As I mentioned earlier this week, starting in December I’ll be making some adjustments to the release schedule as part of an overall shift in the sustainability business model for the comic. Advertising is no longer contributing to the site in a meaningful way, and so I’m relying more on direct support from readers in the form of Patreon or merchandise. It’s been heading this way for a long while, most of us that work online like this have seen the writing on the wall for advertising that isn’t on Youtube or Twitch, etc. I held out as long as I could, but it’s time for me to try something a bit different in order to continue being able to put this comic out for free as well as… y’know… eat.
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First and foremost, the website will continue to get all of the regular comics I do for free. However they’ll update 2x a week (Monday and Friday). Our Patreon at the $3+ tiers will continue to get updates 3x a week (keeping the current M/W/F schedule). In this way I can add value to the Patreon to hopefully entice more people to consider supporting (and those of you that have done so far are absolutely incredible), while still giving something to those that, for whatever reason, cannot.
Additionally, I am speaking with a couple of people about a long-overdue update for the website here, with two goals in mind: Make the archives easier to browse/navigate, and to allow the Patreon-exclusive content to be accessible/readable here behind a login. Patreon is great for content delivery, but not so great at content access/browsing, especially for a comic format. So I’m hoping to find a way Patrons can still read the content here, if they wish.
My intention is to ride out December with the current ads on the website, since this is the season where ads typically do the best (even if the best of shit is still shit), and then in 2026 I will look into decluttering by removing some or most of them. I hate them on the website as much as you do, and if they aren’t making themselves worth the eyesore, may as well get rid of them.
Additionally, the Starcaster Chronicles, currently about to close out Issue #17 on its own Patreon, will be added to the $3+tiers of the main Ctrl+Alt+Del Patreon as well. It will be read-only (no voting), and remain 2 full issues behind the actual Starcaster Patreon (where people vote on story choices), but this adds some additional content to the main Patreon, and also makes it a little easier for people who want everything all in one place/monthly subscription.
We’ll have some other small changes and announcements, and I’ll try and make it clear what tiers get what perks, etc, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up for what the plan was. I very much appreciate everyone that has joined us on our Patreon, or picked up some merch. I’ve loved doing this comic for the past two decades, and I hope to do it for another couple as long as I can find some equilibrium with the shifting online landscape.
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“They fly now?!”
– terrible movie
I respectfully disagree.
You’re allowed to have a wrong opinion.
Star Wars Sequels 7/8/9 were intentionally disrespectful to the source material, poorly thought out narratively, and a tangled mess. They are bad on a next level, because their mere existence diminishes the narrative of the other 6 movies by virtue of their inclusion.
I would argue that 7 isn’t intentionally disrespectful. It is an ode to the old movies, even if they butchered some stuff. It follows the overarching story of “a new hope,” while adding a lot of extra stuff. It sets up some mysteries with who she is and shows some premonitions, we see an angsty teen trying to live up to the legend of Darth Vader. We see an unexpected climax when he kills his father, a man who has carried a big part of the franchise for decades. The movie has flaws, but it isn’t intentionally disrespectful. The second… Read more »
Yeah, I think the big thing is that Disney really didn’t plan out the sequel trilogy out well. They should’ve have had an ironed-out story for the entire trilogy and had only one director for it instead of the planned 3. What resulted was a messed-up Episode 8 and an Episode 9 messed up because it was trying to fix up the mess that Episode 8 made because it didn’t really follow the theme and the things Episode 7 set up.
Sweet summer child, If you think that movie is terrible, I have seen movies that would mentally scar you. I’m in a discord that has a Bad Movie night every Friday. Watch Grease 2, Son of the Mask, and/or China Salesman to lower(?) your bar for what a bad movie is. We consider movies like the Tremors movies as actually entertaining “good” Bad Movies.
My family and I enjoy the Tremors series including the tv series, and personally I consider Grease 2, Son of the Mask, hell, even Pet Detective 4 masterpieces compared to Episodes 7/8/9. They made Buckaroo Bonza look like a work of art in comparison.
They were, to date, the only films I have ever seen that I legitimately considered getting up and leaving at the theater, and the only thing I have found to be somehow worse than Star Trek Discovery.
You need to check out death stalker, which is great, and then the sequels, which aren’t
When it comes to bad movies I think you really need to take in budget and legacy into consideration. Of course something like Samurai Cop, made on a shoestring budget with a foreign director who had no concept of coverage, is going to be a bad movie.
But the Star Wars sequels (and prequels) come from a legacy of one of the most beloved franchises ever, with hundreds of million dollars in budget, and they still wound up bad.
Yes there are far worse films, but what makes SW 7, 8, 9 stand out is that they are spawned from what was once a cultural icon. Ever since Disney bought the property they’ve been throwing everything at the wall, hoping something will stick while they coast on the original trilogy’s impact on pop culture while the new drek just drags it all down. Exact same thing they’re doing to Star Trek.
There are bad movies. And then there are the weird cases, like how they made the Highlander movie, and then later made Highlander 3. My wife is absolutely firm in her belief that they never made a Highlander 2 with something stupid like “The immortals are actually alien rebel prisoners.” That would have been ridiculous.
Apparently I’m the only one who figured that quote came from Tremors 3.
I don’t think that line really is that bad. Corny as hell but there’s a lot of other corny stuff in “good” starwars that works because the rest of the movie is good. TROS is just a bad movie from the base construction. Should have been willing to bin the whole thing and delay the release up to a year, 2 year interval is too short, especially after losing the original director.
Just to check in regards to the MF/MWF schedule: do comics like CAD still progress at the same rate for both the website and the Patreon and Wednesdays will just be a ‘bonus strip’, or is it a case of the Patreons getting one strip in the storyline earlier?
If the latter, it sounds like the website will get increasingly far behind in terms of the storylines, since at first it will be one strip behind, then two strips behind, etc.
the second one
He said before that it’s going to be the latter. So if you don’t want to be behind pay up
As said in the announcement under the last strip, the gap will widen. Patreon supporters will get 3 a week and website gets 2. That means around 50 strips extra per year. Next December will be 50, the one after 100 strips more than the website.
52 and a 104 technically.
So does that mean potentially disconnected comics for website? I’m curious how this will go for telling a story.
The story will continue at the current “normal” pace for Patreon members. It will be slower for everyone else here.
Storytelling actually seems like the least problematic part of this model. A lot of webcomic jokes rely on current events and games. The longer the free/paid descrepency continues, the less relevant those jokes will become by the time they make it to the “free” realm. Imagine a slew of jokes about Animal Crossing: New Horizon coming out this year.
Unless Tim interrupts the current story line in favor of a one-off “intermission” comic of a current event, which could work.
The schedule for regular comics probably isn’t set in stone and the one-offs will more than likely make it to the public site whenever they’re ready rather than releasing them in the same order as on patreon.
That will obviously widen the gap between the regular series on the public site as well, but by the time that really matters he’s had some time to experiment and evaluate the system.
Elijahs leg brace is a nice touch of detail.
Does make me wonder how long ago that was in-story and if he really should be speeding on that leg so soon after the injury
Is not unusual that runner supers also have accelerated everything, metabolism, healing, etc… curiously they don’t age faster too 🤔
Yeah, if I recall they also have enhanced strength as well, but not at the super human strength level. Like, they are a bit above peak regular human strength.
They do in Dispatch…
less frequent free update and less ads ?
Seems pretty fair, you do put all this stuff out there for free, so the overall change is not unreasonable and the Patreon prices are reasonable.
As long as it lets you keep going with all those stories you have to tell, it’s fine
Kinda sucks a bit – I kept the ads on because I’m unemployed at the moment and simply can’t afford to support on Patreon. Despite my support, I’m still gonna end up losing out simply because the job market here is crap and I can’t even afford to buy coffee, let alone maintain Patreon subs.
You’re not losing anything but patience it seems.
There’s always something available, you just have to want to do it too.
I’ve worked some extremely shitty and underpayed jobs, but it was always better than staying at home + it gets you extra experience.
If you can’t afford coffee, then you should just accept any kind of job and search for something better while you’re employed.
Hearthfully disagree. Being in a crappy job is worse than being without. Granted, that depends also where you live and what sort of benefits systems you have. Working at a job that breaks you either physically, mentally or both without good pay just isn’t worth it. Or if you truly have to, try to work part-time at least so it doesn’t consume all your time.
So, seek for a job that doesn’t crush you, even if you got to give up some comforts.
The world is generally harder than it used to be too – several big wars either starting up or planning to, deep divisions in many countries, and the spectre of nuclear weapons more than we’ve seen for a long time. Then there’s tarrifs, realignments (which are chaotic for a decade or more), and losses of jobs and so on…ignoring whatever A.I. actually does to employment or lack thereof. I think Tim’s done what he could and is now dealing with the changes in the world. We’re going to see many of these things changing over the years to come. I… Read more »
Yes Elijah, hurt a kid, very coherent
But Game Boy is part of “The Problem”(TM), you see. He’s been indoctrinated by the “Evils of Video Games”(C) and is too far gone to save, therefore must be neutralized with prejudice.
If he made sense he wouldn’t be a murderer/villain/working with the troll.
So … he’s protecting the Kids by hurting one ? Quite a slippery slope …
He jumped off the slope a long time ago. This is just free fall.
Look forward to seeing the archive get a bit cleaned up!
Again, Gameboy, you COULD bluff your way out of this fight, instead of making yourself a target. How would you even know that your power doesn’t work if you die, anyway? It’s possible, but it’s not like you checked.
Well if he already knows it doesn’t work when he’s unconscious, inferring that he also needs to be alive isn’t exactly a huge leap.
Unless he can keep the pause as a ghost. But then he’d be Ghostboy.
If it stops when he sleeps for example, it would not be a stretch that he needs to live for it to work.
It’s fair assumption, but not essential one: Sleeping is a very soft reset, letting all the processes to shut down properly, very different from software crashes or hardware damage.
You’re right that the mechanics of some power that stay active with a host dead is not trivial, but if a supervillain would try to murder ME to undo my freezing, I might at least rise it as an option
As for the change, I do wonder if it is the end of “fans trying to guess the plot”, now that every too-accurate guess might be a spoiler from Patreon time traveller
This will 100% happen, so you’re correct. Only Patreon supporters should be reading the comments for speculations, because normal readers will get spoiled by one or more people who act like they’re “predicting” what’s going to happen. Happens everywhere when there’s two sources that are not in sync (book/movie adaptations, manga/anime adaptations, staggered releases for different platforms or countries, etc).
he could just shut off the comments section for the website and just leave it on the paid side
Sounds good, hope it works out. Just one clarification about the Wednesday strip if Monday and Friday only viewers are getting everything as per released issue and Wednesday Patreon a bonus comic not relevant to a given issue? Or will a given issue be progressing still AS Monday Wednesday Friday and the middle bit axed for view Unless a Patreon member?
If I have pages A, B, and C:
Patrons will get Page A on Monday, Page B on Wednesday and Page C on Friday.
The website will get Page A on Monday, Page B on Friday, and Page C the following Monday.
How will you deal with the inevitable horde of patrons posting spoilers in this comment section?
Id imagine far as I can figure not much Tim can do other then ask nicely not too and be respectful in the community? Though I imagine it also will have those one to three people who will say it anyhow
I don’t know how inevitable it is, since Patrons have regularly been between 2-7 days ahead of the website for quite a while now, and I haven’t seen it become an issue so far.
That’s a “cross that bridge when we get to it” problem.
Awesome! Thanks!
So gameboy can pause multiple objects simultaneously, as long as he´s conscious. Sooo … what happens if he pauses a speedsters leg braces or eye protection while he is speeding? Will there be tomatosauce?
I guess it’d be like getting stuck on glue, but on steroids, since it doesn’t move at all…
Gameboy can pause people/objects, but not their momentum. He would need to be able to take the full momentum of a speedster into himself somehow.
If he would pause a brace or mask it is most likely tomato sauce time, which is a big ask of a kid to murder someone. Even if they threaten their life. In this case Elijah might not go for killing anyway. Minor violence can already get results.
Ah right, I forgot about the momentum transfer. The tank was stationary, so not much to pick up there. So if he pauses Elijahs Mask mid sprint, he might break his arm, but it´s paralysis time for the flash.
He could just pause his clothing.
Rrrrip. Well, that page is now 18+ rated.
I’d like to think this is all going to plan. Knowing Eli would be the one to run up and try to stop GB is tricking the speeder into getting paused (and then maybe held by an arrow?
I wonder if it will be like Hiro Nakamura – he isn’t pausing, just slowing things way down. “Pausing” Elijah might only make him go normal speed.
Gameboy is going to die in the acid pool thing 🙁
The true final boss of this arc is Game Boy’s mother.
Nah that’s Thundress, as much as I love her.
A big thumbs up to being able to see the Patreon content on this site. I almost never visit patreon.com.
100% agree – subscribed like a year or so ago, but just to pay back for 10 years of really fun comics every other morning.
I’m not interested in getting a sneak preview (all that actually does is shift the days when I get to see a comic to a less useful schedule – I ain’t looking for comics on Sunday mornings)
You answered one of my big questions with this update – joining the $3+ tier on the CAD Patreon gets access to the Starcaster Chronicles. That’s the exact model I was hoping for, getting all content under one subscription. Thanks for doing that. I’m happy to support where I can!
Thanks for keeping it the way you have 🙂
I’ll join the Patreon IF you promise chef Brian will return in some shape of form. He’d be an interesting hero/villain/wildcard/whatever…
Do what you have to do. I know we live in a capitalist society and there’s nothing any of us can do to change that.
I can’t afford Patreon, but I have turned off ABP on the webcomic.
Tim, I’m sorry you had to move things behind a paywall. You’d think the Internet would have learned *not* to monopolize things like ads and infrastructure, especially after this week’s Cloudflare fiasco, but it’s apparently too much to ask that humans learn from human history.
I’m currently a starcaster patreon member. If I want to also have the weekly comics on time, is there a tier I can switch to that will give me both?
Shit, really hope Gameboy doesn’t fall into the tank. Don’t do it, Tim, please…
I’ve never seen a speedster be capable of jumping to extreme heights? I also don’t see him flapping his arms or anything.
I’m curious why the Troll is still conscious and talking.
Like, isn’t “taking out the leader” pretty standard tactics?
They already had their hand around his neck, they’re just gonna let him give commands and ignore him and only respond to it reactively?
The superhero lady let go of him a couple pages ago, about when she learned that the Troll and his minions still had a working detonator; They still had leverage after all, hence her stepping back for fear of the bad guys pushing the button. That is, until Gameboy paused the ceiling tank on the previous page. But in terms of realtime, that only happened maybe five seconds ago; There hasn’t been much time for the superhero lady to re-nab the Troll, and even then she might still be holding back for fear that Gameboy’s pause is about to be… Read more »
The guy who ran off with the detonator though ran through a wall.
So he wouldn’t be able to take commands from the troll anymore, so there also wouldn’t be any reason to hold back on the troll.
If anything, knock him out, and he’s no longer part of the scenario.
And another victim to vigilantism
Come to think of it, what does Elijah hope to achieve here?
Even if he somehow gets rid of Ethan and Lucas, it’s not like that will make what he was doing any less of a crime and stop other supers (and law enforcement) from trying to stop him (or make his crusade and more successful, killing a bunch of shop owners won’t get rid of the gaming or violent games, especially since games are increasingly sold digitally).
Unless he forgot his original goal, or uses it as an excuse for revenge.
So Starcaster will be permanently inaccessible to those who can’t afford to support via patreon or won’t use it on principle?
Similar to another post I saw earlier in the week, I have been out of work for close to a year now. I know people will say its “cheaper than a coffee”, but i haven’t even PURCHASED a coffee in almost a year. That’s how tight things are. I only have internet because 90% of jobs require you to submit CVs and cover letters digitally these days.
Correct, Starcaster is a Patreon-only series.