Did anyone ever wonder?

[Fenris]

I'd just like to point out that you've spent the last 7 years bitching about how the comic wasn't enough like the game, so I figured I'd do you a favor and find you something I think you'd like to read instead.

Here ya go!

[Kaalamid]

Silverrose is an obvious troll.

Why don't you ban him already?

[shiney]

Seconded, and also, you take this shit way too seriously. I'm not saying this as a mod, I'm saying this as a user - you take this shit way too seriously.

Additionally, this started as a hobby for Brian and is ending as a millstone. He has always wanted to write comics, and he met his success writing comics. he's not "selling out" or "abusing his base", because he gave these dead sprites a new life. It was well-received, popular, and helped him springboard to minor internet notoreity, enough to allow him to pursue his real focus and desire. His creation, using someone else's art, brought him fame. Isn't that the same as damn near every successful comic in the history of the world?

Edit: ninja'd by the above. Seconding Fenris' post.

[Codemonkey85]

I'm just gonna post to say that wanting to earn money doing what you love is far from a crime. A) every person is entitled to personal and professional self-satisfaction, and B) the guy needs to eat.

And also what shiney said. Most people get part time jobs as teenagers. I worked at a grocery store. While there, I learned some things about jobs and careers. Later on, I used my experience at that store on my resumé for (slightly) better jobs. I see Brian moving on from sprite comics as being similar.

Brian started this site as a showcase of his work. His most popular work (or most infamous anyway) was 8-Bit Theater for a long time. But all along the point was really to get his novel out there (nuklearpower.com = Nuklear Age). And then he got to write and publish comics. How is Brian growing up as a person and a professional the same as selling out?

If you don't want to buy Atomic Robo or whatever, then don't. He's still making free webcomics, and apparently has plans to make more. But these things he's trying to sell you (and entertain you with) are also feeding him, so give the guy a break already. Brian may like robots, but he's no machine.

Also, I think that Brian's general "meh" attitude toward sprite comics is more like a warning from personal experience. You might have fun making them, but if it turns into a full-time job, be prepared to starve.

[tacticslion]

I'm not a mod, but it seems that this is getting a wee bit... uptight. As fun as it is to discuss the merits of art, the meaning and importance of fandom, and such, might I suggest that this be locked so that really angry discussion doesn't break out?

I don't want this one closed, personally, but it seems that (currently) we aren't really able to discuss things completely rationally as a group. So: I suggest the thread be locked, and we all take a breather to either stew in our own loathing for each other or (more preferrably) let us cool down some and think about how we speak to others.

Cool?

[Fifthfiend]

Originally Posted by Kaalamid

Silverrose is an obvious troll.

Why don't you ban him already?

Good question, done.

[Kurosen]

Silver Rose: you are the dumbest, most obtuse, self-centered person I've ever heard from in my 8 years of doing this webcomic. I will now rush to the end of 8-bit Theater just so I don't have to put up with your shit any longer than is absolutely necessary.

[POS Industries]

Originally Posted by Kurosen

Silver Rose: you are the dumbest, most obtuse, self-centered person I've ever heard from in my 8 years of doing this webcomic. I will now rush to the end of 8-bit Theater just so I don't have to put up with your shit any more.

Here's to another thousand comics, everybody!

[Fifthfiend]

I suggest the thread be locked, and we all take a breather to either stew in our own loathing for each other or (more preferrably) let us cool down some and think about how we speak to others.

Good idea, also done.

[Kurosen]

And if Brian doesn't want criticism, then he shouldn't have published 8-Bit in the first place.

What you offer is not criticism. What you offer are passive-aggressive complaints about why I should dare to want to pay my rent.

Why should artists themselves further that cycle for the sake of a dollar, in essence selling out?

ARGH you stupid, stupid, stupid child. If I could pay my rent with print outs of my comic, I would gladly do so. I'm not rich, you stupid, stupid, stupid child. I can barely afford to eat because I pass up work that pays so I can finish 8-bit Theater as a "thank you" to the fans. Most other people? They'd have cut it down to maybe 1 page a week or stopped it entirely. See RPG World (note: I fully support Ian's decision to quit RPG World).

It might not be that any more, but the site used to focus more on 8-Bit Theater. It does not now.

The site was always focused on my comic work. That happened to be 8-bit Theater for a long time due to poor planning. This has been explained already, you stupid, stupid, stupid child.

That is precisely what I am getting at. You may pass on work that pays more, but you are using your fans as a built-in audience to pay for other work.

How?! You stupid, stupid, stupid child, anyone who doesn't want to read my other comics will not read my other comics. It is impossible to "use" anyone who is behaving voluntarily.

Your personal finances are irrelevant to this discussion. If you earn even one penny, that's more than anything else the vast majority of your fans have earned from their labors of love.

You stupid, stupid, stupid child. My landlord won't accept comics for rent and I don't want to be homeless. I'm sorry I'm so selfish.

Let's see you have a car, pets, income, significant other, and a place to stay. That's pretty normal to me. Heck, I can't even afford a car or pets, but that's beside the point.

Imagine that you have a job. Now imagine that you work 60 hours a week. Now imagine that you get paid for about 10 hours. Now imagine that one of your bosses is whining that you're not working enough and, in fact, that you make too much money.

Does that person sound like an asshole? That's you!

Again, I'm not a fan, but someone to be insulted. That's some appreciation shown to someone who supported 8-Bit and other endeavors.

It couldn't possibly be your campaign of passive-aggressive posting.

There's a difference between disclosing a side project and making it one of the focal points of your Web site.

You stupid, stupid, stupid entitled, self-absorbed, child. Nuklearpower.com was always the site for Stuff Brian Clevinger Does. That means the focal point of the web site will be Stuff Brian Clevinger Does. That stuff was just 8-bit Theater for a long time. Now it's more than that. Holy shit, you cannot possibly be this obtuse.

There's no gymnastics. It all follows from my central premise. The artist is nothing. The art itself is an important focal point, but not the end result. The community and readers are what imbues the art with any value.

I'll let my landlord know that it's okay if I don't pay rent because it makes sense to you.

Yet you turned that poor planning to your advantage. You didn't quit 8-Bit, you kept going and played along with the role. Good for you. Then you decided to use your following to your advantage to prop up you other works. That's where any "sell out" cries come from.

...Do you consider it selling out when every author of every work puts their names on their books, comics, movies, articles, TV shows...? Good god.

What's wrong with art you can't sell? Doesn't that make it priceless?

I have really got to try some of these musings on my bill collectors.

The man who helped launch a genre which represented a break from the restrictions of copyright and pushed the envelope of appropriated material now practically stated the the format is invalid.

There was no break from copyright restrictions, you stupid, stupid, stupid child. I, and anyone who makes a sprite comic, only gets away with it because we're too insignificant for the copyright holders to waste time on shutting us down. It was never an art form, it was people playing around in the gray area of copyright law in a way that no one with the authority to make it stop cared.

To disrespect an entire art form that you personally profited from is revolting.

I apologize that I have to pay bills with real money instead of platitudes.

fans who complain aren't real fans

Complaints are one thing. Complaints are fine. You, specifically, have had a years-long campaign of passive-aggressive sniping directly squarely at me and everything I've done for reasons that make sense to no one outside of your very strange mind. I will be glad when you're nothing but an unpleasant memory.

I guess the real dollars that I would have been spending on you now are just fake dollars sitting in my pocket.

"Ooh, I'll get him with the only thing he understands, his filthy money." It's a shame you were never going to spend a nickel on anything from nuklearpower.com no matter what anyway.

Maybe I will be able to afford a car after all.

"MASTERSTROKE!"

I work three times as long as I used to for less than 1/3rd the income, and you have the audacity to accuse me of not caring about the fans or to question if I'm really doing "enough" for them? You are the worst kind of reader: the kind who has no idea how insane they are.