Alright, I'm not exactly sure if anyone has noticed, but at midnight tonight, it will be exactly three and a half years to the day that the almighty "Comics not yet in Books" section starts. No offense, but that's 3 1/2 years of work that Pete could have sold, and with all the work on the MAY-GAH-TOHMMM, there could have been (I'm guessing here, so work with me) about three more books out, with more on the way.

If it's what chapters will be put into which books, I personally think that this is a great lineup:

33-36: We have the Kesandru sections, along with a dash of Torg Potter.
37-41: Holiday Wars, finishing off with Pig Sty for the Gay Guy.
42-44: TWR. TWR. TWR. Plus Most Wonderful Time... need I say more?
45-48: OU. OU... OK, I used that one already. But seriously, who doesn't want the tale of cow-licks and the somewhat originish origins of ye olde Bun-Bun?

That's... 1, 2, 3.. 4 books. 4 possible books that I would be willing to purchase sometime in the future. If this has already been suggested/is already being worked on, good. That's what this is about. But if it isn't... please, please start on these things soon so we can wave them in our friends faces and pander to new audiences that might not like the interent as much as most people do, but would be apt to looking at dead-tree formats.

As this is related to Sluggy, this shall go to Sluggy Related Chat.

*Bap*

Haha, I had this exact same thought not more than 15 minutes ago. And you pretty much nailed the groups I would've put the chapters in.

I think, even if there aren't any plans on creating the books in the immediate future, the "comics not yet in books" section should still be divided into potential book arrangements. This way we know there's been some contemplation on the upcoming books and it makes the history section look a little nicer. Well, I think it'd look nicer, since I'm a bit anal when it comes to organizational stuff like that. But the point still stands.

It'd make more sense to only print the megatomes in future. I have a few copies of the books, and they are surprisingly thin. It makes more economical sense for the megatomes to be sold - cheaper to be made, and probably cheaper (and more handy) for us.

One major factor you have to consider is the financial side of things. There will be more people wanting to buy the first few books than the 10th, 11th or 12th book (since people like to buy in chronological order they'd always start with buying the first few books). All things considered, I'd rather Pete worked on maximising his income so that he can continue to afford to DO this webcomic over anything else. :p

Regarding sorting the unprinted comics into not yet made books, I'd say that if this was done, then Pete would probably get emails from confused readers asking where they can actually get these books. Far less confusing to keep it as 'Not yet in books'.

Nonetheless, I do hope that books 10, 11, and 12 are sorted out asap. There would undoubtedly be many readers wanting to pay good money to add more books to their collections. The bottle-neck seems to be with the people working for Pete - as I understand it from what he's written, it's pretty much only himself who can sort out these books. He might want to consider getting some help here, IF anyone who was good enough was willing to assist. HOWEVER, I doubt he'd want such an important thing as the books to be handled by anyone else than himself. It is his work after all. If he can, however, deligate more non-essential work out (if it exists), then that'd probably be very wise.

Of course, this is all me just guessing. At the end of the day, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. ^^;

I once figured out which chapters would be in which future books, based on how many days' strips books 1-9 covered. Unfortunately, that post is gone — and after I spent so long on it, too!


Anyway, there were some awkward story splits. I eventually figured out a good arrangement, but books are just too thin to work with easily. I agree that Pete should stick with megatomes from now on. :)

Do you think that Pete may do a megamegatome you know with all the books rolled into one.... that would be sooooo cool

Here are the starting dates of each book, including logical extensions for theoretical books, and the chapters that the theoretical books would cover.

Book 1 Is it not nifty
August 25, 1997

Book 2 Worship this comic
March 23, 1998

Book 3 When holidays attack
October 26, 1998

Book 4 Game called on account of naked chick
May 31, 1999

Book 5 Yippy Skippy the evil
January 1, 2000

Book 6 The Bug, the witch, and the robot
August 15, 2000

Book 7 A very big bang
April 2, 2001

Book 8 Fire and rain
November 12, 2001

Book 9 Dangerous Days
May 13, 2002

Book 10 Kesandru's Well (Chapters 33-35)
December 17, 2002

Book 11 The Holiday Wars (Chapters 36-41)
September 15, 2003

Book 13: That Which Redeems (Chapters 42-43)
May 19, 2004

Book 14 Oceans Unmoving, Part 1 (Chapters 44-46)
December 13, 2004

Book 15 Oceans Unmoving, Part 2 (Chapters 47-48)
August 22, 2005

Book 16 ???, ??? (Chapters 49-?)
March 6, 2006

From what I know, Pete can't publish books the way he did before with Plan 9, and between that and the megatomes, we just have to be patient for the day that we can read sluggy anywhere, not just where we can steal a computer.

I think OU would be one book, not two. The other stuff might not be included in the book though (like Saturday and filler and any other non OU stuff).

Book 10 would probably get a better name, like "My summer vacation to heck" or "How I got a free house" or even, "To heck and back."

OU and the segments between wouldn't fit in a single book.

I dunno, I like "Trapped on the butt of heck" myself.

OU would all fit in one book, but you wouldn't put in the other stuff. OU was a love it or hate it type story anyways, so it is much more logical to present it as a complete story for those who want it rather then forcing the Sluggiets to buy the OU story twice when they just want the normal Sluggy stuff in-between. Besides, OU is not something you want to give out 50% at a time.



I like that, "Trapped on the butt of heck." Makes a great book name.

I was thinking "Ghosts in the Gastank!" for book 10.

Another big question is how Saturdays get handled, since MitDoP starts smack in the middle of book 10 (no matter how you slice it). If MiTDoP was seperated out as its own chapter in a book (probably whichever one winds up with the halloween where the care-bear-esque demon shows up) that could change where things get split.

If things are just going to go straight to Megatomes: With the first one titled "Born of Nifty", how about titles for the next ones? These are just my random ideas, feel free to throw out your own

Books 4,5,6: "Worthy of Worship", or maybe "we bring good things to life" (from the licsence plate on the car from Dr. Steve's lab)
Books 7,8,9: "Ask yourself: 'What would Riff do?'" (eh, not great, but I can't think of anything else)
kesandru's well-TWR: definately something with "heck" in the title
Oceans Unmoving
current storyline-2007/8:????