to post or not to post...

[johncomic]

Hunter has an account on DrunkDuck where he posts his comics -- he sez it's a friendlier site for ongoing comics than DeviantArt. Anyhoo, I'm thinking of signing up for one so's I can post my new big project I keep babbling about here rather than actually drawing [I know! It's not ready to draw yet, I have so much development still to do, I know...]...

I was also thinking of posting my one of my old works. When I was doing my BA back in the mid-70s, I produced about fifty pages of a sword & sorcery graphic novel. (In those days I referred to it as a “comic novel”, cuz the term “graphic novel” had not yet been coined. Back then I actually thought I had invented the whole concept of the graphic novel, so I also invented my own terminology to describe it.)

Anyway, Hunter thinks I shouldn't post it. It isn't finished and I have no intention of finishing it. Once I reached those fifty-odd pages, I broke my drawing hand, had it operated on, and had to re-learn how to draw. After which, my style had irrevocably changed and I was never able to draw like that old self again. If I resumed work on it, it'd look like the artist had changed in mid-stream. Besides, IMHO it's an immature derivative work that doesn't deserve my time and attention today. So that's why I have no plans to complete it. Hunter thinks it'll disgruntle my audience to start them off on a story and leave them hanging. I already did that with Dishman, why put people thru that again?

On the other hand, this [fragmentary] work has only ever been seen by a handful of old friends, and part of me is curious about how it would go over with a larger audience. So part of me wants to put it out there and find out.

Any thoughts or comments?

Comments

[jkcarrier.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd certainly enjoy seeing it. As long as you're up-front about the fact that it's unfinished, there's no reason for anyone to be disgruntled. Include some introductory text about how you came to work on it, why you stopped, etc., and maybe an afterword outlining how the rest of the story would've gone.

[sboyko.livejournal.com]

I agree, post it with the appropriate disclaimer that it's unfinished and will never be finished.