Practicalities of the End of Comic

[Jitter]

Here’s a thread for information and practicalities related to the ending of SSSS, as opposed to this https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=1265.0 thread intended for discussion about how we feel about it.

So, schedule info. I am listening to the recording of today’s stream (Dec 11) and somebody asked for the number of pages left. Minna ays she doesn’t remember the exact number, but she has calculated that the story will end around end of January. So that makes 7 weeks, one week of break at Christmas, so something in the order of 25 pages of adventure 2 left.

After that there will be an epilogue. She has agreed with the publisher to posted that at one page a week, to avoid an overly abrupt ending and allow them (publisher) to get the books sorted out. So I assume this means trying to ensure lots of buyers for Book 4.

This will give us some more time to ease ourselves into the post-comic era, which I guess is a good thing.

[wavewright62]

This assumes no plans for any books covering Adv 2? Not sure I'd really want one, but weird flex?

[JoB]

This assumes no plans for any books covering Adv 2? Not sure I'd really want one, but weird flex?

No plans yet, I suppose, but since Minna left the dead tree incarnations of SSSS business entirely to HiveWorks, I guess it's a safe assumption that they will want to talk with her about adv2 at some point ...

[Jitter]

The book 4 kickstarter is intended to launch in January I think. The question about Adv 2 books has been floated several times, and Minna just says it’s up to Hiveworks. I’m not 100 % sure it would be a big hit, after the comic isn’t updating any more. I suppose it depends a lot on the new work and how much the readership overlaps.

[Kiran]

I do suppose that the Adventure 2 books will not come any time soon, in the sense, for another six-seven months, optimistically.
I use the word optimistically in case Hiveworks decides to publish Adv.2 in book form immediately after book 4.

[wavewright62]

Adv. 2 would not be in one volume - Adv. 1's page 538 (the most current page at this writing) fell into the middle of Book 3.  At the historic rate of SSSS book rollout, I doubt we'd see even the first one before the latter half of 2023.  But who knows? 
Minna used to strike me as a pragmatic woman, figuring out a way to monetise her passion.  Will she still want to monetise her Passion?  I'm not taking that bet.

[LooNEY_DAC]

Adv. 2 would not be in one volume - Adv. 1's page 538 (the most current page at this writing) fell into the middle of Book 3.  At the historic rate of SSSS book rollout, I doubt we'd see even the first one before the latter half of 2023.  But who knows?

The aRTD page count is supposedly 556, and it was just one book; Minna or Hiveworks might balk at such a large book (cf the lack of enthusiasm for an aRTD reprint), but it could still happen.
Or I could be completely wrong.

[JoB]

The aRTD page count is supposedly 556, and it was just one book; Minna or Hiveworks might balk at such a large book (cf the lack of enthusiasm for an aRTD reprint), but it could still happen.

There was serious thought given about whether to break ARtD into two volumes, but as you said, that was all yet-inexperienced-in-bookprinting Minna with no HiveWorks in the equation.

[Jitter]

So. Some time ago, when it was already established that the comic is ending, Minna was considering a Q&A for fans. The first time we discussed it I was under the impression it may have been a written thing such as a blog entry where people could send questions. Later, she still said she can do it if people are interested, but it would be a stream and she would just respond aloud as questions were asked.She warned at that point that she probably wouldn’t have answers to many questions because she doesn’t have everything figured out.

As it seems clear her interest is waning, it’s possible a dedicated Q&A stream won’t happen after all, but I will try to attend a stream and remind her in any case. If it happens, I will try to collect questions and pass them into the stream. If she’s not into doing it anymore, I don’t want to go pestering her in the streams, but I suppose she’ll answer a question or two every now and then if someone asks.

[Maple]

I wonder if an Adventure 2 book could be two volumes sold at once maybe? So it's all gotten out in one go, and the two books can go together.

[tehta]

On the discord, and also in my mind, the main possibly-answerable interesting question is 'what was the fire in Emil's dream about'?
(Possibly-answerable because it seems like the sort of thing she might have thought about while drawing it.)

[Jitter]

There is not going to be a designated Q&A stream. Minna promised to answer questions in any stream, if she has an answer, but said that one just for questions wouldn’t work. She would get tired and start giving bad “who cares” questions.

So, we can get some answers as long as someone has time and interest to go to the streams. There were a couple today, maybe I’ll make a thread.

Book four kickstarter will go up soon.

Someone asked “how long is the epilogue going to be”, answer was “as long as I make it”. Since “not having to” update anymore was also mentioned, that probably doesn’t mean something like 50 pages.

[wavewright62]

I appreciate her honest answer.  I guess we'll just record stuff in the stream thread - I appreciate you (or whomever!!) going there and listening!

[Jitter]

I’m not sure about the stream thread, I think there are many who will not find them there. I suppose there are some at the moment who are definitely not interested in chat with her, and will not think to look into a thread that appears to be about her rather than the comic. In the future the relevance of the streams will likely diminish further. I’m thinking the answers are likely to reach more people if we post them separately. Also it could be possible to present questions for asking in that thread.

Oh I forgot an important thing: someone asked today, if Onni will ever have a girlfriend. Minna answered (near verbatim) “You can write anything you want for him. I am not for, or against, any development for any of the characters.” We knew already that she approves fanfiction, but still it’s good to hear this is still the case, and even when it concerns romantic relationships.

[thorny]

Jitter, I would much appreciate it if you and/or someone else who is following the streams would post pertinent information from them on these boards. I've never followed the streams, and am not intending to start doing so now.