The origin.
The Changers started with random inspiration, much like any story does. At first there was no grand scheme, there was just a few short scenes in my mind. Most of those first ideas became the prologue. The idea was to write a mini-series or sidestory to The Wotch, starring Anibelle. It was something that could have been a Sunday filler series of three to five comics and that’s about it. Then, of course, as many of my ideas tend to do, it started to gain a life of its own. I came up with another mini idea involving Jason that didn’t seem like it could possibly fit in with the previous ones. Eventually it occurred to me that it would be fun to have a Vertigo sort-of version of The Wotch. The people that it was based on had grown as characters in their own right and there were now new stories that could be told. Thus, The Changers was born.
Much like The Wotch, The Changers is based upon the people and events that take place in a certain IRC channel. It is then to be expected that many of Anne’s characters will appear in this story, only their roles will have changed. For fans of The Wotch, you can expect to see the following characters from The Wotch-universe appear in some fashion (though no guarantees): Anibelle, Robin, Jason, Anne, Jenette (Drax), Irene, Scott, Oscar/Mysti, Glock, Elise, Ivan, Jennie, Evan/E/Lilly, Sykos, Wolfie. Of course, there will also be plenty of new characters, including my own avatar eventually, that I’m sure you will learn to love just as much.
Why not a webcomic?
It’s a well-established fact that I have worked on a few moderately successful webcomics in the past. Self-Insert was a story about a trio that were thrust into the worlds of the anime that they enjoyed. It spawned a re-imagining called Self-Insert Remix that never really got off the ground as well. Writer’s Block was the story of the writer and artist of Self-Insert having their own adventures that defied logic. There was a great deal of mystery that was never solved, but it was one of the pioneers of the magical gender change comic genre (only because it preceeded most of the popular ones today by a couple of months). Both comics failed due to problems with maintaining an artist, but the archives are still around. A few years ago I made another attempt to make a webcomic called Gateway in Bloom that had two talented artists on board for a while, but ultimately never started. That story became my NaNoWriMo entry for 2007, though there is also still a 40 page script sitting in my personal storage.
Through my many attempts, some more successful than others, I’ve grown a bit jaded towards webcomics as a whole. While it makes sense for The Changers to be produced as a comic, I do not wish to go through the process of finding and keeping an artist again. The current situation in the webcomic world is that artists know their value. I am not, and never will be, willing to pay someone to draw a comic for me. I’ve always been willing to give donation proceeds, but my wallet is as empty as the artists I’d want to hire. I believe that the artist’s passion for the project should stem from their genuinely wanting to do it rather than seeking monetary fulfillment. Thus, unless an artist steps forward and wishes to turn this project into a webcomic, it will stay in its current form.
Goals.
I plan to treat this project much like I would a webcomic, and hope to have a regular update schedule (every Friday for now, perhaps every other in the future) and plan to keep moving forward rather than looking back at chapters I’ve already written.
My hope is to develop a following much like I could if I were doing a comic, and would love to receive any kind of fan work. Fan art would be very appreciated, and if there is a good deal of it, I plan to create a Flickr group which I can link to from here. I also love discussion about the story, and welcome any comments you might have. Perhaps if it grows large enough, there will be a dedicated forum rather than just a thread on The Wotch’s boards.
Still, primarily, this project is for those of us who frequent IRC. That is my base, and I do hope that everyone enjoys my interpretations of their characters.
