Launch day came finally came and went and the Gang here at Addictive Comics could not have been happier.

We would like to thank each and every one of you who stopped by, read the comics and left a comment or a word of encouragement on the blogs.

It’s early days yet and we are wondering about a few things that we know will later work themselves out.  Like — how often to update the blogs, how often to Email, should we just send Addictive Comics information on Twitter or do what most everyone else does and send “Found this cool site”-type stuff.

Keep letting us know what you think and want.  It’ll work out.

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Here are 3 things that came up during the launch.  None of them are critical (as if ANYTHING on a webcomic could be critical! ) but we think some of you may enjoy them.

One More Time! 

Okay, this probably won’t really be the last time we say this…

We just want to say again that this is Totally a Trial (”soft opening”) for us and we are Totally Counting on You to help us out. 

Please let us know what you like, what you don’t like and what you would like to see.

Where is Scott?

Something always seemed to keep coming up to push the Launch of Addictive Comics further and further behind.  From serious family stuff to stupid crap. 

Finally, we had just about everything ready and I mentioned December 16th.

Unfortunately, Scott was finishing up the podcast novel NOCTURNAL (40 episodes in a year) and starting his new podcast novel, CONTAGIOUS (Check out both of these at  Scott’s Website and keep you eye on this blog for the Graphic Novel versions.) 

So I just asked Scott if I could do the Launch — ready or not!   I would have the help of Sami and Gregg and I thought it would work.

He agreed and we went for it. 

You’ve seen the results.  It’s not half bad.

Scott still has a packed full two weeks to finish up 2008 but is raring to go in 2009.  Expect to see him take a fully active role on Addictive Comics.

What the Fudge Happened on The Rookie?

A few weeks ago, Scott and I discussed the language in The Rookie.  Specifically his use — or over use — of hard curse words in the novel version (you know the ones.) 

We have always felt that The Rookie was an Adult Book.  But being a comic, we knew that our audience may not appreciate the rough language.  We finally decided that the overly-graphic words really added nothing to the story and that we would take them out.  Scott even sent me a “substitutions” sheet to print and keep as I adapted the script. 

Then — I forgot.

So on launch day we had still had Scott’s Favorite word up on the pages (rhymes with “Firetruck“) in four places.

I change it on Wednesday night. (Not to “Fudge“, by the way.  That was a joke.) 

No one complained about the language in the first two days (most of you are Sigler fans) — but we wanted to mention it and let you know of our decision.

We may do Adult Only comics in the future (Nocturnal comes to mind) and we do still feel that The Rookie is an Adults Book.  But for now The Rookie would be rated a solid PG.  You don’t have to click off if the Kids walk into the room.

Black Jack Justice has always been a G (or PG if you count the smoking and innuendo.)

Mark & Scott 

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Yesterday we posted about our plans for the site overall.  Today we want to address a few of the Launch and Early-Time things you will see.

SOFT OPENING

Keep in mind that — as we have said all along – we are taking this VERY slowly and trying to get it right.  This is new territory for us.  We hope to conquer it — although we’re already fighting over who will be King — but we have a long way to go. 

With that in mind, know that this is what offline businesses refer to as a “soft opening.”  It’s where you quietly unlock the doors and invite family and friends to come in and help you work out the bugs.

You guys are our Family and Friends online (in some cases, literally.)

The vast majority of everyone reading this post and visiting Addictive Comics in the first few weeks will have learned about us from Scott’s website and Podcasts or from Decoder Ring Theater and the fans of Black Jack Justice on AudioDramaTalk. 

You are already fans of these stories and we are looking to you to help us get our business on the right track.  We know we can count on you.        

THE SITES

First off, everything on the site should work.  All links, all photos, all text — EVERYTHING — so feel free to look around and try everything out.  What’s there at the beginning is NOT everything we have planned for the future — but everything there should work.  If you see something that is messed up, please let us know. 

NOTE — Please understand that all the sites and blogs were designed and tested on IE with Vista.  They may not look right on other systems or browsers.  If you have any concerns, please email us.

ADVERTISING & OFFERS

Everything we have produced for Addictive Comics is 100% Free for you to enjoy.  And we intend to keep it that way.  We do, however, hope to make a little money off of this (at least enough to pay the artists and writers.)  Our business plan does not call for a donation box (as so many webcomics have) or a Member’s Only area (at least not immediately.) 

Instead we hope to make our money off of advertising and, later, off of publishing Graphic Novels of our comics.  Scott has proven this business model works with his novels and there are a handful of webcomics using it successfully – most notably the wonderful Girl Genius by Phil Foglio.  Not an Addictive Comic (yet!) but well worth checking out.  (Mark wishes Phil still did Xxxenophile.  Anyone else agree with him?)

You will NEVER be required to buy anything to enjoy Addictive Comics.

That doesn’t mean we won’t put some “bonus material” in the graphic novels (to make them more desirable) or that we won’t eventually offer printed only comics or books or a Member’s Only area for special offerings.  We’re not sure at this early stage what may happen.  But rest assured that there will always be 100% Free Webcomics at Addictive Comics — as long as we are around.

Naturally, if you see an ad that interests you…

OUR SCHEDULE

This has been much discussed by us and we expect in may change somewhat. 

It is our present plan to offer The Rookie, Black Jack Justice and most of our other Addictive Comics on a page-a-week schedule.  When we really get rolling we hope to have between 20 and 30 comics coming out simultaneously (we told you we had BIG PLANS) which should give you 4 to 6 new pages to enjoy every weekday — even though each individual story would still only update weekly.

Naturally, at the beginning with only two books the output will seem very sparse. 

We have many reasons that we have come up with this planned schedule – which we may get into on the blogs later on if anyone is interested.

We do hope to very up the schedules somewhat (if the creator’s can do it) and have some twice-a-weeks, some 3-times-a-weeks, and even some daily strips.  Occasionally we may hold back and release an entire story all at once. 

OPENING DAY PAGES

However, even though our plan is to release one page a week, most books should open with several story pages to (hopefully!) hook you.  For our first offerings — Black Jack Justice opens with an Episode Cover (Justice Served Cold, by the way) and 2 pages of comics and The Rookie opens with a Chapter Cover and 5 pages of story.

The Justice Served Cold cover by Mark Hester can be viewed now on the New Talent Page of this blog.

AS ALWAYS –

Please always let us know what you think about all of this and what you like.

Mark & Scott

Don’t forget — You can follow Addictive Comics on Twitter by visiting — http://twitter.com/AddictiveComics

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