Thank you!

What's next for Adventures Unlimited?

Thank you so much to everyone who read and followed "A Story We Tell Ourselves" week to week. A very special thanks to those who signed up for a paid subscription—I never expected such a fantastic response. It's really, really awesome of you guys and I've planned a special gift for folks who invested in this comic.

Now that "A Story We Tell Ourselves," is published, it's a great time to share a bit about its development—a peek behind the scenes. The first draft was written about ten years ago as a prose story. It was chaotic and featured no less than three point-of-view characters. Still, the result was satisfying enough to submit to a few magazines, including Alfred Hitchcock Magazine.

Though the story wasn't accepted, Celina Summers, the editor who reviewed it, sent a personal note praising the writing and suggesting a strong, focused revision for future publication. I never did get around to revising it, but Celina's praise stuck with me.

When the script for "Eternal Gaze of the Sightless Void" was completed and Norma began turning in pages, the hunt began for the next comic idea, which led me back to Celina's encouraging note. "A Story We Tell Ourselves" was pulled from the archive, and a plan was set in motion to adapt it into a short graphic story. The results you’ve all now (hopefully) read and (hopefully) enjoyed.

I always intended to send the finished comic to Celina to show what I did with it so many years later—but sadly, she passed away in 2020. Despite never meeting her, Celina's praise was a driving force in bringing "A Story We Tell Ourselves" to life on Adventures Unlimited.

The story underwent significant changes in its transformation to comic form. The meta idea needed to shift slightly to accommodate for visuals; I changed the main character from male to female and the victim from female to male. There was a repetition to the prose that I wanted to capture in the visuals, but knowing that this comic would be longer and in color, keeping it to around 30 pages to manage costs was essential. Which meant I needed to lean on some visual concepts over depicting the literal truth.

Communicating complex ideas quickly without revealing too much was challenging, but Anna's beautiful, unsettling illustrations perfectly captured the essence. I hope you all enjoyed the ride as much as I enjoyed putting it all together.

This marks the second published comic on Adventures Unlimited, which I guess, now averages one release per year. I have one more illustrated short on the horizon—a dark fantasy comic called "The Golden Mountains"—followed by a long-form episodic modern fantasy story I've wanted to do for a long time.

As I work on the next comic, I'm also thinking about long-term strategies for getting stories out to readers more quickly and regularly. Working solo is rewarding but time-consuming and costly, and there are many more stories to tell. This will likely take the form of a Kickstarter or something similar—we’ll see.

That's a glimpse into Adventures Unlimited's immediate future. I should also note that since there will be no new comics for a while, I've turned off the paid subscription feature.

In the meantime, sharing Adventures Unlimited comics with others who might enjoy them would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for all the support. It means the world to me. I appreciate you all.

You'll hear from me again once I have something to say.