OKAY!!! That's a wrap on chapter 7... a tiny little itty bitty 150 page proper introduction into the summer arc, which should only be a measly 800 or more so pages. I thought this comic was going to take me an easy 10 years total, but, as I sail p

OKAY!!! That's a wrap on chapter 7... a tiny little itty bitty 150 page proper introduction into the summer arc, which should only be a measly 800 or more so pages. I thought this comic was going to take me an easy 10 years total, but, as I sail past the 1/3rd mark nearly 6 years in, I'm getting the vibe that it might be more like 15 or 20. I love comics. I did this to myself. I don't know what Sisyphus was complaining about. I love rolling this boulder all the way up this hill and watching it roll back down and then rolling it up and then watching it roll back down and then rolling it up and then

As per usual i will be taking a CHAPTER BREAK for at least a month, but most likely more...! I'll still be uploading a little in-between comic or some kind of design insight every Wednesday (including a bonus on the May 30th 6 year anniversary.) In June, however, I may even take a little break from those in order to focus on the next chapter. I should also probably talk about the next chapter.

I wanna be honest with you: I've reached a really weird and never-before-seen point in my comic making routine. I've been caught on more snags than usual this year and been struck with a lot of particular life and process challenges that have hindered me from bringing this next chapter to life.  Typically, I've got about a years worth of buffer pages that are roughly 50% complete...that way, there's always SOMETHING that I'm ready to post by the end of my chapter breaks. That's not how this upcoming chapter has been at all. It's taken me the entire time it would have taken me to draft 2 chapters (roughly 16 months) to make just this one... and it's still maybe half done. 

I'm not sure what's in the water about this one, folks! I've been working and reworking and working it over and over again but it hasn't stuck yet. It could just be that my skill in comic making and writing is in a stage of radically changing faster than i'm used to being, or maybe it's as simple as having not found the right balance to it yet. Either way, for the first time since starting this project, I don't know when it'll be done. That's very scary!

That's why I wanna warn you that I'm probably going to take a way longer break than usual. I'm not sure when I'll be back this time... only that I'll post again when I'm confidant that the chapter is ready. I won't call it a hiatus because I haven't ever stopped chiseling at this thing, haha, and I truly can't see it ever taking more than a handful of months. But I wanna be prepared for that and let you be prepared for that just in case. I really hope it won't be more than a handful of months!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FOLLOWING ALONG!! I'm entering new territory here, but I know it'll be okay. I can't believe I've been at this so long and that I have so many sweet people who are actually having fun reading a passion project I started as a teenager. It's pretty magical, and also, I love you.

Hold a candle for me while I finish up this next chapter! I'll need it!

-TESS <3

/ Tess Thompson