Bashed Again On The Webcomic Beacon Podcast

For the second time, I've been criticized on The Webcomic Beacon podcast for my use of grayscale in DEAD DAYS as opposed to slathering my strip in BITCHIN CULORZZZ!

Well, as you all know, DEAD DAYS has always been in black & white and will always BE in black & white. Here's the rebuttal I wrote into their comment section:

Hi Webcomic Beacon! This is John Rios and I do the webcomic DEAD DAYS.

Now, this being the second time your (awesome) podcast has mercilessly bashed my strip because it doesn't happen to be in color, I felt like I needed to comment.

DEAD DAYS began as a strip in my college newspaper that obviously did not have the budget to print in color. It was considered a treat if we were able to do one spot color throughout the issue! "We get to print RED this issue? SWEET! What's the occasion?" Thus, I had to do my strip in black & white… and that was just fine with me.

See, like many of us, I grew up reading strips by my heroes like Gary Larson and Berkely Breathed in the newspaper and in compilation books. There wasn't any color in those strips and frankly, I didn't much care for the Sunday editions when they were forced to colorize them (I say forced, because I can pretty much assure you that the artist was perfectly happy working in ink). Sure, the black and white came from the limitations of the medium, but it also created a great feel to the artwork that I can only describe today as timeless. Just because I didn't see any color didn't make Bloom County any less funny.

When I graduated college and continued DEAD DAYS as a webcomic, I felt absolutely no need to go color. What for? The strip worked just fine in gray. Furthermore, I LIKED working in gray! For the same reason people still make black & white films, I do my comic in grayscale. I like the look and feel. It has that old school newspaper vibe. It makes you use your imagination. It's (and I say this with no ego) timeless.

My point is that just because you CAN add color doesn't mean you HAVE TO add color. If people's internet and technology ravaged minds have trouble processing anything that isn't coated in bright reds, blues, yellows and that "shine" effect the web 2.0 crowd seem to love so much, then I don't know what to tell ya.

I love working in black & white. I love the look and feel of my strip. I enjoy the challenge of conveying color without using color. It's a limitation I put on myself. Why? Because it's my STYLE. I hope that people who read and enjoy DEAD DAYS and other wonderful black & white and grayscale strips out there appreciate the work that goes into creating a world that can be just as vibrant and interesting as anything saturated in technicolor.

Oh, and when the SWEET ASS color palette you use in your strip looks dated in 10 or 20 years, don't worry, I'm not one to say I told you so.

What they SHOULD have critiqued me for is my lack of updates. Now THAT'S a legitimate gripe!
-John

P.S. I'm moving this week. I'll post a new strip next week!