This year felt like a huge advancement in the things I’ve learned about making comics; from writing and art, all the way down to promotion and running advertising on the site. 2010 has been the first time I’ve truly had a chance to sit down and work through an entire chapter of the comic at once instead of working on it when I can, and I feel that the quality of it has improved overall as a result. This is kind of a bittersweet thing, since I’ve spent most of the year aggressively job-hunting – but I’ve also learned a lot about advertising, and have managed to make enough of a profit via advertising to pay (at least) for groceries in addition to the upkeep of comic-making supplies. I may be a broke artist, but at least I’m not starving! While I know that I’ll never be able to turn this comic into a full-time job, it’s an exciting and satisfying feeling to know that I’ve been able to do as much as I have just in the span of this past year and it feels worthwhile to have spent all this (unfortunate) free time I’ve had working on it.

Statistics-wise, 2010 has brought a huge jump in readership – up 66% on average, with about 200-300 more views daily over the same time last year. I’ve put a little bit of effort into finding new readers and getting the comic out there this year, so it’s really cool to see this pay off. That said, if you’re reading this out there (and I know you are) don’t be afraid to chime in on the comments or on the forum! I don’t bite, and your feedback is a huge motivating factor for me. My fanart section has almost tripled in size from what it used to be, and it’s still super humbling every time I get a piece of art from a reader. Knowing that I’ve produced something that people enjoy enough to say so or even to draw or write something based on it is such a cool feeling, and I don’t think it will ever get old. :)

All things considered, 2010 was fantastic. For once I really feel like I’ve made massive steps from where I started when I first put the comic online in 2004. If all goes according to plan, 2011 will be even better. My next steps include starting work on book 3 as soon as possible, getting through the rest of Part 1 of the main comic, and possibly doing some side stories from the Messenger universe.

But most of all, none of this would be possible without you – the readers. So, a huge thanks to you for all your support! I hope you’ll stick with me for whatever is to come. Happy 2011! ♥

Book 2 is now available from Indyplanet! This issue is completely Chio-centric, featuring all of Chapter Two plus two print-exclusive minicomics telling the story of Eldora and Icy, as well as the creation story the Chios tell their children. There’s also a bonus article on the origin, physiology, and culture of the Chios. I haven’t received my copy in the mail yet, but the proofs looked fantastic so I’m sure it’ll look great. Here is a link to it on Indyplanet, although the cover image seems to be broken at the moment. So, here’s what the cover will look like!

It’s 94 pages and printed in full color. Like always, there’s extra information and clues to the overall story of the comic in the book that won’t be told in the main story for some time to come – so it’s a bonus if you do pick up the book, but you aren’t really losing out if you don’t.

I’ve managed to put together a comic buffer for the next month, so there will be two new pages every week well into 2011! Chapter Ten begins soon, which is the last chapter of Part 1. I’m planning to tie up a few of the loose ends in the story so far, so I’m pretty excited. I have a bunch of it sketched out so far, and it’s killing me not to talk about it. :B

Last of all, I’ve also somehow found the time to assemble vote incentive images for the next month. That means there will be a new incentive every Monday until 2011! There’s a brand-new one up right now, and if you’ve got a spare second or two, you should also Vote for Hive!

That’s all for now! Check back Friday for the last page of Chapter Nine!

Let’s join Raichu here with some terrible iPhone photos! (Because my decent camera isn’t charged, and I’m too excited!) You can click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger image.

The interior is printed nice and crisp, and looks especially great in this slightly larger size. (Not that you can really tell from these pictures, but Raichu will assure you it is.)

Side by side with the old Lulu print on the right. You can see how much larger the Ka-Blam print is. The Ka-Blam book feels sturdier, and seems like a slightly higher quality overall.

The content inside is the same as the Lulu version: all of Chapter One, plus two extra comics, Q&A, character information, and other stuff.

Eldora even makes an appearance on the front interior to highlight Messenger’s website! The color on the inside and outside covers is brilliant. I can’t wait until I have a color project to print! It will look gorgeous.

Having a finished book in hand is such a great feeling. Now, to get back to work on #2! You can snag a copy of this shiny new #1 from IndyPlanet!

(Psst, you should also check out my friend Arborwin’s comic Grayling! She also just finished a book which I look forward to snagging when it’s available!)

The inside content is exactly the same as the Lulu version I did last year; only the cover art and the ads in the back have changed, so if you’ve already got a copy of the first edition you can safely skip this one! It’s $7 + shipping, 100 pages, black and white. It contains all of the re-drawn pages of Chapter One, plus two bonus minicomics along with other extras.

Issue 2 is coming later this summer! Stay tuned!

I just submitted the re-release of the first issue of Messenger to Kablam for printing. It looks as though it’ll round out to about $7 + shipping, which is pretty sweet compared to Lulu’s 12. I’ll probably take the Lulu copy down soon (but leave up the e-book or something if I can) since it’s kind of pointless and redundant to have two versions floating around. Issue 2 will likely shape up to be around the same price, and since books aren’t terribly heavy I’ll bet shipping will be combined. I am debating/working out the logistics of doing a pre-order thing – bundling the 2 books signed/sketched in, with a sticker and/or a bookmark or some other thing. I’ll have a better idea when I get the second book finished and off to the printer, but I’d guess the price would be about $20 shipped? Does that sound horribly prohibitive? Would anyone even care? I don’t even know. D:

All that said, if you snagged a copy of the Lulu version sometime in the past year, don’t bother picking up the new Kablam print; they’re identical with the exception of a couple of ads at the end and a different cover. (Save your moneys and pick up issue 2 later this summer! :V )

In other notes, there are a couple of new link exchanges up on the links page, which I’ve neglected to mention: Wayrift and Ginpu! Thanks for linking, guys! :)

Vote incentives are late but will be up in a day or so – like I said, things have been crazy around here lately. Ugh.

Not much else to report for the moment, other than I’ve utilized Webcomic’s neato archiving feature to organize the Archives exactly the way I’ve wanted them to look since FOREVER. It never made sense to organize them by date, so now they’re organized by chapters, instead. (If it seems like I’m totally playing up the Webcomic thing, that’s because I am. It is fantastic!)

You might also notice that they’re also divided under a big new heading that says “Part 1.” That’s because I’ve finally settled once and for all on how I’m dividing up the story! Part 1 will run through the end of Chapter 10, at which point things will really start to turn. At some point I’ll throw in the title and so on, but I’m not quite there, yet. That’s quite some time from now, so no point in giving things away so soon. ;)

The past couple of weeks have been full of stuff related to new-house-issues and other time consuming things, so I’ve hit the end of my buffer and book work has slowed to a minor halt. This week will include putting together the next few weeks’ pages and then digging back into the book. I’ve got about half the pages at least inked, most are completely done. I have a lot of the written stuff done, but I need to draw the accompanying illustrations. Things to do.

In other quick notes, my friend Arby is rebooting her webcomic, Grayling! It just started yesterday, so even though there’s not much available yet, you should check it out. She’s also going to be putting out a print version soon, so you can read the new stuff before it hits the internet. And speaking of that, I put together an ad that’s going in it somewhere! I spent far too long making it, but it’ll do.

That’s all for now! Have a great rest of the week, and come back Monday for a new page! :)

In news this week, I’m trying to promote the forums at the request of several fans. As I mentioned in my previous post, the forums have never quite built back up to what they used to be before the comic site was hacked a few years ago, so I’m working on that. I’ve added a new section that’s only available to registered members where I plan on adding sketches, page previews, and other “behind the scenes” extras. As we speak, I’m preparing sketches for chapter seven to upload this week, as well as one-panel-previews for upcoming pages. Come join in! :)

There’s a new vote incentive up this week, the second in a series of new coloring styles I’ve been trying out for work on Chapter Seven. I’m also willing to take ideas or requests for future vote incentive drawings, so if you have any characters or ideas in mind, leave a comment or post on the forum!

After looking through the script I’ve got going, and some of the pages I’ve got together, it looks like I’m running short on materials for working on Chapter Seven – specifically, Chio-colored markers. I’ve been using the same set of markers for the past six years, and they’re finally burning out on me. I work as a freelance designer, and business has been slow this past month, plus I’m getting ready to move to a new house which has an assortment of related costs. To try and alleviate the cost of picking up the new colors I need, I’ve added a special donation wallpaper to the sidebar. If you donate any amount, you can download a copy in your choice of two large sizes. Picking up a copy of the book would also help out (there’s a coupon code once again this month, use GREATBOOK when checking out from lulu.com to get 10% off your order. I also have an extra copy on hand that I’m willing to let go for $12 + shipping which I’ll sign and draw in just for you!) and I’m also planning on putting some of my original drawings up for sale, since all they do is sit around and take up space in my drawer, anyway.

I’ve been thinking about doing a little side story thing in addition to the regular comic, just for fun. I’ve drawn so far ahead that I literally feel like I have nothing to do other than a little write up for the new pages as they go up. Being prepared is almost boring!

That’s all for now!

Vote if you get a chance!

I would like to take a second to thank Philip of Frumph.net and Webcomicplanet.com for both pointing out (and subsequently helping me fix) several glaring errors I’ve been making using ComicPress. I never even realized I was doing it wrong in the first place since it looked like it was working! But now everything runs so much slicker. It is fantastic. Thank you!

I thought it might be worthwhile to mention that I have one extra copy of the new chapter one book floating around that I would like to get rid of, if anyone is interested in having their very own copy. I can sell it to you for $12 (+$3 shipping anywhere in the US/Canada) and I will even sign it and sketch the character of your choice in it before I mail it off. It’s a bit cheaper than buying it from lulu, so if you’re interested, drop me an email at bug [at] messenger-comic.com!

In other news this week, I have a couple of links to put up:

Messenger at TVTropes: This is a really neat site that’s just fun to dig through, so I shamelessly stole the idea from Chu and added Messenger to it. Anyone is welcome to change and add to it.

I’ve been doing a lot of outlining and scripting for upcoming storylines in the comic, and so I’ve been spending a lot of time using Tiddlywiki, which is basically a little wiki notebook thing you can run on your local machine. It’s great for keeping track of all kinds of things going on at once, and it’s free, which is awesome. I used to use this to take notes in in college, since it was easy to cross-reference ideas from entry to entry. It is super handy for comic-writing, anyway.

I’ve added a couple of link exchanges to my links page, hooray! It also occurred to me that I made a tumblr account for art/comic related stuff quite some time ago and never bothered using it. There is also a plurk page now, too, which kind of seems like a twitter ripoff, so I’m not sure how long that will last. I did a whole research thing on social networking in college, but I never much had a reason to play around with it. The comic is now my excuse. I just find it interesting. :D

That’s all I’ve got for now!