Well, last strip ever is a bit of a hyperbole. Its not the last strip, its just undergoing a transformation.
The reason you haven’t been seeing the webcomic updated recently is because there have been some major, glorious, fantastic changes going on behind the curtain, Wizard of Oz style.
I began AMoB more or less on the whim. A few weeks of thinking about it, I had no idea about websites or webcomics in general, but I knew I wanted to draw and write something with zombies in it. From that All Manner of Bad was born.
Fast forward two and a half years later, I’ve come to that point in my life where it’s sort of go all in as a wannabe professional or keep it as a hobby that stresses me out sometimes.
That’s oddly a very difficult decision to make. One I’ve been struggling with for the last year, almost. Why the internal civil war, you might ask. Well, you see I never really wanted to draw. The drawing for AMoB and various other things are due mainly because there is no one else to do it and I rose to the challenge in my usual lackadaisical way, half assed some meaner folk might say.
My desire has always been to write. To write novels and short stories and tales about the apocalypse or the post apocalypse, where humans battle off the cannibals, crazies, and hell demons bent on conquering the last vestige of humanity. That’s the bit of creativity I’ve always wanted to focus on, drawing has always been secondary.
Yet, drawing has become something I’ve taken a big heaping liking to. There’s something about the semi physical, therapeutic nature that first drew me to it and the technical, trying to figure out where bits and pieces goes that’s been keeping me gradually improving my skills. I’m an okay drawer, I know I can do better, I want to do better, but not just from a drawing point of view, but also from a story telling point of view.
AMoB, as stated before, didn’t get much in the way of planning and universe laying out. The characters weren’t thought out before and they weren’t really developed prior to their faces showing up on the strips, over the years some of those characters… characteristics have formed and their personalities solidified, but in the beginning, I barely even knew them.
And because of that, the stories suffered. The necessary effort wasn’t really exerted and although some story lines came out good, others didn’t have the same power or thought behind it.
Now, that’s all going to change because of one major thing that’s going to happen in the next few days…
REBOOT!
I’m sure a few of you are groaning already at the word. I was going to say this isn’t a DC style reboot, but then realized it sort of is. The characters are the same and the place is still the same and the general story will be the same, but the flow, the pacing, and the overall arc and structure will be pruned and shaped to what I’ve wanted it to be for the last year.
You’ll have your good ole Jase, Bryan, Tiffany, Lucy, Raul, and Yanabah, the only differences is that some of the paths they wander along will be different from what they were before.
And that’s it. The Big Honkin’ News, told in extra super long form.
Here’s to a good hard reboot and many years of zombie mayhem to come.
Alex Claw
