HOME | DD

Description
Hi friends, sorry it’s been a while. As much as I thought I had my depression managed and under control, this year has certainly relieved me of any such notions… I’m sorry I disappeared whole cloth, I didn’t want to do that.

So, I haven’t posted Emporium for a while, and I finally feel up to discussing why that is. When I first started writing Emporium, I only wanted to write about doofy monsters. I didn’t put a lot of thought into the implications of the setting and world I was creating, I mostly just borrowed bits and pieces from other monster of the week media I enjoyed. For me that was kind of the point, to pay homage to those settings. I made choices based on what I thought I would enjoy drawing over and over, and I don’t regret that. But the more I wrote, the uglier I realized the world I had created was. So I leaned into it. I made my characters deeply affected and shaped by that ugliness. The ugliness became part of the point. The problem being only that that ugliness I write can’t help but be a reflection of the real ugliness of the country I live in.

When the protests against police brutality broke out this year, I had to take a step back and ask myself what my work was really saying. I had to ask myself if I agreed with the argument it seemed to be making. I want to write the anomalies of the Emporium as people just trying to live their lives, as the middlemen torn between two opposing ideologies of which they can commit to neither, but I worry it comes across as a wishy washy status quo good narrative. I worry there is a reading of the text that says people fighting for freedom are just as bad as the oppressors. I worry about a lot of things. I just wanted to draw some cute talking monsters.

So… is Emporium canceled? I don’t think so. I definitely want to finish Fever Pitch, especially since I have it all thumbnailed already and I’m damn proud of some of the page layouts. I just need a bit more time to step away and reflect on it. Make sure it’s not making an argument I’ll come to regret. I know that doesn’t fit into typical webcomic thinking, but this year has been anything but typical. Thanks for reading and understanding.

Description
Hi friends, sorry it’s been a while. As much as I thought I had my depression managed and under control, this year has certainly relieved me of any such notions… I’m sorry I disappeared whole cloth, I didn’t want to do that.

So, I haven’t posted Emporium for a while, and I finally feel up to discussing why that is. When I first started writing Emporium, I only wanted to write about doofy monsters. I didn’t put a lot of thought into the implications of the setting and world I was creating, I mostly just borrowed bits and pieces from other monster of the week media I enjoyed. For me that was kind of the point, to pay homage to those settings. I made choices based on what I thought I would enjoy drawing over and over, and I don’t regret that. But the more I wrote, the uglier I realized the world I had created was. So I leaned into it. I made my characters deeply affected and shaped by that ugliness. The ugliness became part of the point. The problem being only that that ugliness I write can’t help but be a reflection of the real ugliness of the country I live in.

When the protests against police brutality broke out this year, I had to take a step back and ask myself what my work was really saying. I had to ask myself if I agreed with the argument it seemed to be making. I want to write the anomalies of the Emporium as people just trying to live their lives, as the middlemen torn between two opposing ideologies of which they can commit to neither, but I worry it comes across as a wishy washy status quo good narrative. I worry there is a reading of the text that says people fighting for freedom are just as bad as the oppressors. I worry about a lot of things. I just wanted to draw some cute talking monsters.

So… is Emporium canceled? I don’t think so. I definitely want to finish Fever Pitch, especially since I have it all thumbnailed already and I’m damn proud of some of the page layouts. I just need a bit more time to step away and reflect on it. Make sure it’s not making an argument I’ll come to regret. I know that doesn’t fit into typical webcomic thinking, but this year has been anything but typical. Thanks for reading and understanding.