Due to some mix up of some sort, I didn’t get the page in color yet, so it’s posted in black and white until I do!
A couple things…
-I mentioned last post that I might be going to posting a weekly page instead of two pages a week. It has been decided. I’m going to just do one page per week, every Wednesday from now on. This comic doesn’t pay the bills, I need to focus on stuff that does for a while.
-Doug TenNapel has had this “Nnewts” idea kicking around in his head for 15 years. It’s the coolest thing he has made and he never makes a book because he is afraid it’s not marketable. So the other day I told him he should just make it a web comic and post one page a week. That’s easy, and he can do other stuff on top of it. He liked the idea, and he did it. Check out Nnewts!
–This Ocotobear piece is still up for bidding, and right now it’s cheap! It’s a mix of charcoal, sumi ink, conte and other mediums, and it’s a nice sized 18 x 24 drawing.
-This Wexter and Axe Cop piece is also still being auctioned as well!
Get a better look at these on the auctions page.
-also, if you happen to really want a commission, and are willing to spend some money, contact me at info (at) bearmageddon dot com. I will probably do some commissions on the side if the price is right. I’m looking for ways to bring some extra cash in right now, so take advantage of me while I’m vulnerable!
That’s that. See you on Wednesday! Thanks for being a patient and understanding audience. I love making this comic!
Ethan
The page feels a lot more emotional without the colors. At least when I read the first panel. All the colors in the world disappeared when he realized the bears was near his family.
I think it’s totally reasonable to do this once a week. Some comics that are not nearly as intricate page-to-page update only once! Two page was an awesome treat.
But hey, I’m sure we’d all rather you get paid and eat and live rather than get another page of Bearmo done. Good luck with your TV stuff and all that! We’ll be here.
Bearmageddon is like the Venture Bros.: ALWAYS worth the wait.
Good job leveraging your position, Joel. That was much more useful than saying, “Migraines. You need some extra strength Excedrin. Here you go. You might also lie down in a dark room.”
Also, I suspect this might be more than migraines, maybe?
Brain Bear.
Knowing Ethan, I wouldn’t put it past him.
Maybe he has some connection to the mutant bears, thus the incredible strength and such. Perhaps the professor or whatever created these bears experimented on him…
Ah, well, theories are hard at this point. We’ve barely just met him, and only really discovered his ability to kill bears and hide whole fish in his clothes.
I’ll be sad to see the updates drop, but having spent the last few months on unemployment, I totally understand that paying your rent comes first 🙂
At this point i´m really hoping for Nigel to get eaten. I´m betting he´s going to say something like: “You can´t just let this guy help you! He´s an f****ng psycho!” The guy saved your life. Let him help you.
Ethan, update however frequently you can, but yeah, put your paying work first! Just don’t pull a TenNapel and suddenly direct us to the comic store after page 51. After he did that with Ratfist, I took him off my to-read list.
how dare he want money for his work?!
Once this project is completely finished and there is a book, I will probably do the same thing (which is what Doug did with Ratfist). I don’t understand what is offensive about wanting money for hours, upon hours, upon hours of hard work.
Doug spends an average of 2-3 hours on one page, plus the colorist probably spends 1-2 hours per page. So that is a max of 5 hours of human life spent per page. You got up to 255 hours of man hours given to you freely so that you could read a free comic on the internet, and then you get offended because he wants to sell you the rest for what? $15?
The worst thing about the internet is the entitlement it makes people feel.
Nice try, but you aren’t about to trick me with that “people on the internet have lives and don’t just exist for your convenience” line.
From the sounds of it, I think the problem is that it was a surprise to Grego. Setting up someone’s expectations and then breaking them suddenly isn’t a good move if you want to avoid poor reactions. So if you’re going to stop BM mid-flight and charge for it you should announce it and make it very clear. I (and hopefully none of us) have a problem with it if you want to take the site down after the comic’s all done, though.
Telanis got it right; I felt completely misled. If the comic isn’t to be finished in the same format in which it’s started, say so at the beginning. Don’t lead people on for 51 pages and then come out with “welp, go buy the book to see the rest”. I pay for things when I like them and the creators ask me to, like with Jonathan Rosenberg or Christopher Baldwin’s art, not when they lead me on and then suddenly force me to pay up if I want to see the second half.
We had finished the comic quite some time before it was taken down. I am sorry if you missed out.
As Katherine says – if you were lucky enough to be reading Ratfist as it came out, you would have read the comic with no surprises.
I have absolutely no problems with truncating the web edition of a comic once a publisher is found!
Everyone gets a little upset when they are interrupted in the middle of a story; it’s only a natural reaction. There is a warning, but unfortunately the “Read the whole story!” link on the Ratfist page is ambiguous and can be naturally read as “The whole story is here for reading”, if you don’t click on the link, which isn’t immediately identifiable as a link.
A little bit of a clearer message might avoid confusion…
Greg, the comic WAS all up for free until it became available in stores.
I can see how not being aware of it could upset you,
but it WAS a complete webcomic at one point, he didn’t JUST put 51 pages up online after publishing the book.
Eh, I understand that business model but I think it has a tendency to alienate the audience. Much of the webcomics culture developed by encouraging more of a patronage model between the artist and the audience rather than a product model. Look at how much Richard Stevens and Jon Rosenberg just got on their Kickstarter projects. People are literally outright giving them money because they want them to make stuff and continue their stories. Sure, some people are entitled, but with limited time and money and the whole internet full of other free stuff, I’m just less likely to give a chance to a comic that demands time and money to order it. I’d rather read the whole thing first and if I like it buy a dead tree copy when I can to support the artist.
Now, of course there are exceptions to the rule. I find the way Alexovich has been selling PDF issues of Eldritch for 99 cents interesting (and I had no problem paying after reading the first issue): http://www.heartshapedskull.com/ELDRITCH/
Think of it this way: Many webcomics have been going for a while and have books people can buy, but they still put comics out. Why? Because if the comic is still going then you are constantly getting a new audience who will want to buy your products. When Ratfist ended online in favor of a physical copy I too stopped checking in on it because there was nothing there for me. But when Dr McNinja posts a new book I jump at the chance to own something that I’ve experienced and read first hand. But with Ratfist I now have to go an subscribe to a comic that I feel less motivated to go and collect than if I enjoyed a community project by a great writer.
I agree with everyone else here. Take care of what you need to take care of but please don’t sacrifice the comic to the “Buy-to-read” Gods.
Crap! I didn’t realize Ratfist wasn’t finished! I need to go buy it to read the rest! I loved that story. I think I just got distracted by Bearmageddon. 🙂
So they’re taking Dickinson to Joel’s dad. Who’s a veterinarian. Seems appropriate.
I kind of like this page because we get to see how you originally drew the piece.
Yeah. I don’t mind paying for a persons work, but what I found distasteful was not having a warning beforehand, like “hey, read a free sample of my work and buy the whole product if you’re interested.”
Reading the full comic free is the norm on the Internet. If you’re going to deviate from that, a heads up is nice. Goodwill is the most precious resource on the net.
Then again, I know this stuff (including ratfist) is the high quality that should fetch top dollar but transparency of intention is of utmost importance I think if using the Internet for business of any sort
That makes sense, but I don’t think it was intentional. I’ll recommend it to Doug.
Eef! Thanks for the generous mention of Nnewts! I can only tell your readers that when they love Bearmageddon, they’re loving a comic created by a generous creator, who has a personal life even more gracious and wise than his public one.
I love how you’re a snow plow who won’t be stopped by uncolored pages. don’t get me wrong, your colorists MAKE Bearmageddon, but sometimes you just gotta hit a deadline no matter what. When this page IS colored, it’s going to be a cool bonus!
Yup, seconded.
You can’t fool me, Ethan. This comic is in black and white because Dickinson Killdeer’s health bar is almost empty.
Why not add a donation bar at the bottom of the comic with a link and a real time donation level and monthly goal? It would remind people what it costs to do this and would incentivise donations.
P.S. Ordered Ratfist.
I didn’t know ratfist wasn’t finished, I always just assumed it was the end when he became a ghost or something.
Totally agree with my fellow Bearmofos, once a week is still buckets of awesome. And I happened across Nnewts a couple of days ago, love it already 🙂
Webcomics seem to have a variety of means to monetize, and I say: support what you love rather than just buying stuff. (Of course, those are often the same). If you love someone’s work and the opportunity for you to show that presents itself, jump at it.
This might be the first time in recent history that everyday people can patronize artists, letting some really cool stuff get made that otherwise might not have. It’s exciting to be here for this crazy democratized internet age!
http://www.thingsbearslove.com
Heh, I found this little filler to help tide things over, with the new schedule and all. Ethan, love your work, any pace is fine. Try complementing what you have going with kickstarter. I think that enough of us would buy in to make it worthwhile.
Man’s gotta pay the bills. Do what you need to do, and thanks for doing it. (Also, may I be a giant pain and ask, is it just me or did Gogs and Nigel do a quick swapsies between panels 1 & 2?)
No, because remember, he’s running BACK to get to the Hunter (they left him by the van).
So Panel 1 and Panel 2 are the same orientation.
RRAAAAHHOOW! sounds like a dragon call from Skyrim…maybe. I wouldn’t know, I haven’t played it.
Colored or not colored, the comic is awesome (no matter when it is updated). Keep on keepin’ on.
I think the comic is great colored or not! I will continue to follow it even when I only get one update a week. That’s still better than none! And I’m going to buy the comic no matter what so if you decided to end the webcomic halfway through I probably wouldn’t care. But, if you were going to do that you should leave the site up so that others can find it and get hooked on it like alot of us have. Anyway, its your comic so you can do whatever the hell you want!
I guess I’m still waiting for the colour