November 2025 Update
Nine Gates has always been a product of spontaneity ever since I first conceptualized it sometime in 2021. I didn’t actually have a name for the comic until I’d finished drawing the tenth page, and I didn’t even know what the Nine Gates were until sometime during Chapter 4.
Following the conclusion of Volume 1, I finalized the outline of the story arc and found that there were many plot threads that I couldn’t tie up concisely. As time has gone on, I’ve become increasingly dissatisfied with the concessions I’ve had to make for the sake of time, and I would rather not spend another two years wrapping up a story I’ll ultimately be unhappy with. Especially since I straight up cannot bring myself to continue working on comic panels. That said, I appreciate all the readers I’ve gotten over the years, and I apologize for what may be disappointing news for some of you. It’s been a blast seeing you try to figure out what’s going on (The climax was going to be batshit insane despite how messy it is. One day you’ll learn what’s REALLY going on with Jeane.)
That isn’t to say I plan to retire the project completely, but when it returns it will be in a different medium with a VERY different face. The setting and story of Nine Gates is kind of an erratic hodge-podge as a result of me figuring it out as I was producing pages over the course of five years, and I think if I were to take what I have now and refine it I could make something really special. My current plan is to do a visual novel of some sort, as it blends my love of drawing and writing in a way that’s much less backbreaking than comic work.
Going forwards there will be a few changes:
-First, I will be shutting down the Patreon on November 5th. When I have something new to show off I’ll consider opening it up again. The Discord will be made free to use (rather than being a $1 patreon reward), I’ll leave an invite to it here which will be good for about ten uses if that’s something any of you are interested in.
-The monthly updates here will continue, though I plan to make them more focused on my project of refining the world of Nine Gates into something new. If you’d like to remain unspoiled on that front, I’d suggest just following me elsewhere (Bluesky, Tumblr) to keep posted on when more pressing news comes about.
-As per above, this website will obviously remain up so you can read the one volume of Nine Gates. I’ll see about creating a PDF of all of the pages for those of you who want a convenient way to read it offline (and for preservation purposes in the event that the website goes dead for whatever reason).
Here’s a few of my sketches for the currently unnamed Nine Gates v2. There’s only one of these designs that isn’t adapted from Nine Gates characters
Hey, that’s great! I enjoyed the original, but it did sort of wear its influences on its sleeve in a way that suggested you hadn’t quite digested what you wanted out of them yet. I have a lot of faith that the new version of it will be excellent now that you’ve really come into your own!
I look forward to seeing the suffering, pleasure, and rewards your new cast will experience.
For Creed, I offer two blessings, “May the road rise up to meet you and break a leg.”
Ooh, Nemi(sis) and Rein(bro) will be related?
You missed a joke by not making Rein-Ohm the archer and introducing him as Rein-Bow.
Gamer girl Nemiliance was my favorite.
I look forward to seeing new Nemi’s abilities and how she can sense the world (barefoot please, like Toph?) and communicate.
Will she be a chameleon? gecko? poison dart frog? that toad that people lick for spiritual journeys?
Is Ortus the same Viator Grent on p.51? Who’d have thought he had a heart of gold?
“There’s the family you were born into, and the family you make.”-Thanos
2 new Houses, Recall and Lament, out of how many?
All excellent questions. I’ll elaborate some on what you can expect from Name Pending (also known as Ten Gates, 9+1 Gates, New Gates) in my December post, but I’ll just say for now that Ortus Grent is actually somehow worse than Viator Grent, and that there’s the same number of Great Houses.
As a writer I can certainly respect having to set a project aside because it’s not working out and there are too many loose ends in the plot. That apart it’s been a great adventure all the way and I’ll be looking forward to what comes next as you refine your vision of the world of Nine Gates.
I totally enjoyed this, even though yes I had no idea what was happening 🙂 And you have my mad respect for stepping back and retooling it into something that it inspired, but could never be. If this is the “rough draft”, I’m looking forward to seeing what it becomes. Thanks for the ride.
Well, it was fun while it lasted. I hope to see your work again and wish you the best.