Sunday, April 06, 2008

The magic hour

I can't believe it's April already. Everything I do seems to take ages and yet the months are whipping by so quickly. Soon I will be trying to eat steak with one tooth and riding around in a bathchair with a blanket over my knees, steering with a kind of front-mounted wheel-rudder. by George, that day can't come fast enough! Apart from the tooth thing, brush your teeth everybody and don't eat too many sweets.

Hm now, what news what news.

Adding the comments feature to the Scary Go Round site was very dangerous for me, I have thin skin and hate criticism. After all, when you have buried your neuroses good and deep in the pit of your stomach, it's not fair of people to dig them up, print them on a tshirt and dance in front of your weeping eyes. But I have been pleased with the good manners and lack of bad language among the commenters. Maybe society will be okay for a little while yet!

That said, almost every day, someone will write a question about Erin Winters. Here's an exclusive for blog readers: that is a character who is never, ever, coming back. I have written why at length in Scary Go Round book 6 (in which she features prominently) so I guess you'll have to read it to discover my tedious thoughts on the matter.

On the subject of book 6, hopefully the wait won't be much longer. I have made it to 240/400 in my postcard project but my lord, what a slog. I have drawn a lot of Shelleys now. An AWFUL lot of Shelleys.

An awful awful lot of Shelleys.

23 comments:

Unknown said...

Sad news about Erin; I had hopes for her as a character. On the other hand, you have convinced me to buy your book now, because I have become downright curious.

R.Fiction.Esq. said...

The use of 'Shelley' and 'Awful' in the same sentence causes me distress.

stefan autsa said...

Awful because they're not very good? Heh.

As for the aspirations to be Compo, you might well have a chance as I don't think they'll ever cancel that show (Eric Sykes was in one the other week!). How the Hell is Peter Sallis still alive? Are those claymation guys keeping him alive for future Wallace And Gromit films?

As for character usage, I'm quite content for you to dangle or cut the puppet strings whenever you want. Although I must say I was glad when you dispatched Rachel. I disliked her very much.

Sparkles F said...

Oh no, now you're going to get sick of Shelley. Whatever you want to do, dear.
I think whatever you do is splendid.

John A said...

If I was going to get sick of drawing Shelleys I think it would have kicked in by now. There can only be a certain number of totally demented comics a year but she is always going to be back for more.

Nameless Pete said...

This makes me sad. I mean, if you wanted to write her out, you could have sent her off to boarding school. "Shropshire Academy For Abnormally Large Girls" or something.

But spending eternity in Hell with Bob Crowley in an unused wedding dress seems uncharacteristically cruel for the strip.

Plus it makes Shelley seem like a pretty crummy Big Sister. :(

Martin Polley said...

I don't mind about Erin too much.
What I want to know is this—when are we going to see Tim again? And Len. And Rich Tweedy...

Nick! said...

Oh. I quite fancied her.

Actually, she was really young, wasn't she? Yeesh. For my sake, it's probably just as well that she's all forgotten about...

Also, the last part of my Word Verification thing says "Joe sez". Which is the first time one of those things has spoken to me. How peculiar...

ingratiated said...

Erin :( I liked her and the Boy together. It was very sweet. I've never been fond of Esther as his partner. It just doesn't fit to me. Erin would have respected and nurtured him.

:(

Virtualbri said...

::cries:: I still miss Erin.

But who am I to question the ways of genius?

Unknown said...

I am desperate to pre order book 6 for postcardy goodness as well as the booky wonder!

Graham said...

John, you must embrace the criticism. It's your friend! Where would your motivation be if you were creating a strip for a bunch of indiscriminate 'yes' men? Or worse, a bunch of apathetic goons who can't even be bothered to express an opinion either way? I dare say complacency would creep in. The people who moan and clamour for the return of past characters are only doing so because they care about the comic. They care because you've made it worth caring about! If no one cared you would not feel better. At a football match you get the odd fan who makes daft comments but ultimately you're wearing the same colours.

I have been that bad fan myself. I wailed when you abandoned vectors and my faith was shaken, but now I think the comics look better than ever and wouldn't want you to go back to the old ways. Like a new foreign signing, it just took time to settle.

Okay, that's enough football analogies.

fingle said...

Erin gets her head shoved in a toilet, then is sent to hell?

WHO broke your heart?!

Just kidding.

DAMN you! I loved Erin!!

Just kidding.

Not really.

Damn! I was sure she'd come back eventually! I've waited so long...

Must... get... life...

Centipede Damascus said...

Dang Mr. A, Erin really was a favorite of mine. I don't like disagreeing with authors on their creative choices, but I thought she deserved better.

Brosencrantz said...

Hello! You may recall me as the strange person who gave you a cardboard tube Space Owl at the Webcomix Thing! I have finally scanned and uploaded all the tortoises (and in your case turtle) I had people draw, if you would like to see them: http://odontomachus.livejournal.com/tag/giant+tortoise+post

Brosencrantz said...

Hmm, that didn't turn out very well did it? It's supposed to end with "giant+tortoise+post"

Fletcher said...

Actually it did work - you can't *see* all of it, but you can grab all of it by double-clicking the line and copy-pasting it.

Regarding Erin: I rather expected it, to tell the truth. Not too fussed, though, I like Esther.

On the other hand, I'm still vaguely awaiting the return of Unit Daisy. Yes, the robot chick from Bobbins. Yes, that was a godawful number of years ago. Yes, I'm a sap.

orc said...

“That said, almost every day, someone will write a question about Erin Winters. Here's an exclusive for blog readers: that is a character who is never, ever, coming back.”

That's sad. I suppose she will have to live a shadowy half existence as sketches on the endpapers of the occasional SGR collection.

Unknown said...

I'd bet anything she comes back now...

John A said...

I'll take that bet. The odds are 100/1 so just Paypal as much money to me as you want to wager and I'll pay out when she next appears in the comic.

Christophe said...

This could work. If I can find another bookie to hedge this off to, I'll come back to you...

I think this is how sub-prime in the states got started...

K said...

*sniffs* Yes, you have the right to put whatever characters you like on a one-way trip to Hell. But I shall miss the big sister/little sister dynamic. (I have a little sister myself, and she treats me like a dotty aunt, much as Erin did Shelley.)

Joe Mannaseh said...

That's pretty sad news. I though Erin had a very unique role in Scary Go Round: the mousy, rational one. I'm sure you have your reasons, John, but I'll still be over in the corner, chanting "Save our Erin!"

I felt passionate enough about it that I'm trying to rally folks on my blog to join me:

Save Our Erin