Okay, well I’m all moved in to a new (and hopefully more stable) hosting server. Now I just gotta go through the site and make sure the brand new version of WordPress is playing nicely with the brand new version of Comicpress and Comicpress Manager… and get the site (css) looking the way it should… and restart the strip… okay, I’ve got a bit of work to do. It is moving forward though, so I hope you all will continue to check in as I get this strip off the ground in one way or another… Thanks for your support!
Archive for News and Secrets
Today I finished tightening up the sites appearance and updated the “About” pages. If you think the site looks good or think it needs some extra spices, let me know. Now for the content and a soapbox…
Just wanted to keep everyone updated on the progress of the site. I see people returning to check on the progress and I appreciate your loyalty (or at least your curiosity). My target to re launch Ralf the Destroyer (as in posting regularly) is mid November.
The only reason I haven’t posted already is because I was fortunate enough to pick up some freelance work which I need to finish first.
Also, I wanted to start the strip a bit differently. I had it in mind to start the strip at a point that introduced and established more human characters and “flashed back” later on to recount how Ralf came to be The Destroyer of Earth. Let me know what you think.
Anyhow I just wanted any returning readers to know that this site will not remain stagnant and that I am moving forward. Thanks for visiting and for your support.
Okay, looks like I’m set to start posting Monday the 16th three times a week. I picked up some ad space at Project Wonderful so hopefully that will generate some traffic as well.
For any new comers, Ralf the Destroyer is an all ages strip I developed for daily syndication (a long road I’m still traveling) after assisting on Nancy for 6 years. To that end it is created entirely by hand (no vector lines, no fonts etc) just india ink on bristol board. It is a labor of love and I hope that comes through the artwork.
Smooth Sailing so far… The website is functioning as it should and comic strips are being posted three times a week (Mon, Tue and Wed).
I just added a character page (see top menu bar) on today. Initially I wasn’t going to post it since it’s still so early in the strip and many of the characters have not yet been introduced. There’s a bit of info about the bigger picture part of the story-line, so I guess this is a bit of a preview if you’d like something to look forward to.
Originally (way back when) I had hoped to make my whole webcomic site in Flash8. It was quite an under taking and I was literally learning as I went. The main idea was to allow me to upload and edit content without uploading a whole new site and provide and interesting interactive experience for you the readers.
Unfortunately I never finished it completely and it seemed that WordPress/Comicpress was the way to go. Never-the-less, the character section was done and worked well as a stand alone page (as far as I can tell). Just so you know, there are a couple sound effects for mouse overs/clicks. I may still look for a way to finish it in the future if readers find it enjoyable. Let me know what you think.
Hey there! Just posted a promotional video trailer to the “About the Comic” page (see link in top nav bar) for anyone who hasn’t seen it. I made this a few years back when I was using Flash 8 and had just started shopping my comic around the syndicates. I purchased a great sound track for it (which totally makes the video) from a royalty free music site called Shockwave Sound, so make sure your speakers are turned up!
In the spirit of the season, I’ve added Project Wonderful ad boxes to the site. Well, actually it had little to do with the season and more to do with me just rounding the corner on their minimum requirements. Anyone interested in advertising, keep in mind this is an all ages site but the bidding starts at zero. So it balances out. Just click on the links to the right and Project Wonderful will set you up! Thanks guys!
I’m finishing up a side project tentatively called “Ralf the Destroyer: Chronicles of Xyo” Issue #1, it’s a black and white, ashcan comic book (about 8″x 5″) with (hopefully) a color cover.
When I started developing the story of Ralf I wanted to make sure I had enough material to keep up with daily syndication for about 11 years, a daunting task. The reason for this was from Lee Nordling’s book Your Career in Comics where there was a quote saying that comics didn’t become profitable until this point. That was many moons ago and it seems now a days a five year contract is the norm with syndicates and 10 years is more like the life span of many newer comics rather than their jump off point.
Suffice to say I may have OVER planned for my story content, so what to do? Well I am a fan of Jeff Smith’s work ( Bone & Shazam! ) and other black and white pulp comics like TMNT (yes, when I read it, it was black and white on newsprint).
I started thinking maybe I could split the story up a bit as there where two portions of the story; Ralf’s plight with humanity on Earth and The back story of Ralf, his planet and how his decision affects the bigger picture. Ralf’s trials and struggles with humanity (his own and other’s) is a great set up for a daily strip but the back story seemed to need a bit more room to stretch its legs, so I suspect the comic book form would be better suited this part (though there is plenty of over-lap to tie them tightly together). I’ve been working on the comic book form of the story (issue #1) on the side. Posted to the left is the first page, there are a couple of other pages that can be seen on my DeviantART page.
Hey, let me know what you think! 😀
Woohoo! In today’s news, Ralf the Destroyer breaks the Top 100 on Webcomic-Z’s list January 12th 2010 coming in at #97. I think Webcomic-Z uses a combination of stats and votes to rank web comics on their list. So I’d like to thank all the voters and return visitors. I hope Ralf the Destroyer continues to grow and entertain you.