Octopus Pie Comic Blog Sensation • Does Octopus Pie feel like same comic to you as it always was, or does it feel different from when you started? That is, in terms of what it’s about, and what you are doing with it. Obviously it’s changed over the years; I guess I’m wondering if the changes feel material to you.

Does Octopus Pie feel like same comic to you as it always was, or does it feel different from when you started? That is, in terms of what it's about, and what you are doing with it. Obviously it's changed over the years; I guess I'm wondering if the changes feel material to you.

tonybreed

It feels very different. When I started writing it at age 22, I sort of envisioned the characters as cool and fairly mature, even a little bit older than me. The panels were wordy, the heroes were snarky and had the last word. The people who antagonized Eve were clearly “villains”, and her friendship with Hanna was a foregone conclusion based on their ~wacky~ personality differences. Eve hit it off with Will because he was “nice”. Most of the early stories are silly sitcom premises (accidental fame, Eve’s rival, nerds vs. stoners, etc). At that time I was figuring out a ton about writing, and over-the-top premises were exciting to me.

At some point I identified less and less with those situations, and I decided to age the characters, write them (I think) more believably, reveal more of my own life through them. Nobody is really “clever” anymore and there is no clear good vs. evil, just a lot of mistakes. Everyone means well. And they’re all younger than me, now.

Ultimately I think it’s been good for the comic to change this way, and it’s definitely kept me interested. I’m glad I wrote those old stories when I did, and that I’m still writing this comic. It’s a pretty comprehensive journal of my 20s, for better or worse!