what the hell happened with Masque?
Once there was an erotic manga-style pseudo fantasy webcomic called Masque of the Red Death. I thought the concept was cool in a Gankuotsou/Count of Monte Cristo kind of way.
then it devolved into a not comic at all, but week after week of turgid posting about how they were creating a new website for the comic, and occasional unfinished "teaser" pics. Most of it seemed to be redone copies of previous art. WHole pages were nothing more than the same panel with occasional tweaks, like closed eyes or wider smiles. To see this from an artist whose work I have loved for YEARS was kind of tragic. Yet I have clinged to the hope that when the comic returns, it'll get back onto the damn story.
Today, the announce date for the new website, instead we get this:
For the clickaphobic, lemme explain. No, that would take too long, lemme sum up:
Cafepress shops. Badly rendered pinups (the perspective! The peekaboo hair! ) and OMG the photos! Who the HELL let Sally Stanford into the building?!*
ETA: OMGWTFkeyhole Pini porn? Note to self: add new LJ tag "brain bleach"
and LOL one of the poster taglines is "Fire and ice. Put them together and the result is steam". No, what you get is SOGGY ASHES!!!
And of course yet another, later release date for the webpage.
The physical book 2 was taken OFF the publication schedule because, according to them, the "time wasn't right". The real reason? Book one sold like crap and solicitaiton for book 2 is abysmal. They HAVE to shill this thing with products to generate enough interest to make a physical book version profitable.
The upshot of this is, just, creepy. I know I'll have to read the thing just to get it over with, but if/when it comes out. I don't plan to keep following it. I'm just so... criminy. Really.
And this from someone who read the original Elfquest back when it came out Every. Four. Months. A glacial age in comic book publishing. But it was worth it and I never regretted that wait. This, however, is the world's longest and most pointless cocktease ever. And eventually when it goes on TOO LONG you realize there's no climax or it'll be so weak and lame that you just lose interest. And that is like the worst thing EVAR for erotica. This is not how you build tension.
Just looking at that... brr. Just in time for Halloween, the creepiest fucking imagery imaginable. Way to go there, lady.
ETA: Yes I know I have a book on hold. You'll notice I'm not taking preorders on it, or putting up random pages of unfinished prose... or opening a Cafepress shop of merchandise. Yes I have a blog of production notes for my current work. I am again not creating other sites to shill it without creating the fricking book. The book is the product; the merchandise is the gravy. Not the other way around. No matter how many times you watch Spaceballs. The Emperor must have clothes.
ETA 2: I'm going through my archives... I have a photographic memory and no labeling system, dammit. But I know there's a couple of pictures in there I've seen somewhere before. I'm thinking they're cribbed from A Distant Soil, but I'll have to find the pics first. Which is hilarious since the bad guy in Masque says outright "the best revenge is to steal stuff and exploit the crap out of it and put it where your victim can see it" and frankly if what I'm remembering is correct, it's done JUST as catastrophically as what the story is referring to.
Of course, the story is referring to something stolen and then badly knocked off, which results in killing the whole world. So, yeah ^_^ Right up to and including the fact that no one's buying the bad guy's knockoff product, either. How's THAT for unintentional irony?
______________
*yeah, go ahead and rip me. The image of an "aging, bloated whore" (to quote from Alan Moore's Watchmen--the words Rorschach used to describe Silk Specter 1, "dying in a California resort", I swear was the first thing that came to me when I saw that) is inescapable for me. As to what she's selling... that's up to you I guess... but your milage may vary...
Actually I should apologize to the memory of Ms. Stanford, who was a bitchin' grand dame that Mae West could only hope to approximate, and which Ms. Pini can only hope to approach on the outskirts, but never come close to crossing paths with, let alone eclipsing.
then it devolved into a not comic at all, but week after week of turgid posting about how they were creating a new website for the comic, and occasional unfinished "teaser" pics. Most of it seemed to be redone copies of previous art. WHole pages were nothing more than the same panel with occasional tweaks, like closed eyes or wider smiles. To see this from an artist whose work I have loved for YEARS was kind of tragic. Yet I have clinged to the hope that when the comic returns, it'll get back onto the damn story.
Today, the announce date for the new website, instead we get this:
For the clickaphobic, lemme explain. No, that would take too long, lemme sum up:
Cafepress shops. Badly rendered pinups (the perspective! The peekaboo hair! ) and OMG the photos! Who the HELL let Sally Stanford into the building?!*
ETA: OMGWTFkeyhole Pini porn? Note to self: add new LJ tag "brain bleach"
and LOL one of the poster taglines is "Fire and ice. Put them together and the result is steam". No, what you get is SOGGY ASHES!!!
And of course yet another, later release date for the webpage.
The physical book 2 was taken OFF the publication schedule because, according to them, the "time wasn't right". The real reason? Book one sold like crap and solicitaiton for book 2 is abysmal. They HAVE to shill this thing with products to generate enough interest to make a physical book version profitable.
The upshot of this is, just, creepy. I know I'll have to read the thing just to get it over with, but if/when it comes out. I don't plan to keep following it. I'm just so... criminy. Really.
And this from someone who read the original Elfquest back when it came out Every. Four. Months. A glacial age in comic book publishing. But it was worth it and I never regretted that wait. This, however, is the world's longest and most pointless cocktease ever. And eventually when it goes on TOO LONG you realize there's no climax or it'll be so weak and lame that you just lose interest. And that is like the worst thing EVAR for erotica. This is not how you build tension.
Just looking at that... brr. Just in time for Halloween, the creepiest fucking imagery imaginable. Way to go there, lady.
ETA: Yes I know I have a book on hold. You'll notice I'm not taking preorders on it, or putting up random pages of unfinished prose... or opening a Cafepress shop of merchandise. Yes I have a blog of production notes for my current work. I am again not creating other sites to shill it without creating the fricking book. The book is the product; the merchandise is the gravy. Not the other way around. No matter how many times you watch Spaceballs. The Emperor must have clothes.
ETA 2: I'm going through my archives... I have a photographic memory and no labeling system, dammit. But I know there's a couple of pictures in there I've seen somewhere before. I'm thinking they're cribbed from A Distant Soil, but I'll have to find the pics first. Which is hilarious since the bad guy in Masque says outright "the best revenge is to steal stuff and exploit the crap out of it and put it where your victim can see it" and frankly if what I'm remembering is correct, it's done JUST as catastrophically as what the story is referring to.
Of course, the story is referring to something stolen and then badly knocked off, which results in killing the whole world. So, yeah ^_^ Right up to and including the fact that no one's buying the bad guy's knockoff product, either. How's THAT for unintentional irony?
______________
*yeah, go ahead and rip me. The image of an "aging, bloated whore" (to quote from Alan Moore's Watchmen--the words Rorschach used to describe Silk Specter 1, "dying in a California resort", I swear was the first thing that came to me when I saw that) is inescapable for me. As to what she's selling... that's up to you I guess... but your milage may vary...
Actually I should apologize to the memory of Ms. Stanford, who was a bitchin' grand dame that Mae West could only hope to approximate, and which Ms. Pini can only hope to approach on the outskirts, but never come close to crossing paths with, let alone eclipsing.