Is it possible to "re-brand" a comic?

[Lameboymilo]

So I have a webcomic Signs and tbh I made it on a whim (no real plot or direction so it's kinda just a comedy gag comic)

Now I actually have a proper plot & story (think Hetalia meets Romcom drama) but the problem is the old comic is already uploaded it so like what now??

Do i delete the old comic? or should I keep it up and just tell the people who subbed that the comic is getting revamped ? or should I just make a whole new comic and leave Signs as is?

I don't know what I should do and I haven't read any comics where the author takes an old comic and remakes it into a whole new series so I'm kinda at a loss here

[33rdCenturyCaveman]

There am only three episodes so far. Just act like it was the plan all along.

[Lameboymilo]

And if anyone asks any questions:

[darthmongoose]

My comic Errant:

Errant | Tapas

Is a very hard reboot of my old comic, Fan Dan Go:

Smack Jeeves: Fan Dan Go

Since it's been a number of years, and FDG was on sites like Smackjeeves, Drunkduck and a self-hosted site, while Errant is on Tapas, I just left the old version there. It's a nice little artefact and I'm proud of how hard I worked in the past on this old version from my early 20s, even though the new one is so much better.

I think if the tone is going to be distinctly different, make a new series with a new name, even if it shares some characters and plot elements. This isn't all that unusual, you can see it in John Allison's work:
http://www.scarygoround.com/
Scary Go round is a sort of reboot/sequel to Bobbins, but shares some characters, and then Bad Machinery is the same to Scary Go Round etc.

There's also a similar relationship but with hard rebooting of the same characters into comics with different tone and premise in David Willis' work, which goes: Roomies! > It's Walky! > Joyce and Walky > Shortpacked > Dumbing of Age
https://www.shortpacked.com/about
They all share characters, but only the first three have sort of continuity.

[DualDragons]

Actually... my comic Rise of the Heroes is a bit of a
hard rebrand from a waaaay earlier version called Sorcerer's Rise.

It had a bit of a different but more cliche setting with the mc, Andrew, having to collect seven keys to unlock a weapon to defeat the Overlord, the big bad evil guy. Some characters, like Cate and Enzios didn't exist so they adapted a bit of the personality traits my characters at that moment had. Also, Greg was a old man

Old art i still have left before the great laptop crash and me not saving in cloud (don't puke at it's horrible quality and spelling please):

Summary

But yeah once i lost everything i hard rebooted it and twisted a lot of things which gave birth to RotH! Although i still like the title Sorcerer's Rise, might use that as a subtitle.

Short version, yeah i think a rebrand is possible

[IdiotWithPencil]

I would say to read Katekyo hit man reborn, yugioh, one piece and dragon ball
they all started as one thing and then re branded
katekyo hitman started as a light hearted comedy and ended as a high action battle manga
yugioh started as a gambling manga an ended as a cardgame sport manga
and dragon ball started a traditional martial art fantasy into martial art sci fi
Same with one piece which started light hearted and fantasy and now it's more gritty and scifi

and none of them deleted the comic they just changed it gradually or harshly

[summer_coefficient]

Ask Hirohiko Araki, he's done it like twice.

[aqua03]

What was the second time he re-branded? Because I know he drastically did so with Stardust Crusaders, but I don't know what he did to rebrand the second time. Was it Steel Ball Run?

[summer_coefficient]

I'd say it was in SBR, yea

[aqua03]

Cool, thanks for the clarification on that.

[ar-ninetysix]

monotone_ink actually did this with Project SHaDe, it was supposed to be a comedic thing but then he was introduced to Nier Automata and now there's blood and depression everywhere and it's fantastic

Edit: Never answered your questions lol delete it if you feel like you have to, but definitely let your existing audience know first at least. About whether you move it to a new series or if you just upload the on the same one or whatever. Communication is key~

[Darth_Biomech]

There's a comic called "Scoob and Shag" on Webtoons. It started out literally like something barely above disjointed shitposts like these:

Now it's... well, hooo boy where do I even start.

So rebranding is not only possible but also sometimes half the fun of the entire reading experience!

[potatogirl]

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[allisoncandraw]

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