Full disclosure

I got some fan mail at about 7pm today:

"Suburban Tribe is one of the Web's fastest-growing professional-quality online comic strips. Updated at midnight 3 - 5 days a week, Suburban Tribe features a funny and relatable cast that consists of the largest-growing demographic in America: Single people."

Okay, I am just being snarky, I know. But I love this strip, and I am getting the jitters from not knowing what's going on here? What's happened to Dave? Did Mom show up? Did Caeser get the grilled cheese sandwich? Tune in tomorrow. . . or the next day. . . or the next day. . .

Hey, congrats on the darling little one. 8) First things first, after all. How about some filler art? Dave in a speedo? LOL

Best wishes, your fan,

Demi Hungerford

Well, Demi (and everyone else), here's the bottom line about why the strip is in the state it's in right now: I made a few mistakes.

Mistake #1: I pulled the plug on MWF updates.
I thought that I was being practical, but I'm man enough to admit now that I did it out of self-pity. My stats were frozen and instead of soldiering forward and making my way over the hurdle, I left my metaphorical 5-year-old child alone to play in traffic just see if I could get any attention. It was selfish and stupid.

Worse, I did this right when webcomics started to gel a little. Marvel launched their (kick-ass) Digital Comics service, Zuda started publishing some quality work and a bunch of independent web cartoonists got dead-tree publishing contracts in spite of the fact that they can't draw water from a faucet and don't give a damn about narrative.

Mistake #2: I dumped the 4-panel newspaper strip format for a full page Graphic Novel format.
It was exciting at first: Full backgrounds. New character designs. Richer-looking art. But then it became a real problem: Full backgrounds. New character designs. Richer-looking art. In the time it takes me draw one of my new pages, I could easily draw 2 or 3 4-panel strips. This story is intended for publication in a print anthology (more on that in a bit), and as I told my publishing partner this weekend: What the hell was I thinking? If this story was told in strip format, it would be done by now.

Mistake #3: I was stupid.
I really thought that I would be able to up the graphic quality of the comic with a new colicky baby in the house. Even though I run my own business out of it and watch her while her mom is at work 1-2 days a week. Seriously, WTF?

Mistake #4: I was arrogant.
When the strip started in 2003, my promotional efforts consisted of showing up to various forums and saying "check out my strip." As the strip grew over the years and the web got more and more social, I got fat and happy with my little audience and figured that I didn't need to interact with my fans anymore. If you ever wrote me over the years and didn't get a response, here is my public apology. It was nothing personal, I was just lazy.

So where does this leave us? I am glad that you asked.

Action Item 1: The month of March will be dedicated to finishing this story in its current format as well as the Empyreal Fall excerpt for the print anthology.
During, or at the end of this time, look for an announcement regarding the formation of an imprint that Suburban Tribe will be published under--both in print and online--from now on. The current story has maybe 6-7 more pages. Empyreal Fall is halfway complete.

Action Item 2: Suburban Tribe will return in a 4-panel format this Spring
It will be published as close to 3 days per week as possible and will pick up the story exactly where it left off. I'm shooting for mid-to-late April on this. Look for more "Legend of Suburban Tribe" stories, too.

Action Item 3: SuburbanTribe.net will be getting a major overhaul.
This is a big one. The site itself is going to be redesigned to be the center of a social hub of sites that will showcase my comics, art, and design endeavors. It will also allow fans to link to me on Facebook, ArtBistro, Twitter, ComicSpace and DeviantArt. It will also feature more media, merchandise and new blogging structure that will allow me to post shorter blogs more frequently.

The site redesign will be slowly implemented starting now. Eagle-eyed readers may already be able to spot some changes.

Action Item 4: I will be more responsive.
This is also starting now. If you send an email to me, I will answer it and I'll also be more active in the blog comments.

Okay, the latest strip is on the drawing board, and I have to get it into the computer.