ENTRY 2: “HOPE FOR ALL SEASONS”
So, it’s been quite a ride folks hasn’t it?
And when I say “quite a ride” I mean a pretty long stretch of years without any comics content in favor of illustrations and concept art for stories I wasn’t actively working on hahaha. All things considered, I thought it would be appropriate to do a little Q&A session to respond to some of the most common questions or thoughts followers and readers might have now that Step-Monster has concluded!
Q: “SO IS THIS REALLY IT FOR THE STORY? STEP-MONSTER IS OVER FOR GOOD?”
A: As easily as I could say: “Maybe I’ll come back to it someday!”, it would be unfair to string people along. As of the epilogue following the final chapter of Volume II, please consider “Step-Monster” as finished and concluded. I don’t plan on returning to it.
Q: “THAT’S A SHAME. I KINDA WANTED TO SEE MORE OF THAT STORY, YOU KNOW?”
A: I did too, and it’s my own fault for letting it languish on hiatus as long as I did. Those years could have been spent exploring more of the world and introducing other elements and characters. That’s something that I’m going to have to live with and learn from. On a personal level though, I think the story works better as a tight and short narrative rather than a grand sprawling adventure. So perhaps it was for the best?
Q: “WELL, ARE YOU GOING TO PUT STEP-MONSTER IN PRINT FOR PEOPLE TO BUY?”
A: Now THAT is a really good question. As of right now I’m leaning toward “yes” in the form of a modest limited run. Just to give those who are interested in it a chance to own it in its entirety far as the series goes. This means there will be no big fancy Kickstarter or anything. Chances are I’ll run a strawpoll to see the hard numbers on just how many people are committed to purchasing one before I move forward with printing options. Nothing is set in stone yet, and I have other IRL life priorities to get sorted before I devote attention to that. But I’ll keep everyone posted!
Q: “WHAT ABOUT “HOW IT ENDS”? THAT OTHER WEBCOMIC YOU STARTED AND THEN ABANDONED ON DEVIANTART?”
A: Oh boy, yes that was definitely a thing. “How It Ends” was a story I had a general idea of, but no real plot laid out even as I started it. It was born from that attitude of “just stop planning and start something” mindset. Past the first couple of chapters I was pretty much going to be feeling my way around in the dark. Which is…a way to write certain types of stories, but generally is pretty risky. Because of that I gave it the axe after the first chapter. It’s currently in the “Recycling Bin” of my mind, where I haven’t trashed it completely and could reboot it with a much more structured plot. But I’ve come up with so many newer ideas in the meantime that I like better that it’s very doubtful I’m going to be returning to it. Please consider it to be equivalent to an event that’s been canceled with no rescheduled date.
Q: “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE WORKING ON NEXT? IS IT GOING TO BE ANY OF THE BIG CONCEPTS YOU WERE POSTING ON TUMBLR AND THEN TWITTER LIKE “ORTIZ”, “KASHMIR”, OR “WEST”?
A: Stories like those are very big long-form narratives, especially Kashmir. I want to build people’s confidence first (and my own too) that I can finish a story from start to finish without taking multiple years off to goof around. The most effective tool for doing this is going to be shorter stories and narratives to cut my teeth on, then gradually working my way up to tackle these longer stories. This means the first ideas you guys are going to see will be one-shots and other short works. A lot of these are tightly written and fully outlined stories, but haven’t been given the limelight that larger ones like “Kashmir” and “WEST” have. I’m still proud of them all the same, and I’m looking forward to even close friends going in blind!
Q: “WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO COME OUT?”
A: I underwent a large life shift in the end of 2025 going into 2026, the two biggest ones being moving into my own home and pivoting careers. Because of that there are multiple things, espeically my career change that require my full attention and energy before I can return to mobilizing that towards art and comic work again. These ideas are likely not going to be slated for any sooner than the 3rd quarter of this year. This is to allow me enough time to both situate mysef in my new job an work on the comics as they are only in the scripting phase currently.
Q: “WHERE AM I GOING TO BE ABLE TO FIND THESE NEW COMICS WHEN YOU DO POST THEM?”
A: Like all future comics they’ll be uploaded right here on Prismhaus! Make sure you’re subscribed to the email newsletter to receive updates on when they’ll be dropping! It’s free!
Q: “WILL THESE NEW COMICS BE FREE OR AM I GOING TO HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM?”
A: The plan is for the comics to be uploaded for free like most standard webcomics, with the option to pay to see them a month early along with bonus content like concepts and sketches on a platform like Patreon. I may parlay volumes to print for sale as well when chunks of the stories conclude. I also won’t rule out the possibility of short bonus comics (think 1–5 pages) that I might put up exclusive for Patrons, people who buy printed runs, or for single sale digital purchase on Gumroad or E-Junkie. I’m still thinking a lot of this over.
Q: “SO IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’RE GOING TO BE OPENING A KO-FI OR A PATREON AT SOME POINT?”
A: That’s the plan, yes. A Ko-Fi is in live my links tab where you can go to toss me a tip to celebrate Step-Monster’s completion if you want! I’m partial right now to more of a single-use tip jar structure where people can give at will. I don’t feel comfortable asking for a subscription-type commitment from people on a Patreon until I’m consistently putting out content that warrants it. The Ko-Fi is up now, but the Patreon will come further in the future.
Q: “ARE YOU STILL GONNA POST ART OTHER THAN COMICS, LIKE CONCEPTS OR ILLUSTRATIONS OR THOSE BOTTOM-HEAVY “BELTONESQUE” LADIES THAT FOLKS LIKE SO MUCH?”
A: I’ll be treating that as recreational art between the comics work, and it’ll still happen occasionally. But if I’m going to be taking this comics thing seriously, then there’s going to be a big drop off in how often that content is going to be made. Sorry friends, but this is how it’s gonna have to be.
Q: “WHAT ABOUT COMMISSIONS? THOSE HAVEN’T BEEN OPEN PUBLICALLY SINCE RIGHT AFTER TUMBLR BOTTOMED OUT, AND I WANT TO GET ONE FROM YOU!”
A: Commissions, while they are super helpful financially, also chew up a LOT of my freetime outside my full-time day job (which I keep for consistent income + healthcare coverage/401k/benefits). They usually bring my other work to a screeching halt, due to the fact that I try to hold myself to a professional turn-around time. Limited commissions might run occasionally in 2026 to meet any short-term monetary needs, but the last time I left them wide open I was doing them non-stop for nearly a year. I’m SUPER grateful for the intrest, but I have to balance it with everything else I’m trying to get done.
Q: “WHERE ARE YOU THE MOST ACTIVE SO I CAN KEEP TABS ON YOU?”
A: Currently I’m the most active on Twitter, despite having both a Deviantart and Tumblr I neglect completly. I did make a Bluesky too however and I’m trying to mirror my activity on there the best I can with uploads and ramblings. My executive dysfunction is bad at handling this many websites to monitor and update as it is. I know Postybirb is a thing, but I haven’t sat down to try and set one of those up yet either. The best option as I said before will be here on my own URL to anchor everything. As with everything else, I will keep everyone updated on developments!
Q: “WILL WE EVER SEE YOU AT ANY CONVENTIONS?”
A: Even before COVID, I was never an avid convention attender. Partially because I’m a huge introvert and prolonged social interaction with large groups of people drains me to the point where I just wanna retreat to my hotel room and isolate myself for the rest of the day. Another point is that I never made back even a fraction of my travel/lodging costs the few times I did go and table in the past. They ultimately just got written off as vacations. Due to these factors, and the fact that conventions aren’t my main source of income, you probably won’t see me tabling for a good long while until I’ve built up a healthy stock of printed titles and demand to all sell in person.
Q: “WHAT’S THE BEST WAY FOR ME TO SUPPORT YOU GOING FORWARD?”
A: Toss a few dollars to the Ko-Fi comes, grab a commission if you want whenever those open up, or just keep following and sharing my content around with people you think might like it! If there’s anything positive I can glean from this long sabbatical period between the first and second volumes of “Step-Monster”, it’s that I put in work gathering a healthy and engaged follower-base that’s primed for my original work! But I’m always excited for folks who continue to help that growth by sharing things around and showing them to people who they think might like them! Thank you for your patience while I work on new projects!
Q: “ARE YOU STILL A FAN OF PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA?”
A: Yes. And if you strike me down for it, there are a million more ready to take my place. You’ll never defeat all of us.
Always creating,
D.E. Belton