I think my old computer died. I put on a podcast, left the room, and when I came back there was a note on the screen about needing to reboot my computer. Now it just brings up a folder icon with a “no” symbol in the middle of it.

Fortunately, I have most of the stuff backed up. I was behind on saving the comics, and might’ve lost the last month’s worth (if I can’t recover anything), but I still have them all in physical form, so it could’ve been much worse.

But there were other things on that computer that I don’t have on the new one, like Photoshop, which means that I can’t easily finish and post comics until I replace that. Now I know that there are other options, and that I could always download something like GIMP, but I think I need this break in routine.

I’ve been posting to Rescue Archaeology three times a week since April of 2008, and it’s the most rewarding creative project that I’ve ever done, but I’ve been feeling the urge to expand beyond the short autobiographical snapshots for a while now. My problem is that I am a creature of routine, and the same obsessive tendency that kept me from missing my self-imposed deadlines, also keeps me from starting on a new project, even if I know it could be the right move.

When my computer died, I was surprised that part of me felt a little relieved. I bought a new laptop last month, so it wasn’t my primary machine anyway. I transferred most of the files off of it, so I’m not losing all of my data. As soon as I saw that broken folder, part of me realized that I’d found an excuse to move in a different direction. I’m not comfortable with the idea of dropping Rescue Archaeology to run off in an untested direction, but if I can’t post anyway, it means that I can work on my new comic and have it somewhat polished when I am able to post again.

What does this mean for Rescue Archaeology? I don’t know. I still have lots of strip ideas, and I’d like to keep the option open to post here again, just more sporadically. Any autobiographical work that I do will probably fall under the Rescue Archaeology label, and I might even keep it going as a weekly feature.

Or my new idea will turn out so awesome that we all forget about this stuff. Who knows?

I was looking through the archives the other day, and I’m amazed by how much my art and writing have changed in the last year and a half. I’ve never grown so much creatively in such a short amount of time, and I want to thank all of you for reading. Thank you for your comments, your feedback, your support, and for mentioning the comic to others.

I’m still going to be posting on twitter, and I might even post some sporadic strips while I’m working on my new project (which, of course, I’ll announce as soon as there’s something to announce).

In the meantime, I kinda love the idea that the last comic shows a future run by evil robotic cats. I think it does a nice job of recasting Rescue Archaeology as memories of our civilization before we were all forced to live in a giant litter box.

Yeah, that sounds like the right note to end things on.

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