Character (belated) Birthday - Ryan

Happy belated birthday to my best friend, Ryan White! While Ryan wasn't introduced until season 2, he has become one of the four core characters of the series (the others being Sam, Bailey, and Kenzie). Going by my own unfortunate slowly-developing character standards, Ryan was the more or less the first added character for season two who really took off as a regular. Even though he was established early on as Sam's best friend, for "The Origins" sub-series, Ryan as a character was portrayed as a rival character for Sam, but by the end became the duo they now are today. Nowadays, Ryan White lives out in Colorado. In the movie adaptation of the series, Ryan was unable to portray himself, so Travis Cooper was cast. While he did what was required of the character in the script very well, there was still that nagging thought in the back of my mind that he wasn't Ryan. Even though I don't see him very often anymore, I couldn't bring myself to write him out of the comics. He has become a pivotal part of the series and is here to stay.

Love and miss ya, dude!

It's been a year now...

I can't believe I forgot to post something about it when the actual day came, but on July 5th 2011, filming for "Sam's Comics: The Movie" began. I've posted something about looking back on it a few months ago or so, but this is different. One year ago today, we filmed the picnic scene. Just thought I'd mention this on the blog.

Season 5 update

I have made an official decision regarding Comics Season 5 last night. I will NOT be dropping any characters who appeared in Season IV. However, there is a trade-off. I will NOT be adding any additional characters to the series. So everyone you saw last time will be returning.

Artwork "Portraits", Wizard of Oz poster

Character Birthday - Kenzie

Another character who has been around since the beginning, Mackenzie has been a pivotal character in the series, being the primary voice of sarcasm. It has been remarked that Kenzie has slowly become less and less like her real life self, as the character has become more critical and spiteful. This was done to give the comics more laughs, and in the original movie script had Kenzie have a character-specific story-arc. This didn't end up in the final film, so Kenzie still remains the sarcastic Lil' Nasty. Happy Birthday, Mackenzie!

HISHE - Sam's Comics

This comic idea courtesy of Frank Padour

If you don't get the title of this post, "HISHE" mean "How It Should Have Ended", and is a series of flash animations on YouTube.

Season IV ending

This Saturday will see the end of season IV of the comics. Season 5 has begun development for September or October later this year. I personally would like to thank everyone who has supported/ enjoyed this season of the comics. Season IV has been the most successful season yet, and has seen the addition of six new regular characters, many new ideas and locations, and some overall great laughs. My personal favorite set from this season was when Gabri won the lotto and Jarvis's introduction. I also want to send out two specific shout outs to two people who raked in the most amount of laughs and ideas for me as a writer. Those two people are... (drum roll please) Shannon Asprooth and Sarah Kusz. Both of these girls provided me with most of the ideas from this season (even if they didn't know they were insiring me) and became two solid characters in the series more easily than most. You will for sure be seeing them next season.

That brings me to a more sober note. A major difficulty I had this season was keeping up with all the characters. Season 5 will most likely see some beloved characters leaving the series. Who is leaving has not yet been decided, but only a handful are considered "safe" right now, including Sam, Bailey, Ryan, Shannon, Frank, Sarah, and Carl (who I have plans for in future comics). This is where I would like some feedback. Which characters would you most like to see return? Here's a list of them:

Rachel
Nick
Joel
Megan
Kenzie
Molly
Gabri
Jarvis (totally dependent on if Gabri returns or not)
Elino
Erica
Connor
Jen