First things first: I’ve got TWO new comics for you to follow! The first is my new main project, Monster Pulse, which I am launching TODAY. This is my new main comic. It’s a little different from Bobwhite, more of an adventure story, but I’m extremely excited about it and I think you will be too. I’ve been working hard on it and it’s got a lot of themes and subjects that are close to my heart. I don’t want to say too much about it, head on over and check it out for yourself. I’ve also got Dracula Mystery Club, which I am working on with Kel McDonald and Amanda Lefrenais, and it’s a great vampire satire that I think you’ll enjoy.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about Bobwhite.
Three years isn’t a huge amount of time, but when I think about the past three years I’ve spent doing Bobwhite, it’s amazing to me how much I have changed and grown. I started Bobwhite because I wanted to write about girls who I felt were missing from the kind of college movies and tv shows I was watching. Girls who didn’t have life magically figured out, who talked about stupid stuff and wasted their time doing dumb things. Girls who couldn’t always get what they wanted and made mistakes as often as they made good decisions. Girls who I felt resembled myself and the people I knew. I also wanted to write about college as I experienced it- where there weren’t always wild parties to go to and amazing, crazy, life-changing events every other night.
Bobwhite has helped me to learn a lot about writing and storytelling and pacing, and about art as well. It’s also helped me figure my own life. It’s often been incredibly cathartic to have characters to write about who were so similar to me, who could go through the same troubles I was. The past three years have also, personally, been incredibly formative. I feel as though the person who started Bobwhite is a different person than the one ending it. Though I still feel unsure and scared of the future sometimes, and I certainly still make mistakes, I’ve come to a place where I don’t feel as strong a need to make that the focus of my writing. I’m ready to move on, as Cleo, Ivy and Marlene are moving on.
As cliche as it is to say, I don’t really feel like Bobwhite is ending. I’m not going to make comics about them anymore, but Ivy, Marlene and Cleo are gonna grow up and keep on living and changing. I have some ideas for what they might do after college, but I don’t really want to write an “epilogue” or anything like that. It’s up to you to imagine what they are up to in their life from now on.
Because after all, I couldn’t have done this without you, the readers. I’m amazed and humbled by the comments and support I’ve been getting since I announced Bobwhite was ending- indeed, since I started drawing Bobwhite. You are all incredible and made this more than worth it. I’m glad some of you have come to think of the girls as friends and people you know- and I hope you will continue to feel that way even now that the comic is over. I know I do. Thank you all so much.