Buffer = 40
Posted February 5th, 2007 by Howard TaylerAt the end of last week I cranked the inked buffer (the queue of upcoming strips) to 38, which is the highest it’s been in three years. Today I scripted, pencilled, and inked another week (A really good one, but you’re going to have to wait until March 11th for it), nudging the inked buffer up to 40.
That STILL doesn’t beat the high of 42 (insert obligatory H2G2 reference here) on January 31st of 2004, but I’m in a position to KEEP the buffer bouncing between 32 and 40 for the rest of this month.
My goal for this year is to add a week to the buffer each month, so that in December of 2007 the buffer reaches 110. I also plan to keep farther ahead on the coloring. Why work so far ahead? Three reasons:
1) It allows me to take actual vacations. I had my first ever family Christmas vacation in December thanks to a big buffer.
2) My comic does not need to be topical, current, or hip, so there’s no reason to NOT work a long ways out.
3) If I die, my estate will have sufficient lead time to hire an artist and writer, such that you might never miss an update. How would THAT be for a webcomic track record?
If you want to keep score at home… well, you can’t. But I post buffer updates in the Nightstar Schlock forum, with a new thread each month.
Explore posts in the same categories: Cartooning
February 5th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
What? No automagic buffer counter thingy? Sheesh..
February 5th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Huzzah! I have no doubt that you’ve answered this question on the boards, but why don’t you consider the buffer to also include colored strips?
February 5th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Because that’s the way I’ve always done it.
Besides, anybody can color the way I do. Nobody would notice if that got done by a filler artist.
February 5th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
You can’t die this decade.
Period.
Otherwise, WOW!
February 5th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
…The webcartoonist is dead, long live the webcartoonist?
Vorn
February 5th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I believe the character of Tank in “The Matrix” said it best when he was talking about how much training he’d already loaded into Neo over the last 10 hours. “He’s a machine.” I do believe that line can be applied to our dear Mr. Tayler!
(And NO DYING, Howard!)
February 5th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
I was really sad when i realised that this is not actually a neverending story. Ive read throu the entire schlock archives atleast three times, and i like it alot. We need to invent somekind of brain-replication-o-matic and make several Howards, just incase something happens to the original.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:11 am
We need to borrow the Clone-o-Matic from Casey and Andy and make some copies of Howard and freeze them. Maybe in a cry-o-matic. That way we can thaw one incase something happens to the original.
Either that, or ill just have to put you in a very nice, safe, indestructable bunker with padded walls.
Howard for President.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:57 am
It is ironic how people sometimes try to hide from Death in nice, safe, indestructable, *airtight* bunkers, as this is one of the easiest ways for him to find you.
Statistically, one of the best places to hide from Death is actually a graveyard, or a funeral home. Virtually no one dies in either of those places, ever. By the same token, the Moon should be pretty safe, and the center of the Sun should be even safer. I seriously doubt Death has ever been there.
I agree with the top poster; an automagic buffer readout on the main page would be pretty sweet, and not-impossible to code.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:57 am
Might this also speed the arrival of future books as well? *he wishes tremendously*
February 6th, 2007 at 1:38 am
It would take time to code a buffer readout, and I don’t see the point, other than to make greedy readers like me want to find a way to get Mr. Tayler to cough up the strips early. Hmm…. I wonder if he’d do it for home-made pizza….
February 6th, 2007 at 6:26 am
You could die tomorrow with your head held high, Howard (though please don’t!). Your body of work is good enough that it should live on long after you’re gone.
February 6th, 2007 at 7:17 am
dfeuer: I make a pretty darn good pizza myself — double-decker pizza, baked inside a dutch oven… tempting me with homemade pizza might be difficult. :-)
February 6th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Although, Death has good reason to feel the center of the sun is secure. That shifty mother will be waiting in the corona.
February 6th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
ummm, howard, can you post your double layered pizza in a dutch oven recipe?? (i still say you should try your hand at cake decorating!)
February 6th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
…and so, one day, the Wikipedia shall read “Howard Tayler continued publishing Schlock Mercenary a full 4 months after he died. Pete Abrams, on the other hand, caught a cold and quit publishing Sluggy Freelance for a week.” Bless you Howard, for your determination.
Now… who’s up for gate-cloning HoTay a few times? :-D
February 6th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Me. I’d totally gate-clone myself a few times.
I’d have to do it when Sandra’s not looking, though. She’d get upset. One of me is about 25% too much.
February 6th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Your innuendo is showing, Howard.
Doc.
February 6th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
I would love to taste your dutch-oven pizza, Mr. Tayler. I make thin-crust pizza, top it with mushrooms, garlic, and often spinach and/or broccoli, and bake it on 550-degree quarry tiles. If we’re ever in the same city at the same time, we must have a bake-off.
February 6th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I want to second the motion that Howard try cake decorating. For inspiration, see the almost unbelievable http://homepages.tesco.net/janefisk/discworld/discworld.htm (the completed cake is shown at the bottom of the page).