It has been a while. And I get that. I respect that. If you are seeing this then it means you are one of the few that really dig the comic and keep coming around and checking it out.

As I sit here and tediously work out the kinks of Issue # 3 which should be available to purchase by late summer 2012 (August for those paying attention) the lack of comic updates or noise from the site further questions the validity of the future of the comic.

Brad Guigar once noted using real life as an excuse is just an excuse and it isn’t a valid one. And I agree with that 100%. Other people with less time than me still give 100% and more to their comic and still get it done. But that’s all I really have as an excuse is the whole “with my normal 9 to 5 gig, plus the constant lack of time, the comic sort of shifted from focus but never from my eyesight”. And it is true. I could also throw out there the whole I didn’t want to lose energy in the comic itself, which was to admit I was burnt out on the comic and that wasn’t the case. At all. Farthest from that. I just had to sacrifice something doing everything I do, and in the end, the comic Tales of the 8th Grade Nothing is what had to suffer by being sacrificed to the creative lack of time gods.

But again, EGN is never far from my mind.

I am still slowly working on Issue # 3 and slowly trying to work on Issue # 4, and how it will be compiled together. Issue # 4 creates an interesting idea that it may or may not be the last issue of Tales of the 8th Grade Nothing in comic strip format, which is something I’ve wrestled with a great deal. Fact is EGN was something that was done to be done in comic strip format and I wanted to end it in comic strip format but truth-be-told, the story itself from start to finish, does it deserve a full comic book page? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

In my previous entries about a year or two ago, I mentioned that the future of the comic was once that I caught up publishing the strips in comic book form, the comic would be published straight in comic book format with the hint of being done online. And the more I think about that, the idea of leaving the first ‘issue’ online to read and the rest being done as a comic book is all the more exciting to me for some reason but let’s be honest about that reason: as it is less work to deal with. Also it gets into the hands of people who really want it. I’m sure at that point there are not a large amount of you left.

The comic in ‘its prime’ in terms of the actual book was 50 pre-orders and over ten or so more sold since. For a webcomic that has what see less visitors than that per month during that ‘prime’ it sure as heck felt like a win. Issue 2 has had less then 10 orders but it wasn’t hyped up, it wasn’t ‘anything’ really. It wasn’t even a blip on the radar. And that’s fine. I don’t do this for sales, I do this because I have a story to tell and I want to tell it. And if you are wanting to come along for the ride then even better. For those who are starting to feel like this is more like waiting in line for Space Mountain at Walt Disney World then I greatly apologize. I hope as the story continues that you feel that I’ve earned your patience.

The same general plan is still at the ready: Once Issue # 4 is done, the future of EGN as a webcomic will definitely change for better or worse. The website will change a bit too. It might not change slowly or it may, that is to be determined but for those who don’t know, Jason Dobbins is a pseudonym. My ‘studio’ D4K Studios will be more likely taking the EGN website under its’ banner. It’s silly to be paying for all the extra webspace when I could be just paying for the URL to point to spot X instead of paying for the whole chalupa. It is really coming down to basic numbers and common sense: http://d4kstudios.net/ which is just a place holder for now and is a really crappy one at that, is probably where www.8thgradenothing.com will probably point to eventually.

Again the comic will continue more likely in comic book form but how it showcases itself on the web is still to be determined. Until then… perhaps it is best you subscribe to the mailing list. Or follow the facebook page. Or follow D4K Studios owner Nick Arganbright on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/goodbadgeeky as that will have updates on what is going on with EGN. Until then…

For those who’d like to buy Issue # 1 click here.

For Those who’d like to buy Issue # 2 click here.

There will be some changes here pretty soon to the site, so stay tuned. But if you’d like to buy Issue Two… click here or the image below!

Just in hibernation. Sorta.

The status of the comic strip ‘as a webcomic’ is in flux. It is still a webcomic, but I’m approaching a different style to releasing the ‘webcomic’. And it prolly won’t be successful as I’d like it to be, but it’s a matter of having for sure,consistent updates, ones that I feel confident with.

Right now, I’m deep at work on completing Issue #2 of Tales of the Eighth Grade Nothing and it’s coming along. And once I’m done with that, I’ll begin work on Issue #3. Once we are currently caught up with the current comic-strip, the one that was last published on April 1st, 2011, I will then release the strips in comic book form first. And then release it on the website a month or two later. Subsequent updates; Planned. All ready to go. But they’re just released in comic book form first for those who want them. At the surprise of selling a good deal of strips in comic book form the first time, it’s one of the reasons why I’m going ahead with this. In theory, hopefully it will be two-three issues a year.
So expect September, Issue #2 will be out and ready to go.

Thanks for understanding.

Well, it’s done. March 1rst was the deadline for orders to end, and on-line wise, they are done. I just removed the link.

I’d be remiss to say that sales weren’t strong at first. I was expecting to sell honestly, via pre-orders, about five or six. I’ve sold about forty-five of them.

Let me repeat that. We sold about forty-five pre-orders. Yeah, I’m kind of shocked too. Rule number 1 of fight club is to not really publish anything until you have a huge fan base, and I know my fanbase, while extremely loyal, is not big. You also figure that honestly, in the times that we all face, the market for this Pre-Orders, maybe 1 out of 20 fans will buy something and it will probably be the normal issue. So again, this was something that I wasn’t expecting to be a huge thing.

BUT…

I was initially going to MegaCon in Orlando this March. I was going to have something to take with me. I was excited. Every time I’ve ever gone there, the last two times especially, I’ve sold out of any ashcans, etc I’ve taken with. So I was planning to unveil Issue #1 of EGN there at MegaCon. It was merely a formality I’d offer this as a Pre-Order for online fans. Again, I was expecting the comic books to be something more for conventions, something they can buy, hold, read, and what have you. Word of mouth from the book at conventions, at least for the ashcans has been invaluable. Doing the EGN comic book was simple math: it’s inexpensive for them and me to buy/have made. Brad Guigar would politely shame me for doing something like that as it’s against common business sense, and he’s right, but I’m crazy.

Even more crazy, the Pre-Order was offered during my holiday break I take every year. People come more sporadically to the site until my return. It wasn’t the most genius plan. I again only had four or five pre-orders. Man if this was ancient japan, I would have just shamed my family with this nonsense. I felt like a real shmo, that I underappreciated the cut of my own jib.

Until the second week of Feburary, that is.

Not only did I see like three or four orders, I sent out a preview/press version, (i.e. the poor man’s press version) to Gary over at fleen. The dude has been all class to my little webcomic here, so, I thought I’d a) butter him up a bit and b)pander to him some more to see if he could help me whore the book.

The dude came through in spades.

Or at least, it feels that way. That week I had a small uptick (which in my case means HUGE) to around twenty peeps pre-ordering. I’m not sure if it was him, or just the normal readers beginning to play catch up. Still, a few more were trickling in, some of these being the ones who submitted and had their ‘letters’ that were published in the book at the end of the issue.

Queue today. I completely forgot about the link until I got an e-mail from the fellow helping me produce the book, showing that I got 5 more orders this morning and reminded me about the link. So it’s down. But wow. Color me shocked.

So to Gary who helped out, to all you fans who helped out by either spreading the word, or who just bought the damned thing, my god, I thank you. You guys are awesome.

And because I’m still a whore: for everyone who missed the Pre-Order, but wants the book, you can directly order it now from Indy Planet. Granted it’s a wee bit more expensive, but hey, it’s EGN. Right? Right?

I sort of wish the Team America song was fit to you fans. “EGN fans, ***k yeah!”

–Jason