The Utopian: Foundation – a webcomic by Pj Perez

Welcome back to the re-posting of The Utopian Foundation strips in preparation for the release of all-new Utopian Foundation strips! Coincidentally, this strip also originally was published on April 18, back in 2012. I made a slight dialog change, because, I dunno, it “felt” more in-character for Terrence to say “mad” rather than “pissed.” I’m not planning a lot of “director’s cut” moves, but if I see stuff that can be improved, either artistically or script-wise, I’ll do it. Because, well, it’s my damn comic. And no one’s reading it (yet), so, why not?

Anyway, welcome back, and for your enjoyment, here’s the commentary that accompanied the original strip:

I know the pacing of these first several strips is going to seem a bit slow. It WILL pick up. But we’re going to get to know these characters along the way.

There is a reason for the kinda-odd pacing in the beginning, though, and you process junkies might care more about this than others. Basically, this series was originally designed to be the same format as its predecessor: standard American comic book page dimensions. Vertical. So, originally, I laid out (and actually finished line work on about half) about 10 or 11 pages in that format. But as the story developed and the characters “spoke” to me, I realized the “soap opera serial” nature of the storytelling would lend itself better to a traditional “comic strip” style. Not only does that fit better on a horizontal monitor display (or tablet, or smartphone), but it also challenges me to be more succinct in my plotting and delivery.

So, yeah, these first few weeks will “feel” a little different from what’s to come down the road. But I hope you’ll stick around to find out what makes these characters tick. If you have any other feedback, leave a comment or drop me a message, either via email or Twitter.