I’m glad everyone enjoyed the recent comic! Now, as many of you have commented in various ways, I’m sure people are eager to know … what’s next for John, Daisy and their absurdly-endowed mother?!?!?!
Well obviously there’s a second comic coming [soonish], and obviously it will include a little more about John’s relationship with his mother, okay? Calming down a bit? Happy now? I mean it’s pretty clear in the last few pages of the first comic that we’ll need to look at what happens next, otherwise that’s just me being annoying in leaving such a cliffhangar!
Seriously though, whether or not you’re into the ‘mother thing’, the second comic is going to be better than the first.
If anything, the first was just the warm-up act for the main event …
Hrrrnnnggg!
… so without giving anything away, I am going to share a little of the comic development as we go along. But considering I’ve already written the entire 2nd comic and have already created the first 70 pages worth of renders for it … I hope to be releasing part 2 THIS YEAR. In fact hopefully this Autumn.
To celebrate this incalculable generosity of mine (no no you’re too kind, too kind), let’s have a quick look back at the timeline for this comic:
- Started as a concept in early 2022. I made 30 pages of that before I gave up and shelved it, because I had trialled the HAUNTED La Femme v1 character, and couldn’t get it to work properly. I mean look at this abomination:
- From some angles (like the above window reflection) it kinda looked okay, which is why I’d got as far as 30 pages before completely giving up.
- A year later, I did a comic concept vote on this website, to see what people wanted me to work on. See blog post: VOTE https://sindyannajones.com/2023/08/vote-in-the-great-new-comics-extravaganza/… and overwhelmingly, people voted for the subtly revealed cones of this teenage girl sitting by the pool? Weird? This:
- … so that made me think huh, there’s something in this failed concept after all. She did look a bit young though.
- Maybe I shouldn’t ditch the concept and vibe, maybe I should just update the model?
- By August 2023, I had rebuilt the characters ready to make the comic production at least possible. See blog post: Life in the Backyard: https://sindyannajones.com/2023/08/life-in-the-backyard/
- So I freed the comic from the cursed La Femme 3D model to trusty old V4, the most common 3D character in human history:
… too much mascara, but you get the point. That’s John Archer v2.0, alpha test version.
- Lovely! 2023 and 2024 were full of Lithium, Skybloom and Kinfolk things, so I was keeping busy. And before I was able to start on this ‘Backyard’ concept … there was one final piece of the puzzle that needed work … the relationship with the mother.
- By September 2024, I was writing the comic script and asking for advice on the Mummy -angle. See blog post: Motherfucker https://sindyannajones.com/2024/09/mother-fer/
A little early-morning topless garden watering …
- Now, as you may know, this is where the story gets unexpectedly juicy. A certain comment on that blog post led me to the exact relationship dynamic I was looking for – an entirely believable mother-loving story. How does it really happen? What does it really feel like? For without realism, we cannot have sexiness. That comic thread blew my tiny mind and setup the impossibly wonderful dynamic I was looking for.
- By January 2025, we had had a discussion with that anonymous commenter. See blog post: A hypothetical https://sindyannajones.com/2025/01/a-hypothetical-for-desertfox/ I then embarked on ‘translating’ their story of 1970s Americana into British English, in such a way that segued into the STFW (and Rather Magnificent) timeline.
- And so … part 2 of my comic is indeed going to be based on the lived experience of this anonymous commenter from this very blog. Their tragic story will not be reproduced word-for-word, but the vibes, the awkwardness, the dynamic, will be honoured as closely as I can manage within the realms of my comic universe.
- This is where you must trust me to translate, because I’m basing it on scant details but trying to honour the dynamic and fit it all within the realms of my comics.
- And now that I have produced so many pages for comic #2, I can honestly say … it’s exciting! I wasn’t particularly into the mom-son thing at all before embarking on this project (you can tell my experience of my own mother from what you read in Lithium …), but I have to admit … ooohh … I’m warming up to it now.
Exciting times!
I hope you’re having a lovely summer!
