Now, I’m sorry some of your fans don’t like the photo comics and don’t like hunting down explanations for the in-jokes, but I think the nay-Sayers are missing an important point. The entire concept for HE is a big collection of SF and comic geek in-jokes. Most of the strips are imagined and hyperbolic responses of your group of friends to the latest happenings in the world of SF, comics, and computers. In other words, the photo comics might not involve as much drawing, but they are most certainly NOT off-topic. If anything, they’re just photograph-based comics of what happened in and around various SF/comic cons. They’re the same as comics drawn to depict the cons–but we get to see what some of the characters look like IRL.

So, yeah, I think the photo comics–as the kids say–rock. I hope you keep churning them out.

I concur. If you had asked me a year ago, I probably would have said Nay to the photo comics because they do come across as inaccessible, at first. But now that I'm fully immersed in your archives, and have a real love for your humor, I say Do What You Will, Sir, and the Legions of Fancy Bastards will Follow! I only recently started to use Twitter, so hopefully I won't miss anything! 🙂

But, to echo a point I've seen already mentioned – I much prefer content to no content, and completely appreciate that it's difficult to make new comics during cons, so please keep posting the con art and whatever else you've got. I always prefer your original stuff to guest stuff, and it makes me sad when I check for updates that just aren't there. Plus, Lo-Fi Jinks are hilarious, so make as many of those as your hand can take without cramping. Keep up the great work!

Also, I follow several different online comics (and it appears you are friends with many of those artists – thank you photo comics!), but none of them are as open and engaged with their fan base as you are. Thank you for that, I love it!

Agreed!

Much love for all you do!

Given that most artists don't do ANYTHING when they go to cons or vacation, photocomics and sketches are a welcome change to THAT.

But if we're lucky and he didn't kill himself, there'll be a great reunion comic series in a few years. 😎

For my two gold-press latinium, I'm in the middle (I know, you don't believe in me), I *kind of* like the photo comics. If I didn't see them I wouldn't miss them, but when you do post them, it's interesting to get a look at cons I can't make it to, or the "secret worldz" of an Internet ink/picture slinger.

And I'm sorry, unless you posted that pic of you and your posse with the cast of TNG on the MAIN site, I wouldn't have gone to tumblflicktweetface to look for it; but that's just me.

All in all, yes we may be your semi-anonymous customers, but you do have to be the artist here and be all artistic, and junk. Or stuff.

Personally, if I could have even half your talent in drawing things, I'd probably be where you are now with the Experiment.

And thanks for all the laughs!

(Btw, I tried to sign up for a monthly donation, but PayPal won't let me because I don't have a credit card. How sucky is that!?)

"You are going to die one of these days," yes yes, so it is written …. until such time as I get my hands on the copy editor and I make my own rewrite >_>

It's not so much dangling your feet off the tower but more like the dock at a friends cottage as a kid.
Me? I just recently jumped off the dock with both eyes wide open … it stings ….. also, I just realized I am not that good at swimming …. *panic ensues*

I wanna third being kind of anything about the photo comics. Of course, I haven't given any feedback before now, so you'd have no way to know that.

"any chance of adding an option to buy a years subscription at one go"

Yes. I have planned this for a while.

First off, you have to keep in mind the natures of these "2 camps". You seem to be trying to give both sides equal credit for their opinions on photo-comics, which is fair and very open minded of you, but not necessarily accurate. I feel very confident that the MAJORITY of your actual fans like them or at least don't mind them. Just because both sides seem "equally vocal" doesn't mean they are equal in numbers. Remember that complaining voices are almost always twice as loud as supportive ones.
To me anyone who would go out of their way to actively complain about something like that is giving a pretty good indication that they are the petty malcontent, over entitled and demanding type of person. Because they are bitterly complaining about FREE CONTENT that they are in NO WAY obligated to read! Seriously anyone who would stop reading a source of FREE ENTERTAINMENT just because of a handful of photo-comics a few times a year, is nothing short of an idiot. That's not my biased in favor of photocomics speaking, that's just simple reasoning. If the choice is between No update or an Alternate format comic you don't like, They are saying they'd rather choose the No update at all option, and will actually complain if confronted with the unwanted content, rather then ignore it? That's not the sort of person anyone should be going out of the way to appease.
Sorry, I know I'm ranting a bit here, and probably no one is reading all of this, but I just can't help but be frustrated by people whining about FREE CONTENT that isn't exactly how they want it at all times, and expecting changes be made to please them, rather then just ignoring the unwanted EXTRA FREE CONTENT.

I will stop myself from even going into why I DO love the photo-comics. And only point out that, different format or not, extra "inside jokes" or not, it's still the SAME humor and style of writing there as you'll find in the normal comics, so I think most people actually opposed to the photo-comics are letting their automatic dislike of the format blind them to the full contents.
(if a page has 10 jokes/funny lines in it, and 4 are inside jokes over your head, then just shut up and laugh at the other 6!)

If anyone is still reading this far, I'll add my voice to the others say that breaking up a site in to extra sections rarely ends up working to well. It just creates more clicking, and easier to miss parts of the content, and you end up with several smaller sections which each get much less notice instead of one main section with it all.
I'm in favor of ALL new content going to the front page when it's uploaded, but then giving them separate "archives' for back browsing.
Maybe make a separate special RSS feed that only lists full comic updates (for those tho just CAN'T stand to see any lesser content).
Or create a more strict official update schedule for primary comic updates, and limit sketch/photo/etc comics to being posted on "off days" only. To make it extra clear they are "bonus content" and not us poor viewers being "robbed of a real update".

But for my part, even if I didn't specifically LIKE sketch/photo/lo-fi comics, I would STILL always rather get an alt-format update then no update at all. And firmly feel that anyone who would say otherwise is being WAY over entitled to their FREE internet funnies.

Thanks for that last bit. It means a lot.

Although you may not wish to hear it, I FRAKKIN' LOVE that Dr. Who sketch. I'm jealous of whomever has received such ambrosia.

Coincidentally, I finally read through the comics I'd missed and started reading new updates again right about the same time you started changing things up.

Anyway, I'm in support of the photo comics not being in the main comics archive.

I also visit the website daily (hooray ad revenue!), so as long as you link to Lo-Fi, photo comics, and con sketches in a sidebar, I'll find and read them.

First of all, you do great work, and I'm a big fan even of the photo comics. I can see, however, if you don't follow @wilw, @jephjacques, @jonathancoulton, et al. how they could feel excluded sometimes.

That being said, your convention sketches are almost never exclusive. Its just a series of punchlines, and I think any fan of what you do on a regular basis would see the humor in… well what you do on a regular basis. I think you should keep those in with the regular comics, but I can understand moving the photo comics out.

But yeah, I did feel that the photo comics take something away from the comic. I don't object to them, but to me they kill the separation between crazy comic Joel and co. and real Joel and co. It's almost like an uncomfortable breaking of the barriers, if that makes sense. They're like pictoral blog entries?
I'll also admit that some of the time I don't really "get" the photo comics, but I appreciate that if I turn up tomorrow there will be something I find funny! It's like a friend of mine said about Marx brothers films.. You don't have to like every single joke, because five minutes later you'll have another.. and another. You've consistently entertained me for years now, and I'm grateful.

So far as separation goes, I don't want to miss content because it's filed somewhere else. So for dumbasses like me, could you please make sure you have a big ol' reminder of the Lo-fi somewhere obvious like the blog post?
I am the sort of person who develops "side-bar blindness" on sites I check regularly, especially if they also have ads. Down here at the bottom of the comment section, I'm even not sure what your sidebar has on it.

Either way, being puzzled by the photo comics hasn't stopped me from returning to your site (and if people are passionate enough to complain, I hope they're in for the long run). 🙂 Big love to you from the UK, sir.

I was freaking out there for a second thinking that you were doing away with the photo comics altogether, but if you're just moving them somewhere else and they will still be in the RSS then that is grand, freakout averted. I love the photo comics because I don't get to go to those conventions and meet my webcomics heroes, but they make me feel like I am one of the gang. Ok that sounds kinda sad, maybe you should do away with the photo comics and I should get out more…

(On a slight aside, is there any chance of adding an option to buy a years subscription at one go? I realise that probably screws with _your_ budgeting, but it makes it easier for mine 😉 )

Aw man, no new comics. 🙁

That's a pretty big leap. I don't think anyone has ever voiced that desire before.

""hey, thanks for bankrolling my fun weekend"" couldnt be further from the truth. Travel and conventions are basically the hardest, most exhausting work I do. Sure, I enjoy many aspects of convention life, but you'd have to in order to keep putting up with the grueling, life-draining parts. Why show those aspects in the comics? That's not fun for anyone. I might be showing the "all fun and games" side of it, but that's only a few hours out of the entire weekend. Being "on" for 8-10 hours at a time 3-5 days in a row is emotionally draining. On top of that, I can't sleep when Im away from home, so I typically get 3ish hours a night. On top of that I absolutely abhor air travel. I show you guys the fun, because the rest of it sucks the life out of me. I've cut back on cons tremendously and Im still doing on average at least 1 a month just because I need the money. It's a tough game. Anyone that tells you different is far more famous than I.

And go do your thing. Save at least a years worth of safety net money (2 if you can) and do your thing. You are going to die one of these days, so at least make use of the time you have while you have it.

Just as an experiment, go back and compare the amount of dialog in last week's comics to any previous week of "pithy" 3 panel HE comics. It's basically the same. I always use a lot of words.

Before reading through these threads and your responses, the impression I got from reading just your blogs and comics (through Google Reader) was that by and large going to cons was a big treat for you – especially some of the bigger ones. There was a lot of "thank you for getting me to such-and-such con" I had a great time – see? Now, from your point of view, I have to imagine you're thanking your readers for supporting your livelihood by giving you a chance to make a decent amount of money in a big lump as opposed to the daily drizzle. That totally makes sense. BUT, without the context that may or may not have been present in the comment section, what came across to me was more "hey, thanks for bankrolling my fun weekend" because a) I have no idea what it is like to be a vendor at a con and b) from the photocomics that was what seemed to be happening.

At this point, I'm going to step out on a limb and speak more personally. I will do my best to avoid any oversharing. I would love to have the cajones and commitment to my own creative talents to do the kind of thing you do for a living. I spend some portion of every day in my cube at work staring over the precipice daring myself to jump, but I just can't do it. I suffer from the "terrible tragedy" of working for a good company, making decent money with good benefits, and having a family to support. So instead of taking the leap, I sit and let my feet dangle over the side during my lunch break and then go back to work.

So when you post a photocomic of a con, it is bittersweet. On the one hand, I think they are usually hilarious. The JoCo Cruise series was so good, my family and I have decided to go next year. I also like seeing other artists that I follow and getting to know their faces and personalities more. You're the only one I know who goes this in depth with their travelogues, which is good because I'd get tired of it if everyone did it. On the other hand, I can't help but think, "That should be me. I should be in those photos with those other crazed baboons because they seem more like me than anyone I see in my real life."

So I understand why people have responded so passionately to the photocomics. I think that it's possible I'm not the only person who gets a pang of "I should be making these, not reading these" when they pop up. So those inside jokes get tinged with bitterness and what was meant as "Here's a peek at a side of people you like that you probably wouldn't get to see" get translated as "Haha, look at what I get to do and you don't". Perhaps taking advantage of moving the photocomics to a different section to clarify how cons work for you financially and socially could help you avoid giving people the impression that you're suddenly "living the good life" as a dick jokester extraordinaire, which I fear may have cost you some readers.

TL;DR – I know that from your point of view, what you do is incredibly hard work full of doubt and fear and stress (though obviously not only that). There are people who are jealous of your lifestyle in spite of that, which might be something worth considering as you plan the future of your photocomics.

also also, *pithy* 3 panel is seriously different from the text-filledness common to both the photocomics and last week's experiment. just looking at all that text exhausts me! No actual suggestion but wouldn't it be nice if you could establish continuity/character/whatnot without quite as much dialog?

I agree with that, and I really don't care how the site's organized, as long as I can find the stuff I want to look at. I don't use an RSS feed, I just go to the website every day to see if there's an update. If I have to click through to another page to look at a photo comic or con-sketches or whatever, I don't think it would really bother me, as long as it was clear there was something there to look at so I wouldn't miss anything.

I actually particularly liked the JoCo cruise photo comics in comparison with some of the other photo comics, but maybe that's because I've been on some party cruises myself and could relate to some extent. (Although I'm pretty sure I've never been on a cruise with such an awesome collection of passengers as were on Joco.) Enjoyed the JoCo vids, too. Especially the "Mr. Roboto" send-up. That was both hilarious and impressive.

I agree with everything above. I also do often enjoy the Lo-Fi comics as much as the regular comics. Sometimes I don't really get some of the con-art sketches, but some of them are really funny, so I will continue to check them out as long as they continue to be posted, because I wouldn't want to miss a really good one.

I want to go to there.

If the photos are just random candid shots, the dialog is made up on the spot as I lay out the comics. If the pics are obviously staged in a sequence then I am usually planning ahead.

And in glorious 8-bit if possible!!!!

If asked though, I'd say that separating them from the main comic archive is probably a good idea! They did seem somewhat out of place when they cropped up. I'm a firm believer in setting strict boundaries for the space your project inhibits, be it comic, short story, video series or what have you. Doing whatever you feel is fun or funny under one label will confuse the people who liked what you used to do, whereas filing them into different categories might only mildly inconvenience some of your biggest fans. Cheers, and good luck!

now that said i loved this comic
both the han-mal intergalactic traffic jam (although let's face facts space is big, just go around eachother)
and the ipad fleshlight singularity one, in fact i always love these little i'm bored here's doodles, comics

The ongoing narrative is an interesting concept, although personally I'd say a little unnecessary, but it's early days on that one so I'll reserve judgement for now.

Other than that, everything's peaches. I've been reading HE for an age now and I've always loved it, got a recurring donation set up and I check the page daily. I put 3 years into trying to do what you do and make a living off internet based comedy entertainment and I failed miserably, so I respect the shit out of you for making it work. Keep 'em coming.

I find the photo comics a hoot! Somehow, Joel, those have the funniest dialogue in your comics!

"those who want comics and a connection to you. "

I guess I just wish that was everyone. Obviously I have no control over this.

"they don't care about who the lead singer is for HE. "

BUT IT'S ME! I AM THE LEAD SINGER! I AM THE BAND! [overdoses, falls off a roof into traffic]

That might be a tumor. You should get that checked out.

"Let me know if you ever hit an Australian con"

Someone would have to fly me out. Otherwise there is NO WAY i could ever make enough money to spend that kind of money on a flight.

Good points. I will take this into consideration.

This is a good point. I might be able to work it so the photo comics show up on the home page when they're new, but don't go into the regular archive. I will keep this in mind as I go forward.

" if you would keep the RSS centralized. i"

No matter what, the RSS will stay the same. 1 feed for everything. Any other option just sounds too cumbersome.

This is the way I am leaning. Leaving the con sketches in and moving the photo comics out of the archive to their own section.

And I have to admit I was painfully bored by the JoCo cruise comics; that really should have been put up online elsewhere, possibly on your Tumblr.

That said, I still really enjoy your work and am excited to read your plans for the future, I will certainly continue to visit your site. Keep it up!

Sketches – I can take them or leave them.

Regardless of what you chose to do, it makes no difference to me. I get all my links to your comics off Twitter and check them all out. You link it, I clicks it.

Webcomics give us a window into the artist's life. I think we're missing out if the artist is willing to open that up a little bit and we don't take it. That's why I like the photocomics… but it's probably fair to say many folks have the same relationship with comics as they always did.

It is very easy to think of everything you put on HE as a single product: A funny comic, some insightful words, a bit of a blog, funny links, comments… all of it is what you do in part of updating the site. But in truth the comic and your posts are seen by certain people as different products. It is very difficult for a geek like me to understand the mentality since when I like something I dive in as far as I can go. I memorize words to favorite movies, I read the history of my favorite musicians, and I'm interested in what my favorite webcomic artists do when they go on vacation.

But causal people don't. It's like people who have a favorite band, but have no idea what the name of the lead singer is. Nor do they care. When he winds up in rehab their thought isn't "oh man that's terrible, his life is in ruins" it is "oh man that sucks, no new albums"

And it's that 'oh man no new albums' that I think is bugging people about the photo comics. Cold as it sounds, they don't care about who the lead singer is for HE.

That's not meant to be insulting or cold, though I'm sure it comes across that way. You, more than just about any other site, have made HE very personal. Main character and his friends are you and your friends afterall. But it's a simple reality of the casual fan. There's nothing you can do or even should do to make those people interested in who you are. It's just recognizing that is how they see the site: You may be the leader of their favorite band, but they aren't about to watch Behind The Music.

Let me know if you ever hit an Australian con, other than that, keep on with the bweezness as usual!

I'm kinda with you on that one.

It might be helpful if the people in the photos had name tags, so I know who they are – but I probably still wouldn't get most of the jokes. And I blame my own lack-of-knowledge for that – not inside-jokes.

I would miss the comic sketches if they were moved out of the regular rotation. I don't know that I'd go looking for them.

Lo-Fi, I probably would do an extra click to see those.

yeah, i am definitely "kind of" everything about the photocomics. the humor is still there, it just doesn't always connect. even if they blow over my head, though, they still only take a few seconds to read.

Keep on keepin' on. Listen to the constructive criticism, but don't let the haters get you down. Because there are way more of us that love you and your work. ^_^

I'm with you on Dallas Comic-Con. We only go for the toys & artists, since we can't afford to pay for signatures & photo-ops. But the lines & crowds made it a real headache, especially since we were there with kids. We get so excited because it's so close to us, but it's not a good con.

Having said that, while I actually do get really excited to open the site and see a photo comic up, so long as there is some way to see (easily and obviously, please, beause I can be durrr lol) that there is a new photo comic/con sketch/lo-fi comic/whatever up on the main page when I come to it, then it makes no difference to me how you organize them on the site. I'll read whatever you post wherever you post it, because I deeply appreciate your sense of humour. You're awesome, man! 😀

That's all I care about. I like all your stuff, so as long as I can get it via some combination of RSS feeds it doesn't matter to me where they live.

Cool. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Also, and I guess because I'm just a contrary person by nature, I actually *am* kind of "meh" about the photo comics. Not my favourite, but it's not like they actively ruin anything for me. So it doesn't really matter to me if they show up in the feed or not… but the Lo-Fis? I really like them, so I'd be disappointed if they disappeared from the feed.

By the way, I think it's really cool that you're taking chances and making changes based on feedback.

I think what we can learn from this is that any time you post something about us in general, a whole bunch of people will leap on the comment section to contradict you. 😉

I've seen some of the other webcomic artists throw in random stuff too for con weeks or when they're sick or whatever. keep doing the pics, because you enjoy doing it.

1. lived in Indy, visited GenCon and SW Celebration twice each. loved them b/c of fans and things-to-do.
2. am not a stuff-buying-congoer. don't collect anything, don't read physical comics. plus I'm broke-ish and prefer the stuff-doing to the stuff-buying.
3. moved to Plano, visited comicon in richardson, nearly died of boredom. no variety, nothing to do; visited sw days in plano and it was only marginally better (cool panel with clone wars tv cast)
4. will never pay for those experiences again. would rather go to NTIF.

As for separating stuff, the comment by "That Guy" who describes himself as the outlier – I'm That Girl. +1 to everything he said. FWIW, I like the Fancy Sketches as much or more than the actual regular comic.

I think you're on the right track and I admire you for your ability to take criticsm and react to it in your own way.

When you cut away all personal feelings, whether you love the photo comics or hate them, good or bad, at the end of the day they do distract from your brand. When you get down to the nuts and bolts of this "I need to change something" movement I think that's at the heart of it: the desire to strengthen your brand. You're doing that by making the characters more individual, and by giving them arcs to expose more of their different personalities… but there's also the management of making sure that you don't issue a bunch of stuff that ISN'T HijinksEnsue.

I think the masters of branding in webcomics right now are the Penny-Arcade folks. All of their behind-the-scenes stuff is kept in separate archives… every now and then they'll do a short experiment where the comic gets something not Gabe-and-Tycho related but it's always very short even if it is successful (like Lookouts). They never let their side projects distract from the Penny-Arcade brand of those two characters.

In order to keep things like your photocomics from being distracting from your brand… from being something that isn't your HijinksEnsue characters… I think they HAVE to be moved (or at least have future ones not appear in the traditional comic space). I think this sucks. I think they're awesome. So if you're willing to keep doing them I love that you are considering giving them a new home.

I basically use Twitter as RSS. I don't care how your site is organized, or if content is split across multiple websites (like with Tumblr). As long as you keep linking actively to all your content on twitter, I'll keep visiting.

Since it is a total certainty that there will be days when you can't update, I think that if you move all of your "backup" update options to a separate area of the site, you will just be required to make up a new backup option. Or just miss an update, which sucks.

Now, some people would say that the solution is to keep a stable of comics in the can that you can draw upon when you need them, like TV dinners for when you're too busy to cook. If you can do that, awesome! But it's harder than it sounds. Before you make this decision, I think you should spend some time deciding what your backup plan will be, and be realistic about your working methods and your needs.

If you're gonna insist on an opinion, here's mine: I like the photo comics and I'm happy to have them on the main page. Same goes for Lo-fijinks. I like having everything on one place, and hate websites that don't put the comics on the home page. The new PVP design pisses me off to no end, and I've always hated it about Penny Arcade that I have to click through to see the comic. Extra clicks separating the news posts from the comics? Bah! Humbug!

About backup plans: Personally, I think it's super cute that you and your daughter can play with the cinteq together. I used to do the same with my mom and her ancient wacom. Would it be totally crazy to suggest that your daughter "illustrate" comics for you when you are too tired to draw yourself? Obviously, this would be mostly rainbows and butterflies and superheroines, but I think it might be really cute, and the usual joke writing would still be there to please people who hate anything that breaks the normal flow. Plus, people would have to be real a-holes to complain about your little child's artwork, and it's easy to ignore a-holes. I've seen some other comics that have used kids as guest illustrators and enjoyed it. Just a thought.

Separating them out makes sense. Give the people who don't want to see them that right, but keep them accessible for everyone else. Go for it.

Honestly, I'll probably read no matter what you end up changing. I like it here.

Repost from above:

The feed would basically be unchanged. All update, regardless of type would show up in the feed.

The feed would basically be unchanged. All update, regardless of type would show up in the feed.