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[revdj]

Have other people noticed an increasing lag in the books?  It seems like it used to be that whenever he had enough strips on the site for another book, Chris would come out with one.  The books now, however, run to late 2006, and in a few days it will be early 2008. 

Why do you think that is?  Is it that he thinks (maybe rightfully) that people aren't going to pay for a book of recent strips?

[pmcd9]

It's been speculated elsewhere that he is negotiating a publishing deal.

[wombat]

Yeah, but where is it? Is the search function not working? I am positive there's a part of a thread where I say that it's plausible that he's trying to sell a book because I found his name on the list of clients of an agent in Brooklyn, and later explained that I wasn't stalking him, I was searching for literary agents. Didn't I even say that I had an agent in Brooklyn too, a different one, because that's where all the cool kids are? I swear I did NOT dream this, but searches on 'agent' and 'brooklyn' and even 'stalking' come up with nothing relevant.

Where's Cort when I'm losing my mind???

[side_show]

I just spent an hour looking for that thread.  It did exist.  I remember posting to it about how an agent works for you, and getting references... none of the key words bring anything up.  Huh.

[KeithHernandez]

I also remember that very clearly, especially the cool kids part.

[HudsonVC]

It's been speculated elsewhere that he is negotiating a publishing deal.

My take, repro-ed from deep in this thread (hope that's okay):

According to The Onion AV Club's interview with Onstad:

ONSTAD: I am actually working on a book... I've got all this content I'm talking about with kind of a major publisher. You know the "Great Outdoor Fight" story arc? I'm putting together… not quite a graphic novel, but I'm laying it all out as a linear story and adding new content and a ton of writing and background on what The Great Outdoor Fight is, and I'm hoping to publish that as some sort of perfect-bound, color-cover, proper edition. I'm just finishing the writing up for that. I think that will go over really well. Critically, I think, that was our finest hour. It really had a good response from people, which surprised me, because it was the first time I've really asked the audience to have patience, because they weren't one-offs every day or gag strips every day. It was a three-month narrative that really paid off, and I was really pleased, because I was afraid to do it at first.

And in this interview, he ups the ante by adding that there's a Hollywood deal in the offing, as well:

I would certainly like to see myself branching out into other media with this particular project and also with other projects. Today I was working on a screenplay. You know, where Ray and Roast Beef went down and fought in the Great Outdoor Fight. We've got a couple studios interested in the script, so we're trying to finish that up and get it sold.

Putting it all together, the holdup seems pretty obvious:

"The Great Outdoor Fight" -- hell, that whole year of the strip -- was such a huge hit that Onstad got some Hollywood and publishing attention. From the sound of things, he probably got a major publishing deal to re-release the entire comic series in some sort of deluxe edition you'll be able to buy at chain bookstores.

I'm guessing the first release would be the "Great Outdoor Fight" arc, which would then be tied to the Hollywood deal, as comics-to-movie adaptations are still v. hott. If true, all of this will probably be announced in the next six months or so.

However, it's probably taking forever for Onstad to set it all up -- with his lawyer working to make sure he retains copyright and all that crap. And that's why all the micro-content (like the 'zines and the blog book and the freaking "baby updates" book) has been released. It's an attempt to fill the monetary void while something really big and nationally multi-platformed gets set up. (I'd also guess that's why he hasn't attempted any "Great Outdoor Fight"-scale story arcs in a while.)

If true, I'll bet the delay is driving him nuts. And I wonder if the WGA strike isn't delaying his plans somehow.

If there's some data about a New York agent floating around out there, would that support the theory?

[wombat]

Thank you Smells and Keith for confirming that I am not crazy, or that if I am, at least I am not alone.

I started just paging through thread titles to see if I could figure out where it had been, but then I realized that ANY thread could have wandered onto the topic, so it's pretty hopeless.

[wombat]

I thought I'd feel better about searching and not being crazy if I could locate Onstad's agent again, which I remembered I couldn't do at the time of that thread, but I hadn't tried searching very hard.

Well, I couldn't for sure this time either but I am 99.9% sure why, which is that I found the page of the agency that I am pretty sure is the one, and they've basically gone out of business. It says they are 'no longer active' and 'though we will continue to work on behalf of our current clients, we will no longer represent new work.'

That's their whole web page now - no client list or anything. I have to wonder how hard he, she or they can really be working for anything. Which may have something to do with the book lag - either they're not doing much, or Onstad is pounding the pavement looking for an agent again, or for a publisher on his own.

Eek. I definitely do NOT feel better. It never occurred to me that after several years of searching and finally signing an agent that they could just up and go out of business. Mine has just hired a couple more people which would seem like a good sign but... eek.

[CortJstr]

FYI, doing a Google search for site:touamb.com is usually way more effective than the board's built-in search. For some reason it always misses stuff that Google finds right away. WTF, Simple Machines Forum?

[wombat]

Cort, we are not worthy. Thank you.

http://touamb.com/index.php?topic=4067.msg107131

[theinevitable]

um, I find it really unlikely that they would ever make an Achewood movie?? if they did, I am 90% sure it would fail miserably. Am I imagining this? Hollywood Deal?

[littlefallsmets]

Seems a lot more likely to work as a television animation project, really. Adult Swim or Comedy Central... maybe something like Spike or maybe even G4 if they were prepared to put some bread behind it... something like that.

[Victoria Waterfield]

maybe something like Spike or maybe even G4 if they were prepared to put some bread behind it

I initially misread that as "Spice."  Eeeurgh. I do not like the idea of Spice putting bread behind anything.

[theinevitable]

oh god... they will give them all horrible voices and will ruin it forever.

[CortJstr]

I initially misread that as "Spice."  Eeeurgh. I do not like the idea of Spice putting bread behind anything.

Six times?!