Annotated Chapter 45 Cover
So Traveler has not been the hit we hoped it’d be, at least not on financial terms. I’ve written a long report, detailing various aspects that I think might have compromised the launch. Among them was a sensibility a little out of step with Webtoon’s young demo, which manifests in various ways from tone to pacing to the characters’ own perspectives on life and sex. It’s not that we didn’t make other mistakes…but misjudging the audience was probably the biggest factor in the series’ lack of financial success.
But then, if I wanted to succeed on financial terms, I would’ve gone into some other field. We’re still proud of the work we’re doing, we’re glad to be able to end our story…and even though Guilded Age was the bigger success, it’s Traveler that’s left me eager to do more. Whereas after Guilded Age, I thought I might be done. Turns out that fighting with your collaborator for years can really take a toll on your creativity, whereas a supportive environment can spark it.
I have another project coming up with Webtoon later this year… no firm release date ATM, but it’s on its way. And I’m putting together some further proposals for Webtoon and other publishers, using what we’ve learned from Traveler as a starting point. As I said to Flo, “I can either take this as a learning experience or scream at the heavens through a mouthful of ice cream about how I have no talent, and I’ve already done that second thing often enough in my career.” Flo replied, “I have also screamed at the heavens through a mouthful of ice cream about how you have no talent!” She meant it with affection, I’m pretty sure.
But enough of all this looking ahead! Enjoy our series’ most dated cover, bridging a chapter in which we forget about the Champions and the Five altogether.
I think something must be missing from this sentence: “I’ve written a long report, detailing financial terms, I would’ve gone into some other field.”
I’m enjoying Traveler while it lasts, and looking forward to your future projects as well.
Yeah, a rogue “<" sign hid some of the text from you there. Fixed now.
Three things:
1. You need to add a less-than sign at the beginning to make the link to the image work.
2. “scream at the heavens through a mouthful of ice cream” is just about the most horrid pun I’ve ever heard.
3. It’s Webcomic Day!
Thanks, got it!
2. “scream at the heavens through a mouthful of ice cream” is just about the most horrid pun I’ve ever heard.
How is that a pun?
I tried to like traveller (as I enjoyed previous works), but I found the art style not meshing well with the format. Something in the way the text was layed out made it difficult for me to follow the narrations and conversations, And the story had a kind of slow-burn buildup that would have been nice in a 100-page book, but left me thinking that I should wait until traveller has 30-40 chapters so I can understand what is happening (I think it started making sense to me at chapter… 6 or 7? it does not look like a lot but in general webtoons tend to do more or less the reverse: kicking out the narration with commonalities then diverting from these as the story progress and once the reader is hooked).
I would have love to have read this story in any other format, though. Here’s hoping travellers get recicled in a traditional “comic page” format.
Why the ‘Trump is a Nazi’ image?
I stopped reading traveler at episode 5.
“45,” and the political themes of the chapter.
My sole disappointment with Traveler is that so far only the opening chapter really explores the possibilities that infinite canvas has to offer. I’m sure we’ll return to that eventually.
Traveler being a T Campbell comic means you have to approach it a certain way, as in: be aware of the fact that the storytelling can be elliptic, recognize that audience expectations will be subverted in every way. Not everyone will grok that immediately. For example, Yvette is not as shallow as she seems and Lizzie is in fact a positive portrayal of a career-driven young woman, while superficially resembling a negative stereotype often seen in romantic comedies.
I enjoy the fact that it offers a take on the Superman/Spider-Man trope where reporters are after his secret identity. I also appreciate the bit part by yet another incarnation of Shanna. I think the setting of Traveler feels similar to Fans! It’s not exactly that universe, but it’s probably the closest match in T’s catalogue.
I meant to say: It’s easy to dismiss Yvette as annoying and shallow, but this being a T Campbell story shaped my expectations of her being more interesting than she seems at first glance. You have to be prepared to reset your opinion of characters.
I wish you had enough audience support to continue working on Traveler for a longer time. The Waltrips have put together a layout for your story that is set far apart from other Webtoon comics, and as far as superhero origin stories go I think your take on the genre is pretty unique as well. I know you’ll write a satisfying ending but I’m always disappointed when low viewership or executive decisions force an early exit even when the finale is written well.
Still reading it, still want to be supportive – however, I think I’ve found that I struggle to care that much about the protangonist of Traveller. I’d say that you either need to hate or love the lead character by this point and (oops) I can’t even remember his name.
Mentally I call him Mr Perfect, which is perhaps the problem. Also, all the leads do seem overwhelmingly naive.
Also, not a huge fan of the webtoon format.
But there – one guys opinion only. :)
Mr. Perfect is more like Mr. Average.
Personally I normally love the set up and testing of powers. Problematically, the story skips that for what so far seems to be a fairly generic bad cop interaction. I mean, don’t get me wrong, totally realistic portrayal of the average cop. Problem is that going into it you already know he’s a ‘mistake’ and that takes any tension out of reading about it and instead fills you with growing dread at just how stupid Mr. Average will be with this mistake.
I confess I’m behind on Traveller… I read webcomics via RSS primarily and even though the validation bug I pointed out a while ago seems to be fixed, it’s still not registering with my reader so I have to actually remember to go read it. It’s weird, the RSS for Lore Olympus works fine for me.
I’ve had some random issues with Webtoons’ RSS so I just kept one of the working ones and whenever that one updates, I just go to my subscriptions in Webtoon and read everything available.
I’m sorry to learn Traveller will be wrapping up sooner than intended, but I understand. While some aspects of the story could’ve been handled better (e.g. I agree with marillius that the bad cop’s badness was revealed too soon), it has the quality of writing and art I’ve come to expect from the Campbell/Watrip brothers team .
If it were up to me I’d say the hell with page hits and rankings; let the comic unfold at the pace and length its creators intended. But it’s up to Webtoons of course, and business is business. I’m glad to see, in any case, that you’ve got other webcomic projects in various stages of planning, with Webtoons and possibly elsewhere. To be frank, I’d long since assumed you’d retired from webcomics for good, whether due to disillusionment over QUILTBAG, your often fractious experiences collaborating with Flo, or simply your having acquired a steadier job and a family and thus maybe no longer having the time or energy to spare.
I’m delighted to see that’s not the case. Onward, to webcomics glory (and hopefully Step 3. Profit as well,)!