The End

After nearly 10 years and 500 strips, Elder Alex Van Dyke's story is finally over! You can read the genesis of what I would eventually title Mission Daze* here. I started the strip shortly after I returned from my mission in 1995. In 2014, the Deseret News fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine when it began publishing one strip every week for two years. In 2017, I self-published a complete collection of the strip (still available one Amazon). And now, after sharing all of them here, I'm leaving it behind forever!

There is quite a difference writing single-panel gags and multi-panel comic strips. There's just a different rhythm to the jokes. There are advantages to both single-panel gags and multi-panel comic strips. 

If you create interesting enough characters, a comic strip can almost write itself, but if you don't...it can be tough. The best thing about Mission Daze was a rotating cast of characters. Elder Van Dyke was paired with nearly a dozen companions. I could explore jokes centered around jocks and nerds, slackers and aspiring APs. It was great!

The advantage to a single-panel gag is you can explore any and every thing. One moment you're making a joke about a baby blessing, the next you're riffing on He-Man's inability to dress modestly.

Just because I'm done with Mission Daze, doesn't mean I'm done with Monday posts. Starting next week, I'll be filling this space with something slightly different. I'm excited. I hope you'll come back and check it out.

*You'll notice I nearly slipped the title of the comic strip in the final strip. I'm of the opinion that any piece of work is improved by someone speaking the title of the work in the work. For example, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the undisputed best movie of all time but just think how much better it would have been if at some point Indiana Jones had said to Belloq, "You know Belloq, we're just a couple of raiders of the lost ark."