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[wombat]

http://s.assetbar.com/one_asset?b=S~cfd4f5a32442ff25864a8357965235a41&a=S~846

[littlefallsmets]

In other words, the same set of shakey excuses I let myself get away with but I don't wanna let others get away with.

Except, of course, that I've done nothing palpable to begin with, unlike many of those I would accuse.

On the one hand, I should have more access to such shakey excuses because I haven't done a blessed thing with my life.

On the other hand, I shouldn't be able to say anything about anyone ever because I haven't done a blessed thing with my life.

Christ, this has depressed me.

For the Achewood guy AND for myself.

Oh, and Syracuse is shitting the bed against an 11 seed. Isn't helping.

[AugustWest]

Fair enough.  Onstad's entitled to a break and if Achewood's done, it's done.

Nice he finally took the time to share with us.  Seemed a little self-congratulatory too.

I hope he keeps creating, in whatever format he chooses.

[littlefallsmets]

It did kinda read like the little speech a politician gives at the end of the night when he knows he's probably gonna lose but the counting won't be over until tomorrow afternoon so, like, you don't completely concede but you give yourself the pat on the back you would in a concession speech anyway because not as many cameras are gonna show up tomorrow afternoon when you actually-actually give up.

[wombat]

It sounds that way because he's trying to give a reasonable explanation that he knows will fail with the many people who think he owes them free entertainment. He knows he can't win.

[pmcd9]

That was the best "fuck you to my fans" I have ever read.

[miles]

Also, whatever I put up on Achewood.com is free to the world, and I won’t entertain a bunch of entitled whining.

Heh.

I really liked Gaiman's piece. As soon as I'm done with what I'm currently reading I think I'm going to read American Gods again. fuck*ng love that book.

The first paragraph reminds me of this clip of Louis CK talking about technology and entitlement.

[littlefallsmets]

Upon a second read, it seems like he's using the safety of noodling in chapbooks without any pressure (and the excuse that he's got to put something up there because people are paying) to defend himself from putting out perhaps weak or half-developed Achewood strips that would... probably have actually have snowballed into real strips again. I know this is a broken record but the pay wall issue seems like a big part of this.

I would theorize, from the "dreadfully sorry but respectfully I don't owe you shit you greedy assholes and how dare you wound a sensitive artist with your acclaim and your money and the support that got him to the fringe of mainstream exposure like this, you are all fuck*ng monsters for putting that kind of pressure of a delicate flower, what you have done is like killing a mockingbird" letter, that the pay wall has allowed a perfectionist streak in the dude to mutate into something almost completely crippling.

It gave him a way to make the free stuff perfectionistically sacrosanct and a practical reason to have a place to put the stillborn failures.

A perfect set of excuses to create the small embarassments inevitable in a serial entertainment exercise culminating in never putting anything out because nothing's ever perfect.

Christ, I'm jealous of having a path of excuses like that.

I have to admit that I use my over-education to find flaws in my own stuff and then fold so as to insulate myself from painful criticism, like all the other amateurs have to admit.

[Nabubrush]

Eh, I don't want to come off smarmy but at this point I like the internet message board more than the comic. That said, he's taken a lot of shit off this gig. I remember making a comment during the first week I was on Dumbrella something to the effect of "I can't imagine what it's like to create art and be so immersed in your audience". It's got to suck, for most values of "artistic type" that I've come across. In the end, I've gotten much more out of Chris than the couple hundred bucks I've put into this deal.

[Doc]

Like a sparrow birthing a clenched human fist

Correct title.

[Lister]

Or he could have said "I think I'm done with Achewood now.  Thanks for supporting me and for being part of what it became," and then just let it be.  Get a job like the one he left when this took off, support his family, find some artistic expression somewhere.  Maybe turn the merchandise business over to one of them companies that does that sort of thing so he wouldn't have to spend his afternoons shipping stuff out of his garage and could maybe make money from that.

Instead, he basically said "I don't feel like doing this any more, and it's your fault for making me not have fun, but since some of you will pay me for doing something I don't feel is good enough to release for free, you can continue to do that."

Granted, since my work is also subject to direct instant feedback from the Internet, I know where he's coming from in terms of the entitlement that fans seem to have, and the enthusiastic viciousness the medium engenders.  It really does hurt, and it hurts my enjoyment of my job.  There's nothing more annoying than the entitlement complex of people on the internet who have no idea of what goes into your decisions, and there's nothing more frustrating than knowing that you'll be called an idiot no matter what you decide anyway.  This isn't, however, a reason to stop producing.  It's an excuse.

If you're going to break up with someone, break up and accept the fact that you can't still be fuck buddies.

[littlefallsmets]

"I don't feel like doing this any more, and it's your fault for making me not have fun, but since some of you will pay me for doing something I don't feel is good enough to release for free, you can continue to do that."

That is some quality summarizing.

Have an imaginary can of soda.

[jay-ell]

In a way, I feel for the dude. He is under so much pressure to perform that when the time comes, he just can't.

But on the other hand...I know from experience that the way to overcome writer's block is to write. If he's done with these characters, he's done, and I'm cool with that. I just wish he'd go ahead and move on to something else (or not) so we can follow whatever his next step is (or not).

It's a shame to see such a talented dude fall victim to performance anxiety. Especially when it can be prevented with a simple vaccine.

[wombat]

Most of you didn't read Gaiman's piece, I take it.

Onstad was always obviously tempermentally unsuited to the comic strip business. He couldn't churn them out every day; he could have kept to an arbitratary schedule by deciding that this was a one a week comic and holding stuff back in queue for weeks when he got into a productive period but I can understand the complete lack of appeal of that approach. So he did it like most writers do: he wrote something till it was finished, then published it. And he kept it up for:

nine years, 1,700 strips, 1,000 character blog entries spanning twelve characters, thirty books, 700 subscriber pieces,

That's a pretty damn good record for someone who was arguably in the wrong line of work - that is, the wrong line of work except of course for the tiny little detail of the fact that the work iteself was BRILLIANT.

And he's not saying he's finished because he's not finished. It's his stuff and he reserves the right to do it again if the inspiration returns. If he said "goodbye and thanks," and then he started doing strips again, he'd have to listen to you all making snide remarks about how many comeback tours he's going to do. He can't win.

Seriously, people, if this is what having fans is like, I guess I better hope that no one buys my books.

[AugustWest]

Poor tortured soul.  How very horrible for him.