Abandoning a Webcomic before the end of the Story?

[nostalgicroxas]

I'd have to double check but I believe they posted on their tumblr or facebook about the medical conditions being the reason they quit Teahouse. I'm still in the party of "it's a shame" since they obviously put a lot of energy into it, whether that be just to make some money or not, they sound as though they had a story. So why not continue, even if slowly? Most fans, at the time were happy to even get black and white pages that were just white and lines done.

[xabelmind]

I vaguely remember finding about that in their site, I had discovered the comic not long ago and suddenly, that wall of text.

I send it to hell when I saw they didn't bother in make a narrated version of the plot.

But I didn't know about all that promotion and sell of goods (that new I was to the comic).

Going back on the topic of the thread: I think anybody can end whatever they're posting when they decide, but it's true it's off to do it after such a point of no-return (like selling a printed version of the first part).

That sounds like an incredibly calculated plan to something that's gonna end in the trashcan -sentence with double meaning-

[Darth_Biomech]

I feel bad, and sometimes even angry, but at the same time I understand, there's life reasons and stuff behind it. Some people stop making comics because of the health issues (disturbingly high percentage of the comics I followed, actually... Stop working yourself to death people, it's just a hobby!). Some people just vanish into the night. Some dump their old stories in favor of the new one... The last one is especially painful. I might like the new comic they're making (as with what happened with Derelict and Sword Interval, for example), but still be longing for the return of the old one, and hoping they decide to revive it when they're done with the new one.

I feel even worse when authors announce they're abandoning the comic. If it just stops updating, then it just sits there in my RSS feed, I check it from time to time, each time longer than the previous, with gradual acceptance that it is gone forever. Then usually the site itself going belly up, but by that point I don't particularly care much anymore.

[xabelmind]

The last one is how you usually end up with the feed full of dead works that you know they'll never update again, but still hang on them in case... I prefer the clear announcement.

[nostalgicroxas]

Agreed. I'd rather a clear announcement. But I, as a writer, know I'll write something with the intention to continue it and it just... never happens -by sheer accident.

[Rhonder]

So gave the story a read through to where it's at currently. Unfortunately, especially since chapter 3 just ended, it seems like even if you were to try and shorten it up you'd probably have to do at least 1 more chapter to reach some sort of satisfying conclusion Like scales and blue are gearing up for what could be turned into a final confrontation (if it's not already, as written) so whatever that ends up being would have to be addressed in the next several pages.

So I dunno how I'd approach this in your shoes. I think the abridged vignettes with the important scenes briefly illustrated could be a nice compromise. Or re-writing chapter 4 to be the final chapter and wrapping it up somehow. Or just putting it on indefinite hiatus and maybe return to it later? (or not, up to you of course xD)

[Azifri]

I just finished reading Journey, and it would bother me a bit if you don't at least explain what's happening Even though the story seems like classical fantasy, I'm very curious about the war and that people in that country have no idea about it, and I imagine the ending could either be a simple "government hiding things" situation, or a super cool plot twist. And the possibility of the latter and not ever knowing what it could be, feels disappointing

There is some good advice here already, so I'm just gonna post my personal idea. I'd use some key illustrations accompanied by explanatory text to tell what happened from there and conclude the story. Maybe leave the characters (it's a good point now because they just teamed up and left to solve the mystery) and use a third person narrative, maybe from a historian's point of view, or even one of the characters but in the future, to tell what happened.
Or if you really don't want to spend that much time, you can even go with the found notes that say something in the lines of "I don't have much time, so I'll write down what you need to know, what we found out when blah blah..."

Don't know if it helps but sure hope you find an alternative that leaves you satisfied, even if it's not what you had originally planned.

[claiborneart]

Thanks for taking the time to read it, this is some solid input here!

Yeah, I'm thinking more and more there's no good way to end Journey where it's at now; I think I'm going to sit on everyone's advice for a bit and deliberate the best way to handle this.