Consider today’s update a quick intermission before we start Album 2. Also included is a brief introduction of a character you’ll become more than acquainted with in the coming year. Until then, keep rocking.

-Rainwater

If Mr. Rainwater does not mind terribly much, I’d like to use this space to throw in a bit of an “afterword.” It seems only fitting to put Album 1 to rest this way (well, not to REST; maybe to a nap. We still have to finish our plans for the trade paperback, which will include its own very special afterword), to sign it off into the murky abyss of forever that we call the past.

And not a moment too soon. If you’ve had any chance to talk to Mr. Rainwater and me about Garage Raja, you’ll know that, well, Album 1 is something of a sticking point for us. While it was a blast to write –certainly a challenge, if NOTHING else — and though I was ecstatic each and every time Mr. Rainwater sent me a new page, there was something about the Album that has NEVER sat well with me. Not once have I ever felt completely confident in it as a story.

And there’s good reason for that: it’s pretty weak, in my estimation. Certainly I find that there are lines and panels and pages that I am particularly proud of, characters that I love and moments that I’m thrilled to know I wrote, but for every one of those… Well, suffice it to say that there are plenty of instances in this year-long rereading that I cringed to find. No longer distracted by the thrill of creating, no longer overwhelmed by the joy that comes with Mr. Rainwater’s visual translations of my words, and given the appropriate distance that comes with time, I cannot help but be hyper-critical of the work.

What I find now I find desperately wanting. So much of the characterization is clumsy, much of the conflict rather trite — the ambush in the apartment is a particularly clumsy bit of work on my part — and there are spots of dialogue I would hope to disappear forever into the ether. Alas, that will not happen.

I do not mean to say that I HATE Album 1 by any means. As I said, I’m rather proud of a few aspects of it, not the least of which is the seed it serves to be. Trust me: though the incident seems a bit paltry and though Album 2 is a large shift in tone and action, what we’ve established with Album 1 has repercussions that will become apparent only with time. Its a structural trick we’ve played, here, and truth be told, I’m rather fond of it. Likewise, I do love a number of the characters, and Matt really knocks the art out of the park in a number of places (the Great Snake Escape is simply lovely).

Maybe a few years more distance will allow me to appreciate our work even more, allowing me to look at this as a youthful, energetic adventure that, if wanting for skill, had passion enough to carry it. If you’re already at that place, though, then more power to you! Lord knows we love our fans more than anything.

Which is why we pulled out all the stops for Album 2. Trust Mr. Rainwater and me when we say that we’ve really got something special for you kids and it’s only days away!

Until such time as I check back in with you, keep up the good fight, whatever fight that might be.

– Austin Price.