Vive la Révolution, Page 5

I did want to be that publisher. But it never happened. I learned through effort that publishing my own comics, let alone anyone else’s, would require more money and connections than I had access to in the Middle of Nowhere.

Take a look at those initial panels about learning the software and building a site. That’s foreshadowing! I learned Photoshop while I was still being home-schooled. I built my first site, MangaPunk.com, a community, in Drupal (that’s a screenshot of its landing page in that panel). I read books on PHP and HTML and the entire damned Adobe Creative Suite. I devoted an immense amount of time and energy as a teenager not just to making comics but also to preparing and sharing them. And in the end, those were the skills that let me get a real job that I love. My only regret is that real jobs mean less time for making comics!

Sometimes I feel like a failure for not having lived that dream the way I wanted. But then I remember all the friends I’ve made and the adventures I’ve been on and the people I’ve helped, and I don’t feel like it was for naught. And who knows? Maybe I’ll actually make this happen one day, on a more robust digital model Humans have long lives. I could still do it! Check back in ten years.

Fun fact: MangaPunk.com’s tagline was “Vive la Révolution!”