Today’s issue is Number 171. But in actuality, this is issue number 1. This is the very first Bitmap World comic we did…ever. After the “throwing around ideas” stage, and we had settled on actual characters, storylines, and whatnot, we put together this prototype strip. In fact, had you visited our site in the months before we officially went live, you would have seen this sole comic up on the site. Our site was very much like it is now: the pseudo computer with the framed comic within and the navigation buttons on the “keys.” Though, back then, there were much fewer links on the keys.

Of course, you will also recognize this strip as one of the templates in our Build-Your-Own-Comic maker. But, be assured, this strip was not made using this utility. It was done months before we even dreamed of the BYOC.  It truly is neat to have this stand-alone comic done so long ago slipped into the regular continuity, rather seemlessly. Though, if you do look closely, this strip has been altered slightly from the prototype (this alteration was done recently since we have certain style aspects to the comic now we didn’t in the beginning). 5 points in the forum if you can see the differences.

We always planned to have Rasterman come on the scene a bit into the strip, but I don’t think Jim or I ever planned that it would be nearly a year and a half and 170 issues in. The strip, the characters, and the story really have taken on a life of their own, and have gone in so many directions we didn’t plan.  But it’s been so much fun, and ultimately it’s worked out that we’ve been (up to this point) been able to add the elements we’ve wanted to.  It’s funny because many of the stories we did plot out in the beginning are still yet to be told.  In fact, Jim and I were just hashing out a few things and realized a couple of the storylines probably won’t come up until year 3 or 4!  How’s that for planning ahead. And we have new ideas popping up every day, so who knows where that will take us. That said, I guess it would be hard for you all to believe we actually struggle with writer’s block on occasion and pull our hair out to get one strip up.  That’s because it’s not the pictures that give us fits but getting the words just right.  While this “little comic” may not be Pulitzer Prize material, we still taking it seriously and don’t want to shell out just anything.

Anyhow, thanks for making Bitmapworld part of your weekly routine. Here’s to strip 200 on the near horizon, and to many more after that.