Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 Well, some of you may be wondering: Where's Cheer!?

It's an awfully good question! And the answer is: I don't know.

The recent hiatus and some of the updating issues even before that have been caused by a core uncertainty... an uncertainty about where I was taking Cheer!... where it was and where it is going. Over the years of dreaming up stories for Cheer!, my imagination has run in a darker direction, coming up with plot that is violent and threatening... not "Spawn" or anything, but more your average modern superhero comic, with credible villains and real threats.

Had I started Cheer! in that atmosphere, it probably would be fine (though I may not have called the comic "Cheer!" in that case...). The stories I've come up with are, I think, clever and enjoyable. But they've strayed way too far from what Cheer! has, to this point, become. Cheer! is light-hearted and fun... about unusual teenagers in mystical situations. It's funny and silly, but has plenty of room for character depth and a little drama thrown in. That's what Cheer! has become, and that's what Cheer!, I'm now convinced, should remain... for me, for the readers (all seven of them) and for the characters.

Had I only come to this realization before starting this chapter... If I had, I could have easily sidetracked into some pointless but funny arc about Jen and Ben Harper... I could have called it "Ben Jen", and it would have become a popular kids cartoon. And it would have given me a chance to rewrite the plots and stories I had planned for Cheer! As it is, however, I'm mired near the end of a chapter that, in a few pages, was meant to introduce something I now no longer want.... a chapter full or references to this terrible thing I'm now trying to write out of the story.

When I "returned" from last month's hiatus, I had thought there was no choice but to continue on my original plan into darkness. Now I'm convinced that's the only bad idea. I need to rewrite not only the end of this chapter, but the next chapter, and the next, and the finale of the story. (there's probably more chapters in there, but I haven't even begun writing those) I may also have to retcon this chapter, depending on what I come up with. And this is not an easy process... I'm just one guy, and a guy constantly distracted by that pesky thing called Life. It took years to come up with and refine the stories I'm now tossing out the window.

And that's what's going on with me and Cheer! right now, and the primary reason I haven't been producing comics worth beans lately.

So what's next? I still don't know. I'm tossing around some ideas in my mind, but nothing solid yet. I just have to keep working on it until I come up with something that allows me to move forward again, hopefully restoring both my faith and enthusiasm and allowing Cheer! to return to full glory.

Saturday, Feb 21, 2009 CMXpress has arrived!

For those who don't know, CMXpress is an open-source webcomic distribution engine of which I'm one of the beta testers. Most of the awesome is for me to enjoy, but there's a few things the casual Cheer!eader will notice...

One, the URL has changed to www.cheercomic.com. Anyone who goes to cheer.thewotch.com will be automatically forwarded, but it's still a good idea to update your links and bookmarks.

Two, there are two more buttons for navigation. These middle buttons allow you to read through the archives skipping over any fillers. If you want the story in it's purest, non-interrupted form, use these buttons.

Three, there is chapter navigation (just select the chapter name from the drop down menu above) as well as an entirely new and awesome archive page. Check it out!

Four, there's an RSS feed to alert people to updates. I know several people have been requesting that over the years, and finally it's available.

All that and CMXpress is still under development... more features are still coming, such as a built in search engine.

So poke around the site and enjoy the enhanced features! I know I am...

Tuesday, Jan 20, 2009 Well, it's been over a year since I actually posted a new donation wallpaper, so I figure it's time. Unfortunately, while I try to get the comic updating regularly, I haven't had time to get my own wallpaper done... so I got the incomparable Jimmy Brimstone to help! And he did a phenomenal job.

Currently the same old donation proceedure works... send a donation and an email specifying which version(s) you'd like. I'm also going to be working on getting some sort of automatic page set up so it eliminates the wait. I hope to get that sorted out soon, but in the meantime, I'll try to get the wallpapers out within 24 hours.