Fish Wrap and Rappin’ Fish
As of mid-August, DS is ending its run in newspapers and going back to being web-only! Why? Because I’m an optimist, I opted out.
Gary and I are doing a full Q & A on the subject on Fleen today. The short answer is here on DS.
In the meantime, long story short: This is my decision, I wasn’t fired, I don’t regret it and I’m not gonna blame anyone. No dissing Garfield. I am “crazy amounts of” looking forward to being my own CEO again. There will be nary a bump in schedule for the main webcomic.
I wanted to tell you folks this last week, but wouldn’t be around to talk about it because Mer and I got to speak at Google AKA the land of free food and robotic toilets. Finally seeing Silicon Valley was like discovering my true heritage was that of space royalty. The Goog should have video up soon for those of you who wanna see it.
June 26th, 2008 at 6:19 am
It’s a real pity, because I was very thrilled about the idea of the “mainstream” getting exposed to this kind of “awesome” (the quotation marks are your own fault for still having the national sarcasm month ad up ;P), but I can guess what kinds of hoops you’ve had to jump through to live in the real world. As long as you can still make a living off the comic, though, I approve of any personal decision you take (and weren’t you just waiting for the approval of a random internet stranger?)
June 26th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Rock on! Good to hear the news is finally out.
June 26th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Dude, I know why you backed out, I just looked at the ,meet the characters’ site of comics.com. This just does not work!
Keep the real DS going, best of luck, Markus
June 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am
[...] Gary and I are doing a full Q & A on the subject on Fleen today. The short answer is here on DS. [...]
June 26th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Hi five !
Lead the way, master Jedi.
June 26th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
As long as it is your choice – it’s cool.
June 27th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Dude, totally cool with your decision. None of my local rags got it anyway, so I get it through the RSS feed anywho.
Rock on and keep doing your own thang your own way.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:18 am
I never got to see a DS strip in the newspaper, either. Having them side-by-side in my feed reader, I honestly feel that the web strips have always been you at your best. If you can cut down on your crazy work load and still make magic, that has to be a good thing.
June 27th, 2008 at 9:18 am
[...] Story] Diesel Sweeties creator Rich Stevens has announced an end to the syndicated newspaper version of his strip. Gary Tyrrell spoke to Stevens about the [...]
June 27th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I thought you we’re working hobbled in print.Best to leave on your terms.I’m sure the door is stll ajar. “Been there, done that”.
June 28th, 2008 at 1:41 am
You people rock, you know that?
June 29th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Honestly, I’m kind of glad you’re moving out of print. I enjoyed having two strips to read every day, but the print version was so limited in what it could do due to your distributors standards rules.
Just keep making superawesome comics, and superawesome merchandise and I’ll keep reading and buying things.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
[...] Stevens‘ Diesel Sweeties will come to an end, at least in newspapers on August 10, he has announced on his blog. In an interview over at Fleen, he suggests that the additional work to produce DS for family [...]
June 30th, 2008 at 5:24 am
did the google video ever pop up? i ran a search and came up with nothing.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:58 am
[...] 30th, 2008Author Chris Mautner Webcomic artist Rich Stevens announced last week that in August he will end his experiment with newspaper syndication, though the strip will still [...]
July 1st, 2008 at 11:02 am
Hey, sometimes you have to do what’s right for yourself. Rock on. So does this mean Maura gets to come back to the web stories? Poor Clango, no nookie for months now…
August 13th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
In our paper (Newark NJ Star Ledger), DS was replaced by a new word puzzle – just goes to show that when you let a great comic go, there’s no way to replace it with another comic…. At least we didn’t get “Mary Worth”…
I an SO glad to keep on reading DS online – couldn’t make it through the day without “20% more angry robots by volume”.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:46 am
In 1968, seeking greater income for his family, Vaughn Bode pitched to King Features (Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Popeye, other perennial classics) a weekly newspaper comic featuring his most iconic character, Cheech Wizard. He must have done something right – like produce six weeks of dailies and eight of Sundays for the demo to show he could meet the schedule with consistent work – because they awarded him with a contract. Not an easy thing for any cartoonist to do, especially a notorious ‘underground’ one.
Before “Cheech Wizard” ever made it into the papers – where it would have appeared with or, just as likely, replaced Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” – Vaughn decided the whole thing was a bad idea, and walked away from the contract, King Features, and mainstream comics forever. He never gave his reasons, but anybody familiar with the foul-mouthed, acid-tongued and casually raunchy Cheech is aghast to learn that he – cleaned up and made ‘decent – once might have graced the Sunday funnies. Not the place they would ever have expected or wanted him to end up.
Just thought you should know you’re in good company here. Love your strip. Clango Cyclotron forever.
—->P!
August 14th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I believe D.S. was in the Denver Post but I’m going to enjoy reading the uncensored renderings on line even more.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Pete- Whoa! Never heard that one before. It’s nice to know others have felt like this over the years.
Gweedo- Good to have you aboard! The Post was one of the nicer papers we scored, if only there had been another hundred such publications.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Only recently discovered your alternate, and better version, on line after you gave up the robot on syndication. I well understand. I just didn’t know about DS on line! Been doing the compression catch up this past week. Wow! Love it.
What you had to do to DS was like taking Sex out of the City. The taste just isn’t the same. Von Bode understood that and we see why he backed out. Good for him. Some things, like art, shouldn’t be compromised ever.
For a time it was published in the Houston Chronicle then they reduced the comic load, without my permission, so it was on line anyway. It is better to see them all at almost full size. They got so reduced in the paper. I shall be visiting your site constantly. Thank you for existing!
August 15th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I don’t want to sound disapointed but, personally i prefer the print version (witch i read on comics.com) alot more then the web version. The print version is more simple, short and specialy clean. But don’t get it wrong, i do like the web version too, but not has much like the print version.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I read the DP online but not the ‘toons. I found DS online and love it! Even spread it around to unappreciative Philistines. This is soo post-singularity (being ahead of its time).
August 16th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Hmm…..I don’t read the paper anyway. Too much “news”. DS is now, and as long as it’s around, will always be my homepage so I get a little giggle when I turn my lappy on.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Best wishes!
I enjoyed the ‘double daily dose’ while it lasted but 4 out of 5 doctors agree that too much awesome can cause anal fissures. We’d better dodge THAT bullet.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Seems like a god thing happened there. He was in the papers long enough to get new readers, but not long enough to go dilbert or garfield on us.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
[...] pues a finales de Junio Richard anunció que iba a abandonar su acuerdo de sindicación para centrarse exclusivamente en los webcomics. Las razones las expuso en su día en Fleen, pero [...]
October 8th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
[...] your chance! I’m still digging out of a mountain of debt brought on from expenses incurred while I was syndicated, but hopefully this can put a dent in [...]
October 15th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Wow!