First of all, I suppose it’s important to address the comic strip’s long absence. It’s actually a conglomeration of things.
Initially, I ended up moving to a new house and was actually trapped there for nearly a month without Internet access. While I was still able to draw (and had been drawing) during that time, it set me back a little bit in terms of the official site comic. Add to that other projects that came up, such as launching a new “store” on the Focal Point Facebook page for people to buy art prints, plus a sweet, but busy gig, doing some Star Wars sketch cards for Topps…
In all, I’ve found my drawing time tapped into other places, while my writing time took up everything else. This hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing, however, as it’s givine me time to think about how best to continue the strip, where it should go, and what format it should take moving forward. As such, I was a little hesitant to move forward, despite having strip ideas, without having more of an idea in place of what I wanted.
I think, maybe, I have it a little figured out now. As you can see, Focal Point has moved locations on the site and the site itself has made some changes (as you’ve likely noticed). We’ve improved the layout, added new areas for readers to find things easier and brought in tons of new content. But enough about that, I’ll have more on that later…let’s talk about the comic real quick.
Considering the SDCC just wrapped up and Force Friday is only a month and a half away, today’s strip feels more relevant than ever. While I’ve made jokes about Disney taking all my money before, this one felt even more apt and important. Legitimately, just about any time Lucasfilm announces breaking Star Wars news, I feel my wallet getting significantly lighter.
I mean, not only are they announcing new Star Wars things (which I’m a sucker for to begin with), but what they’re announcing is so genuinely exciting, I can’t help myself. The new toys look amazing, the new film is about to start shooting, and Lord & Miller are directing a Han Solo movie. While I know that in the new age of Star Wars media under Disney, there will be things I’m not as interested in. For now, however, all of it feels like a gigantic attack on my wallet.
So, for the foreseeable future over the next few years, I imagine this comic strip will remain ridiculously relevant and accurate. In fact, there’s a damn good chance that it will never NOT be true. The reality is that Disney is a phenomenal business machine. They know how to market and make money, and as we’ve seen with Marvel, they can make great movies. It’s an exciting period in time for Star Wars fans, though I can’t say I appreciate how little respect they have for my bank account.
As for Focal Point and the site moving forward, I’m making a concerted effort to adjust somethings. As I’ve moved the comic from a movie focused strip, to being more in line with geek culture in general, I’m going to use it on the site to discuss those things more informally as well. Think of them as a little “editor’s letter” for the site where I can get a tad more personal, while still having fun.
As I mentioned already, you can now buy some of my artwork (featuring those movie poster parodies I initially created for our Cinelinx Kickstarter) over on the official Focal Point Facebook Page. So be sure to check out the store and give the page a “Like” while you’re at it.
There’s plenty more awesome things coming up for the comic strip and Cinelinx in general, so don’t go far!
-Jordan
