Changing your comic halfway, is it do-able?

[CallMeMattheww]

I've been critically analyzing my comic (I've only posted about 4 chapters) but after some in depth analyses I would like to change the story, so kind of like a reboot, but at the same time not, I basically want to change overall concepts as well as general ideas of the story but I still want to keep certain elements of the story as they are.

And I'm not talking about going back and re-drawing panels or editing dialogue, I mean like an entire change to concepts and ideas of the series, for example: lets say you had a story about characters in high school fighting robots but you wanted to change it from school children to old military dudes, but at the same time still keeping things like character names, previously established relationships etc...

So do you know of any webcomic artists who have actually done something like this before, or is that just a bad idea and i shouldn't change my comic halfway and rather I should take all the changes that I want to make and start a whole new series instead? ...

[MK_Wizard]

I think you should make a new series entirely. NEVER shift the theme or direction of the comic or else it will backfire on you. Your fans develop specific expectations of your comic and when you suddenly change everything they liked about it, you lose readers.

[keii4ii]

Make a new series. It's less confusing that way.

If you are no longer invested in the existing version of your story, just explain to your readers that you've decided to take it in a new direction, and link them to your new series. Don't feel obligated to keep working on the old story unless YOU actually want to.

A lot of people do this with their stories. It's okay, really. Making a new series is for the sake of organization, and minimizing confusion.

[LCT_m_a_d]

I think its absolutely doable but that means you are going to need to give up control over your direction (which is the best thing when it comes to change). It would of course require a lot of thinking, understanding your audience logical expectations and awareness, and mostly PATIENCE.

I think it would be best to add specific small and easily digestible themes to prepare the audience for the transition. Take inventory on what you've created so you can see where adjustments can be made reasonably and agreeably. Introducing new expectations by a hardcutoff where suddenly things are different is going to be a lot of work for readers to consume, but doing it passes Is probably the best way to do this where readers won't even realize until everything is different.

It would be interesting to see demonstrated successfully. Good luck and let us (creative community) know what youve discovered in the process.

If you really would like to do this but not sure its doable... do it. That's what we're here to do as creators. If it doesn't work, you'll become wise and experienced. If it does work, then you'll become a genius.

[LT1986]

I think that it is doable. I know that a major change like this can discourage readers from continuing with the story sometimes. There is a possibility that you could improve the story and make the readers enjoy the story more. I believe that trying this takes great creativity, but it can be done. I'm in saga three of my story and the main character still hasn't been born, yet. The prologue is long, but the body of the story and ending are longer and better. So I guess that both of us, will find out if the changes work positively.