Book One Vs Book Two.

Wasn’t a 100% sure how to kick off this Babayka-lives less summer, so I thought the best thing I could do was simply just take a picture of the latest page I’m working on right now, and post that. Yep… Here’s a half-inked page from Babayka: Book 2. I won’t go into detail for fear of spoilers, but I think it gives a pretty good feel of what Book 2 will be about and where the storyline’s heading.

I think for Book 1 (I.E. Brides Of Babayka), having a little more reserved, cloak-and-dagger style set up was very much called for. I feel one of the jobs of Book 1 is to create an enclosed, spooky atmosphere for readers, and introduce the characters of The Brides and Babayka to the audience. But once the Babayka out the bag, as it were, later in the year, I think that type of storytelling would start to feel very old, very quickly in the second book. With Book 2, I want to widen that spooky atmospheric net a little bit, and maybe introduce a bit more action into the second story. It’s ok for the characters in Book 1 to be clueless about Babayka, because the reader him\herself is also for the most part keep in the dark in the first story. I don’t think that would work for a second instalment when the reader him\herself is more wiser to what’s going on. I want to move things forward for Book 2, not just do a retelling of Brides Of Babayka.

A big thank you to everyone who tune in last Saturday over on Babayka-Lives. I’m pretty sure it was the site’s biggest turn out of return readers in its history to date. I don’t think a lot of readers knew the comic was going to start its summer break last weekend, sadly, but hopefully with the little Book 2 titbits I’ll be putting out over the summer, plus the fact that Babayka-Lives will shortly return this autumn, readers won’t be too disappointed. We’ll be a taking a one way trip into that room at the end of the hall before you even know it, dear reader, have no fear.

Kebab Pizza.

One of my side-missions in life is to try as many different bizarre pizza toppings as possible. Last Easter, for example, I tried a cheese burger pizza, which was good, but not great, as I remember it. And last week myself and a friend finally got around to trying a kebab pizza. That’s a pizza topped with doner kebab meat. This pizza I actually enjoyed more. While the meat was maybe cut a tiny bit too thick for something going on top of a pizza and was a little over cooked, I would recommend it (providing you like doner kebab meat, that is), and unlike the cheeseburger pizza, I probably will order it again sometime. Maybe next time I’ll see if I can get one with jalapeno chillis, sliced red cabbage and mayonnaise.      

Just a quick reminder that Babayka-Lives starts its summer break next week, and will return shortly in august. I myself will not be taking a break this summer, however, so feel free to drop by this blog over the next couple of months, as I’ll be talking Babayka: Book 2 as well as other stuff, no doubt.

Summer Break Schedule.

I think it’s only fair to warn readers there will be a short break coming soon over the summer at Babayka-Lives. There’s a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, one of the many things I learnt over my first year of doing a web-comic in 2014, was that readership takes a hefty drop during the summer months. This is understandable, as the sun’s out, and nobody’s really in the mood to sit indoors and read a horror web-comic anyway. People want to be off their computers, and out in the sunshine. I myself wondered why so many web-comics take a break over the summer, and now I’m guessing this is probably why. The second reason is we’re heading towards the end of Brides Of Babayka. We’re down to our last character, and I think it’s pretty clear something big is about to go down, and I don’t really want to be posting the best, and scariest part of the story, and wrapping up during the summer months when less people are reading or caring. I know some people might counter with I could just post the end of Brides Of Babayka during the summer, and then readers could go back themselves and read it as a whole later in the autumn, but I’d rather do it when everybody’s in the mood and people are tuning in. Plus I just think Babayka-Lives as a web-series works better in the colder, darker months of the year. I’ve notices that’s when readership tends to be at its highest. It harder to scare an audience on a bright, lovely sunny day.

So what’s the plan for the summer, you may well ask. Page-87 goes up this Saturday as normal, and then the break starts on the 16th. Page-87 ends on a hell of a cliffhanger, so don’t worry. Over the summer, I’ll be sure to keep updating this blog. To keep readers going during the forthcoming Babayka drought, I’ll be dropping hints and info about Babayka: Book 2 (let me start by dropping a quick hint now… Babayka: Book 2 isn’t going to be called Babayka: Book 2. For what it is going to be called, keep watching this blog over the summer.) I may well also post a couple of sneak-peak photos of the artwork from Book 2 and maybe the odd character profile shot, too, until the web-comic itself returns around mid-august. Not sure what I’ll do over the summer in regards to updating my Babayka-Lives Tapastic account. I probably won’t take a break from that, but I might slow down a bit. I haven’t a 100% decided yet. We’ll see. If nothing else, it would be nice to have somewhere else where readers can get up-to-speed on Brides Of Babayka before it ends in August. I also hear Tapastic comics look very good on smart-phones (not owning a smart-phone myself, I wouldn’t know), but I hear they do.

Hope readers won’t be too disappointed there’s to be a break this summer. We are nearly at a whooping ninety-pages into Brides Of Babayka, and this is the web-comics first hiatus in two years (not including the three weeks at the start of this year, when the site was hacked, and I had to rebuild it again from scratch and move it over to tumblr.), so I promise the series won’t be left hanging, and will be resolved in the autumn. Anybody left super fuming by this news, and don’t wanna wait till August for Brides Of Babayka to be concluded, well you could always just simply buy the book. After 86-pages, you must have a pretty good idea of if you’re enjoying the story or not by now. Plus the graphic-novel contains extras that can only be found in the book. If you’re someone who likes reading creepy horror stories even in the sunny weather, why not treat yourself this summer, and help support independent comics, to boot.    

Here’s an interesting fact to end on (well… I guess you’ll be the judge of that.) It’s only early May, and I’m already about to make a start on my Halloween Ecard this year. I’m so backlogged, the only way I figured I’d be able to fit it in, is to start super early in the year. I’ve thumb-nailed a design I like, now I just need to draw it. And yes… Babayka himself\itself will be the star of this year’s Ecard, as promised last year.

Squashed Vampire.

Just thought I’d share this photo I quickly snapped on my phone the other day. It an old Halloween vampire mask squashed in a pile of comics, magazines and other bits-and-pieces that sit on my desk.

There’s a big part of me that would love to get back into photography. I kind of got into it at college, and do very much enjoy it. Right now, though, the web-comic seems to take up any rare free second of time I might get, but maybe one day. I did buy myself a funky new camera a few years ago, and I still haven’t really tried it out yet.

Global Readership.

The eerie ‘quiet before the storm’ continues over on Babayka-lives this weekend. Has Blake’s luck finally run out, and he doesn’t even know it yet? And just where is everybody, anyway? You ever get the feeling something sinister is brewing?

I always try and avoid talking numbers and figures of readers on this blog. Partly because I think a web-comic should be judge on artwork and content alone, not whether it’s in style that week online or not. And partly because I imagine it wouldn’t really be a very interesting subject for anyone reading this blog. Plus as we all know, just because something’s popular, doesn’t actually mean it’s any good. But that said, I did think today I’d share this screen grab below of Babayka-Lives audience stat showing readership from around the world. I am very lucky in that the comic does seem to attract readers from near-and-far, and for anyone wondering, here’s what Babayka-Lives worldwide readership looks like. By far, the biggest audience of readers can be found in the Untied States. I guess that’s probably no surprise, as they are the biggest English-languages speaking country in the world. They’re also a country big on both horror and comics. I’m guessing America are probably most web-comic’s biggest readership audience. Second and third place seems to be an ongoing battle right now between the Untied Kingdom (my home country, if you were wondering) and the Philippines (who are apparently big into web-comics at the moment.) Right now it’s the UK holding second position, but up until recently, it’s been the Philippines. It’s almost neck-and-neck at the moment. Honourable mentions should also go to readers from Canada, Russia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Australia and many others. It’s very flattering to know people are tuning in from around the world to follow this web-series. With so many, many web-comics out there right now competing for reader’s attentions, it is nice to know people are following this web-series and wanting to know where this series is going (not to mention I probably lose a vast amount of readers on account of I don’t draw a web-comic that’s either Manga-y or Cartoon-y, like 99% of all modern web-comics currently. Like with Superhero comics dominating floppy comic-books in the last century, you do feel a bit left out right now in web-comics if you’re not a drawing a series that’s heavily Anime inspired, bright colours, and wacky with everyone having big cartoon eyes… Not that I’m against any of those things, you understand, but it’s pretty clear that’s not really where my artwork’s coming from.) So it’s nice to know it turns out there is an audience for what I do. Not being a colourful manga\cartoon inspired web-comic, it can also mean it’s hard to get any love from media\web-comic websites (plus being a horror web-comic can bring out the skittish in some reviewers, sadly.) So a big thank you to those readers that recommend Babayka-Lives to other people, either online, or in person. It truly is a massive help when readers (from wherever you are across the globe) show this web-comic some love. Just recommending Babayka-Lives to a friend, or saying a few kind words about it and posting a link on Blogs\Facebook\Twitter\Forums is such a massive help.

It’s only recently I’ve really began to see where this web-series can start to go over the next couple of years. While Brides Of Babayka will be coming to an end very soon, I do have plenty of plans for these characters, have no fear. I guess it will come down to whether readers are interested in seeing future adventures of The Brides Of Babayka, and Babayka himself (when he finally bloody turns up) when Book one is finished or not. I hope people will.

Hit That Button.

Tune in tomorrow over on Babayka-Lives to see the fate of Ronald Blake, as he continues his misadventures trapped deep in Babayka’s lair. What will become of poor, old, lone Blake? How long will he remain the last Bachelor standing?

Also, if you have either a Tumblr or Tapastic account, why not subscribe to Babayka-Lives? Never miss an update by simply hitting that subscribe button. It also gives me a chance to get to know some of my readers, to boot, and helps support the web-comic. A massive thank you to those who have already subscribe via Tumblr\Tapastic. It’s always awesome when readers show some love and hits that subscribe button. It’s the highlight of my day when I get an Email informing me the comic’s got a new follower, so a big thank you to those that do.

Blogger Quest.

Decided this week to spice things up a bit, so I turned my blog into a interactive, live-action, roleplaying game. To play, simply pick up and roll a six-sided dice now and follow the instructions below.

Roll a 6 or a 5: You must travel to the part of the internet where the dreaded Babayka-Lives and witness the fate of poor, lone Blake, as he finds himself last man standing (or not, as it were) after last week’s horrific events.  

Roll a 4 or a 3: Quest you must over to Tapastic, where you will find pages 45 to 48 freshly uploaded and waiting to be discovered. What riddles do they hide, brave traveller?

Roll a 2: Your path is unclear. Player must roll again.

Roll a 1: You are eaten by a smelly Orc. Game over. No Babayka action for you this week, unlucky knight. You must return in seven moons time and try again with your quest.