Sakana No Sadness : To be relaunched at a later date
Dear readers,
On July 18, 2011, I regretfully announced that my Web comic, Sakana No Sadness, would be taking a break from weekly updates until further notice. It was regretful because up until that point I had been running the comic quite smoothly and had never missed an update in the year and a half since I started it in early 2010. I was optimistic that I could continue in this fashion for the foreseeable future and hopefully straight through until the end of the story I intended to tell.
Sadly, reality eventually caught up with me. In the months leading up to the hiatus, the processes behind this comic were not running as smoothly as they once were. I had no buffer between the latest page written and the latest page scheduled to be published, as I found myself with neither the time nor the creative willpower to churn out a large batch of updates in advance so that I wouldn't be rushing to get the next one out for Monday morning on Sunday night. As a result I felt not only stressed and burdened by this project, but also that the quality of the artwork was beginning to suffer, and being the perfectionist that I am when it comes to my own artwork, this situation was unacceptable.
In the weeks after I stopped updating the comic I had some time to think about how best to continue it. The most important and obvious thing to consider was how to fit weekly updates into my schedule starting in fall of 2011, which I knew would be the start of an extremely busy period. I also needed to plan everything in such a way that the same misfortune that befell the project this summer would never happen again. Ever.
My conclusion: Impossible.
It may sound defeatist, but I've realized that the way I originally thought I would see this project through to the end is highly unrealistic. If you aren't me, and chances are you're not, then you don't know the ambitious nature of the plot of Sakana No Sadness. I would never reveal spoilers even if I planned to abandon it completely, but suffice it to say that it's long. The 73 pages of comic that appeared on the site over 18 months are a fraction of it. When I think of long term planning for the creation and release of future chapters, I think in terms of years, not months. Going about telling this ambitious story the way I've been doing so far, in this slow and semi-improvised manner, piece by piece, week to week, far into the foreseeable future, at the point where I'm at in my life and career, is just not going to happen.
So do I plan on stopping Sakana? Yes and no. But mostly no. I've decided that because of the ambitious nature of this graphic novel project, keeping it on my front burner full time is likely to wear me out and ultimately cause me to become sick of and lose all passion for it (and I would hate for that to happen, because believe me when I say that it's a concept and story that I truly love). I've decided to turn it into a long-term side project instead. I will continue to work on it, but quietly and in private, and on a more relaxed schedule. The lack of pressure to have something to show every single week will hopefully foster creative inspiration, and prevent it from feeling like a chore. I will continue to work in this way until the comic reaches a level of completion at which I feel comfortable publishing it without fear of hitting a wall before the last page of the last chapter goes up.
When Sakana appears again, it will not pick up where it left off; it will undergo a total relaunch. I can't go into detail about what exactly that might mean, but I foresee that enough time will have passed that to have me pop up and say "Oh hey I'm back guys, here's page 74" would be awkward and ineffective. I will certainly want to generate excitement among long time fans, and also attract new readers with a fresh start.
TL;DR version: No more comic for now, but keep your bookmarks; Sakana isn't dead!
The final word
If you've been a reader of Sakana No Sadness, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your enthusiastic support. All my interaction and feedback from visitors and fans has been nothing but glowingly positive. Some of you were keen participants in the little community of comment-leavers that developed, even sparking some really intense and interesting discussions that I would never have dreamed would come out of something I created. Seeing how many of you cared enough to say something about each weekly page never failed to put a smile on my face.
I'm sure many are wondering if the sakanacomic.com website is totally gone or if you can go back and read the existing pages. For the time being I've taken the site down and the comic archive is not accessible. I will most likely keep it that way as I consider the comic to be a work that's in the process of being creatively revamped. That said, if you are a current fan and would like access to the old site so you can re-read old pages and comments, email me. I'll contact you if I decide to reopen the site to select individuals in future.
If you'd like to keep up with my other artistic endeavors, follow me at these websites:
I will hopefully be starting some new and exciting things now that my load's been lightened a bit. As for this site, keep it on your radar. I'm not done here yet; not even close.
Cheers,
Simon Harchun
