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First of all, let me just say: Thank you. If you've worked with me on Magic City, thank you. If you've read Magic City from the beginning, thank you. If you've only read a few stories here and there, thank you. If you've recommended Magic City to a friend or linked to it, thank you. This is the end. Back in 2007, I was a writer who wanted to make comics but didn't know how to do it. I knew how to write comics (or thought I did), but not how to make comics. Then I read Dirk Manning's “Write or Wrong” column on Newsarama. Dirk wrote about how to make comics, and I learned a lot from him. He suggested doing an anthology webcomic in his column, and I took it from there. (Thanks, Dirk.) Thus, Magic City was born. It took well over a year of writing, re-writing, planning, and wrangling just to get started. I wondered if I could even do this. Patience is something I'm good at, but not something I enjoy. I learned a lot about making comics before the first story “James Murphy Is My Hero” debuted in August 2008. But when we did get going, we never stopped. Well, sort of. Not really. There were many delays between stories due to many different factors. Anthologies with dozens of artists are difficult to do when you want to keep a schedule. I sometimes wish I had kept a small rotating stable of artists to collaborate with, but the stories within Magic City were too varied for that, and I would not have met as many great people if I had. Nonetheless, I'm happy with the way things turned out. Even if they didn't turn out quite like I expected. That's one of the great joys of collaboration: being surprised with something great. For all the stories I wrote, the artists were what made them great. From Branko to Hushicho to Giorgio to Anna and Rachel and everyone in between, they were all fantastic. I thank you all and still promise to buy you each a drink or five someday. But it's time for me to move on from Magic City. I am curating a comics art project called One Panel Improv, and I hope you will enjoy that. And I hope you will follow me on Twitter (I am @gregthelen) as I am working on another webcomic that you will hopefully see soon. That is probably the best way to hear about it when it does debut. Or you can find me on Google+. Rest assured, I will continue to make comics in the future, and I would love for you to be there with me at every turn. Again, thank you to everyone who worked on Magic City and everyone who read Magic City. You are all the best, and I hope you continue to… Enjoy. -Greg Thelen |
