To everyone freaking out over NM S2 premiering a wee bit later than expected. The amount of time/effort R&F put into this is colossal. They constantly and consistently pull 60-70 hour weeks. Week after week with no break, upwards of a year and longer, to the point they flirt with burnout like Leo/nore flirts with Annabel. That to me is the exact opposite of lazy. Over the last year, I and others have witnessed this mind-blowing work ethic first hand. Its insane the amount of work they put in. Often eps are well over the minimum panel amount, they don't have to do 10-20 panels more than the minimum, but they do it as they want to tell a good story with each episode ending where it feels natural. The next thing: Nobody is entitled to any creator's time, or gets to dictate how they spend their personal time off. A hiatus is merely an opportunity to create buffer. R&F are under no obligation to use it that way. It is their choice to. It is also a time for them to regroup, recover from fatigue -- as any artist or writer knows headspace is important to the creative process -- attend to the shop, catch up on any admin that needs doing, and a litany of other things that people need to do to go about their daily lives. This break -- because lets call it what it is, if this were a normal 8-6 we'd call it UPTO -- is for them to take time to themselves, same as any other job. If they want to play Star Dew Valley to relax or decompress or ruminate on an idea, who the heck are we to deny them that? They're two human beings, not machines.
Thirdly: Please consider: There is so much more that goes on behind the scenes of a comic of this calibre that we as readers don't see. (Think of an iceberg, how they are so much bigger than the tip that pokes above the ocean's surface.) R&F don't just make it up on the spot. There's script writing, planning, research, editing, more planning, rough storyboarding, more research, tests, and probably a heck of a lot more pre-production stuff than I can even guess at before sketching can even be considered commencing. We don't know their creative process, nor are we entitled to demand an explanation of their process, or that they use their personal time differently. (Personally, I listen to music and walk but what is one person's jam, might not be another's.) Nevermore S2 premiering a little later than expected is not some big drama its being made out to be. Its perfectly normal. I cant count the amount of times I've heard some comic/ book/tv series/movie has been delayed for whatever reason. (I've been waiting seven years for one book I won't mention here, as an example.) I don't know about you, but I know Id much prefer to read something that has been well thought out, with attention to fine detail applied to it than something rushed and shoddy. Give them grace to cook! I know we might be a wee bit disappointed, especially when we're so eager to find out what potential horrors might befall characters we've grown to know and love on the eve of one heck of a tantalising cliff hanger, but I ask that you all show a little patience and, more importantly, understanding.
To add onto this, RnF have been specifically been working non-stop since 2020. Any short hiatuses they took were a break for the audience, not them, because they had to build up buffers for the next go round. Shiloh’s season 2 finale went up around the same time as the Nevermore premiere in March 2022.
They said a few times variously around their Discord server that they wanted to work on both but have had to focus on Nevermore because as you said, they work 60-70 hours a week to complete one episode alone. And that work is done after whatever outlining, scripting, and writing is done and completed for Flynn to draft the initial panels. The comic can’t be made without a written script. They’re not magically both made at the same time. There’s 4 seasons worth of outlines Red has to work with and adapt into seasons outlines, episode outlines, and scripts.
And as a writer, I can say that the only way you can be truly creative and free to write is to be fresh, rested, and happy. Dealing with stress, health concerns, mental health problems like depression and anxiety, or other distractions in one’s life only hinder your ability to focus on writing and sap away your energy and joy. And then if you pride yourself on your work? Because you want it to be the best it can be? And you’re NOT writing? Guilt sets in like a cancer. You don’t feel good so you can’t write, and you don't feel good because you’re not writing. The ONLY way to recover from that is to take a break and rest, lest you burn out of the story you want to tell itself and become resentful of it. Then no one is happy or wins. I had to take a 3 month break from writing entirely because of similar circumstances earlier this year, because I had been writing, editing, and outlining nonstop, every day, for an entire year. I read, I gamed, I went on walks. I did things that were fun and rejuvenating until I felt ready to write again. Thank God I didn’t also have an audience hovering at the edges, wondering when the next installment was coming out.
Red and Flynn can take as long as they need for the next season. A month or two delay is a drop of water in the bucket. Who cares? They should take as long as they want. Because that’s the only way Nevermore will maintain the quality it’s been at in the long run. And that’s what the audience and the story, and the creators trying to make it the best it can be, deserve in the long run.
Creators are not machines, and their not anyone’s workhorses or bitches either.
