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[smick]

Onstad throws in the towel and the joint turns into fuckwords and flick knives!

Time to stab up the place!

[littlefallsmets]

No no no, it is my crippling fear of being judged as untalented and therefore ruining my sense of identity that holds me back, Moneyspider.

I... just wrote that three or four posts ago.

Whatever else you wanna say about me, I have more than adequately stared into my own goddamned navel and am willing to report back upon its contents honestly.

[Lister]

I want to restate my frustration here.  I am not frustrated by the fact that Onstad quit making Achewood.  It is his right and in that sense he owes us nothing.  He's made quite a lot of content that I have enjoyed, and the vast majority of it has been enjoyed at no cost to me.  If he wants to stop that, it's fine, it's his right.  Watterson did the same thing, and while I would dearly love for there to be more Calvin and Hobbes, I still thank him for not making soulless joke-a-day cash-in Calvin and Hobbes, produced by Calhobs, inc.  Achewood wouldn't be good if you didn't have the sense that Chris himself was just as surprised at the day's strip as you were.

I am frustrated that he quit in 2009 and didn't have the guts to tell us so we could go off and do other things.  I'm frustrated he actively asked for donations while knowing he did not want to produce any new art.  I'm frustrated because he produces what he acknowledges is substandard product and continues to charge for it.

And yeah, when he blames us for caring enough to express opinions, that frustrates me too.  I was worried for him.  I thought he was seriously depressed and needed help.  No, turns out he's not depressed, really, but it's somehow my fault that he doesn't enjoy his job any more.

Again, I want to reiterate that I know how this feels.  What I do is seen and interacted with by tens of thousands of people every day.  A lot of them can't understand the difference between a rock and Edwin Moses, but feel justified in calling me an idiot, directly, on a web forum that my company pays for.  It is disheartening to read that, because I know that if we talked we'd be able to at least come to an understanding.  I'm really good at that, one on one.  I can't do it on the web, because every thing I write is picked apart, scanned for clues, played backwards and at half speed, and generally dissected to produce further ways to disagree with me.  If I ever leave this job, the yammering masses of entitled shitheads will be the reason why I do it.

But I'm not going to tell them that, because I think it's classless to do so.  And that's what frustrates me about Chris' announcement most of all.

[littlefallsmets]

A can for Mister Lister.

And who knows? That announcement sort of suggested that the guy has a morbid curiosity with critical response, especially that which he assumes will be negative.

Maybe his eyes wandered here in search of the Democratic Response and your valid concerns won't fall on deaf ears (metaphorically) after all.

[wombat]

Lister, I totally get where you are coming from and why this would piss you off more than anyone, but I have to disagree with one thing, "while knowing he did not want to produce any more art." I think it's clear from what he wrote that he's been trying, and it's just not working anymore, and he's not happy about that. That must feel rotten, and we're just being mean about it, you know?

Well, like I said, it was always clear he was unsuited to this work. It was also always clear that A, he really wanted to be a prose writer, and B, he had a really hard time dealing with his public. This was always a complicated relationship that was going to come to a bad end and it's amazing it lasted so long.

Sigh. Let's just treasure the memories of the good times, ok?

[AugustWest]

Another can for Lister.  You've expressed my feelings perfectly.

That must feel rotten, and we're just being mean about it, you know?

But we aren't. 

I haven't seen anybody seriously say that Onstad sucks because he can't/won't make Achewood anymore.  I think we've all been pretty understanding about the artistic side of it.  Lister articulated very well why we're irritated about how he's handled the transition.  Surely Onstad is sophisticated enough to understand that distinction.

[CortJstr]

Since nobody else has posted it, Comics Alliance interview: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/03/21/chris-onstad-achewood-hiatus-interview/

[wombat]

Oh no. Not screenwriting.

[Biz Markizzle]

Hi all:

I posted here like four times I think maybe three years ago. I've been lurking every now and again to check in, and I came back this time to get ya'll's thoughts on Onstad's goodbye letter, since I was feeling conflicted about it. Obviously you guys are kinda conflicted, too. Very mixed reactions. But reading your thoughts helped me clarify mine. I think it's actually very, very simple:

When you (essentially) end a successful web comic after 9 years, it would be nice, in your goodbye letter, to thank your fans. Once. Like, "Thanks for all of your support over the years, and for allowing me to be a full-time cartoonist, which is something so many people want to do but never can."

I mean, if you insert that line into the letter, we all feel like 200% better, right? Instead, he calls us entitled whiners and says how annoying it is that we made him a "semi-public" figure. And I'm not even saying he should take that stuff out! I get that stuff. But seriously, not a single thank you to the fans? That's pretty mind-blowing.

I'm not saying anything some of you haven't already said, but I think it does get lost in all the discussion of what fans are or are not entitled to or how fame affects artists (i.e., it gets lost in that essay by Gaiman). I don't think any of that stuff would bother us so much if we felt like Onstad could spare one single sentence of gratitude for the support we've given him and his work. Agree?

-The Biz Markizzle

[AugustWest]

Considering the origin of this board, I wonder why any of us is surprised that Onstad was less than considerate of his fans.

[Nabubrush]

I am frustrated that he quit in 2009 and didn't have the guts to tell us so we could go off and do other things.

What?

I'm frustrated because he produces what he acknowledges is substandard product and continues to charge for it.

This is absolutely right.

Considering the origin of this board, I wonder why any of us is surprised that Onstad was less than considerate of his fans.

This is what I was getting at, when I said that considering the Dumbrella debacle this should surprise no one.

[pmcd9]

Fuck that guy!

[wombat]

Biz has a point, totally. But it's also kind of weird that we expect anything from the guy other than his work, don't you think? Maybe this is just because I am old and I remember what it was like before the internet. Like, I have never gone out of my way to meet writers whose work I admire. If they are jerks, I don't want to know it. Why spoil the work because you get cross at the person? If you just buy a person's books and read them, and have no other contact, you don't get annoyed because they don't thank you. It doesn't matter that they have less than stellar social skills. Social skills are not what you are buying from them.

But now, you can't just stay in your room and write stuff, despite the fact that I don't think I am the only one who started writing as an attempt to make money without the need for social skills. You are supposed to publicize your own stuff, have a blog, interact with readers on the internet - and if you are successful enough, even go out and travel around and meet them.  And if you are posting comics on the web this is all a hundred times more expected.

Really, the expectations are kind of out of line with the sort of person who tends to do this kind of work. (And I am not saying this only because I was just invited to an author's event that takes place at 7:30 in the freaking morning. Isn't the whole point of being a writer, not having to get up and be somewhere, talking with people, at 7:30 in the freaking morning???)

Basically, he's an anti-social geek like the rest of us, so, maybe cut him some slack?

[AugustWest]

Basically, he's an anti-social geek like the rest of us, so, maybe cut him some slack?

No.

The rest of us anti-social geeks manage to be decent to each other.  You, as a self-proclaimed anti-social geek, manage to be decent to other people.  Why should Onstad get a pass?  How much of an artistic genius do you have to be before being a jerk is OK? 

Acting like a dick is acting like a dick.  The work is wonderful, but Onstad acts like a dick to his fans.  That sort of thing is dickish when professional athletes, actors or rock stars do it and it's dickish when Onstad does it.

[side_show]

terabytes of vitriolic hate mail (incoming)

I know it’s irritating that I can keep no regular schedule; that’s what RSS is for. Also, whatever I put up on Achewood.com is free to the world, and I won’t entertain a bunch of entitled whining.

There's a reader backlash to a comma in what they feel is a place that is "out of voice." There's a reader backlash against a dresser being the wrong shade of grey. There's a reader backlash against the strip taking half a second too long to load. I can't worry about sh*t like that.

For me, what makes this feel really unpleasant is that in each of these instances, he expresses such distaste for his readers and doesn't differentiate between these haters/entitled whiners/backlashers and the rest of his audience who have been quietly reading, enjoying and appreciating his work over the long haul.  That's what rubs me wrong.  Meanwhile, he complains about the nature of on-line comics, but he's the one who slapped Asset Bar on the site.  Clearly that didn't work out well for him.

Sure I'm disappointed when there's no Achewood, and sure I'm disappointed when there's no avocados at the grocery store.  I've never complained to Chris and I've never complained to the grocer. I've shopped at the same grocer for a decade too and yes, I occasionally share a snarky comment with who I'm shopping with about how "they're out of avocados again." But I know both art and avocados are organic and beyond my controle.  I keep coming back to the store, and keep hoping avocados will be in stock again.  I kept checking back in with Achewood and hoping there would be more.  How can I be blamed for wanting more?  Is this entitled whining?  Seems like that's the only reader he's taken note of.

I think he's lurked far too much on-line, reading things not intended for his eyes.  Having lurked on a message board about my own work, I know how unhealthy it is to hear the things people say when they think they're not in your presence.  For me eavesdropping like that was driven by insecurity and ego as I noted earlier.  He has a history of being fascinated and repelled by his audiences' reaction.  That's his damage and it's shitty that he puts it on his audience instead of owning it as his own folly.