kristinawood.com ~ View topic - New Comics Series Coming to Pleasure Bon Bon

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

The big news for 2012!

We're going to make available for Pleasure Bon Bon members the very first comic work of Vanessa titled "Dillinger Derringer".

This will be a webcomic exclusive. It only appeared as a self-published work in Italy. So pretty much it has never been seen before on the Internet anywhere. Vanessa will be formating them and releasing them to Pleasure Bon Bon members as part of our regular comic updates.

Vanessa can give you more details and history about Dillinger and how it came about. You'll notice some characters are similar to Pleasure Bon Bon. Fans of Vanessa's work and BonBon will be able to appreciate seeing the early works of Vanessa and how it laid the foundation in creating the characters for Pleasure Bon Bon.

A couple of things to realize, there won't be any porn in this comic. It is a manga style comic thus its in black and white. The story is Vanessa's orginial story. So if you like her story telling for Pleasure Bon Bon, you'll enjoy the story of Dillinger.

What this will mean is Pleasure Bon Bon Comics will be updated in alternating weeks with Dillinger Derringer Comics. So you will still get the same weekly comic pages as always just alternating stories weekly. We will still continue to post Raccoon Busineses comics as we get them as Bonus extra, in addition to your weekly comic page.

Why are we doing this?

As Vanessa will be telling you in her announcement (in her own words), we are doing this mainly to give Vanessa more time to be able to focus on the special "MMO" browser game. We've been talking about creating a RPG MMO browser game for Pleasure Bon Bon for a while, and now we're going to really make it happen. And the only way we're going to be able to do that is get Vanessa time to create the game graphics.

Vanessa spends alot of time creating the comic page updates each week and that really doesn't leave her a whole lot of time to do much else.

The #1 thing fans voted on for PBB is MMORPG. If you include 35% (people who voted "all of the above") + 33% (people who voted on MMORPG), you get 68%. That's a pretty good majority.

The big reason is Piracy. And I'll discuss that in greater lengths later.

Our webcomics are being pirated. And it's basically hurting our sales. It's true. Pleasure Bon Bon is not doing so well because our comics are being shared all over the place. Browser games of course, can't be pirated because the gaming "experience" is something you can't pirate. The content probably could get pirated and shared (artwork or what not) but the experience of playing the game and playing it with others is very hard to pirate.

We're facing a huge problem with Pleasure Bon Bon right now and other web comic sites. The comic pages get pirated so easily that it's hurting our sales. And we need to look into doing more interactive content to be able to survive, or face shutting down the site and move on to something else and find a new job. We love what we do and we love the Pleasure Bon Bon world and the community and we're trying our best to hold on to it before the pirates completely ruin us.

As soon as we try to shut down one site from distributing our content another one pops up. And some sites we have a hard time getting the content removed because they're outside of the US and don't follow US laws. It's really sad. And the membership business model really doesn't work very well for content that can be so easily shared. People joining and quitting versus people who pay and support us monthly. And for those who have been paying monthly or any number of months, we appreciate them greatly. We understand the economy can be a big burden on our budget/wallet these days, and we are grateful for those who have been able to support us when they can.

But at the end of the day, the membership model still isn't the best and fair business model at all.

In theory, web comics, and web content (membership material), should work like they do in real life. You pay for what you get currently and pay for back issues and back content separately. Not pay once and get everything that's available for 5 years. It's one of the big flaws of membership sites. All that will be changing in the future.

But until then, Enjoy the new Web Comic series!

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

I was just explaining that to one of our newer members. Did'nt realize how bad of a situation it was though.

Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 04 Jul 2011 Posts: 1665

Wow I didn't know that it was this bad. I knew that this site gets pirated, but wow this is just terrible I would hate to see this site close down because of some jerks that like to pirate material. I feel guilty now that I'm not paying currently due to a lack of a steady income.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Isn't it ironic. All those cheap shits who want to read the comic for free will ultimately stop themselves from reading the comic by stripping away the artist's well deserved funds that are needed to continue producing the comic.

I guess that's what you call karma. Too bad the rest of us people who give a dam have to suffer as well.

I wish the best for Vanessa and the rest of the site. As long as I have money to pay for a subscription, I'll be here giving it to Vanessa.

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

Yes. Things are REALLY that bad. Trust me. All my web comics websites have been on the decline for the past 2 years now because of piracy.

While, I hate to support those new anti-piracy laws, as that's really not the best way to go in stopping the pirates, I'm starting to wonder if I should be supporting these laws or not.

I'm sure you've all been hearing on the news about these new laws they're trying to pass to supposely stop piracy. But alot of people are against it because it will create more problems than solve. The pirates will ll just learn to adapt and we'll end up with a mess and censorships and unwanted consequences.

Games I do know make alot of money, as you have noticed companies like Zynga are doing really well. Lots of companies are doing "Free to Play" games with micro transactions. I've seen a good handful of games, be able to tell great stories through an interactive medium. And I think the only way for Bon Bon to be able to continue is through an interactive story mode. Comics just gets too easily downloaded, copied and shared. Vanessa spends a week working really hard. Hand drawing the pages, she scans them and cleans them up in photoshop, then she colors them in photoshop digitally, then setup balloons, and letters them. All this is hard work. Then we post it as an update and pirates steals them in a matter of 5 minutes. And people just sit around waiting for the free pages to popup. Well, guess what? We're not making enough money to continue doing this. We have expenses. And we certainly can't do this forever with the "risk factor" up in the air. There is no 'job security'. Our sales have been plummeting every month.

With the games, we will be able to offer more virtual goods for people to buy for those who wants to spend more money. And those who don't, don't have to.

We've been fortunate to have members who have donated for zone flash projects, or members who pay vanessa for commissions, and members who pay for each other's membership as gifts. Which, I'm very surprised actually. Bon Bon has such a great community. I don't get that with my other sites. Members offering to pay for another members subscription.

I love this Bon Bon community and I want to see it continue on and expand. And the only way we can do this is by creating interactive content now. That's how we're going to adapt. Otherwise, we will have to shut down and find some other project or job where the content/work doesn't get pirated.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 3215

I'm sorry to hear about the Vanessa work being pirated. Like the others I knew it was happening to not this bad. I've been part of other communities before and I never stick around. Here... well I guess you can say I've found a home and would be sad if it had to shut down. I hope the game will help bring in the income and offset what's being stolen from you.

Rank: Senior Member Joined: 02 Oct 2011 Posts: 346

Is very tough dealing with piracy. The best way is to ask Google and Yahoo to block this infringing pages. Or asking the owners of the page itself to cooperate and remove the content.

Anyways is something hard to eliminate, the only way is to make the host companies cooperate, and if they don't then maybe it is better to block they're access. I mean people pay good amounts of money for PBB, while some pricks see the whole thing for free.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 30 Aug 2008 Posts: 1521

For this game to be financially successful, it seems necessary to ensure that it is available even to those who are not members of the site. The problem is that if this game were to include sex, valid credit card information would be required just to sign-up. The advantage to this is that if you include a dual-currency system, as is the norm for F2P games with a micro-transaction system, you could provide subscribing members a monthly stipend of the paid currency, providing people with an incentive to subscribe to the site. Another possible incentive would be a little bit more difficult on Vanessa's workload, and that would be custom avatars for the Royal Members in the game.

Well, that's my two-cents on the matter at least. As far as the anti-piracy laws, it's not that I'm opposed to them entirely, but for the most part they lack specific phrasing that prevents them from damaging sites like YouTube or other sites where copyrighted content is used in a way that is normally considered "fair use".

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

Its not that the law itself is the problem, its the content of the law which broadly goes to anything that supports piracy. If they made it so that it would protect the content it was intended for, then it would'nt be so bad.

Official Artist Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 1088

Hello everyone.
As Ronald said Dillinger Derringer is my first furry comic.
It was born in the year 1994 on the school desks and represents for me my official entry in the world of comics, before then I had never drawn a comic, but only illustrations and scripts for hypothetical cartoons, because before working as a comic artist I wanted to work in the animation business, a route later dropped.
Dillinger Derringer is not a porn comic because it comes to the rescue of Pleasure Bon Bon in a critical and important moment because recently PBB risked closing down due to the wild pirating of its contents that harshly hit and inconvenienced our sales.
Me and Ronald held up until the end but recently we were about to give up, me first because I was very depressed and demotivated upon seeing so much hard work wasted.
For each week in which I gave so much care and effort on a page and in five minutes that was shared online my enthusiasm dropped sharply.
So after a long exchange of ideas I and Ronald have decided that the only solution to not close PBB was to create something that couldn't be so easy to share ot that anyway would have entertained the members and increased our sales more.
The idea is to create a game in which you'll be able to explore Bon Bon through your avatar interacting with the ones of the others and having experiences with objectives to fulfil. To do this great work though I need time that I'll gain if I'll alternate my work on the game to the one I dedicate to the pages of PBB.
Therefore PBB will become bi-weekly, but it will still alternate with various updates like Raccoon Business and the work in progress of the new game but mainly with Dillinger Derringer that I'm gonna offer to the world of the web (built both of the very same vultures that were about to have PBB close down and of honest people like you that appreciate and deserve my work) to enrich with a new guest comic our site.
Dillinger Derringer is not porn, but if you appreciated the art and story of PBB you'll still love it. It's a black and white comic that is fully hand-drawn, including the manga half-tones that have been applied with the traditional technique of the mangaka, one by one with the cutter.
It was a very hard work for me because I was really young but I can say that it is a good comic like PBB, no doubt.
This was the best idea to save our time and PBB.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Can't wait to read it, V. And I hope the game helps the site. Best of luck on all fronts from me. Smile

Official Artist Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 1088

Here's what you'll read and what advantage you'll have over the ones that in Italy read DD printed on paper.
What you'll read is something unique since the only version that currently exists is the italian one that isn't possible to read anywhere if not by buying the old issues of which I still have a few copies, but not available for purchase. If I'll decide to sell the original issues of Dillinger this will only happen when the chapter will first be concluded on PBB.
So nobody will be able to have spoilers of any kind.
The advantages that the readers of PBB will have will be:
- All the pages of DD will be scanned again since I lost all the old scans, and their quality will be better than the copies printed on paper, whose pages were smaller and brighter.
- All the pages of DD will be revised and corrected one by one in the imperfections that I'm noticing now, I was a beginner and as of today I notice some errors or things that I'd like to correct.
- Thanks to the publishing on PBB the story of DD will finally have the unpublished sequel and ending, interrupted to work on PBB. At the end of the fourth chapter you'll have in world exclusive the new pages and the ending of the story, absolutely unpublished since I never had the time to realize them.
I must add that you won't see DD in color because DD was drawn like a manga, and if I were to color it I wouldn't have all the time I need and that I'm trying to save to work on the well known game that will save PBB. Furthermore I don't like to color half-toned pages, they've all been half-toned by hand and it would have been a waste of money (japanese half-tones are very costly and difficult to find in Italy) and loss of time since it was haed work (in japan it's a task for the assistants to apply the half-tones because it takes a lot of time and the author can't manage to do that alone)
Then again, in the past I colored a few pages of issue #4 to experiment and learn to use Photoshop, I'll show them in exclusive as a bonus.
I conclude telling you that I'm thrilled at the idea of showing you my work I love the most, my emotions are sky-high, I hope you'll like it. Smile

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Rank: Senior Member Joined: 02 Oct 2011 Posts: 346

Oh i can't wait to read DD

This is a big treat. I also have a weird idea, why not update Bon Bon in the upcoming game instead? Rather than have it in print out form, have it in virtual form?

Also it should be noted, a lot of companies are suffering from the same problem. The internet is a great source of information, and creative talent. But as you can see, this also comes at a big price.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 3215

I also can't wait to read DD. Ever since you've told us about it I've always wanted to read it.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 731

That's great news! I know I used to read the old Dillinger comic back in the early 2000's when Vanessa first posted it(even though I couldn't read Italian!).I will say that if the site continues to lose money,I would not object to my membership fees increasing to cover the additional expense.

Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 04 Jul 2011 Posts: 1665

I can't wait to read DD as well.

Along the lines of what Silvador said; the classic black and white style is very nice, but maybe the colored version could be added later on as an alternative. Just a thought

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 22 Dec 2008 Posts: 2173

((Hey Vanessa and Ronald,

I don't know what to say. I do remember when PBB was a part of Vixine, and I was on both sites. However, I had to pick one or the other, as I just couldn't afford both... so I stuck with PBB. I know it isn't much, but... I've kept my subscription here, and I plan on keeping it here for as long as I can. So... for what it's worth, I try to support you.

I know I don't say much in terms of appreciation and whatnot, but I do enjoy what you and Ronald and that Playtpus guy do for us all here. And... I don't have a PayPal account for personal reasons, but... is there anyway I could donate for the Flash-game 2 thingy? I remember you all saying that the original Zone-Flash thingy generated you guys a number of sales and new subscriptions. So... maybe the 2nd Zone-Flash thingy could do the same too? Maybe just get a double-subscription charged, or send in old-fashioned greenbacks or something?

Caroline ))

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

While, I would love to start taking donations for Zone Flash 2 of BonBon.

I just don't know whats going on with the Zone person. She hasn't replied to my mail so I'm not sure what the status is on that.

-R

FA Page · Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 31 Oct 2009 Posts: 2178

While I have opposed SOPA and PIPA that my country is trying to pass, I am disheartened to hear that piracy has nearly run Vanessa and the other staff of Bon Bon out of business. Still, hearing that a new work of Vanessa's will be on the site is brilliant.

And I am also excited to hear about the new MMORPG that is being in the works! I wonder what it will be like...

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1556

This both amazing very sad news. I can't wait to see all the new stuff, but rally saddened by all the problems. I really hope things will be getting better soon.

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 04 Jul 2011 Posts: 1665

This MMORPG looks like fun I can't wait to try it out

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

I concur. this game sounds lovelier with each moment the more its been described.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Maybe instead of beating up or banishing badies, you could have random encounters with members of the town that are particularly frisky and have to satisfy their urges. *shrug* just a thought that came to mind.

Rank: Artist Joined: 22 Jun 2007 Posts: 417

Even without piracy those still sound like good ideas. I am sorry that PBB faced such problems, and at this rate. Always wish you all the best with your projects.

Might i give you a suggestion? I saw that few webcomics already did that and it was quite successfull, and readers really liked it. I mean, the real life figurines.
I don't know if you heard of Patch Together : http://www.patchtogether.com/
this is a great site where you can send a design and they will turn that design into a toy, the condition is that design to gather enough rates. Then the toy is sold, with profit for the designer of course and some provision for the site.

here are some examples of webcomic characters:
http://www.patchtogether.com/store/kit-the-fox-194.html
http://www.patchtogether.com/store/take-a-chance-199.html
http://www.patchtogether.com/store/billy-the-squid-175.html
http://www.patchtogether.com/store/the-shadowchild-figurine-90.html

If it was succesfull, it might help a bit to the site and fans will get something out of it too Smile

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

Merchandising doesn't always help with sales. It runs into other problems and an area of the market that I'm not sure if I want to dive into. But if worst comes to worst, then yeah, we may consider doing things like that to help with getting bread and butter.

I have a merchant account, but there are different issues involved in inventory. and shipping. For example, orders that are fraud. You ship people the item. You shell out material cost and shipping cost. The person somehow charges back because they either stole the card or claim it was fraud. Especially to another foreign country. Now, you have to deal with some sort of insurance recovery or eat the lost. Not only did you lose the money you made (charge backs fees), you also lose money on the cost.

With Internet virtual goods, you don't lose that much money other than chargeback fees, but at least you didn't lose the merchandise. You can always remove the virtual item from their account or if its just gametime its expendable lost.

But thank you for the suggestions. We had thought about printing the comics to sell at one point or another.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 3215