Does Anyone Know About Troops of Doom?

[Vulcan]

The title is pretty much it: Does anyone here know what's going on with the guy who writes Troops of Doom? It's been nearly a year since his last comic, the site's being overrun by spamdroids, and no one who has (legitimately) commented there has had any proof he's even still alive since the beginning of June. I figured since he's a member here too someone might know.

[troopsofdoom]

I'm still alive. Troops of Doom has inadvertently gone on hiatus. I wanted to create comics for as long as I remember. Seen a lot of web comics go professional and that was my goal. I put a lot of time and work into TOD, but just couldn't get any exposure for the comic to build a large enough readership. I'd been really frustrated about that for a long time. So when one of my poorly constructed light stands fell a second time, dominoed into the others, smashed, and destroyed the last set I built, I said "Fuck it," and walked away. Always planned on starting back up. Still do, because mostly it was fun. (Except for when you bump the table and all the figures fall over.)

Working a regular job now doesn't help. Previously I was self employed working from home for ten years which gave me a lot of flexibility to make TOD. I could alternate between work and the comic if I wasn't close to a deadline. Now when I get home from work it's hard to get motivated. My boss used to read TOD. Every now and again he complains about the lack of new comics. I tell him "You killed TOD. It's your fault."

I still visit JoeDios almost every day to check out the photos. Haven't been logged in to comment but it's always great to see GI Joe brought to life here.

[Black Knight]

I understand, ever since I got my new job I've had little to no motivation to do any photography. I'm always just too tired, so the feeling is mutual. We all hope to see ToD back up soon tho. Good luck.

[troopsofdoom]

[QUOTE=Black Knight]I understand, ever since I got my new job I've had little to no motivation to do any photography.[/QUOTE]
Working a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday job is soul crushing. :(

[neapolitan joe]

Troopsofdoom we'll waiting for You!

:)

[Vulcan]

Your faithful readers will "Hold Until Relieved" until things get straightened out! To turn a phrase, "We've got Joes on the ground, we're not going anywhere."

[Black Knight]

[QUOTE=troopsofdoom]Working a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday job is soul crushing. :([/QUOTE]

I'd take your 9-5 m-f anyday over my 3pm-2am tues-sat. :(

[troopsofdoom]

[QUOTE=Black Knight]I'd take your 9-5 m-f anyday over my 3pm-2am tues-sat. :([/QUOTE]
Deal! Trading jobs like trading Joes.

[lehsreh]

TOD, Your dio stories will be missed. I honestly haven't read them all. Rather, I would save them all, and wait to go back to read them. The reason being is that when you do a page every 3 days, it's easy to forget the story, and/or lose track. If you skip a week, or two, you have to keep going back, trying remember where you left off. Forgetting the page I was on, was what made me decide to just save them all, and go back one day and read them in order. I understand why you did it this way, but I think that was a problem. It wasn't a serious dio, but the character, sets, story telling, all were top notch. I think the page every 3 days was the only reason you didn't get the publicity you wanted.

[troopsofdoom]

[QUOTE=lehsreh]TOD, Your dio stories will be missed. I honestly haven't read them all. Rather, I would save them all, and wait to go back to read them. The reason being is that when you do a page every 3 days, it's easy to forget the story, and/or lose track. If you skip a week, or two, you have to keep going back, trying remember where you left off. Forgetting the page I was on, was what made me decide to just save them all, and go back one day and read them in order. I understand why you did it this way, but I think that was a problem. It wasn't a serious dio, but the character, sets, story telling, all were top notch. I think the page every 3 days was the only reason you didn't get the publicity you wanted.[/QUOTE]
That was a factor for sure. I really wanted to go daily. There was a noticeable increase in readers the more frequent I posted new comics. Averaged around 3000 unique visitors per day, high point was about 6000. I never asked any sites why TOD couldn't get coverage because they had no obligation to, so who knows. In five years I got nothing but positive feedback, which was really nice. Only complaints were about lack of updates and a few people were upset that Boba Fett says "dude." :D

[StkhlmDK]

Wow, its really nice to see that you are alive Kraig :)

I was really surprised to see the state that your awesome site went into after you went MIA but I hope the spambots are now removed from your comments because it has really caused a lot of annoying comments :/

[troopsofdoom]

[QUOTE=StkhlmDK]Wow, its really nice to see that you are alive Kraig :)

I was really surprised to see the state that your awesome site went into after you went MIA but I hope the spambots are now removed from your comments because it has really caused a lot of annoying comments :/[/QUOTE]
I have comments set not to allow links but they keep going through anyway. I'm thinking about removing the comments all together. I can't keep up with it, the spammers ruined it.

[StkhlmDK]

[QUOTE=troopsofdoom]I have comments set not to allow links but they keep going through anyway. I'm thinking about removing the comments all together. I can't keep up with it, the spammers ruined it.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, even if the removes our old comments I think that would be the best option since all the spam comments are hurting the overall impression of your great work :)