And now for something completely different...

oh man i am 20 pounds of excited about this. cant wait to see how this project rolls out

good luck and hope you have fun creating it Dave!

Dang.

That right there is an intriguing start. And you say I may have to wait months to see where this is going?

Gads.

Great to see Dave - looking forward to this!

Just the YEAR you put on there makes me curious... I'm ready to see more!

I do wonder if you're going to be doing it all in blue, though, cause I see it working for certain scenes but I'd rather just see it in black and white.

Do you write page-to-page scripts for Sheldon, usually? And if you don't, do you do it for this new sci-fi thing?

Oooh... A comic set in da future.... 2258 eh? Why that's the year all the fun stuff happens in the new Star Trek movie! Lots of stuff occurs in that year in Babylon 5 too.

ooooh.. hoping you make a serious go of it.. I'm already crazy intrigued.

Forgive me. I kept waiting for the punchline until I read the news.

You're more optimistic than me - I seriously doubt we'll be able to keep the population in check like that.

Creative types (in fact, I think all people regardless of their creative spark) go through this from time to time. The need to explore, woo fledgling ideas, and diversify conceptually.

Our artist, Kevin, was doing this, and some of the time he was taking for non-studio work ended up distracting from studio work. We eventually restructured our work session and comic release model to accomodate these tangential efforts.

So we took the stuff he was posting to DeviantArt / Livejournal and we made MascotComic [mascotcomic.com] and Watchbabies [interrobangstudios.com] official properties. We also restructured the site KNOWING that these kinds of projects would happen. We even adjusted our business plan a bit to accomodate them. Now we have games up, other art ideas in the works seamlessly, etc.

The newest wrinkle is that Kevin is now doing a major freelance project. (While artistically he'd perfer the webcomic, the bottom-line is that this gig is putting non-ramen food on the table)

The key here is to NOT fight it, but to find a way to feed it without destroying your core projects. Otherwise you'll feel stifled by something that previously inspired you.

If anyone has any questions about how to do this, I can be reached at
(Username here)@yahoo.com

Keep drawing!
Blake Schreurs
Interrobang Studios

I like. I understand that need to do something different. My only startle moment was the 7 billion people. Wondering if the population would really be static in 200 years? I want to know what happens to this man and his family, though.

And for those wondering: the phrase used is "like 7 billion others...he is jobless". That's just the *unemployed*, not the total population. The sum total population on Earth and the colonies is exponentially higher. :)

I want to echo what others are saying, very interested, can't wait to get the rest of the story, and also glad it's not the end of Sheldon comics.

I've noted that you are a young man, and you write the elder Gramp point of view always on target. Have you considered a female protagonist?

Love the colony lights on the moon, by the way. 8) Great details as always.

Oops! Had a senior moment there, LOL. Also meant to say, watch out for Future Dave, he might come back in time and try to steal your ideas, like Future Cthulhu did at The Robman Show. 8)

This looks to be epic. I'll be faithfully awaiting the episodes as they appear.

Yay!

Spain!

Ooooh! Look at Mr. Gutsy trying something new! Can't wait to see where this goes.

I'm proud of you Dave, this has been a long time coming. I'm glad you decided to just go for it. I'm looking forward to reading this however long it takes.

I think you're just trying for something that'll win you a Hugo, now that they have a Graphic Story category. :)

Seriously, go for it. I'm already intrigued.

I really like this concept and hope you can run with it :) Non Sequitur does something similar where it often has a different story line on Sundays and I thoroughly enjoy that!
But... I don't want to wait months between episodes! Pleeeeeeeese stick with it? One a week isn't too much surely?
Pleeeeeeese *imagine puppy dog eyes here*

At first when I saw the line on unemployment I thought that you were making an unusually subtle topical allegorical comment on the current global economic recession, and the way history repeats mistakes. Reading the newspost was enlightening, but I am kind of disappointed that it wasn't that at all. But I am also pretty buzzed about the idea for the possible new comic too! Argh! Mind cannot cope with conflicting emotions of minor disappointment and sudden enthusiasm at the same time!

*Explodes like a Star Trek guest android*

I am trembled (tremored?) by excitement! Liked your saturday-storylines so far, but this will top them for lightyears. Will some individualism-affected (-afflicted?) Borg appear and try to teach humanity - or even just our poor conrado cruz here - a way out of the depression once and for all? Can't wait! - though I have to and will - to read how his story will go on. A story undoubtedly presented to us by crotchley labs: bringing us tomorrows troubles... today!
And hurray to Dave - may your creative mind never run dry.

Awesome! Nice colors, excellent, intriguing prologue. About time to do something like this, Dave! Keep it coming! Don't come to us saying "we might have several months where it doesn't appear at all". I demand more Conradito's life!!
Note: I think there's a misplaced accent (´) around but I might be wrong. My spelling is not that good.

Ohhhh.. I love the colors & the direction of this seems very interesting. (As others have said.) Nice set up. Can't wait to see where this goes, either...

Might there possibly be a Conrado book in the (hopefully not too distant) future? *waits on edge of seat*

Dave,
sorry for the cheap plug, but your words have inspired me to finally start my webcomic that I've been putting off for months:
http://danatherton.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]

As for the wait we will all have to endure for your new story:
1- We know it will be worth it.
2- In the meantime, we are still receiving Sheldon every day from you.

Go get em, Dave.

-Dan