T Campbell's Blog

It wasn't a dream.

No, wait, it was a dream.

But it happened anyway.

Fans began in 1997 as a set of seven character outlines (Guth was supposed to be a main cast member from the beginning, and Will's name was supposed to be "John Q." Boy, that name would have sucked.) The project symbolized what I wanted to do with my life after college, while paying tribute to my own college days and private fancies.

It taught me more than I can say about writing and comics. At the best and worst times of my life, Fans was always there. It's linked to many of the key memories from my life--

• Slumped in a messy Savannah apartment and shaking my head in despair at the Faans comic's poor sales figures and a bad case of heartbreak.
• Coming up with key scenes for "Tests" while taking one of my extended family's many beach vacations.
• Getting the e-mail from Maritza that went, "Your character looks like my character. We should do a crossover!"
• Conventions and store signings from Orlando to San Diego.
• Talking plots out with Greg while pacing rhythmically in and out of his room, or up and down the hills of College Park, Maryland.
• The call from Manley that hired me on as editor of Graphic Smash.

I'll miss it. There's already a kinda-sorta "sidebar" to the series that will run on faans.com this summer, and plenty of chances for me to revisit its characters someday. But it will never be the same... it never is.

I'm better than I was when I started. I can see lots of things I would improve if I could do it all over from scratch. But whatever else happens, I am humbled to know that I did what JMS did with Babylon 5-- came within 5% of realizing my dream project, just the way I had dreamed it.

Not a lot of people can say that. I am lucky.

I will keep doing my best to be deserving of that luck.