"Quid Pro Quo" is over.

[ZOMBIE USER 8454]

Yep. ALMOST a year after it started and ALMOST a hundred strips later, Quid Pro Quo has ended, permanently (i think.)

actually, i do think it pretty amazing that i got this far. i had seriously considered ending it at least four times in the past, and if you know me you'll know that i'm pretty pathetic when it comes to long term projects.

on October 2nd, 2001, when i drew the first QPQ strip (Oct. 2 is also the day Peanuts debuted in 1950, i'll have you know) i scanned it and named the file "qpq001.jpg," and i remember thinking, "why 001? i doubt i'll make it to 100." well. i DIDN'T, but i'd say 99 is nothing to be ashamed of. (well, James did one of those. the other 98 of them are (c)ME.)

anyway, here we are. reasons? well, i guess i'm just not much of a comic writer. even though i dare say i've partially succeeded as one in the annals of QPQ, i just don't enjoy doing it... it's something that i have to do as a catalyst for visuals. another thing is that the whole philosophy i had while doing QPQ wasn't very good... i had this sort of "joke-by-joke" frame of mind, and i didn't think very much about the universe that the characters were in. i worry that the characters were basically becoming interchangeable props.

this doesn't mean i will quit cartooning. in fact, i'd love to keep doing a strip if i can find a compatible writer with whom i can collaborate. i would even like to return to writing my own strip eventually, perhaps when i'm back in school in the spring. but until any of this happens, i will be doing other projects. feel very free to e-mail me if you want to keep in touch, i guess.

also. maybe this is pretentious. hmm. anyone want to buy QPQ originals? i have each and every one of them in a big envelope here by my desk. just post a thing, or e-mail me or IM me or something, and we'll talk about it. i'm not begging or anything, i'm just sorta curious.

so there ya go.

-b

[SiameseNick]

NOOOOO!!!!!!!!

BRIAN!!!!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!



Die. I hope it comes back someday. Like Joe. Oh wait, Joe never came back. DIE.

[JimRob]

Aw. That's definitely a bad thing. It's a particular shame because the strips which you did do were exceptionally good - in both writing and art - and if you'd been able to keep up the same kind of quality, I'd have laid money on your getting a sizable readership. But, in the end, there's no sense in doing it if you don't enjoy doing it.

Anyway, if you can find suitable writers, I'll look forward to seeing you do other cartoony things in the future. I for one will be disappointed if you don't.

(And thanks for providing me with some kind of rationale for canning Albion Fuzz if I decide to do that )

[Xannie5]

Noooo! Say it aint so!!!!

[ZOMBIE USER 8454]

well, let's get a few things straight here.

a) i'm never sure of any decision i make. for all i know, i'll get over this slump and want nothing more than to do comics again. back in Junior High i did a comic strip called "Evinrude" that ran the distance of 415 strips total, but there were several gaps in its production that were as much as 7 months long. even Schubert had such tidal creative forces (he was bipolar though, so that has a lot to do with it.)

b) hey, just because QPQ is over, doesn't mean i'm not still a cartoonist! all this means is that i'm not doing rigid schedules and i'm not doing comics with the pretext of Quid Pro Quo. and really, there WERE no recurring elements in QPQ, except the characters and a few concepts that i touched on several times (such as Barry's bad driving). i do plan on establishing a new web page, where i will hopefully keep fresh content cycling through for those of you who would like to see what i end up doing now that i've stopped this strip.

i think it's rather exciting!

[SiameseNick]

You are a good cartoonist. I'm glad you're not giving it up.

[Lordrunningclam]

A shame. I will miss it.

[ScottE]

Damn.

Ah well, even at 98 strips, that's still a decent run. I do wonder about that last one, pencilled but never inked, that we'll never ever see.

What space should we watch for your next project? (Will you leave the archvies up?)

Godspeed.

[ZOMBIE USER 8454]

QPQ #100 was a half-assed attempt to rekindle the whole thing with a new storyline. it's still sitting on my drawing table as we speak, but i'm not going to be finishing it anytime soon.

and yes, i will definitely keep the archives up, as i have no reason to take them down and i have no idea HOW to take them down.

as for that other question, what i'm thinking is sort of setting up an ad-hoc web page at my old school file space, which is slightly immoral because i don't go to that school anymore. but nonetheless, they're still sending me bills, so touch

[Tek Roo]

::salutes::

Good luck, God speed, and stay in touch! It's a shame that it ended the second I got caught up on the back issues, but you shouldn't chain yourself down on our account. I'm sure you'll be providing us with more quality entertaiment in due course!

[ZOMBIE USER 8454]

thanks!

actually, it's becoming a little more likely that QPQ will begin again sometime... perhaps a revised QPQ, if that makes sense.

for the morbidly curious, my other web site is here. there isn't TOO much there, but that's where things will BE.