus I want to catch up with the books! I’ve never been more proud of my publications than the books for the 4U city saga, including the bonus stories in Books 20 and 21. I look forward to the relief I’m going to feel when I have Book 22 in my hands and know I’m on top of the pile.

Thank you all again for your patience and support! I couldn’t have made 25 years without you guys. And let me say “Happy Holidays and Happy New Year” now because I’m going to start gift-shopping and reach for the egg-nog (squishy-nog?) and then realize its February. Stupid Time God.

-Pete
12/7/2022
[+] TWENTY FIVE YEARS OF SLUGGY FREELANCE!!!
Posted 25 Aug 2022 Comments (5) (Permalink)
Victory Lap! I can't tell you how jaw-dropping it is to realize I've been lucky enough to do this for 25 years. This milestone is worthy of celebration.

And it almost didn't happen. I've been so busy, tired and stressed, I didn't think I'd have time to do anything celebratory beyond some kind of animated strip. But with the help of my family, we came-up with a design that turned everything around. Big thanks to my daughter Leah for helping me design, render, and then animate the 25th anniversary "statue" art. We're using it as the main-page-parallax, in the comic itself, and hopefully you'll be able to purchase it as a poster in the store! One of the many reasons for the store's delayed opening was I wanted to proof the quality of the poster and also have the product in hand before taking orders.

Thanks to Shirt Guy Tom, Joe Sunday, and my daughter Leah for throwing together last minute artist-trading-cards to help me celebrate the day. There are so many people I could have and should have reached out to, to join in, but as I said, this was very last minute. Maybe I can do something bigger for the 30th Sluggy Freelance Anniversary (assuming I haven't wrapped everything up by then and the amazing Defenders are still supporting the comic)!

Speaking of, five years ago I was almost done because the comic was not financially viable. I didn't know how I was going to complete the story, but it wouldn't be as a webcomic. You New 20+ Defenders changed everything. And that support kept Sluggy Freelance afloat through events like the pandemic.

Unfortunately, times are getting more difficult and thanks to my old brain, my creative output is a little slower. I still have so much more to do, but I need your help! Please consider becoming a Defender if you're not already. You pay per strip I make, at a maximum of 12 strips per month. At the lowest tier that's only $6 a month max. That's the cost of a single fast food value-meal for a month of Sluggy goodness. It really makes a difference! Thank you very much for your consideration!

Anywho, after my victory lap around my house (causing the neighbors to stop and stare), I'm back to the drawing board, literally! ;)

One last thing. Everyone's getting a free digital bookmark! Just log into sluggy.com and you'll notice it is already added to your collection. Cheers, my friends! It's a good day.
[—] Privacy Policy
Posted 15 Oct 2017 (Permalink)
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