I’ve always found that I’ve done too little with the blog portion of this website, so today I’m trying something completely different…
If you’ve been reading Scientific Madness since its beginning or if you’ve read the archives lately, maybe you remember two strips I did about expectations that people in the past had about the future (here and here).
I’ve always been fascinated by this kind of ‘past futurism’; it’s very interesting to see how people thought the future was going to turn out. If this kind of thing interests you as well, you might want to visit Paleo-Future, a blog that collects articles on such ‘forgotten futures’, some of which are just hilarious in hindsight, such as mail that is bounced off the moon.
I’ve always found that I’ve done too little with the blog portion of this website. To try something new, here’s some thoughts on storylines and my ‘very professional’ writing process:
With monday’s comic the SETI storyline comes to an end. For me the end of a storyline is always a moment to take a good look at the completed picture. For this one, for example, I was shocked to find out that it took me over half a year to finish the 24 strips that this one consists of.
It’s funny how these storylines almost never turn out the way I originally have them in mind; usually I start with a very broad idea and then decide from strip to strip what the next one is going to be. When I started this comic in March 2008, I quickly found out that the hardest thing about writing a comic is coming up with punchlines/jokes that both fit in the current place in the story and can be told in the limited space of three panels. There have been many delays when it came to posting the comic on time, and in almost every one of these instances this has been because I knew where the story was supposed to be going next, but didn’t have the slightest clue about how to make it funny. Nevertheless, if I don’t look at the delays, I’m pretty satisfied with the results so far. Still, I hope that as I gain some more writing experience, I will be able to plan my storylines just a little bit better.
I just realized that ‘vacation time’ was still my latest blog post, so to avoid any misunderstandings; I’m back from my vacation and I will hopefully be able to start updating regularly again.
Another monday, another missed update. Yes, the comic has been updating way too sporadically as of late, and even though I could say it’s been for a good reason, that probably doesn’t mean much to you as readers. And what’s good news to me – the fact that as of today I’ll be on a two-week vacation to the United States east coast and Canada – is most probably more bad news for you.
Nevertheless, do not worry; when I get back I’m hopefully full of energy and inspiration and eager to get back to work. I’m also taking along a sketchbook, so who knows, I might be able to write some new scripts or come up with some new characters.
I’ll be back on the 21st of june; see you then!
If you’re a regular reader of this comic, you’ll probably have noticed a few things being off over the last two weeks; I’ve not been keeping to the update schedule lately, the logo has been changed and there have been mysterious whispers about trademark infringement in the air. Well; I finally managed to make a little order in the chaos, so let me now tell you the full story as its consequences are going to lead to a few new things for the comic.
An ominous message
It all started two weeks ago when I found an ominous note in my mail inbox; I apparently had been infringing on a certain company’s trademark (not going to name any names). They also told me I had ten days to comply or they would not hesitate to take legal action. In the period that followed, I gave myself a crash course in trademark law, found out that hiring a lawyer is not an option and spent a great deal of time coming up with new names for the comic. Now, it was clear that I had two options; surrender and change the name of the comic, or challenge their trademark claim. The time consumed by investigating the viability of both options is what caused me to miss many updates.
The solution; changes!
As the ten days they gave me to comply slowly passed, I mainly tried to come up with a new name for the comic. Some people have accused me of giving in too easily to a little intimidation, but in the end I just didn’t want any legal trouble and maybe even more importantly; I wanted to avoid any such things in the future and find a name that I could safely use as a trademark myself. After failing to come up with a new name for almost two weeks, the idea to just reverse the words and call it a day finally dawned on me.
So, long story short; this comic’s getting a new name, and it’s Scientific Madness.
In the next few weeks I’ll be gradually adapting everything on the site to the new name, ending with the domain name. Note that there might still be some references to the old name hidden somewhere in old news posts, but I’ll try to get everything renamed soon. I apologize for the inconvenience, but let’s not see this as a problem; let’s see it as a new start for Scientific Madness!
