When a series you followed starts back, how do you feel?

[VersusVII]

Hi everybody,
In the past two months I redrew some panels from the first chapter of my manga. I'm planning to adjust even the next 2 chapters and start to publish again the whole story. My fear is that people who read the old version won't follow the story untill I catch back to the new pages or could lose interest in the new version.

How do you feel when a story you were reading and that went on hiatus comes back from the start? Do you still follow the new version or wait untill it reaches the new part?

[DualDragons]

Depends on how often a series reboots. I can understand if the author reboots a series because they have improved so drastically in writing and art the old series is holding them back, and I'll gladly follow them with love.

However, some authors are perfectionists and want to constantly reboot their series because it isn't perfect. If they keep rebooting I'll lose interest because the story doesn't launch off.

[VersusVII]

Thank you for your answer.
Yeah, I get what you mean, it happened to me to lose interest on a series because it began 3 times after getting into action.

[TheLemmaLlama]

I personally do indeed wait until the reboot catches up to the new pages, in such a situation (I do sub to the new series immediately if you're launching the reboot as a separate series, but I don't actually read it until it's caught up.) I'm a binger, don't @ me XD

I personally prefer creators I follow to not reboot if it's just redrawing old panels but the story is similar enough such that I can easily identify what's an 'old' page vs a 'new' page XD (Ofc I don't hold it against them if they do reboot since I understand having a good-looking start is important for bringing in new readers :])

[TAMAnnoying]

It's gonna depend on how much of a "reboot" it is. Some people who reboot the series will do an entire overhaul of the series so character motivations might change or there's MORE characters now who I want context for. I'll def start from the begining with it and follow along- however if the reboot is just... Making everything prettier- I will probably sub but wait for it to catch up like TheLemmaLlama.

I also agree with Dual that if they reboot too often I'll fall off trying too keep up with it- not just cause I'll get annoyed with never getting to the good part but also because 50% when an artist tries to reboot they realize how much work it is and just shut down the project completely

I really don't like reboots unless they're actually writing scenes- otherwise I think it's best to just take some time off and redraw the first or second chapter so they can be prettier without having to start updating everything all over again- new readers can see the nicer pages and the people who where already subscribed can continue on with new pages

[Toastbuster]

I personally find it annoying. If the author is just going back to update the art/writing style to match the current chapters that’s one thing. It’s still a bit irritating when someone halts projects to redo old stuff, but not enough for me to drop the story. However, when someone completely starts over and changes the course of the story I usually drop it. I was already invested in what was originally happening, so a reboot just takes that away and ruins the whole thing for me. Of course, you should do what you feel is best for your story, but as a reader, that’s generally how I feel about it. Maybe that’s just me though. I also like to see how a creator has improved since they first started, and rebooting kind of takes away from that.

[Nugtown]

I don't follow any series to give my opinion on that, but as someone on the other end I can say that when I accidently deleted my series trying to start the new one, one of my fans actually went out of their way to look for it again. I guess it's nice knowing in confidence that you can leave an impression on somebody even if the old comic was wack.

[VersusVII]

Yeah, I like too seeing the improvements in the art style while following a story.
The problem in my case it's that I stopped my manga for 3 years, I improved a bit in drawing natural backgrounds and I think that would be a big gap from the last page I uploaded to the new ones. The story and dialogues will be the same.

Yeah, I experienced some rebooting and I get what you say: there was a webtoon around 70 updates, it became a canvas and now the reboot started with the story altered. I felt a bit dissapointed.

[ZombieOwl]

It really depends on how much I like the story and the reason why the creator want to go back to the drawing board.

If I enjoy the story, I'm totally all for the creator scrapping their story to rebuild it as something better. Sometimes creators don't expect the story to go anywhere or get a following, and they become inspired to start fresh to give the story a proper try.

However, if the artist goes on hiatus just to redo the art or something, I would drop it (even if I liked the story to begin with!) Redraws are something that most people will caution you against; it's pretty low priority compared to sticking to schedules and nurturing your community.

I think a lot of us who read webcomics stick with a series because of the story, so if your plan is to improve your plot, world building, character etc, I think your readers would understand and be excited.

[Toastbuster]

Hmm… If you took a 3 year hiatus and improved dramatically during that time a reboot is understandable. Maybe consider your first attempt at the story as sort of a “test drive” for lack of a better term. I think in that situation it would make sense to keep what you have up but let your readers know that there is an updated version on the way with better art. Maybe you could upload the new versions of already published story in bulk, then carry on with your regular upload schedule after that? A reboot for your situation does make sense, but at the same time if your readers are getting notified every time there’s a rebooted page of something they already read, it could turn them away. Maybe not though. I’m just one person lol

[system]

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