Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Panda Edition
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"ZOMgGARDAFLLBGLARGLLSHnpt! Where are the Skull Panda updates? " -Neal

As you may have guessed, an eccentric artist like Rikk Estoban is hard to rush, especially when I am too busy to help him out!

I am sure Skull Panda will return, but I think it's going to be the kind of project that comes and goes, with regular bursts and breaks, rather than the ultra reliable comics machine that is Sam and Fuzzy! I will keep you all posted.

"I've been reading Sam and Fuzzy since 2004, and one thing I am consistently struck by is the way, even as the stories got more serious, the comedy never stopped feeling fresh. I've seen so many webcomics go from gag-based to story driven and, even when they remained wonderful, the comedy fell by the wayside every time. How is it that you have been able to keep that balance so beautifully when so many others are less successful?" -Jamie

First of all, thank you Jamie, for phrasing your question in such an outrageously flattering manner. I'm glad you like the comic so much!

Honestly, I am pretty lucky. Shifting Sam and Fuzzy to longer narratives wasn't very controversial and it didn't hurt my readership. (Quite the opposite, really.) That is not the experience of most of the other cartoonists I know who tried the same thing!

I started moving towards longer stories pretty early on in the strip's life, when the tone of the comic was still being established. And even though the change infused the comic with a lot of drama and action, it still remained primarily a comedy. It just became a comedic story, rather than series of comedic stand-alone gags. So I think that made it an easier pill to swallow. (Also, quite frankly, I think I'm just plain better at writing stories than stand alone gags, which are being done way better elsewhere by other cartoonists.)

The other big factor is, well... at this point, I've radically changed the entire premise of the comic at least a half dozen times. There wasn't really one shift. There was a constantly barrage of shifts, in style and setting and cast. I think it kind of trained my audience to not only tolerate constant change, but to expect it and even look forward to it. The lack of a constant status quo has become a core part of the comic's identity. And that has granted me a lot of freedom to keep changing things up without torpedoing my readership. (And also presumably stop things from getting boring after over ten years of comics!)

"Why ARE all the Committee members still in the Underground? Don't they have enough power to try their hand at social engineering, making certain populations gradually exposed to the Underground, and then erasing any that get too negative. Continuously building it up until it hits a major city during an incident meant to make the Underground citizens sympathetic. I'd even help crime, since the Underground would just turn into a criminal's haven. " -anon

Why, the chapter that started today is about this very issue! The members of the committee have a very specific outlook about how the world can be shaped to maintain stability and profitability, and you are about to hear all about it.

That's a wrap for this week! Come back on Monday for more comics, more crazy kickstarter news, and more stuff in general!

-Sam Logan

Self Review

Today's comic is an excerpt from the new intro story I'm drawing for the Sam and Fuzzy Omnibus! As you can see, it's not a do-over or retcon of any of the old strips (which would be SACRILEGE)... but rather a brand new story, set in the classic taxi-driving era. I thought this chunk stood on it's own well enough to serve as a regular update, as well as a little preview of what the rest of the story is like. Plus, I know a bunch of you will just be happy to see a new comic with Fridge!

The classic era of Sam and Fuzzy is a mix of stories and gag strips, but the short stories don't really start showing up until after the first 100 strips or so. As a result, the comic doesn't really have an introduction to the cast and premise. It just sort of... starts, which feels a little weird when you're reading it in book form. So it's been a lot of fun to go back and add this hypothetical missing ingredient... especially because I get to work with old characters like Fridge and Ackerman, and play around with a kind of hybrid old/new art style!

All right, back to work! Come back on Friday for more stuff.

-Sam Logan

Comic-Con'd

What a crazy San Diego! Things at the Topatoco booth were crazier than ever. And of course, at the same time as I was meeting readers there, I was managing the Omnibus kickstarter, which has also gone crazy! We are now over 100k, with a crazy new ending secured and a bunch of other wild stuff coming down the pipe. Yow!

Something else cool that happened at Comic-Con... Shiftylook announced the new webcomic that Shannon and I will be making for them! It is based on a pretty obscure old title, Tower of Babel, and they've given us a lot of freedom to reinterpret it into something really cool! Shannon is writing it and I am drawing it, and we're really looking forward to sharing it with you all later this year. But in the meantime, here's a peek at some of the concept art I drew of the core cast:



All right! Time to rest up for the trek home. See you on Wednesday, team!

-Sam Logan