Summer format

[Malpractice]

I really like the summer format for Erfworld. With room for more text, there's room for more character development. I would not be disappointed if this format was to continue into the fall.

I apologize if this has already been discussed at length. I haven't had a chance to read through much of the forums.

In any case, keep up the good work guys

[DevilDan]

A great story is a great story, anyway you slice it. Clearly these guys can tell it well in more than one way. Heck, if it meant more rapid updates—not that I'm complaining, mind you—I'd take a format that mixed interlude-style updates with regular comic updates (though there were already indeed similar pages in the form of the entertaining expository lumps known as Eyebook entries). Of course, such a format, with more "walls of text," however well written the narrative they contain, does not make for such an attractive print book.

[moose o death]

i agree, these posts are good but as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. in the space it would take for rob to describe the beauty of a sunset jamie can draw it and say so much more.

thus the visual novel approach is what i prefer. all the details in a faster more accurate package.

also less to argue about in the forums it's hard to misinterpret facial expressions unless the artist doesn't draw them right. english may be the most expressive language but it still has holes that can't be expressed via the written word. not without explaning in excessive detail.

[Wren]

I created a forum account with the express intention of stating what the OP has suggested.

I have really enjoyed the longer narrative and increased character development made possible by the summer posts. The last line of the most recent update, "But even to her own ears, it came out as a warcry" was fantastic, and would not have been possible in comic form. I derive a huge amount of pleasure and value from the depth and pacing of these posts.

Here is my suggestion:

When the "regular" comic season starts again, continue both. Intersperse text-only posts between comics that either add narrative detail, talk about a side plot or parallel timeline, or progress the story in an alternate way. This will not only add tremendous depth to the narrative but allow you to post more often and have considerably more freedom in what you can deliver.

I sincerely hope this can be made possible. I really appreciate your craft and the story you are telling, and want to hear a lot more.

Thanks for making Erfworld so alive!

[balder]

We appreciate the feedback here, guys. Like I said when I started these; it's a different medium. I like the things I can do in prose that can't be done in a comic page (the "war cry" line was an excellent example), but I also miss the things I can do in graphic format that can't be done in prose (favorite example being Panel 7 of page 83). I've been scripting Book 2 and it's fun to be back to that format.

The current plan is to go back to full pages in the fall (probably October sometime), with the page format being the same as in Book 1. The length of Book 2 should be approximately the same as Book 1. But Book 2 will be split up into six issues, which will be printed first as separate comics. Each will contain an exclusive short story, something like the summer updates. For example, if we had done it this way in Book 1, then Issue 1's story might have been something like "the van trip to Parson's apartment by Ashna and the other two gaming buddies." In other words, concurrent with that part of the story, interesting from a background or character development standpoint, but not critical to the plot.

I could also see holding a summer-update style intermission, too. That's a maybe. As is going back to prose between Book 2 and Book 3. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, get ready for faster prose updates with no illustrations (we might solicit fan illustrations) between now and the start of Book 2. Thanks for reading!