Transcript

[Exterior shot of a 2-story apartment building rooftop, where Rose is leaning back and holding her phone. She looks away with a tired expression]
Rose: I dunno. Tell him I died.

[A view of Rose's phone in her hand, where she is video chatting with Aya. Aya is in her work uniform and about to eat a sandwich.]
Aya (unamused): Ha. Yeah, I'll just go with that.
Rose: You're a barista, Aya. You've got to be used to telling off creepers.

Aya: He's a creeper?

Rose: I mean, yeah.
Rose: Bro can't take a hint, so he stalks my best friend at work?

Aya: Ok, in retrospect that does sound a bit creeper-ish.
Rose (off-screen): Right??

[View behind Rose on the roof as she crouches down and looks into the parking lot to see Nate showing up with Steve, below her in the distance]
Rose: Shit, now I need to shake this negative energy out of my system.

[Zoomed-in view from Rose's perspective of Nate following Steve across the parking lot. Nate is carrying a backpack and a sleeping bag and looking thoughtfully off into the distance while Steve is mid-sentence.]

[Aya's phone, propped up on a table at the coffee shop, showing Rose from her side of the video chat]
Rose (raising eyebrows): ...or maybe fuck it out.
Aya (facepalming): Jesus Christ, Rose.
 

Chapter 1 | Page 6: Energy
Posted on April 17, 2025 by Nick Wright

Out with the bad, in with the good.

I like the way this one came out. My first time doing a video chat, not to mention that angle in panel 6!

Extra Art - Jillian Rollerblading

A good friend of mine did a Draw This In Your Style challenge a while back, and I jumped in!

This is JS Staedtler's character Jillian. Now, this is pretty cute as it is. But if you want to add another level of difficulty and see her really, uh, expose herself to this new experience, I think you know where to go.

You can also check out the original inspiration over at JS Staedtler's gallery, where you can also see a LOT more of Jillian and a ton of other cute characters (including some you might recognize from his earlier webcomic, Avalon!)

See you next week for another comic!

One thought on “Chapter 1 | Page 6: Energy”

  1. Ivan

    It’s so good to see Rose again! Can’t wait to see more of her!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*


Treading Ground REBOOTS on March 20th!

Posted on March 13, 2025 by Nick Wright

We’re Going Back To The Start!

If you’re a TG Patron, you’ve been reading a never-released project I called Treading Ground Season 2, a followup to the original webcomic featuring Miranda as the main character.

That’s not even Tracy’s final form

It was a fun project, but eventually I realized that before I could move forward in the TG universe, I needed to take a fresh look at its origins.

TG Has Been Around A LONG Time

I started work on Treading Ground 22 years ago, with the comic debuting on Keenspace on October 13, 2003. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no YouTube. Even MySpace was only a few months old!

The original “First Comic,” before later restructures removed it from the archive. Nothing like wacky roommate antics that were already tired in 2003!
The original “First Comic,” before later restructures removed it from the archive. Nothing like wacky roommate antics that were already tired in 2003!

While I’m still happy overall with my work on the comic, it is, uh, of its time. There’s a lot of early-2000s edgelord humor and questionable narrative decisions, especially in those first few years. I always knew I’d do things differently from the start if I had the chance.

Well, now I have the chance.

I’m 22 years older and wiser since TG debuted. I’m a better artist and writer, I’ve worked on many more creative projects, and I’ve learned a lot about the craft of writing and just life in general.

And instead of just trying to fix old stuff, I can really expand this story and fully explore these characters in a way I couldn’t before. It’s time to put all that experience to good use!

New character designs!

What To Expect From The Reboot

  • Familiar Characters, New Story – You’ll see a lot of characters you know from the original comic, but their backgrounds, interactions, appearances, and personalities will take some different turns.
  • Bigger and Better – The original TG comic was around 250 strips total. I already have more pages than that written for the Reboot, and I’m not even halfway done. We’re in it for the long haul, and we’ll have a lot more time with these characters!
  • The Face to Face Prequel Is Still Canon – I’ve been planning this Reboot for a long time. When I wrote Face to Face, I wanted it to bridge the gap. The story of how Nate and Tracy got together fits nicely into the original narrative, but it also sets the stage for the Reboot. As for what happened between them after that, well, we’ll see!
  • Older Cast – If you did the math in the Prequel, you know at least that in [Current Year], Nate is 27 and Tracy is 29. The other characters will be aged up to roughly match. It’s not as much as the rest of us have aged in these last 22 years, but it will certainly add some more dimension to the characters.

It All Starts Next Week!

If you follow me elsewhere, you may know that I haven’t exactly been great about keeping this a secret, but it’s fantastic to finally be able to announce it officially.

As always, Patrons get the comic one week early, so they’re already reading the new stuff! If you don’t want to wait, why not jump on in?

I’m excited to bring you more Treading Ground, and I think you’re going to love what I’m cooking up!