Stuff I've Done So Far to Promote Boritom

Obviously, when you do a webcomic (or you're in a band, you make independent films, you write blathering diatribes about political bullshit, etc.), you want people to check it out. I know I do. I'm an attention whore... always have been, and I always will be. I wish I could say I do it for my own pleasure, but that would be a lie, except to say that I derive the highest spike of endorphines by having people enjoy my work. If it were just for me, what would be the point of putting up a website, eh?

Here's an incomplete (and quite possibly somewhat inaccurate) list of stuff I've done to try to make Boritom the most famous webcomic in the universe (second only to Something Positive, of course):
- Greeting Cards
- Flyers
- Link Exchanges
- Banner Exchanges
- Signing up on "Top Webcomics" lists
- Spamming webcomic oriented message boards and LJ communities (Learned my lesson there, I'll tell ya)
- Link Dumps (Generated 1,000 hits in 2 weeks, then nada)
- Opened a Cafe Press store (Maybe, one day, I'll actually sell something)
- Talked it up at work
- Talked it up with my friends
- Begged my friends to talk it up with their other friends
- Called an FM Radio morning show and dropped the plug on the air for my site.
- Bought ad space on a website that went defunct before my ad even ran.
- Used the name as my login ID on numerous communities and sites, including FARK.
- Promised God not to curse anymore if he would just help me make the strip into an animated series for [adult swim]

All this, and I still am lucky to get 20 hits a day.

My co-writer, Eileen Heath, has been trying to help me punch up the writing, but there must be something I can do to make it known to people in a broader scale, without breaking the bank (which is, thanks to the IRS this year, already broken).

I mean, Holy Flark, whatsaguy gotta do to become America's Sweetheart, have b***sex with the freaking Olsen Twins on the PBS Boston Pops 4th of July Extravaganza while William Shatner and Lee Majors square off in a steel cage deathmatch to the music of Akira Ifukbe's score to Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah?

So, yeah... go to my site, tell your friends, and if you have any ideas, comment!

Thanks.

The Whoring Out Of The Alien

Okay, first, there was LJ...

Then, there was MySpace

Now... Welcome one and all to the new "Blogger" Blog for BORITOM

Let's start this crazy thing with a bit of history...

1994: I start doodling a strip called Monster Island at work. It features all of the traditional Toho Kaiju (Godzilla, Mothra, etc.) with thinly diguised names (Godzilla = George Zillman) in zany, silly situations. I made about 25 strips before getting bored and fixating instead on an odd little alien character and his redneck roommate, Milo. At that time, the alien's name was Nivlem (Melvin, spelled backwards), and Milo was a retired reverend. This time, I only did about 15 strips. Then I got fired from the job that was affording me all this time to f**k around with my silly little drawings. I managed to preserve the majority of them, but they remained unseen for the remainder of the decade.

2000: I start getting into online comics as a spectator. Among my favorites are College Roomies From Hell, Just Another Vice, Ashfield Online and General Protection Fault. One evening, I start rummaging through my old stuff, with the idea of cleaning out my closet and disposing of some of my varied irrelevant minutiae, when I stumble upon the old Nivlem strips. At that time, I had an email account which used the name "Boritom," which was a shortened combination of the name Boris Tomagachi, a character I created for my now-defunct public access sketch comedy show, Video Difficulties. I liked the name enough, moreso than Nivlem, that I rechristened the character, and resolved to start my own online comic strip. Boritom premiered on the web in December of that year, and I was busy scanning, drawing, and getting a domain name. I was all excited, I dreamed of selling coffee mugs, T-Shirts and mousepads... I was gonna be a millionaire, dammit, and I had only my astounding talent to thank!

2001: I got a little lazy. I took a few weeks off during the spring and summer, only posting a couple strips. I started getting serious again, and finished up the storyline I was working on at the time when...

September 11, 2001: It just wasn't relevant to me any more. Uncharacteristally, the events of 9-11 shocked and terrified me more than I could have ever possibly imagined. To complicate matters more, I had a new internet radio show, The FreakShow debuting in a couple weeks, and I barely summoned enough comedic muscle to pull that off. Boritom faded off into the sunset, until...

Spring 2003: As a member of the local Rocky Horror cast, Broadway Bound and Gagged, I was afforded to keep Boritom "alive in reruns" as it were. The gentleman in charge of the programs had been running Boritom in them as a weekly feature since the strip had originally been running, and was at the end of the second rerun cycle. He asked if I ever had any plans to ressurect the strip. I honestly hadn't really given the matter any thought, but after a few weeks of pondering on it, I thought to myself, "Why the Hell not?" This brings us to...

August 18, 2003: Boritom's official return to the Web! I hope you'll enjoy the strip. I'm starting fresh, with a little backstory, and a handful of the original strips to get things rolling. I really am hoping to build the little guy a following, and I would never rule out the idea, if the fans are out ther in the future, of an animated series or even a movie. In the future, this site will have it's own message board, items for sale, and (hopefully) even some fan art. For now, the strip will only be updated 3 times a week, but as interest builds, and I get more comfortable with the characters, I hope to make it a daily strip fairly soon!

More To Come...