Hey folks.
A year and a half ago, I wasn’t sure where the comic would be at this point. I was unprepared, bright-eyed, impatient, eager, and excited to be starting my very first webcomic after 7 months of loose planning, and I knew the possibilities were up in the air. The outcome could be great, or it could be an awful mess. Regrettably, it turned out to be a bit of both. Which is why I must officially announce the early cancellation of “Ross Boston.”
This has come as more of a surprise to me than some of you, I’m sure. The hiatus must have spelled something awful in many of your eyes, but the truth is, the end of the comic has nothing to do with the hiatus, which had actually momentarily revitalized my interest in the it. Please read further so you can understand why I must do this, and what this means for me as a creator. It’s not as simple as “I don’t want to do the work anymore.”
The truth is, I have hit a slump in my life right now. My career, my skills as an artist, and my personal life…none of them are where I want them to be. For quite some time now, I have been largely displeased with the work I’ve produced for “Ross Boston,” and the thought of working on even one more page for even one more second right now – contributing to what I consider a sub-par piece of work – makes me feel even more miserable than I already do. To be clear, it’s not comicking in general. It’s THIS comic. It really pains me to be creating work that I am not confident in, and at this point, it just feels like a chore to continue pushing out pages that don’t fulfill me, even with all of the kind words and support from you, the readers.
I believe there is probably a future for “Ross Boston.” Despite my displeasure with where it’s at in its current iteration, I do love these characters and this world and all of it has potential. Perhaps soon, I can revisit it and turn it into the thing that it deserves to be.
Not anytime in the near future, mind you. But soon.
In the meantime, I’d like to focus on my illustration. I want to produce a shorter comic piece or two. And hopefully before the end of this year, I’d like to start a brand new webcomic. I love the format, I love comics, and I have a handful of ideas brewing in my head already. This may be the end of “Ross Boston” but it is not the last you have seen of me as an artist and as a creator. I’m still very much excited to tell stories and I hope you will continue to follow me on tumblr and twitter, where I will be sure to announce plans for future projects. On a semi-related note, I’d still like to be an advocate for LGBT-visibility in future projects. That is still important to me.
My biggest regret during this whole ordeal was the Indiegogo campaign, where I raised money to support me while I produced Episode 2 of this comic. Due to poor time management on my part, that obviously didn’t happen, and I deeply, deeply apologize. I will still be fulfilling rewards for those who donated – I cannot offer refunds, unfortunately. My list has been made and emails will be sent soon. It will probably be a slow trickle, but it will happen. Your continued patience has been appreciated. I’m mostly just really embarrassed that you’ve had to wait so long.
In regards to what will happen to this website, I am unsure. I put money into it every month but if the comic isn’t going to be posting anymore, I might just close the website (while continuing to own the domain names attached to it) and make the comic available to read on the official “Ross Boston” tumblr or something, so I don’t have to continue paying for this space. I have not made a decision about this yet, though, so we’ll see.
Anyway…I suppose it’s officially time for me to say goodbye to Ross and friends. Except for campaign rewards, I intend to step away from this property for some time and let my brain chew on other things while I attempt to improve my life. One day, I’m sure I’ll get the itch to try again.
So to all of you, thank you for being supportive. Thank you for reading and believing in this comic and in me. I hope you’ll follow me into the future, and I hope you understand why I am doing this.
Thank you,
~Drew
PS: This goodbye image is an homage to the first piece of promotional artwork for Ross Boston, back when it was still “The Super-Gay Adventures of Ross Boston.” You can see the original here, if you’re interested.