So, a little history.
I had this idea, once upon a time, that the High School of the Damned storyline would be more of a standard comic-page type of comic, with panels and gags and a horizontal sort of layout and whatnot. I drew some character introduction stories with that in mind, Terra Cuts her Hair, Percival Changes his Shirt, and Alexandra Drinks a Cup of Coffee.
I didn't like the results all that much, so I put High School of the Damned aside and worked on other stuff, like The Wretched Day, when the band finally leaves on tour.
Following on the band-on-the-run storyline, I did The Christmas Truce. I decided that I would do it the size and style of book pages. I decided this because at the time I was busy putting together Yellow is the Color of Poison and it was driving me nuts how time-consuming it was. I thought, "hey, if I did the original artwork at the right size and layout, when I do another collection it will be a lot easier." Also, I decided that it was finally the tipping point where it was okay to post larger images on the web. Plus, this particular story seemed like it had to be told in a more narrative style -- more like an illustrated book than a traditional comic.
I ended up liking the way The Christmas Truce came out. So I went back to High School of the Damned and did a couple of prologues in that same style, Percival and the Brain, and Terra Goes to Hell.
After doing those two stories, I got back to the High School of the Damned storyline with Like, the Mall, y'know? ('83). The panels were book-page-sized, but somehow I had fallen back into this idea that the story had to be told in a more traditional comic manner, through dialogue and pictures with a minimum of narration.
It was very slow to put together, and somehow never... you know... took off. I wasn't sure why. I assumed it had something to do with me being really super busy.
(In October of 2006 I started a new full-time job. In addition to this, I continued to work for a couple of my freelance clients. I started going to yoga three or four times a week. And then I started writing a novel. And then I gave Paul the complete X Files boxed set for Christmas.)
Then, a few weeks ago, I had this sudden fit-slash-epiphany. I realized the part that wasn't working was trying to tell the story in a traditional comic style, and that I was onto something with the more booklike stories.
I spent a weekend writing the rest of High School of the Damned, and then I spent another weekend writing The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. And then, somehow, I ended up needing to revamp the web site, which leads us to...
Where we are. And where are we?
The web site has been revamped. The non-Goth-House graphical element are all swiped from different portions of three pictures I took in New Orleans: the most-photographed house in the Garden District, the wall of Lafayette Cemetery Number 1, and a random wall in the French Quarter. I also tried to clean up all the bogus links on the comics page.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre starts now, and it is a continuation of the band-on-the-run story. So it is in Goth House present day.
After that, we go back to High School of the Damned.
