I just uploaded Wednesday's strip, which will be the hundredth strip in the
Infinite Typewriters storyline. I knew this one was going to be a long one when I started, but even I'm a bit surprised at some of the places it's gone. Now we've finally come to the third and final act, where we'll wrap up all those burning unanswered questions and come to some kind of finish (or, at least, a transition to something else). I'd say we've got about 30-50 strips left, give or take a wandering tangent or two.
Infinite Typewriters is the story I've wanted to tell since Goats began. Not that I knew what the plot was for this storyline eight and a half years ago, but it is the culmination of all the ideas I've had since we hit the soft-reset button
three years ago. Pretty much everything that's happened during that time has quietly been in service to this story, establishing characters, setting up conflict, weaving together themes, cobbling together bits of all my favorite stories.
I knew in 2002 that I wouldn't be able to do a gag-a-day comic strip about a bunch of animals in a bar forever. I wanted to write something a bit meatier. I wanted to make a change that would keep things interesting for me as well as you. For a while, I pondered various concepts for a new strip, anticipating that I would want to end Goats altogether and start over. But something kept pulling me back to the characters, and I knew I couldn't let it go altogether.
So rather than end the strip, I decided to change it -- to remake Goats into the sort of strip I was interested in writing. But I didn't want to make the switch a jarring, upsetting event. I wanted to make the transition as natural and smooth as possible, so I decided to work the changes themselves into the storyline, letting the characters find their new roles at their own pace and help set the tone for what was to come. Infinite Typewriters is the culmination of those changes.
If reader response is any measure of our success, I think things have gone pretty well so far -- I've gotten more positive emails from you guys than we've gotten for any previous storyline by a wide margin. And I know I've enjoyed creating it more than anything I've done before.
But change is a scary thing, and there are always folks whose first instinct is to react badly to it. I hope I've helped cushion the blow of it as much as possible and held your hand along the way. If not, well, there's always the archives.
It's scary for me too, mind you. Lots of characters have been irrevocably changed. Roles and focus have shifted. I have no idea whether or not it will work. But at least the experiment will be an interesting one.
The story's not done yet; I have a few more tricks up my sleeve which I hope you'll enjoy. And where we go after that? Even I'm not completely certain.
Anyway, thanks to all of you Faithful Readers who have kept tuning in and giving me the support and encouragement that has made it such a joy to bust my ass for you for the last eight and a half years. I hope you enjoy the third act.
