Author Archives: observationsinretail

Happy New Year 2018

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Happy New Year 2017 (Completed)

“Let’s let the old year die with a fond “good-bye” and our hopes as high as a kite.”

The above quote comes from the classic Christmas/holiday movie Holiday Inn. Bing Crosby sings Irving Berlin’s words beautifully, as he did with any lyrics that came his way. I don’t know how fond of a good-bye most of us will give to 2017; it has been a trying year, one many of us would rather forget, and I agree with those who are in that boat. But there are more than a few positives for me, so I leave this year with mixed feelings. Among them has been the growth of the comic, which leaves a great deal to look forward to in the coming year. (Keep an eye out in January for the opening our online store! Gonna have lots of fun stuff available!)

Regardless of what you made of 2017 in your mind, this comic grew stronger over the course of the year, and that would not have been possible without all of you reading and commenting and sharing the comic like you have. You guys have made this possible and made me want to keep going, and for that, I can never say thank you enough.

So, from all of us here at “Observations in Retail” to all of you around the world, let’s drink a toast to the close of 2017 and the bright start of a wonderful 2018! Here’s to all you wonderful people out there, you amazing comrades. Here’s to an amazing new year for all of you!

-The Retail Explorer

Remakes

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And by “remakes,” I don’t mean movies.

Okay, so, Friday’s comic post got me thinking about just how much the comic has evolved in its short run. I mean, just compare this early comic (“Charts”) with a more recent one (“Writers and Drunkards”).

observant-1-completed

It’s like night and day, right? It’s hard to tell they’re the same character. The only way to know that they’re the same character is to have followed the comic from the beginning. Hell, even Dell has changed since then! Really, the only one who has basically remained the same is Ash, and even she’s changed a little. Take the evolution of the group photo:

observations-in-retail-title-card

Year One – Version One

Group Photo with Banner 2017

Year One – Version Two

Group Photo (enhanced-color)

Year Two

I don’t think any other evidence needs to be submitted for just how much change has occurred over the past year and a half. It’s quite striking, in my opinion. Almost glaring. But I read those old strips, and I absolutely LOVE them. The style is rough, but charming. The only problem is that rough style is so incredibly different from the current style of the comic.

Dan Shive’s El Goonish Shive has a similar issue, as does Danielle Corsetto’s Girls With Slingshots, but their stylistic evolutions occurred much more gradually and over a much longer period of time than mine. I’m sure there are many more examples of this, as it’s a natural development in creativity. The more you do something creative and try new methods and ideas, the better you become and the more you settle into a style that best fits you.

But still, those rough, early strips linger, worrying me that they might push away an interested new reader who might otherwise enjoy where the story has gone. I had this very fear when I started the comic up on Tapastic. The first comics are so rough, I was actually a little worried it might turn some people off. Now that I’m considering starting it up on Line Webtoon as well, I’m seriously considering doing some remakes.

Now, I’m not talking about doing anything too crazy here. If I do this, I’m going to keep the same characters in each scene, as well as the dialogue and setups. All I’d be doing is sprucing up the characters and backgrounds. Nothing major. But I’m not completely sold on doing this yet.

I keep going back Ian Malcolm’s wise words from Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” I know that I can make these changes, but should I?

And I guess that’s the question I’m here to pose to you today: Should I do some remakes for continuity’s sake? I’m leaning towards “yes”, maybe do one strip per week (along with the regularly scheduled new strips) until I’m satisfied that everything flows better. I know there’s still some charm in the original strips, and I’m by no means suggesting I scrub them from the site entirely. (I’ll keep them on the same posts with the replacement strips for comparison.)

But what do you think? Should I remake some of these old ones? Lemme know your thoughts!

-The Retail Explorer