TSC.NS.11 :: Writer's Block(chain) ::

No Hair Cuts For Old Men.

Nervous System, where you can learn more about ThoughtScape Comics and Lifeformed.

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Well, gang, it has been quite a couple weeks in terms of developments that no one should have to care about…

As I was plugging away on the finishing touches of the ThoughtScape 2022 Kickstarter campaign - in fact, just as I’d emerged from getting a haircut so that I could look my old man best when I shot my campaign video - I got word that Kickstarter had made the strange and, ahem, cryptic announcement, that they would be jumping onto the blockchain technology/cryptocurrency train. This announcement threw the online comics community into chaos as many folks, myself included, tried to figure out the details and the why behind what a lot of us felt to be a very unfortunate move (if you want to lose your mind and engage the topic yourself, you could start here).

Anyway, without burdening you with an in-depth daily journal of my ridiculous mental journey, after much thought (too much), I came to the decision that I could not go forward with ThoughtScape Comics on a platform/with a company that would make such an environmentally irresponsible, ethically questionable decision and move. Please note that in my mind, choosing when and where and how we will or won’t participate in the various problematic systems to which we are tied is a very personal decision and I begrudge no one making a different decision in this situation.

In my case, while I completely understand anyone who feels they can’t leave KS, and while I was EXTREMELY BUMMED OUT to lose a lot of work done in building up the number of campaign followers, creating KS-branded campaign assets and the like - and this is months of work as I kept telling myself - to me this blockchain + crypto + NFT biz is exactly the sort of toxic technocapitalist nonsense that ThoughtScape Comics exists in part to mock, and staying on the platform is just not something I am comfortable with.

So, with that decision made, my next step is to try and figure out how to proceed with ThoughtScape Comics beyond issue #1. Not dying to rush into anything at this point, I am currently researching other options. In case anyone that reads this is also looking for alternatives, right now, in terms of comics crowdfunding, Zoop is looking interesting.

Anyway, sadly this entire shebang has pretty much consumed the last 1.5 weeks, and the only cool developments comics-wise have been TSC folks working on things independent of me. Primarily, ThoughtScape 2319 artist Dave Law has been doing some character visual development work for me and George Pendle’s epistolary LifeTech series, LifeTech Confidential (or LifeTech Declassified, depending on what day you ask me). Here’s a peek.

Art by Dave Law.

I’m excited to dig further into this project and introduce you to these characters at some point, but for now, I’ll let them and their roles in the world of the ThoughtScape remain mysterious…

Hope you all have a great weekend, and if, it’s your thing, a great holiday season. If you need me I’ll probably just be over here with No Country For Old Men on repeat (now on HBO MAX).

Best,
Matt