1: “first comics always suck” (but I think this one’s cute!)

december 8th, 2025

hello all!! welcome back, or welcome if it’s your first time reading AwS 😀

below is my author commentary, a transcript, and links to bookmark this page on Comic Rocket and share it on various other sites! I love to yap, but a) this is all optional bonus content that’s not necessary to understand the comic and b) it’ll be generally spoiler-free, so feel free to read or skip it at your leisure :3 I also yap more (and post various extra things) at the (free!) Applesauce With Sprinkles Patreon, so feel free to head over there if you want to see more behind-the-scenes stuff!

my goal is to post a new page here every day — I often fall behind my stated posting goals, so tbd if I can stick to that, but I want to work hard to make it happen! seeya back here tomorrow! <3

.

about three years ago, I started posting my very first webcomic on here, a silly sci-fi-fantasy-ish dramedy called Applesauce With Sprinkles! it was going to feature an ensemble cast of Holly (the dog-esque character shown here), her three roommates, various additional friends and family of theirs, and all of their myriad dramas and angst and cuteness and character development with a hearty serving of political satire thrown in, and it was going to be glorious.

after about a year of working on it, I realized I’d bitten off more than I could chew — the time it took me to create a single page, multiplied by the number of pages I’d need to tell all the different plot threads I was trying to weave together, added up to far more years than I felt prepared to dedicate to that project. add in some classic Personal Stuff going on at the same time, and I decided I needed to set the comic down for the time being.

now, two years later, I’ve got some more comic-making and story-writing experience under my belt, and I’m still in love with Holly and her friends and want to tell their stories, so I’m gonna give it another go with a more focused plotline!!

this is a different story than the original Applesauce With Sprinkles (which I now call AwS: Vanilla to help differentiate), and the characters will be slightly different, as evidenced already by Ollie’s new name. but there will also be lots of parallels, hence why I’m explaining all this in the commentary!

my goal is to create and post something here every day — sometimes a full page, sometimes just a panel, but always something. like Ollie’s explaining, I’ve recently been rereading the webcomic El Goonish Shive from the beginning, and it’s incredibly inspiring to see just how fun and deep and compelling a story the author was able to create even in the early years when he was very much still learning the ropes and figuring things out as he went. (I definitely recommend EGS! a big content note in the early chapters for topics of misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia handled clumsily, but if you’re comfortable sticking with it, it gets sooooo much better, and is now among my favorite pieces of nuanced queer rep in media.) and he posted every day!!! I wanna post every day!!! I’d rather have a messy comic than no comic!!! so that’s the game plan 😀

.

transcript:

[two characters, Ollie and Brook, are standing next to each other and chatting. Ollie looks like a border collie with long thin antennae sprouting from his forehead, and Brook looks like a tabby cat. the whole page is drawn roughly in pencil on a piece of sketchbook paper, which has been photographed and uploaded.]

Brook: “An Apple A Day?” what’s this?
Ollie: my understanding is that the author started rereading El Goonish Shive and was inspired by how much Dan could create in a year without trying to make the art or dialogue perfect, so now he wants to try making a page of Applesauce with Sprinkles every day

Brook: oh sweet! and this is the version where you and I are the main characters?
Ollie: yeah!
Brook: yayyy I finally get to stop being mysterious roommate #2!
Ollie: yeah!!!

Ollie: I think it’s a slightly different, like, universe than the original AwS: Vanilla though? like Amber lives with you and Juniper in this one, and Emmy may or may not be around, tbd
Brook: oh interesting! that explains why my name is spelled different
Ollie: oh you too?! my name is Ollie now!!
Brook: AAAA that’s so cute omg

Ollie: ope, I think the story’s starting; I’m off to the next page! love you!
Brook: ok bye! love you too! seeya soon!
[the two affectionately boop noses as Ollie wags his tail excitedly]

.