Life before smartphones?! (Patreon)

(Panel from Comic #454 — coming soon!)

Can we even remember what it was like? The time before smartphones existed. There are young people alive today who have never known a world without them. They view landlines with curiousity. And a phone booth? Possible they’ve never seen one in person.

How many of you read Validation on a smartphone? We feel the three panel format works well on them. The compatibility with the portability, it made sense to us. And we’ll be doing it again with the upcoming Tiny Unicorn series. But it does present some issues in terms of physical conversion to print. We are up to the challenge, however.

What would Validation have been like had it been set in the 90s? An era of staticky dial-ups, a lack of information about transition, a time before such access and wide acceptance. No ability to look up where you want to go via GPS. Relying on... printed maps! Talk about a challenge. 

Or how about Validation in the ‘00s? Right after 9/11. The perils of the aughts. The slow opening of the 21st Century, dragging forward towards the progress we enjoy today. On the cusp of geek culture dominating the entertainment scene. Life would have been much harder for our characters then.

What a world it has become in just the past 10 years, since those gadgets debuted. We are thankful smartphones allow us to communicate to the far reaches of the globe, to bring our comic to you immediately, but we must be mindful of how they affect day-to-day interpersonal interactions. It is a constant adjustment, striving for some sort of balance. It’s something we’ve explored in the comic. And yes, there is irony in that.

We’re happy here in 2018 sharing this story with you. Whether on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop, or, in the future, printed book, we’re fortunate to have you as a reader. Thank you!