Hello worms.

Horrid New Year and thanks for reading the first chapter of Bury Everyone.

Firstly, I'm sure most of you have noticed a lot has changed since the Death Clown days. The old website is unfortunately down, but I'm thinking of sticking an archive up here (or somewhere) for the sake of preservation if you guys would want that, even if I think the new material is better.

Some questions you probably have:

Why the title change?

Bury Everyone used to be called "Death Clown" but partway through working on that I learned there's already a comic called "Dead Clown" from the 90s and I wanted the first result on Google. Also saves me from potential legal bullshit.

Why is Epper like that?

This is probably the main thing the old readers want to know. Epper has always been somewhat of a comfort character for me and it's been a pretty fucked up year for old Grumpy, so I've dragged her (and the rest of the series) into the depths of despair with me. I also feel the cynicism is appropriate given her line of work and it's a lot easier to write.

What the fuck is Tickles?

Part of the problem I was having with Death Clown towards the end was I found it boring and unsatisfying to draw. The reason Tickles is a grotesque mass of flesh now is because it was the kind of thing I would doodle in my high school work books when I was bored. Drawing him now is almost like meditation for me. Entrails helps me de-stress I guess. As for why he's grafted to Epper, that was actually an idea I had for later on in DC and brought forward.

Why so long?

Ironically, to make it easier to get through. One of the missteps I feel with the Sore arc of DC was its length and how broken up it was as an opener. I figure one big long chapter is an easier read than 10 short ones, but that may have been undone by the limitations of Newgrounds only allowing a certain number of pages (not a big deal). It'll make sense when its all been compiled on a new site.

Where is Crust

He's within us all.

Why so edgy?

In May of 2023 I had a traumatic experience at my last job.

I swear all of what you're about to read is true. You might want to skip this part.

While I was waiting to get on the bus home, the driver told me a passenger was having heart problems and tasked me with getting an AED from inside (literally 50 meters away). With very little time, I did what I was I told. Touching that thing was like opening Pandora's Box. The very first thing I heard when I grabbed it was "put that back."

Not "what do you need that for? Do you know how to use that thing?" but "put that back."

At this point a crowd is gathering, including one store manager who comes to the front and attempts to gaslight me into thinking the person having a heart attack is in her store. I end up being told to stay where I am for 10 - 15 minutes and wait for security, who puts it back in its box and tells me it's not allowed to leave the building.

I have no idea if the passenger survived. It still makes me lightheaded.

I've made it no secret that I have very little faith in humanity, even before this experience, but I had no idea how disgusting regular people (not the rich and powerful) could truly be up until that day. It was like watching the curated image that every person on Earth sets up for themselves shatter right in front of me. Like I could suddenly see right through all 8 billion of them, expecting to find a rotten soul, but instead finding nothing.

I started working on Bury Everyone in June.

One of the main things I was worried about in writing for BE was that people would pick up on the misanthropy and nihilism and dismiss it as edgelord "we live in a society/we are the virus" wank. I considered toning it down a few times but ultimately decided against it. I've always believed that it's better for art to be genuine than to try and please everyone. This story will be ugly and a lot of people won't like it for that fact, but it's mine.

Things to improve:

• Inconsistent art: This is the main one. If I could go back and do the chapter again I would try to do it faster. The 6 months I spent working on it lead to inconsistencies in the art as I was still learning new techniques/brushes as I was working on it. The first few pages are especially weird since many of the panels were recycled from test pages I did back in March, which are now nearly a year old. Most of this is a consequence of the chapter's length.

• Sprout design: The choice to make Sprouts less humanoid and more grotesque was intentional and more fitting tonally, but I feel Scab's design made him difficult to convey in action scenes.

• Pacing: I feel like the second act moved way too fast. Maybe it works to convey the panic, but I also kinda don't like drawing action (unless Voca is involved). I could still be burnt out after DC. Future chapters will most likely be more measured.

• Thumbnailing: I have a bad habit of not sticking to my thumbnail sketches and dedicating more or less panel space to certain moments when it comes time to actually draw them. Because of this I had no idea how long the chapter would actually be until it was over, only that it would be around 70 pages (it ended up being 87). It's probably something I should have down during drafting to save myself from stressing.

• CSP comic templates: They're very limiting. Actually drawing the panel frames myself instead of using a tool could allow for more freedom and better composition, but could result in growing pains as I get used to it.

• Blue: I'm sick of it. Next chapter is gonna be red.

Well that's it! I've got some patreon rewards to draw now. See you in the next one!