Comic #76: Enter KORGAR, Math Teacher!!
Monday, January 29th, 2007Korgar is a character that has been circulated amongst my friends for several years now. The story of his creation is a bit of an odd one, and I’ll save it for another time… but long story short, he’s a huge beast of a half-blood demon orc who speaks in third person and has had many odd jobs in the past, including grocery store owner, pop singer, and now — starting in this comic — Peter’s math teacher.
Speaking of this comic, I’m sure a lot of you are a little thrown off by the sudden change in format. This is me toying with the idea of moving Peter & Company to a larger full-page scale. There are a few reasons behind this, mostly being my observation of the current status/decline of newspaper strips compared to their online competition… that and the fact that after so many years of working in the daily strip format, I’m starting to feel too confined to the four-panel, gag-a-day structure. I want to break out and have more room to fit some actual plot into the comic (and honestly, forcing myself to work in such a tight format is one of the main reasons I contribute to my lack of being able to maintain a regular update schedule; I would feel drained when I couldn’t come up with a punchline for every single strip, especially if I didn’t feel one was needed at that point in the story).
Now, I’m not necessarily giving up on syndication — if a syndicate approached me with a contract for the strip, I would definitely still be interested — but for the purposes of online publishing, I feel this could be the better choice.
What I’d like to request from everyone is some feedback on which version of Peter & Company you prefer. Do you think P&C would work better in this new, larger format, with room for more panels and action for each update, or did you enjoy it more as a classic newspaper-style strip? Keep in mind it’s always possible for me to switch back and forth between the two styles — do a small strip one update, a larger full page the next — but I just wanted to know what my readers think of the potential in this change. Also, how interested would you be in purchasing a “Peter & Company Collection” book, with the mixture of both strips and comic pages like the one above?
Click “comments” directly below to let me know what you think. 
January 30th, 2007 at 9:54 am
I have to say I like this full page layout more than the old one strip layout,I vote for keeping it like this from now on,keep up the good work Jon
January 30th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I prefer the new full page format. Heh, anything for more frequent updates.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
I haven’t much to say. Both formats work, it’s puctuality you must focus on. I think I will enjoy comrade Korgar though.
January 30th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Well, I think that whatever you feel is the highest quality… if full page floats your boat, go for it.
But… I gotta say that Korgar feels… out of place. Just doesn’t fit somehow…
January 31st, 2007 at 9:53 am
It got me all January to read all the comic ’till now. I don’t have much time to be online usually, you see.
…Lol, the subtraction/submission “pun” works in my language, too.
I don’t have layout preferences, just do whatever you feels it’s better, ’cause if you enjoy your work, by reflection we’ll enjoy it too.
See you next time.
January 31st, 2007 at 11:49 pm
I love Korgar! He’s funny ^^ *snort* submission… subtraction X3
I like both formats, but the new one is a bit better (i thought something seemed different… X3)
February 2nd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
I love on-line comics. As you say, comics that use the general three panel format usually work with a gag in each comic. Larger ones lend themselves better for long running storylines or shorter arcs. There are definatly exceptions to this of course. Either way, although I do enjoy the gags, usually I enjoy a good storyline better. If you feel you need more panels in a comic to achieve this, then by all means. And as you said, if you do have agood gag that would fit a three panel comic just fine, wel, why not? As for the book… I like my books as I like my comics. Big. I have quite a few of the on-line comics I read in paper format over here, but I like my Tales of the Questor copy better then the SubUrban jungle or Ozy and Millie ones. With 75 strips of Peter and Company so far, a big collection is unlikely. Still, I suppose I would buy the book, should it be released, no matter what. Sooner or later.
February 3rd, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Holy crap, you actually put Korgar into the Strip?! xD This should very amusing!!
As for the new format, I say do what you need to keep doing what you love, instead of feeeling like you HAVE to do it, so long as you don’t forget your goals in the end
February 5th, 2007 at 6:16 am
I think he just wet his pants…
February 8th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
While the new format is amusing, it does change the pacing (meter) of the comic itself. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but it definitely does change the feel. No matter what, I think if you keep writing, I’ll keep laughing.
February 12th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
LOL. that made my day. xD
March 7th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
New format is good! Flexible format is good, too!
A minor point: You may want to try out a new webpage layout for this, though. Readers with smaller screens sometimes have to scroll left and right, which alters the experience of reading a strip. Lots of strips work fine with this, but on yours I thought that adjusting things a little would improve the strip’s presentation.
I would try moving the pic file to the left edge of the screen. And maybe play around with the arrangement of the stuff at the top of the wep page. But there’s no need to reduce the size of the pic file or anything like that.