page 976 – scientific progress goes sploit
Well of COURSE Tabitha’s part of the plan involves creating an artificial quantum singularity. That sort of thing’s in her blood. With that in mind, I couldn’t resist having her slip into a bit of melodramatic mad scientist cackling. She IS Daddy’s Little Girl, after all.
Otherwise, this was one of those pages that just didn’t wanna get drawn. It always seems to be the simple ones. I mean, when you strip away all the fancy lighting, the actual line art on this one SHOULD have been a cakewalk. But nope, the perspective on the ships gave me all kinds of trouble, and getting Tabitha’s proportions right in a frame where you don’t actually see most of her body was harder than it should have been, and I STILL don’t really like how the page layout makes use of the space… but I guess I can’t expect to be firing on all cylinders after a solid day of just GRINDING out material for December. Gotta get at least SOME kind of a head start on that stuff, right?
Oh! And don’t forget the new Voting Incentive!
(Historical Notes: One of these days I’m gonna learn to make basic 3D models for the various spaceships and sets. Then I can either trace them to get the perspective right, or just use pictures of them when I can’t be bothered.)
Apparently, big space battles are good for grabbing high ratings…or maybe my computer is broken…it almost looks like it says that halfway through the month and you’re at TWC#8 ranking. That can’t be right. You’re on hiatus, after all!
It’s not just you, I see it too!
Before we get too excited, though, keep in mind that that all those SmackJeeves comics that are probably still in TWC’s rankings despite not getting votes anymore. I’m sue Far Out There is getting at least a BIT of a bump just for being more active than all of them.
(But then again, Conventional Wisdom actually IS at the low ranking a comic not updating should be at, so maybe there really is something else at work…)
The numbers for a lot of the other comics do seem to be somewhat off, but who cares, a Top 10 is a Top 10!
That being said, does that actually get you anything? Do you have some way of telling if you’re actually getting any increased traffic from being higher ranked than you were when you were down in the 30s or 40s? Or it just means you get the secret pass to enter the Lavish Luxurious Underground Top Secret HQ Base hidden inside a dormant volcano somewhere that’s reserved for only Elite Top 10 Webcomicers, where butlers and maids serve delicious Unicorn Steak appetizers to the guests, etc.?
Sorry, I can’t tell you anything about the horrific rituals of the Secret Society Of Webcomic Illuminati who decadently rule over the entire Internet. 😛
(But seriously, there’s something really freaky about seeing Far Out There being listed just two spots below something like Girl Genius.)
Aside from Girl Genius, it’s just odd to see a strip in the top 10 that isn’t p*rn (or p*rn-lite) In order to fit in better with your ‘peers’, you’re going to have to make some modifications:
1. More Tabitha-Trigger smooching (LAYLA VETOES IMMEDIATELY!!)
2. More Tabitha-Layla Shipping (Layla and Tabitha are confused by this suggestion. Shipping? What shipping? We didn’t notice anything?!)
3. More Giant Catgurl Abs! (Stilez is probably going to comply with this anyway. Without trying to.)
4. More Astrid! (Disonar approves of this suggestion!)
5. More Neva! (Kevin approves of this suggestion!)
There, now you fit in! Hooray for conformity! 😉
Disonar: “What? Me, disapprove? Why? I’m all for that!”
Well, I did say he approved. He definitely seems to be the type that
wantsneeds to “show off what he’s got”, whether he’s actually got it or not, in order to get the ego-confirming-approval of random people everywhere. I mean, his entire life-scam is making the galaxy believe he’s a super-popular charitable philanthropist. That virtually screams “I need approval!”Aww poop, I misread it. That’s what I get for trying to respond while also posting new stuff AND ALSO listening to something.
So, back to my original question – do you actually get more traffic from TWC when you’re higher ranked than before? Just curious.
I honestly haven’t paid enough attention over the years to say for sure, but I feel like there have been noticeable dips when I went too long without putting something new up on TWC (like, if I’m out of town when a new month starts). It’s one of those things were I’m usually too busy worrying about the actual comic itself to actually watch the stats too closely.
What?! *shock* But if you don’t have numbers to attach to everything, how do you know if you are winning the internet?! 😀
update – and, since you mentioned Girl Genius, FOT is now at #5, one spot ABOVE GG. 😮
Clearly, there is only one possible explanation for this: Far Out There is a more popular webcomic than Girl Genius.
(It is definitely not because GG has so many readers they probably haven’t bothered to promote TWC voting for years so only 1% of their readers actually vote. Nope. Absolutely not.)
The thought also occurs that a lot of young comics don’t bother getting a stand-alone page right now, instead just posting material on social media. At the moment, the top of the TWC list is definitely going to favor older, more established comics. And, well, also comics that CAN’T post their content on social media and had to be on their own sites to begin with.
When later shown a video recording of the scene, Tabitha insisted that it was fake and completely denied ever having said anything remotely like that.