The state of affairs (Part 2)
This is the second part of my, quite lengthy, musings about the mistakes I’ve done with Robomeks so far (the ones I’ve detected) and, maybe, some solutions. To be honest, this is mainly for me, hoping that writing about this will help me understand what’s wrong and what could be done to fix it. So, when I write “you” I really mean “me”. I’m not trying to pontify.
No, really, it’s a webcomic!
Most of the mistakes I’ve made so far have to do with all the decisions I’ve mentioned in the previous post, and the process that led to those decisions.
A webcomic isn’t a comic-book. That’s something that is crystal clear to me now. The format totally changes the content. Or, in other words, the content should adapt to the format. That affects the pace of the storytelling, the page format and composition and a myriad of smaller things.
In a printed comic you can use three, five pages for exposition and, while cheap and annoying, your readers will probably stick with you. Similarly, you can have an action scene over five or more pages without any perceived collateral damage (some readers may even love that). You can have transitional pages, pages that add nothing but flavour, etc. It’s OK, because there’s about twenty pages left for the reader to enjoy. Not in a webcomic.
If you intend to appeal to the readers with every single update those things I’ve mentioned are the kind of things you probably want to avoid. Because, well, what on paper sounds like a trivial, even quick scene can be eternal when publishing it online. And the less you update a week the more tedious it becomes for the reader.
Not to mention how easy is to break tension or lose momentum when the reader can only access a new page once every day, two days or maybe once a week. This is just a nightmare to fix if you intend to do a story based comic. It probably wouldn’t be an issue if Robomeks would be a humor strip based one, which isn’t.
But, wait, it can be fixed!
Unfortunately these problems are inherent to the medium as long as you try to apply the comic-book mentality to webcomics. Which is exactly what I’ve been doing so far. Shame on me. And the worst part is that it’s very difficult to find a middle ground where neither the story, the reader or myself are losing too much.
One of the solutions would be changing from the comic-book mentality to the short story mentality. The length of the short story would be one page long ideally but, let’s be honest, I can’t do that. A more realistic option would be to make self contained stories as long as the number of times the comic updates per week. That’d mean a short story three pages long every week (or five pages long if/when RM goes daily again), solid enough to stand alone but that also works as a cog in the global story arch. Something similar to what some strip based comics already do. It’s not easy to have an interesting three pages story every week, though, and unless each short story has a significant ending (twist, punch line, etc) it may become just the same old thing with just a different name. Anyway, the idea would be to have something similar to the old Sunday comics in papers, just stretched out over a week.
Another solution, and one that’s easier to adopt, is to avoid decompression totally. Sorry, mangaphile and movie buff in me, but that means no more six pages long action scenes, etc. It shouldn’t be a problem. Synthesis and ellipsis FTW. That leads to a somewhat retro storytelling and it’s definitely more challenging, which I don’t mind (I’ll regret writing this some day, I know).
And then there’s the page composition thing. Is the vertical page layout really suited to a computer screen? Why the hell do I keep treating the screen as a real life page, when it isn’t? I’m not sure about this, but something tells me that going vertical is just wrong, unless you plan to go for print eventually (which is something I’m starting to forget about). Widescreens are more spread each day. Everybody hates scrolling (I know I’m not alone in this one). Half a page sounds like a better option. It fits a widescreen better and, well, you can always attach two pages vertically if you ever want to go for print. Just forget about splash pages (which I shouldn’t use if I go the ellipsis way, anyway).
Is it only the format?
Robomeks has other problems I’ve spotted that aren’t necesarily tied to the webcomic format. One of the most obvious, and irritatings for me, is how unfaithful I’ve been to the Robomeks premise so far.
What didn’t sound like a bad idea while I was having fun writing those scripts back in the day has turned out into something that just doesn’t feel right. I’ve failed to capture and maintain what Robomeks should be about. And that’s bad. Bad for me, bad for the series and probably bad for the readers (yes, the few ones out there that somewhat like RM).
The first chapter worked as an introduction to the Robomeks world, their interactions and work mechanics (no pun intended). Its problem was that it was maybe too pointless overall, a succession of action scenes that added mostly no information (which is true, as I already told the same story in just eight pages, as I mentioned in the previous post). Anyway, so far it’s the closest chapter to the Robomeks essence published so far.
The second chapter probably shouldn’t have existed. It was way too gloomy, too off from the real RM tone. It helped me to show a bit more about ubernet, the relationship between Witty and Vincent, the elections, and the personality preservation device, which was a key element in the original treatment but, sadly, is totally out in the revision I’ve been making these past weeks. And, well, I could have provided all that information in other ways way more Robomeky (heh). So, for me it’s a failure.
And the third, the one you’re reading right now. Oh, man. I had so much fun writting this one. And it’s turned out to have all the mistakes I’ve mentioned over and over. I admit I still like it, but it’s another failure.
The fourth, and the last that I totally story-boarded previous to start publishing the series, is probably the first that totally grasps what I think RM should have been from the beginning. But you just have to trust me on that one.
Where are the robots?
That sums it all up. Robomeks has become the series about robot mechanics that doesn’t repair robots. The light-hearted action based story that turned out a gloomy emo thing that takes itself way too seriously.
And all that because I didn’t control myself during the scripting days. And because I had no idea what Robomeks was really about nor the format how it was going to be published.
My intentions were good, though. I always wanted Robomeks to be something more than three guys that repair robots. I just failed in timing, among other things. The second chapter could be done, but not as the second chapter, maybe the fourth or beyond (and probably using another story). If you want the patient to take the medicine make sure it tastes like strawberries. Having a medicine that only has the shape of a strawberry isn’t enough.
