Posts Tagged ‘Dayfree Press’
10 items.
You may or may not have noticed, but I’ve added a new little banner-thingee at the bottom of the page to promote the new webcomic network I belong to – Dayfree Press.
It’s a great opportunity for Theater Hopper to hob-knob with some artists who really know what they’re doing and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.
If you’d like to take a look at some of the other sites that are part of our posse, you can view the recently restructured links page.
Signing up with Dayfree has got me thinking more about making Theater Hopper a self-sustaining venture financially. What that means, I’m not sure. I’m thinking about selling some advertising space. With 1,000 to 1,500 unique hits per day, I think we can support that. I’d probably keep the rates cheap, if anyone is interested. Hit me up with an e-mail or say something in the forums if you think it’s an interesting idea.
The posters have sold okay – I’ve recouped my upfront costs – but I’m nervous because not all of them have sold. Or, more specifically, did not sell at the speed I would have expected. Obviously, this makes me gun-shy in terms of offering more future merchandise. Maybe my expectations were just set to high.
I’ll admit that somewhere down the road I would like to do another poster. I have the idea and the treatment all ready to go. I’ll probably do a smaller run, so automatically that increase the value due to rarity. But I would be going all out on this one – so you know the quality will be exceptional, even over what I already offer.
If you haven’t bought a poster yet, please do so. We’re almost to the point where 75% of the run is depleted. Remember, you don’t have to order through PayPal. Just e-mail me and I will tell you where you can send check, cash, or money order. I can’t do the second poster until I sell out of the first.
I don’t know. These are just thoughts floating around in my head. In a month, Theater Hopper will have been around a year. If I’m going to keep going, I need to raise my game.
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Just thought I would mention that fellow Dayfree Press member White Ninja Comics are celebrating their one year anniversary today.
If you haven’t seen their particular brand of surreal comedy, now’s a great time to investigate. Their latest strip – “White Ninja gets a kiwi” – is a shining example of their inspired, bizarre, but ultimately charming sense of humor.
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Before I forget, I wanted to let everyone know that fellow Dayfree Press memeber Coffee Brain is back from an extended hiatus.
If you guys haven’t read the comic before, now is an excellent time to jump on. The writing is sharp and I love the site design.
Please visit Coffee Brain and welcome Rob back into the fold!
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I just wanted to send a quick shout out to my friend (and fellow Dayfree Press cohort) Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content for making it into The Hall of Fame over at buzzComix. It’s quite an achievement considering the short amount of time he’s been on the scene. I believe in some circles, that kind of meteoric rise is also known as “kicking ass and taking names.” Congrats, Jeph! (now if I can only figure out a way to get his readers to vote for me!)
Theater Hopper is currently in third over at buzzComix. If you’d like to vote to show your support, I’d appreciate it.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when Scary Go Round and WIGU joined buzzComix and everyone was all a-titter? Let’s just say that the irony does not escape me that they currently hold the number one and number two spot respectively. Oh, well. Such is life! I’m sure I’ll find a comfortable spot somewhere in the middle of the Top 10. RStevens just threw his hat into the ring with Diesel Sweeties. So I have that going for me… which is nice.
Actually, it’s really hard to pretend to be upset about this sort of thing. Simple science tells you that whenever any well-known creator joins a group you belong to, it raises the profile of everyone previously affiliated. Being so close to the top spot, I’m basking in some pretty sweet indirect attention! Why bother going to the trouble of making yourself distinctive when you can just quietly leech off the success of others!
Speaking of which, my good buddy Zach over at Joe and Monkey told his readers to vote for Theater Hopper this week. I’m inclined to return the favor. If you’re not reading Zach’s comic (and voting for it), then you’re really missing out!
Give a brother a hand!
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Gotta give thanks to fellow Dayfree Press alumni Jim Burgess for giving Theater Hopper a mention on his site Able and Baker. Jim has endorsed our effort to get to the number one spot on buzzComix, have you?
I also forgot to mention yesterday that Boy On A Stick and Slither has updated it’s schedule to Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the month of November. Lend your support by visiting the site and letting them know you want more BOASAS action!
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Oh, before I forget. Extra cool guy and Dayfree Press alum Jim Burgess is celebrating a milestone with his comic Able and Baker – 200 strips! Be sure to visit the site and join the celebration!
Also a big shout out to JDizzle Comics, our latest sponsor. JDizzle was off the scene for a while this summer, but is back and better than ever with a brand new web site. Check it out!
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Came to the site this morning and noticed that things were loading a little slower than usual. Looks like the culprit was the Dayfree Press banner which ties back to the site. Trying to bring up the DFP site revealed that it was down, so Theater Hopper was struggling to load something that wasn’t there.
The script has been removed for the time being. I’ll slap it back up there when things are back to normal.
Sheesh. Between this and the buzzComix outtage (going on a couple of weeks now, lads!) we can’t seem to catch a break!
Star Wars-related blog coming soon…
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Wanted to clue everyone into a a new comic created by Dayfree Press alum and Comet 7 creator David Tekiela. It’s called Kristy Vs. The Zombie Army and it’s a complete departure from what fans of David’s more well-known comic have come to expect.
Traditionally drawn (not in the original pixel style David’s become known for) Kristy Vs. The Zombie Army is a sequential story that will be presented online as “books.”
It’s well worth your time to investigate as a shining example of the diversified talents of the Dayfree Press group!
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Eagle-eyed regulars to the site will have noticed that I’m adjusting a few things in the space between the comic and the blog.
Those whose senses are keener will notice that I have forgone my membership with Dayfree Press and joined forces with the good people at Boxcar Comics.
If you tend to make the rounds in web comics circles, this is already old news. I just made the switch today and already word has traveled fast. Feels like I’m playing catch-up to my own decisions. It’s flatting, I suppose. It means you guys are still interested.
>Why the big move? It’s nothing against Dayfree. I’ve been with those guys since the beginning and I think they are all wonderful, creative, hard-working people. I have learned from them in a myriad of ways. How to communicate with you guys better, for example. How to set up a store. How to set up a forum. What resources to explore. Basically every question I ever had about publishing on-line, odds were strong that someone over there had the answer to your problem.
Boxcar offers a very similar community environment, similar traffic-sharing opportunities and support. What makes this group more appealing when they’ve been around less than 6 months versus Dayfree which has been around for two years?
It wasn’t an easy decision, I can tell you that. I knew about Boxcar from the very beginning. Zach from Joe and Monkey would talk to me about it all the time. I kept it at arm’s-length because nothing had materialized yet and I didn’t like the idea of turning my back on the creators at Dayfree.
But as the months progressed and things took shape, I knew it was a matter of time before I switched sides. It’s not because Boxcar was able to assemble a stronger roster of comics. Not that at all. In fact, I think both Dayfree and Boxcar are equally strong. What turned the tide was really quite simple.
After nearly three and a half years of making this web comic, I wouldn’t have gotten twice as far without friends. Zach from Joe and Monkey, Mitch from Nothing Nice to Say and Joe Dunn from The Coffee Achievers. These are all guys I know personally. We’ve been to comic book conventions together. Shared meals and had drinks. Laughed our asses off and told stories. Some of them I’ve been e-mailing since we started this crazy racket. We came up together. They’re close friends. People I never thought I would meet in my lifetime and they’re some of the most sincere confidants one could wish for. I tore me up to see these guys ∗over here∗ and there I was ∗over there∗
So I had to make the switch.
My leaving Dayfree is not and indicator of their quality. I have come to know and love each of the comics that are stabled there and plan to continue supporting them through words and deeds. Like I said before, they all do great work. I plan to keep reading every one of their comics.
But sometimes opportunity knocks and you have to answer.
Godspeed to Dayfree. Thanks for all you’ve done.
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Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve and before I partake in the libations that will help to wash away what was 2005, I like to take a moment to look back, take stock and examine where things started and how they ended.
2005 was a difficult year for me in a lot of ways. Lots of personal stresses. Cami got a new job. We sold our first home and bought our second home. Moving… THAT’S never fun. I lost my Grandpa and tried to guide my family through the aftermath of that. Still have a few relatives in the hospital. Somewhere in there when I was stressed out to the point I was banging on the steering wheel in traffic (it happened!), I decided to make a change in my personal health, started working out and lost 25 pounds.
So, yeah… lots of personal change. So it feels good to have moved beyond it.
As far as the comic is concerned, I don’t know if I was as dedicated to it as I could have been this year. Looking back through the ’05 archives, I’ve had more guest strips this year than any other. And while I’m proud that Theater Hopper is at the level where there are enough readers and other creators aware of the comic to help support me through a rough patch… honestly, that shouldn’t be happening to that degree.
Then again, I only blew off two updates this year. One was because my monitor fried on me, and the other one was just this week because I was still coming down from Christmas. So that’s not bad!
2005 was a year for milestones. We celebrated our 400th comic, our 3rd year anniversary and our 500th comic. All big successes. Incidentally, our 400th comic was also the introduction of our first new character in a long time – Charlie. Which could be considered successful or unsuccessful depending on your level of patience for slowly-unfolding storylines…
In the spirit of further transition, 2005 was the year that Theater Hopper moved away from Dayfree Press – the web comic collective we helped to establish – and onto greener pastures with Boxcar Comics. As much as I learned from the Dayfree guys – and I respect all of them – I think the camaraderie I have at Boxcar is a little more tightly knit as I was already good friends with Zach, Mitch and Joe. So it was a pretty smooth transition. Incidentally, I had a blast with those three jokers at Wizard World Chicago this year and hope to do it again next year!
Probably our biggest success this year wasn’t even something I did. The proper accolades go to Dave Buist from Taking the Bi-Pass for helping get our content the most organized and efficient it’s ever been. And I mean EVER!
Dave devised a new archiving system for the comics and the blogs built off keywords. So now you guys can search for your favorite strips, characters and movie references with greater ease. This has been something I’ve wanted for A LONG time. Not only for you guys, but it was even getting hard for ME to find the comics I was looking for. And I created the dumb things.
But Dave took his work one step further by also developing our Movie Review Database – and application so brilliant, I’m still grinning over it’s potential. I haven’t talked about it in a while because I’m still adding to it all the time. New movies, images of posters, cast information, links to the Internet Movie Database, plot descriptions, the works.
The idea is amazingly simple. All you have to do is create an account through the THorum. One you’re logged in, you can search for any movie that you would like to comment on and leave your own review! How cool is that! Like I said, I’m adding movies all the time. Eventually, the hope is that you can leave your two cents on virtually every movie Theater Hopper has ever referenced! How many other web comics are doing that!
There’s still a few layout glitches in the database that Dave and I are working on. Cosmetic stuff. Nothing serious. The guts of this thing work like a charm and it’s all thanks to Dave’s expert code knowledge. Once again, Dave – thanks from the bottom of my heart!
I think 2006 is already shaping up to be a great year. With my personal trials out of the way, I have more time to dedicate myself to the comic and push some projects through that I’ve been wanting to accomplish for years. I’ve designed the initial layout of the FIRST THEATER HOPPER book which will collect the first 52 strips in one handy volume. Eventually there will be two more volumes and the entire set put together will represent the first year. I plan on producing books in a similar fashion for Year Two and Year Three.
It might sound odd to offer three volumes for the first year, but I’m going that route to help me keep costs down. When it’s all said and done, the individual books will only be $9.99. When compared to other web comic collections I’ve seen, that’s pretty cheap. I want to make sure you guys get a copy for yourselves because it’s going to look really nice. More news on that in the future.
In the meantime, I want to thank all of you for sticking around and making Theater Hopper the success that it is. I’m continuously humbled by your interest in my work and only want to bring you more and better work in the time ahead.
Happy New Year and best wishes to you and yours!
THANK YOU!
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