Nobody panic, but Surviving Mars is going on a bit of a long hiatus. I say don't panic because Surviving Mars isn't over. Let me 'splain.

Over the last year or so, I've felt really distracted. The fact I started Super Heroes in Bars and Bigsby the Killer Rabbit and ended both within a few months because I didn't have time to draw two comics at once should have told me something. What I'm realizing is that I'm not the kind of artist that can stay with one story for years at a time. Writing is different, I can write a series for a very long time, and have with Fur Will Fly. Doing both, I tend to feel like writing isn't easier, but drawing is just more time consuming. And when you're both writing and drawing something you put all the more of yourself into it. And I like doing Surviving Mars, I do. But I have dozens of unrelated comic ideas swimming around in my head, and it gets me drifting away, so to speak.

So I've started to think about the nature of webcomics. The majority are serialized, update on a predetermined schedule, nearly indefinitely. It's almost like starting a webcomic is like getting married. If I'm thinking about so many other projects, am I really ready to marry one, yet?

So that got me to thinking about how story telling works in other mediums, movies in particular. Movies, even those with sequels, are centralized stories. They have a specific story to tell and they get it done within a certain amount of time. And you don't release five minutes of the film at a time until the whole things is finished, you make it, polish it, and then release it to the public.

So that's how I've decided to start handling my drawing-projects, now. Plot out a finite story and start posting it once it's finished, not as I'm creating it. What I'm describing is virtually the same concept as a graphic novel, something that's not the most accepted format for webcomics, I know, but I think it's a manner of creating that's going to suit me better.

What does this mean for Surviving Mars? It means I'm taking a break from it for awhile, hopefully no more than 9 months. When I do get back to it, it's going to be a graphic novel that's a sequel to the current series, and will be posted online and for free(Who loves you? That's right.). Much like how Firefly continued on in the film Serenity. Fret not, I'm not cutting it short like I did Saga of the Ram(My Graphic Smash project that came before SM.). Surviving Mars will get a conclusion before the hiatus, but it'll be a "to be continued."

Speaking of Saga of the Ram...

Gah, you know, it's killed me to be tight lipped about this lately, especially when people started talking about the series in unrelated forums, wondering what ever happened to it. Suffice to say, a series of unfortunate events took it off the web, in all it's "leave ya hanging" glory. It especially killed me when people started e-mailing me and asking if I had any future plans for it. It killed me because... yeah, I do.

You're hearing it here first: my first graphic novel project after Surviving Mars concludes is going to be based on The Ram. Just warning everyone who's a fan, it's not going to be the same character in every way, shape, or form. He's getting re imagined in a way that's drastic visually and changes the original premise, but leaves a lot of his history intact. I'm hoping it'll be good for both new readers and the ones who knew the character in his original incarnation.

Well, that was a lot to get out. Hope you'll all bear with me as this gets rolling.