The Story Behind LJP
If you're just tuning in, "SDF: Lost Jigsaw Pieces" is now available from TORC Press. Details are up pretty much everywhere.
So, how did this issue come about? Well, originally, this issue wasn't even on the schedule. The original schedule for 2006 looked like this: SDF: The Great Race (Winter '06), SDF: Fight! Fight! Fight! (Spring '06), SDF: Foul Business (Summer '06), and SDF: Drifter's Rhapsody (Fall '06). As I was working on SDF: Sombrero Friday, I came to the realization that there were a handful of characters that I wanted to introduce before I did the Great Race. After much consideration, I pretty much completely rearranged the schedule. I decided the new issue would be called Lost Jigsaw Pieces (cause it would fill in some missing gaps), and it would be the new Winter issue (it still feels like Winter, right?). The Great Race got pushed back to Spring, I removed Fight!3 from the schedule entirely (believe me, you aren't missing anything), and I switched the positions of Foul Business and Drifter's Rhapsody (I did this mostly because I wanted the more Actiony issue to end the year on).
So, I had a new issue I hadn't planned on. What the hell was going into it? The first story was easy. I had originally planned on having a Mosquito Village story in Sombrero Friday, but due to time and space constraints, Sheriff Halloween and the Gang's story got cut. Since I now had all the space in the world, I could slip this fun little story, which reintroduces a number of TORCverse characters, into the book. One down.
Story two was also pretty easy. I needed an aliceislost story that featured Cheshy Cat. Some of you may already know what Cheshy Cat is, because the critter has appeared in the Webcomic, a Promo comic, and a few sketches. Ironically, this key member of alice's supporting cast has yet to appear in an "Official" issue of SDF. In addition, I wanted to introduce some key villians to the series, so this issue provided me the format for both. Two down.
Every issue has a Cactus Joe story, so I needed to Brainstorm one up. Using "Lost Jigsaw Pieces" as my theme, I came up with the idea for a story that would reveal little bits of history about Voodoo Dolly and Pengy Penguin. I decided against giving Cactus Joe any Flashbacks, because I want his past to remain largely nebulous right now. Also, I had the concept for a Fight Scene worked out in my head already, so I added that to the story and Presto! Three down.
Every issue of SDF also contains either a Walt & Sped story or a Frimpy story. Well, in "Very Odd Jobs" Frimpy got evicted from his house, and in "Sombrero Friday" Frimpy mentions that he's now living with Walt & Sped. Obviously, a story involving Frimpy crashing at the Cornhusker pad was neccessary. So, Bam! Four down.
After that, all I had to do was fill in the gaps with some stuff. Most issues of SDF contain a whiny soliloquy from Me, so there was that. And I hadn't done an Iggy/Liquid Jar strip for an issue, so that was pretty easy to work up as well. (Unrelated side note: I dunno if anyone out there likes my Iggy strips, but I'm developing a real fondness for them. They've got a very Old Fashioned quality to them...) Slap on a Hype Page and covers, and covers, and the book was done.
So, there you go, an inside look at how I organize an issue of SDF.
So, how did this issue come about? Well, originally, this issue wasn't even on the schedule. The original schedule for 2006 looked like this: SDF: The Great Race (Winter '06), SDF: Fight! Fight! Fight! (Spring '06), SDF: Foul Business (Summer '06), and SDF: Drifter's Rhapsody (Fall '06). As I was working on SDF: Sombrero Friday, I came to the realization that there were a handful of characters that I wanted to introduce before I did the Great Race. After much consideration, I pretty much completely rearranged the schedule. I decided the new issue would be called Lost Jigsaw Pieces (cause it would fill in some missing gaps), and it would be the new Winter issue (it still feels like Winter, right?). The Great Race got pushed back to Spring, I removed Fight!3 from the schedule entirely (believe me, you aren't missing anything), and I switched the positions of Foul Business and Drifter's Rhapsody (I did this mostly because I wanted the more Actiony issue to end the year on).
So, I had a new issue I hadn't planned on. What the hell was going into it? The first story was easy. I had originally planned on having a Mosquito Village story in Sombrero Friday, but due to time and space constraints, Sheriff Halloween and the Gang's story got cut. Since I now had all the space in the world, I could slip this fun little story, which reintroduces a number of TORCverse characters, into the book. One down.
Story two was also pretty easy. I needed an aliceislost story that featured Cheshy Cat. Some of you may already know what Cheshy Cat is, because the critter has appeared in the Webcomic, a Promo comic, and a few sketches. Ironically, this key member of alice's supporting cast has yet to appear in an "Official" issue of SDF. In addition, I wanted to introduce some key villians to the series, so this issue provided me the format for both. Two down.
Every issue has a Cactus Joe story, so I needed to Brainstorm one up. Using "Lost Jigsaw Pieces" as my theme, I came up with the idea for a story that would reveal little bits of history about Voodoo Dolly and Pengy Penguin. I decided against giving Cactus Joe any Flashbacks, because I want his past to remain largely nebulous right now. Also, I had the concept for a Fight Scene worked out in my head already, so I added that to the story and Presto! Three down.
Every issue of SDF also contains either a Walt & Sped story or a Frimpy story. Well, in "Very Odd Jobs" Frimpy got evicted from his house, and in "Sombrero Friday" Frimpy mentions that he's now living with Walt & Sped. Obviously, a story involving Frimpy crashing at the Cornhusker pad was neccessary. So, Bam! Four down.
After that, all I had to do was fill in the gaps with some stuff. Most issues of SDF contain a whiny soliloquy from Me, so there was that. And I hadn't done an Iggy/Liquid Jar strip for an issue, so that was pretty easy to work up as well. (Unrelated side note: I dunno if anyone out there likes my Iggy strips, but I'm developing a real fondness for them. They've got a very Old Fashioned quality to them...) Slap on a Hype Page and covers, and covers, and the book was done.
So, there you go, an inside look at how I organize an issue of SDF.
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