Revisiting: Original Break Umbrella Comic – Part 8 (and an extra)

So this is it! More or less…

These were the last pages I uploaded for the original Break Umbrella Spin-off. I think it was after this that I stopped doing the TMBD comic too. It doesn’t have a conclusive end, but we are past this point of the story in the new comic.

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Happy Monkey’s Notes

The idea of Margot and Alonse having a grown woman held captive was too edgy, even for a story like Break Umbrella. I discarded the idea of her being captured, but I do see a way to re-introduce her in the new canon

I actually have the name for humans with little Crystal heritage as “Glasses” (not sure about the name, but I do want it to be related to the “Crystal” and “Brilliant” words).

They can’t use Crystal powers, but can they may have some Crystal physical aspects: unreal natural hair color like Alonse, purple eyes like Margot, maybe even yellow. At most, they could have affinities to certain rituals, but they are not as super-human as Crystals or Brillanits.

The reveal was meant to make Téa’s worldview fall apart, and make her character change into that of a gloomier and more aggressive person.

Chiclen would try to calm Téa down, expressing that even if that were true, he wouldn’t hate her, that it wasn’t something on her control, but she would leave the team and would try to hunt down all Ganen Labs on her own with her powers.

That won’t happen in the canon.

I preferred Wolfer being the catalyst to Téa’s change, as well as having the reveal delayed, but still shown to the reader, so it won’t feel as sudden when Chiclen and Téa learn about it.

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A few notes on TMBD and the original BU

When I first showed my characters to the internet through The Memorable Bittersweet Days in 2020, I felt naked.

I though I had everything planned to every single detail, but finally passing the story from my head and notes into a comic format (specifically one adapted to webcomic platforms), made me realize that I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of my work, specially the drawings, lettering and pacing.

I also tried to keep up with weekly uploads, but I couldn’t handle it while also being a functional human IRL, and for some reason, I thought making the spin-off Break Umbrella comic you just finished reading would get me more viewers while still being a plausible plan.

Although it wasn’t, it made me realize that I should have started with the story Break Umbrella wanted to tell, not with TMBD.

I almost started again from TMBD. I actually had divided its original first 4 chapters into 25 chapters that covered three volumes, all sketched roughly or fully.

We are still years away from TMBD’s storyline, and a lot of stuff may change from its original version, but I want to think that all of this will be worth it to make a better story.

Five years later, and I still have fear that the story may be longer than my lifespan and that I’ll leave this world before I can share it fully in the way I want, done by me, but I also feel more confidence and have figured out some stuff to keep enjoying the process, and keep working on this project without disattending my IRL environment.

I guess I just want to say that we should all keep doing what we love in the best way for us, not be ashamed of our first steps and failures, and stay motivated. I will close with that…

Ok, here are the first four chapters of the first OG BU volume “Present”. I omitted a few pages and the last chapter as they still contain major spoilers for the new canon.

I don’t like the drawings on these anymore, but that means I can do better now!

…also, the only five pages from the third reboot of TMBD I made. Unlike the second reboot, these aren’t the original drawings slightly edited, but new drawings with hopefully a better pacing for the sequence.

The start of TMBD is still my favorite of all comic stuff I’ve done, so I probably will have a fourth one when we reach this point in the timeline.

As always, stay tuned and stay safe!