FA+
Shop
Cody Frost will return. Again.
3 years ago
Soooooo the plan was to get From Russia With Lust underway this year. Tax season was....ahem....unexpectedly challenging this year, so I knew not much progress would be made until after.
Then came the whole Russia-Ukraine dealio!
You know I have zero interest in politics, but it doesn't seem particularly prudent to feature a Russian protagonist right now, even if he's an ex-pat with mixed feelings about the homeland. Due to the ties to the i.s.o./Class Menagerie timeline, the plot is definitely not current, maybe late 2000's, but still. At the very least, we were kicking around ideas for an alternate title.
It was suggested making the new characters something besides Russian. Personal interest aside, I don't think we can. The plot heavily involves the superspy world of James Bond, and the main agents in those stories were usually MI6, CIA, or KGB. I suppose the were a number of big badass German agents, but a lot of Vlad's personality comes from being stifled in a (still currently) highly homophobic country, and Germany has avoided that for some time.
And let's be real...I was still heavily considering Twitter to be one of our main avenues, and THAT has taken a potentially interesting turn recently too; good or bad remains to be seen. [EDIT 2023 - hooboy...]
We're thus kind of in a holding pattern...we're still actively working on it, but there may not be big news for a bit. We'll seeif how the world survives the next few months.
Thanks for sticking with us!
Then came the whole Russia-Ukraine dealio!
You know I have zero interest in politics, but it doesn't seem particularly prudent to feature a Russian protagonist right now, even if he's an ex-pat with mixed feelings about the homeland. Due to the ties to the i.s.o./Class Menagerie timeline, the plot is definitely not current, maybe late 2000's, but still. At the very least, we were kicking around ideas for an alternate title.
It was suggested making the new characters something besides Russian. Personal interest aside, I don't think we can. The plot heavily involves the superspy world of James Bond, and the main agents in those stories were usually MI6, CIA, or KGB. I suppose the were a number of big badass German agents, but a lot of Vlad's personality comes from being stifled in a (still currently) highly homophobic country, and Germany has avoided that for some time.
And let's be real...I was still heavily considering Twitter to be one of our main avenues, and THAT has taken a potentially interesting turn recently too; good or bad remains to be seen. [EDIT 2023 - hooboy...]
We're thus kind of in a holding pattern...we're still actively working on it, but there may not be big news for a bit. We'll see
Thanks for sticking with us!
glad to get news from you too.
Good luck on figuring things out, and thanks so much for the update! We're all rooting for you guys. *hug*
Thanks muchly! *hugs*
And as other people have already commented, it's good that you intend to keep Vlad and Georgiy as Russians. It gives them and interesting background and history that current geopolitics won't change.
But I'm glad they can keep their personalities that we've come to cherish and love ^.^
"Lore Olympus," which is a modern re-telling of Greek myths, focusing on Hades and Persephone; and
"Blades of Furry," which is a gay furry romance about a vampire bat and a deer, both of whom are battle skaters (which is a made up sport that's a combination of figure skating and martial arts).
Maybe you could try looking that site up and seeing if it may be right for you? I don't know if it will be or not, but hey, it might to take a look. "Blades of Furry" is quite popular, despite being relatively new (it's only been around for about a year, I think). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jey6eM3QDTw
you do what you wanna do <:3
And, hey, sezzy tigers! You know I'm all for that.
Yasssss!
Some coworkers and I have started wondering if we branched off into the darkest timeline.
Also, you have Twitter? I must follow there now!
I don't know... maybe if he's an ex-pat he wants nothing to do with the current government. I mean, we still had Germans making movies for us because they'd escaped and disavowed Nazi Germany.
On the one hand, yes. On the other, this is a country that tried to rename sauerkraut, hamburger, and french fries based on our political whims, so yanno. Okay, granted, saying that aloud also reminds me that likely isn't a readership I want. Still. Again, mostly starting promo from scratch and I don't need any speedbumps...
The world's problems stem from the government of Russia, and even more so the few at the very top, not its people, so an ex-KGB agent who steals from said government sounds more like a good Robin Hood-esque protag.
That and changing the name now would also feel just as political as not, while just not keeping the original intention. I think you should stay the course and stick it to the homophobic bastard by having a gay ex-KGB protag in a comic that people will enjoy.
I believe that who have been keeping track understand this is not an endorsement of current world events.
Those who come in later will either learn and come to understand the connotation or are people who don't really matter. If they can't take the time to understand that this is a work years and years in the making completely divorced from said current events, then they don't matter as critics. You need to have a relatively good understanding of something to critique it imo.
Just my two cents, take 'em or leave 'em.
Hope you're doing well regardless of whatever else is going on in the world/around you. :)
But yes, definitely helpful to bounce this off everyone. Thx!
Thanks for the update though.
Looking forward to any more content from you :)
That said, I think a lot of people above gave good ideas and perspectives on how this could still work. But I support whatever you choose to do, whenever it happens. And it's good to hear from you again and know you're all right. *hugs*
Seems like that and 'highschool coming of age story' are like the only things I can see nowadays
Supposing the volume versions have better quality, do you have plans to sell them digitally, like in a ebook or pdf format? I'm from Brazil, so I'm not sure I'd be able to buy the physical versions and have them shipped internationally.
Still, if there are no plans for a digital high quality format, I'd still like to know if the physical versions (Vol. 1 and 2) have a better quality than the archive and if there is someplace that still has Vol 2 in stock so I can try buying it.
Thanks in advance for reading and for the story!
Both volumes were made with hi-res files. And I truly have no idea why Vol 2 is sold out everywhere vs Vol 1. I will say I'm afraid I personally have no plans for a hi-res digital release--quite frankly, it was several computers ago and I'm dubious I still have all them.