This day 20 years ago, I uploaded the first few episodes of "When I am King" to the world wide web.
It was a different time: Bill Clinton was president in the U.S., Google existed for only about 2 years. Facebook didn't exist yet, neither did Youtube. Total Internet users counted a tenth in numbers compared to now.
As I continued to upload new episodes in a weekly rhythm, visitor numbers grew to about 500 readers a day. And it went on like this, even after the story ended in summer 2001. International press articles, lots and lots of cheerful e-mails, nomination for an Ignatz Award: The interest seemed to be big back then, at least from the perspective of a 23-year-old comics artist rookie, suddenly convinced that a career in comics was a sure thing from now on.
I've spent the following years trying to establish a way to make a living out of webcomics and comics in general… it didn't work out. Instead, my graphic design business became more and more successful, and I found less and less time to make comics.
In 2009, l felt the urge to make a book and decided to do one out of "When I am King". Unfortunately, this took me 8 years instead of the 1 or 2 years I assumed it would take. Business matters and other rather unusual stuff happening in my life kept me from getting on faster. My own perfectionism slowed the process down as well as l enhanced the artwork again and again and added completely new scenes. The book has finally been published in 2018 by Jaja Verlag in Berlin and is now in its second edition.
|