Blog Archive
MARx is obviously my most recent project, and only just being discontinued it is a tad soon to do a Retrospective. However, it is important for me to write out why it came to an end, and what came to fruition through it:
I look at MARx in two halves. The first half was its initial run for a few months in early 2016, up to issue #81. The second half was its resumed run three years later (!) at the end of 2019, and lasting two years until 2021, up to issue #218. Together, they make up my second longest running comic after MA Classic. There are some brilliant panels, more intimate character focus, crazy experimental CG effects, a hybrid mix of hand-drawn and sprited tools, goofy animations, and a different type of promo art style. I am very proud of all of that. While the first half flirted a little with psychological elements, the second half really hard-shifted to be more philosophical and quite introspective. Literal internal monologues taking place between two aspects of a character's mind, for example. So though the humor was still there, things generally became more serious. This is also, I think, a general change in my creative style that I started to notice more after the pandemic. But it is a very stark change in MARx, especially if you look at it from the beginning.
The first problem (if it can even really be called a problem) that appeared stemmed from the name: Mobius Adventures Redux. It became more clear as the comic went on that this had become Mobius Adventures "related In Name Only." From the initial attempt to do something new with the characters, I got so caught up in doing things totally different. They had new names, most looked different, only with some bare core traits carried over. The story had no relation whatsoever to MA Classic, besides a visual nod here and there. Everything progressively became so removed from its source inspiration, that it was soon a totally different beast. When I really became aware that this was happening at an accelerated rate, I chose to soft-change the name and look, by way of the visual revamp that you see around the issue #200 mark. I stopped referring to it as Mobius Adventures Redux, only MARx, trying to distance it from the source and justify what had become a completely unrelated comic. And here is where my frustration started to grow.
The second problem that grew from this, if it was going to continue to be a completely unrelated comic to MA Classic, then there was no need to stick to the sprited formula. You see me testing an attempt to go hand-drawn only from #194-#198. As much as I enjoyed the results, with my schedule this was horribly time-consuming, and the production rate immediately scaled down to a total crawl. Around this time I also considered changing to a hand-drawn anime style, removing the anthropomorphic animal element completely. Yet, I knew my speed/frequency with any hand-drawn style was going to be slow, and I found myself more eager to just get back to the sprited issues to continue the story. Similar deal with the animations as well, just too time-consuming even with their short length. #200 onward you see my last attempt to try to revitalize with a sprited style, but the #217 animation was a large rusty nail in the coffin. It took me 8 months to create a minute long spoof, and I badly need to update my outdated animation production methods (lol.) I realized that the hybrid approach had now become a hinderance, constantly stalling any progress, and I was going to have a tough time trying to continue the comic.
Winter 2021 arrived, and MARx was essentially already dead at this point. I was hit with COVID and the Flu pretty badly, and was out of work until the New Year. When not down and out, and having a little more free time on hand, I sat down and took a long, hard look at MARx. Trying to identify where I went wrong and if I could do something to salvage or repurpose it. Based on my past patterns, I knew I would have the best luck sustaining a long-term project that I could tell and evolve the story consistently, and not have to grind to a halt to draw or animate. I needed to focus on the visual storytelling aspect, that is where I seemed to thrive. And sprited elements were the the most time-effective way for me to consistently supplement a story with my schedule. The MARx versions of the core characters had been developed well, and I wanted to keep all that, but I also realized they needed to honor their source roots from MA Classic.
December 2021 saw production begin on Mobius Adventures REMAKE. A new comic that is based on MA Classic, but inspired by the MARx approach. It is essentially MARx reworked and repurposed to tell a new version of the MA Classic story from the beginning. General character designs will carry over from MARx, but Classic influence will be in there too. It takes a little bit from everything that has come before, rolls it all into one familiar package, and presents it in a fresh way. I am eager to share this new project beginning mid-Feb 2022.
So, this was the most complex Retrospective I've done, because MARx turned out to be most complex comic that I've done. Not a clean cut "Good vs. Evil!" tale, a morally gray "Why Are You Good or Evil?" story. I dug deeper than I originally intended and tried many new things, but lost sight of the source inspiration in the process. Thus, it became a wholly unique work on its own merit, and that is what I will be most proud of.
by Gojitaka
7th Feb 2022, 2:16 AM
Long time no blog! Hope you all have enjoyed the comic even with the extended radio silence last year, and long gaps between issues. That being said, a bit of long term news to break here:
So the end of least year I got the COVID pretty bad and it knocked me out for a solid block of time. During that time, when I wasn't down and out, I began experimenting with some ideas, tinkering around with a few things, and took a long, hard look at MARx. I organically came to a realization, a decision, and a great idea took off quickly that I have been in the process of creating since then.
Therefore, MARx's #217 animation was released today and it will be the last animation. There is one last issue of MARx left that will release next week, and afterwards the comic will be placed in a discontinued status. There is always the chance I may revisit it, as I resumed it in 2019 after it was on hiatus for 3 years, but I highly doubt this will occur.
Instead, MARx is essentially being reworked and repurposed into my next project, that will begin releasing in a couple of weeks. It is exciting, fun, and a natural progression of everything that has come before, all rolled into a very familiar yet very fresh package.
I will do a Retrospective for MARx when it shifts to discontinued status, with further details behind this choice.
So enjoy the animation, and get ready to shift over to something new very soon!
Cheers,
- Goj
by Gojitaka
31st Jan 2022, 10:22 PM
Y hulo thar MARx readers, hope you all are enjoying the comic.
MARx's release schedule is going on a slowdown for few months. My work schedule is all over the place, and content production is way behind with my buffer shrinking too fast. New issues will release every two/three weeks on Sunday evenings, and once I can get content production back up to speed, hopefully by summer, we will resume weekly releases.
Thank you for your patience and stay tuned for more!
- Goj
by Gojitaka
3rd Apr 2021, 2:01 AM
Hullo MARx readers, we are finally reaching the bookend of this batshit crazy year! Here's hoping to a much better 2021 for everyone.
The next several updates will have some cool material, including multiple illustrated issues, an animated issue for Series 7, and a new visual design for all the comic's promo/media material that will switch over at #200, shortly before Series 8 starts.
Weekly Sunday updates are likely to be the norm going into 2021.
Thank you to my continued readers and subscribers, and I look forward to continuing MARx next year!
- Goj
by Gojitaka
18th Dec 2020, 2:16 AM
Hullo MARx readers,
My recovery went well and I am *mostly* back to normal.
Going forward, due to what looks to remain a consistent daily work load and time restraints, I'm going to have to adjust MARx's release schedule for the foreseeable future. A new issue will now be released every Saturday evening. Hopefully this schedule will avoid further pauses when I have busy weeks, and we can keep the comic rolling out at a steady pace. Series 7 resumes release starting today.
Thank you and as always, stay tuned for more,
- Goji
by Gojitaka
10th Oct 2020, 10:35 PM
Y hulo thar MARx readers,
Around now was when I was planning to return MARx to its normal production schedule, but the hits just keep coming. Recently I had a pretty serious health scare and ended up having to go into emergency surgery. Everything is fine now and I am okay. I am going to have a recovery period for the remainder of September, which will affect work among other things.
MARx will be going on another hiatus during this time, and once I resume production I'm going to need to rebuild my buffer prior to resuming a regular release schedule. My target date to resume release is mid-October.
Thank you to my continued readers and new subscribers!
Stay tuned for more,
- Goji
by Gojitaka
13th Sep 2020, 9:45 PM
Hullo thar MARx readers,
MARx will be going on a slowdown for the remainder of July and likely August as well. My work has picked up for the summer and I have much less time for content production, so I plan to focus the month on buffer buildup when I can. A new issue will still be released every other Friday, and come September we will return to the regular weekday releases.
Stay tuned and stay healthy!
- Goji
by Gojitaka
8th Jul 2020, 9:55 PM
Hello all, hope you are enjoying MARx. Couple of minor updates for the comic as we look ahead to the remainder of the year.
Summer is usually my busiest work season of the year and I normally do not work on any creative tasks during that time, but due to our unfortunate current events this season will be very light for me. Thus, MARx will continue through the summer at its current schedule of 4-5 weekday updates at midnight. We have an animated issue coming up very soon, and I am strongly considering increasing the frequency of illustrated issues. Series 7 is on track to begin around mid-June, and we should be sitting around 200 completed issues by the time that one wraps up. I am very glad the comic has continued for this long, and I look forward to continuing the story.
On the topic of story, I have had a couple questions recently regarding storyline connections between MARx and MA Classic. Specifically about whether or not MARx is going to be retelling any of the same sequences that were in MA Classic. Besides occasional "visual nods" and some similar lines here and there, MARx's storyline has very much been its own unique thing from the beginning and will not really be repeating anything that was seen in MA Classic. This was the intent from early on in the comic's creation, and the main reason why I chose to add the subtitle "Redux." It's presenting something familiar (reinvented main characters) in a new way (brand new story.) So no, apart from minor nods, lines, or beats here and there, MARx is not retelling anything seen already. It is on its own path, as Series 5 & 6 have emphasized recently.
Thank you to my continued readers, as well as my new recent subscribers!
Stay tuned for more, and stay healthy.
- Goji
by Gojitaka
25th May 2020, 10:49 PM