Hey all, it is no surprise that updates had slowed down significantly over 2023. We’ll say that it was a very, very rough year for me. Financial and employment challenges led to me doing a lot of freelancing to make rent and cover bills. As such, all Cosmic Dash progress took a back seat, as working on the series, everything from art to writing, is a significant investment of time.
Dash, below, illustrates my exhaustion pretty succinctly.
But hey, it’s 2024 now. What’s going on? Is Cosmic Dash webcomic coming back?
Yes, absolutely! I love the characters, universe, and stories, and I never stopped writing and planning throughout 2023, even though I largely stopped publishing. My plan was always to get back to work.
But, with that said, it’s still rough. My circumstances have largely gone unchanged, and while I have a few stable-ish freelancing contracts, it’s not the most reliable form of income to supplement my regular college teaching job, meaning that I frequently take on smaller gigs to stay afloat. It is an unavoidable reality of working on the Cosmic Dash webcomic while working a day job in today’s economy.
Yet my love of Cosmic Dash persists, and I want to get back to work on it, and will be doing so, starting this week. But things are changing.
Cosmic Dash Going Forward: Beats
One thing I have decided about the return of the comics is to change from the page-by-page updates to beats, multi-page updates that constitute some momentum in the story. Updates will vary based on the scenes as I see them linking and forming a beat in the story; basically, more of a chunk of the story over one update rather than stringing the story along a page at a time.
As it stands, I expect a drop of a few pages at least once a month. How many depends on how much I can do set against how much of a story beat I aim for. We’ll see what I can manage. I am going to try my hardest. This applies to both Cosmic Dash and Silver Spiral Stories as well.
As for how long this will last, I don’t know. I want to get back to alternating weekly updates, but it just doesn’t seem feasible to me right now.
However, you can help.
Supporting Your Artists!
The motivation for the changes here revolves around maximizing my time with the comic based on my financial and scheduling concerns. Here is the deal – the more consistently I can earn money doing existing work, the more I can devote time to the comic instead of hustling for money and commissions.
So, I first ask that you consider donating to my Ko-fi account if you enjoy my existing comics, art, and writing. If I had 100 readers donate $1 a month through Ko-fi that would put a dent into the existing freelancing work I have to do month-to-month. If you could spare $2, or even up to $5, that would be incredible. The less I worry about finding freelance work, the more comics and stories I can release.
If you would instead not make an automated monthly donation, single donations are also welcome. The hope is that you’ve valued the hundreds of pages of material produced so far, and you want to see the series continue more regularly, so donations go a long way toward supporting the Cosmic Dash webcomic and other projects.
Another option is to commission me. I am a reliable, hard-working writer and illustrator who is up for work. You can learn more about what I offer on my website. Ideally, I’d like to avoid doing so much freelance work, but commissions are the most fun for me, so I welcome them.
Goals for 2024
As for what I hope to manage this year regarding the Cosmic Dash webcomic and other adjacent projects, here is a list:
- Finish volume 4 of Cosmic Dash (this one is almost done)
- Finish issue 1 of volume 5 of Cosmic Dash
- Volume 2 book crowdfunding campaign
- Produce the next installment of Deft Beck’s Nightlifers
- Finish transcribing the existing prose archive
- Finish the first issue of Space Hustle – a space pirate series
- Finish “The Trench”
- Write another novella (either focused on Drakar or Emperor Zartul)
- Begin the monthly Xenotrackers serialized storyline
- Weekly Silver Spiral Archives updates
- Create a working online map of the setting
And that is what I have planned for the year. It all seems feasible to me, but it is based on me landing better work in the long run that can leave me more time to work on Cosmic Dash. With that said, your financial support is welcomed, so please consider donating.
Expect the first beat by the end of January. Thank you for your time.