So there’s a few months of Roomies! strips left to run on BringBackRoomies.com before we get to It’s Walky!, but before we do, I need to know something. And I thought I’d put it to a vote.
For a while, years ago, I tried redrawing the first IW! storyline because we figured it’d help with new readers. IW! ends out a pretty good story, but that early stuff is a mess, and so making the beginning more presentable and enticing we thought would help grow readership and whatnot. Plus hey, maybe I could collect it in its own book or something. But it got kind of dropped in lieu of other projects and redrawing that first storyline wasnever finished.
So my question to you is, which strips should be run on the BBR! site? The original strips, or the redrawn ones? I am asking far ahead because if folks want the redrawn ones, I want to finish redrawing the first storyline. And that is, you know, more work I need to begin accommodating for.
Do you want new hotness or original recipe? Newness versus strips that haven’t actually been on the Internet since like 2005.
You can answer here if you like, but I will be giving most of the Decision Power to the poll I’ve added to BringBackRoomies.com on the right hand side below the 300×250 ad.
(For the record, “Both” doesn’t help me. I want to know which set of strips will become the REAL story. I can always throw the losing set somewhere on the Internet.)
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Original! Don’t Lucas it up anymore than needed for clarity. Plus, you pointed out that by “finish redrawing” you mean that the art style is going to change three times, from Roomies-quality, to You-A-Few-Years-Ago-quality, to You-Today-quality, to It’s Walky-normal-quality.
I voted but wanted to put my two cents in here as well. I think one of the best parts of re-running Roomies, especially in the daily format, is watching the comic evolve. And that’s not just Willis’s viewpoint or storywriting but also his art.
Plus, the art reflects what Willis was trying to convey at the time, whereas new art is affected by how he sees things now. So it’s not as simple as getting cleaned up or looking nicer.
I’m sure Willis will pull it off either way, and whatever the majority wants, goes. I just want to make sure people put a little thought into it.
I’d say go with the original, but I’m happy with either.
Whichever you go with, I’d say put a link to the other version of that strip in the comments.
Yeah, pretty much this whole comment.
I remember reading those archives… I kind of kept wishing you’d finish redrawing it. It’s just so much easier to read…
But if you didn’t have the new strips at all, the style would blend together more naturally, so people could see your development as an artist.
I think it’s a choice between legibility and presentation
So, you’re asking if we want another dimens… eh redraw of the same strips – or not? Just some more strips for free in addition to the originals.
The answer seems obvious. And thanks for everything!
Damn you, now I wonder if I ever read the originals at all.
“Historical accuracy” kind of dropped to second priority compared to “ease of reading” with the later-drawn stories having already been inserted into the Roomies section.
It’s with that in mind that I voted for the redrawn versions. Maybe you could insert the original versions into the little author comment box (caption box? rant box? blog box? surrogate-for-hovertext box?) below the redrawn ones, for comparison’s sake.
Seconding this, but I admit to a certain level of bias – I actually didn’t start reading at all until somewhere in the middle of Shortpacked, then went through and read Roomies and It’s Walky, so I’m one of those new readers you were trying to attract.
Of course, if there’s a strip or two containing a dumb joke that didn’t make it into the redraw or something, I vote you insert those in at the appropriate time too. So, basically what you’ve been doing anyway.
The idea of getting to see the original IW! strips again has been the most exciting thing about BBR for me. The redrawn strips are nice, however they’ve never been truly satisfying whenever I’ve wanted to go back and reread the story. I also think there’s also a smoother transition from Roomies! to IW! with the originals.
In fairness to all I would say to try to come up with a way to show them both. I don’t know how hard that would be what with the difference in format and story pacing, but it would probably be the most satisfying overall to the readers.
If the redrawn strips are that much easier to read and the originals are that much of a mess, then the redrawn ones should be the ones that become the REAL story.
Years ago I came across a first edition Hobbit and I learned a couple of things from it. Firstly, old books are worth a bloody fortune! And secondly, it was very different from the book I read in school. It turns out that when Tolkien was writing Lord of the Rings, he revisited The Hobbit a few times in different editions and updated the story so that his new ideas were established and the whole thing flowed better. The eventual finished version went on to be a beloved book around the world, in spite of the ending, and while the first version got it started it needed that extra polish .
So yeah, the redrawn version should become definitive if it’s that much of an improvement. And if it doesn’t get too spoilery with the changes between them, perhaps have the old ones available to compare?
Why not post both side by side?
I’d prefer redrawn with a link to the original with the new comic.
We have the originals on the original site… so, yeah… newness is good. Give me new stuff
And hey, if you want to draw a few new strips as well in this universe, you can do that, too… you know.. for the fun of things…
IIRC, the originals AREN’T on the original site, ’cause I re-read them awhile back during the extreme lulls at work [though, by awhile I mean Obama was not president] and was surprised that the originals were mostly gone. I had specifically been looking for certain strips, too =p
The originals aren’t on the original site, and the original site isn’t going to be there forever anyway.
I chose the redrawn on the poll. I read the redrawn when i first read the whole original Walkyverse and loved how beautiful they were. Never seen the old ones. Was actually quite suprised when i saw the 3 of them burn up from the jetpack(?) and the change of style-and rewatch the same scene again. I would still like to see the redrawn-on this timeline-site, but the original must be somewhere. I don’t believe though that you have to redraw all the storyline, let it be as it is. I am sure, there are other things, important things you can draw. 😉
I know I’m already repeating what everyone else is saying, but I’d also prefer to see the earlier It’s Walky! strips redrawn, but with the originals linked in the commentary.
That said, I do mostly prefer the pacing of the day-by-day “originals” as opposed to the full pages we see in the redrawn versions we have so far. 😉
I would like to see the redrawn since I have already seen the original and know where to see it again.
I say Redrawn if only because those were the one’s I first read and I’d like to see the redo get finished but also because Story comperehention is the better choice.
Like other people said with the original strips in the commentary would work pretty well.
I voted original, as much as I’d like to just say both. The reason being that much as I’d like to see the redraw done for the whole IW run, I’d still much rather see that time and effort directed to new content, especially considering the relatively close shuttering of Shortpacked!
I voted before I read the comments, and now I’m changing my mind . . . I have also enjoyed watching the evolution of Roomies, so it might be nice to see the originals develop as they did. (I’m a DoA-era latecomer who went back and binge-read to catch up on Shortpacked.)
I’d say original with either embedded or links to the redrawn strips in the comics description box. I was a little late to the party (Roomies started when I was three) so it would be nice to see the original run.
Still, if the new strips are clearer and complement the story more appropriately it would make sense to consider them canon.
Basically, bring back everything and canonize the best fit
I say the redrawn ones because it is the start of Its Walky and I think the quality of the final form is more important than prioritizing the original. From the break-off point between the redrawn and the old I can see the drastic difference in quality and I think a story with as much scope and dramatical weight as Its Walky should have a beginning that does not pale in artistic quality compared to its end.
I’m going to lose this battle too, I see. Damn fleshlings and their desire for ‘new’. New sucks. Well, accept for the New Decepticon Order, which I’m the head of. But that’s beside the point.
As long as I get to see the originals, I’m happy. So please, if the re-draws are going to be the ‘official’ comics, I’d like a link to the originals.
Just don’t Starscreem this up, o.k.?
Mostly for the sake of art continuity, but also less extra work for our artist, go with the originals.
As much as I’d like to say both, I’d like to see the original strips. I didn’t start reading until around 2005ish so I never saw the originals, just the new ones.
I vote for re-drawn strips until the point when the anatomy and perspective started to improve. If Willis says he can put up with it he most likely can. Besides, the new art and compelling story of IW would draw on a lot of readers. And having redrawn book of It’s Walky?
I want that SOOO bad!!!!
I’m surprised at how badly Original is getting beaten. I like watching the art evolve (with the early previews of where it’s going in the later-drawn stories), and it’s more authentic to the rerun.
It looks like the prevailing wisdom is “I want the redrawn, because the redrawn is what I first saw”. Well, I started off with the Walkyverse by reading on BringBackRoomies, and I’m liking the evolution in art, storytelling, and worldview. It wouldn’t be the same if the most obvious track of evolution were taken away, and it sounds like the storytelling is massaged a bit in the redrawn as well.
I think that when I hopped on the Willis bandwagon, the strips that were up were the redrawn strips, so I had thought those were the original ones.
I really like the suggestion above to put a link to the other version of the comic in the comments section each day.
As much as I would LIKE to see redrawn; the crudeness of the originals felt impeding at times; I voted for original. This is really a spiteful preference, if anything, though; I enjoyed Roomies! and It’s Walky! more as examinations of your evolving style than for the actual storylines or characters themselves, so posting the originals acts as more of a “walk through Willis time” rather than presenting a dolled-up version of an older series to new fans, which is what you seem to want to do.
Also, by redrawing IW, it could lead to a potentially awkward situation where the final page is better-drawn than the first pages of Joyce and Walky! and Dumbing of Age, which would be really weird.
I say, originals. If this BBR site is meant to be the definitive archive of the whole story, rolling the old strips out once a day in a half-mirror of their original release way back when, I think it should present the original comic strips. A link in the comments to the redrawn strips will be more than sufficient.
Only discovered It’s Walky a year or so ago, and while I enjoyed those redrawn comics near the start of the IW phase, it was also really disjointing. I spent more time while I was reading them trying to figure out the explanation for the extreme art and format shift than I did on what should have been a very important scene where Joyce and Walky meet again. I think, ultimately, it’d flow better if it presented the original strips, so the continual visual development of the comic can be observed, without disruption.
Or something. You know, whatever.
I actually have never seen the new ones, and didn’t realize that.