Luna may live again…but when and how? Let’s talk…
I don’t know what to even write here, at all. First, if you’re reading this…wow, you’re still around? THANK YOU. Most likely, you’re a recent/new reader, which is fantastic. LOVE to all of you, long-time readers, anyone who happened to have spent some time reading this small story among so many other better comics about a young girl who happened to be a werewolf.
Alpha Luna did appear back in January 2005, I did spent some time the previous year (2004) getting the first few pages ready for the new year so I could start the comic project of my dreams with a clean slate. Things went better than expected, and in 2010 I got some attention here in my country, Chile, where I published the first Book. Thing scalated and by 2014 I was in full swing, tip-toeing my steps into the professional world, preparing what would be the second book that would get published the next year, 2015.
It’s been 10 years since, and no third book or finished status of the comic happened, and this website, had page 49 (from chapter 5) since August 2022 as the last page posted, well that’s until today when I’ve uploaded the patreon’s pages: 50 & 51.
But why, after left for so long? Much of it had to do with a few reasons.
First, I couldn’t manage a “professional” workload on my own. Back in 2015, I was exhausted with the publication of my book, so it was a given that it would take me at least two years to get the next book somewhat ready, but at the same time, I wasn’t hired or had any deadline; it was all in my own hands. Sadly, contrary to other countries with big comic markets, I wasn’t hired or anything. So I still had to pay my bills, and I was taking strides to really live on my own.
And to accomplish this, my focus shifted somewhat into commission works, Patreon came to be, including a second avenue for more mature works. And this second avenue proved to be my main income, while Alpha Luna, for a long time, proved the contrary, with fewer and fewer people being interested in it.
I can certainly take the blame too. I went through many hiatuses that would last from months to a year or so, which killed the interest and the returning fans. But even then, I started to mature as a storyteller and started to become more apathetic and critical of my own work, and the love that I had for the story, and where I wanted to take it…it didn’t appeal to me anymore. It felt more eager to scratch everything and start all over again.
But I loved these characters. I loved the interactions that I had with fans, and the people I met thanks to AL. I loved that era when I poured my soul and love for it; I loved that I believed in my dreams. And if I could focus and write something really good, give this comic a great send-off, it would be worth everything. But then, shit happened.
COVID happened. I was ok, but my family needed help. All came together in a rush, and I had to leave the place I had for my own, and I decided I needed a fresh start, a more settled life for a better future. I made sacrifices for what I believed was the greater good, as cheesy as you may think that sounds, that was the truth for me.
But I had to try, I really tried in 2022 to be the year I would go the distance, when finally I would close the cycle and work on Alpha Luna and finish what I started, maybe not with the full series I dreamed when I started all of this, but with a cute open end. I posted a few Youtube updates and gave it all what I could, releasing the works I had done with great artists who did my AL Chronicles comics. But…. by the end of 2022 it all came crashing down due my own mental health, real life work and my father’s Alzheimer’s disease.
But I would be lying if I had to blame it all on external factors. Many of my decisions came back to me with a punch because of my lack of motivation and focus. Little by little I started to believe no one cared about AL anymore, it had been way too long, and it was a foolish endeavor to even try anymore. I kept taking a few commissions here and there, but just thinking about AL made me feel a little sick, because of embarrassment, because of failure, and because of all the love I once had for the story now it was a mess of emotions that felt more negative than rewarding.
“The comic was never good” , “The story was shit” , “Who cares anymore?”, “Why would you waste so much time on it?” “Why?” “Because you love these characters?” “Maybe the story wasn’t good, but its themes….identity, self realization, self-discovery, friendship, trust…there were good things, right?”
“I guess….”
Then, one day….maybe 2023 or so, I started to write, what would be ending like….and I kept going back to a single idea, and themes. And it all came into one feeling, happiness. It doesn’t matter who is reading, if it’s worth or not, it matters what I want to say at the end.
Lyrics, song have that special power, to give meaning to feelings through melodies. And after writing the paragraphs, ideas for a possible final chapter, I decided to look up for a song that would give me the feeling I had and to express with words and fitting ideas a possible “Ending song”. And a mong many I found this…
It’s melaconlic and it’s a bit sappy you say? Fuck it, I love it. Sometimes you find the inspiration in the most unlikely places. (Malukah is great btw, check her channel!)
In due time I hope this rambling makes a little bit of sense. But what I can say, is that I have goal in mind, right now at this very moment. It will be a long year, and although it’s March, for me the year had just official beging to me. I’ll start working on AL again, very soon, I don’t know how much it will take, hopefully less than a year? I don’t know. The promise is that I’ll keep going, now and finally with a goal in mind.
I think that’s all I needed in life after all, and just like the song I just needed to follow the moon, a guiding light, a goal, a shining beacon, something to look forward and believe in. Until then, take care.
Leo
Comments
