Alone In A Crowd

The official archives of the online comic strip “Alone in a Crowd” by Thomas D. Szewc. The archive will be posted over time, with brand new commentary. You can also find any potential new AIAC content right here.

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And to kick things off here, have a small collection of some old “Alone in a Crowd” banners and promotional material.

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Page 11 - Feb 26, 2008 - “You’d Do the Same Thing”

Hope, that’s just rude.

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Page 10 - Feb 22, 2008 - “Kitty Ears”

And here we go, what “Alone in a Crowd” was probably most known for.

Faith was designed to be an unfortunate outsider with no friends, despite her kind and caring nature. While I truly don’t believe kids NEED a reason to shun another kid, I felt it was important Faith had a reason for being bullied and ostracized. I also was/ am a huge anime fan, so I’m obviously familiar with cat-girls. When conceptualizing AIAC I thought about how cat-girls were always these over the top fantasy characters, or to be blunt just there for fetish sake, or whatever you want to call it. I thought, what if there was a cat girl in a real world setting instead? How would people react to this? How would they feel about their ears/ live their life? That’s where Faith came from.

Plus, cat girls are cute, and fun to draw.

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Page 9 - Feb 19, 2008 - “Faith’s Hat”

Gee, she’s very protective of that hat. I wonder why?

;)

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Page 8 - Feb 15, 2008 - “The Cardinal Rule of Friendship”

There we go, solid black ink begins! They get cleaner as time goes on.

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Page 7 - Feb 12, 2008 - Gotta Have Faith

Back in 2008, I had NO CLUE how to build a website or post comics to it. Wordpress was beyond me, and I didn’t want to use a free webcomic service. I was trying to make a real go of things, so I wanted my own website. So while I paid for the webspace, one of my best friends ever Dyana built the site and was so kind to MANUALLY post each strip to it every time there was an update. So a huge shout-out and biggest thank you ever to @lonew01f84 for all she did back then. There would never have been an “Alone in a Crowd” without her.

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Page 6 - Feb 08, 2008 - “Hi”

When Hope met Faith.

As much as I want to add retrospective commentary, some of these very first strips I just want to sit back and let them speak for themselves.

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Page 5 - Feb 06, 2008

Hope on the Fence. Where it all began.

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Page 4 - Feb 04, 2008 - “Same Time Tomorrow”

My big plan for these first three strips were to trick the readers into thinking Hope and this random boy were the main characters, only to have the twist be what you see above. At the time, I felt like I was being quite clever. I’m not entirely sure it’s THAT clever, but instead it works more to set up the kind of person Hope is.

I should also explain these first so many strips were drawn and inked entirely on paper, then scanned and posted as is. That’s why the quality is...what it is. Eventually I learned how to take my inked scans and clean them up in Photoshop so everything looked crisp and solid. Frankly though, any “Alone in a Crowd” strip before I started inking in Photoshop makes me cringe a little bit.

I feel like back then, all webcomics were “learn as you go” experiments.

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Page 3 - Feb 01, 2008 - Stuffed Animal Feelings

I remember feeling this emotion quite strongly as a kid.

...who am I kidding, I feel that way now.

The name “Mo-Bunny” came from Momiji Sohma from the anime/manga “Fruits Basket,” who turned into a bunny when hugged by a member of the opposite sex. I’m kinda amazed I remember that’s what that reference is, haha.

So anyway, I...

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Page 2 - Jan 30, 2008 - “A New Hope”

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Annnnd here it is, the very fist official “Alone in a Crowd” comic, originally posted to the net back in January of 2008, granted it was drawn many months prior back in 2007. So I’m looking back a decade on this labor of love or mine.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been fond of this first strip. It just doesn’t really flow with the strips that follow it. I believe at the time, I felt since the first good chunk of comics focused on Hope and Faith, it was important to have Sara there from the beginning, and to set the tone. However, I think in retrospect it would have been better to have Sara’s introduction be the next time you see her in the comics. Actually, in a lot of my initial planning, the strip that follows this one was the very first.

Either way, it’s sets a stage for who you’re about to meet, and what’s to come. I just wish it didn’t come across as so bleak, because those who have read AIAC know there’s a lot of good times ahead! But the characters are working through some stuff, just like I was at the time.

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Welcome to the Archives! (and more!)

Hi everyone! I’m Tom. You may remember me from such Tumblrs as http://tom-aiac.tumblr.com/, and such comics as...well, THIS ONE!

“Alone in a Crowd” is a comic I published to the internet from January of 2008 until March of 2013, when it went on an indefinite hiatus. Since then, the original website these comics were posted to has become woefully out of date, and in the grand scheme of things somewhat unnecessary. So, I’m beginning the process of giving the archive of the AIAC comics new homes, like here on Tumblr, on deviantART, and maybe elsewhere. I feel like it gives these comics a chance to find a new audience, and gives the rest of us a chance to walk down memory lane. With the posting of these old pages, I intend to add some new commentary as well.

So for newcomers, WELCOME! I hope you enjoy “Alone in a Crowd.” The comic and the characters hold an incredibly special place in my heart. Comics wont have a regular posting schedule, since this is just for archiving purposes and such. So expect them in chunks here and there, plus other fun AIAC-related stuff as well. And for readers of AIAC from back in the day, it’s so great to see you again!

Keep Hope alive and have Faith again!

Let’s begin, shall we?