Reflecting on Raptormaniacs

It's been seven years(!) since I started this blog. Apropos of absolutely nothing, I think a retrospective is in order.

My original drawing of the Raptormaniacs cast. Compare to the (more) current image on the characters page.

Raptormaniacs was originally created as a place to host my comic series of the same name. It has since expanded in scope, also becoming an outlet for me to share photos of zoos and museums, review dinosaur-related works in the media, and report on dinosaur news. Through all this, I have continued to draw Raptormaniacs comics. This work has been done in fits and starts, but it has continued regardless. Though in concept the comic was largely inspired by the '90s animated show Animaniacs, it has certainly evolved and changed over the years, seeing a shift from traditional to digital art, gaining an interactive Tumblr companion blog, and taking on longer-form storylines, which have included original stories, whole-plot references, and strange crossovers. In all this time of working on-and-off on this project, I have come to a simple conclusion.

Maniraptors are really, really boring.

They all look the same. Check out this nonsense.

Least flycatcher, photographed by "Mdf", licensed.

Alder flycatcher, photographed by "Cephas", licensed.

Literally the only way to distinguish these species is that one is facing to the left, and the other to the right.

I have no doubt some upstart commenters will protest by providing examples of supposedly "morphologically distinctive" maniraptors, like therizinosaurs or something. Those commenters will be wasting their time. Therizinosaurs are no more than flightless turkeys with hypertrophied manual unguals, hardly distinctive in the grand scheme of things.

Effective immediately, I will no longer be producing any new comics for Raptormaniacs. I have already come up with character concepts for an entirely new comic. It will be completely different and far superior to my current drivel. Watch this space.

It's time for Arthromaniacs!

In fact, I should change my usual online handle to a more interesting animal as well. I'm liking the sound of Drosophila.