“The Enemy Without” – Cover
So, it is with a heavy heart I post this as it will be the last update again for a while. Originally drawn in 2013 by Prettio and then colored by Saint Tail, this was where we ended the first run, and also where I was caught painting myself into a corner, story-wise. The reason we are pausing for now isn’t financial, though. It’s artistic. I don’t have a script for the sprawling final chapter of this portion of the saga that I have rolling around in my head. Now, this is NOT to say that I will reboot again. I honestly could not be more pleased with how this iteration of the series turned out. Not to mention the amazing talent we’ve worked with along the way. As the cover indicates, this chapter will be completed by the trio you have come to expect with me at the helm, Oshi on the pencils, and Verias on the finishes. I expect this chapter will be around 60 or so pages. (and there is also a final bonus chapter 5.5 about the teacher who caught Alan and Clara fooling in the park.) so there’s still at least a couple years worth of updates coming. As for the sequel I was planning… we’ll see how I feel when I’m 46 and this has been running for 14 years lol
In the short term, I have 3 episodes of the original Peppermint Saga scripted out, and Oshi is continuing Chapter 4 where Blackwalker left off. We still have the art to complete on 4.5 so we can publish it to DriveThru, and of course, there is the Visual Novel adaptation to worry about. So all-in-all, there’s still tons of content on the horizon for you to peruse. So please hang in there with us. I promise you’ll find the wait worth it. 😉
~Mace
P.S. Please don’t forget that the Patreon keeps us going. Also, if you are on an iOS device, remember that Discord is planning on ducking the 17+ rating, so all NSFW servers will now be blocked on iOS devices. Hopefully, they will reverse this since virtually EVERYTHING on Discord should require a parental lock these days. Seriously. People are terrible! lol So if you’re not seeing our notifications there, that may be why. You can still access on the Desktop version.
hey man, how are you?
hey man, how are you holding up?
Hanging in there. Wish I made a bit more off comics so I could do this full-time, but that’s not where we are at the moment. However, we may be returning soon-ish. I’ll keep everyone posted.
It’s understandable… writing is hard.
Writing is not “hard”, nor is it the problem. The problem is I have $50,000 in debt, stuff in collections, bills up the wazoo, and not enough money coming in to cover any of it, let alone hire an artist week-to-week to draw this series. I suppose that *I* could draw it. I did “Peppermint Saga” for almost 3 years before I hired Oshi. But that takes time from my other jobs which continue to pay what little I can against this futility. I’m not sure if your remark was an unintentionally flippant defense of me, or a dig, but that’s the real-world answer. As I’ve said many times before: if the Patreon were much higher, or direct donations, or even sales of the last three books were high, I could continue. But as it stands right now, the future looks bleak. I’m doing all I can to change that.
I guess this chapter’s on standby indefinitely?
See my reply to ColdFusion for the sad reality of my lot.