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Post by Mambo's Here! Look Busy! on Jul 1, 2008 15:37:30 GMT
The Freedom Fighters? XD They have a crappy bi-plane anyway! XD
Hm... maybe they've just stolen Robotnik's old ones, if he had any....
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Post by rj on Jul 1, 2008 15:55:49 GMT
The Sonic story was...well, a bit pretentious. The art was decent but the writing feels like a reject for All-Star Batman and Robin. Seriously, Sonic is acting like a complete dick the whole time.
The Tekno/Shorty story was good but didn't seem to really progress that much. Art was nice.
The Rouge story, however, was clearly amazing. Robert can write brilliantly, and Retro can color just as well. The very same "verbosity" everyone seems to be complaining about is the reason I enjoyed it so much- too often is entertainment bogged down for the sake of simplicity when it could be freed through the use of more comfortably large vocabulary. We aren't Korean, after all, we might as well do a comic in our native language, and if so, why not use that language to its fullest? Robert did an awesome job with this, and I look forward to his writing in the future.
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Post by Retro on Jul 1, 2008 16:51:51 GMT
Seriously, Sonic is acting like a complete dick the whole time. Welcome to STC. Thanks for the comments on the colouring for Rouge Alert.
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Post by rj on Jul 1, 2008 17:28:49 GMT
Seriously, Sonic is acting like a complete dick the whole time. Welcome to STC. Right. He's acting like a dickier dick the whole time. =P
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Post by Samface on Jul 1, 2008 17:42:03 GMT
Incidentally, I ended up re-reading the whole of STCO thus far the other week and I'd just like to echo Stu's comments. The current arcs hang together much better with a bit of hindsight and several issues to read at once. I know the comic's current release schedule can't be helped due to its amateur status (by which I mean "done in everyone's spare time", I'm not impugning on the quality) but it does seem to be hurting it at the moment. The Shadow arc worked better because it was more or less a consistent single story with no breaks, but when you're gradually laying plot like this tension is naturally dissipated inbetween issues. Can't be helped, I guess.
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Post by Dave on Jul 2, 2008 9:19:10 GMT
Argh. When will you continue the Knuckles/Tikal/Flating Island story? ? I need to know!
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Tom
Ex-Hume
Hume-who-used-to-think-he-was-in-charge
Posts: 3,786
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Post by Tom on Jul 2, 2008 9:31:00 GMT
When it's been drawn.
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Post by Zerolus on Jul 2, 2008 9:33:54 GMT
This morning, when my mind was in a 'half-awake, half-asleep' state, I had somewhat of an eerie combination of a dream and a brainstorm, speculating about Kane's motivations. Spoiler tags in case I'm accurate. I can't really remember how my line of thought led up to it (I was half-asleep, at the time. Though I do remember I started off at his full name), but is it possible that Kane could've had some connection to Kintobor? Unlikely, considering it's already been done for Shadow, but it would refelect how grave of a consequence Sonic's decision was. Regardless, I'm really enjoying the current story arc with Kane. And I can't believe some people aren't on the grounds of where they're coming from. You just want to see Sonic beating up bad guys? Go play a Sonic game. I'm personally more of a fan of drama, and this whole new angle is an interesting aspect to Sonic's character. Can't wait to see what #250 is going to be about, but I can see where we're getting at (and the inevitable Drakon invasion is going to be one hell of a final blow, whenever that'll happen). The Rouge story was entertaining, and I anticapate part two. However, as much as I enjoyed the language, it is a little alienating towards younger readers. I was unimpressed with Shorty and Tekno though. The pacing was far too quick. It was as though Mike was in the middle of writing of the current setting, then thought, "Sod this, I'll just get to the part everyone wants to see already." Great twist with Set though. Though, ultimately, it did take me a minute or two to remember who he was, exactly. For a raging maniac who wanted to conquer the world (...I think), he kinda lacked presence. That should be a running gag in the next strip. Set: "And now I'll have my revenge!" Shorty: "Teks, who is this guy?" Tekno: "No idea. He seems to know me though."
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Post by Samface on Jul 2, 2008 17:47:54 GMT
Meh, they did that with Megatox already.
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Post by Robert Frazer on Jul 2, 2008 23:36:34 GMT
To celebrate the introduction of a new strip with new characters, I thought that I'd brew up a quick batch of a dozen Rouge Alert avatars. I've copied these over to the dedicated Avatar Thread, but I'll show them here as well as they'll give me an opportunity to talk about some of the inspirations behind the strip. Rouge's distinctive headgear, endearingly traditional in its simple, homemade rustic summer chic, is paradoxically ostentatious and so makes a dramatic statement of precisely-gauged sartorial elegance. Her impeccable carriage deserves to be celebrated with a pair of avatars. I chose for Dunzi to be an elephant because "elephants never forget", and a strong sense of natural recall is a valuable asset when you're setting up a honeypot and you don't want the gun-runners finding a dictaphone whirring away in your jacket pocket. Incidentally, his name's provenance is that elephants are African animals, and "dunzi" is Swahili for "spy". You'll notice that there are quite a few smokers puffing away in the Keeper HQ panels. This is partially a homage to spy dramas such as Greg Rucka's Queen and Country - I honestly don't know how MI6 is coping after the public smoking ban because entire scenes in that comic are smothered in a fog of nicotine! - but is also an example of the worldbuilding I was referring to earlier. Smoking is a zonal hobby in the Hill Top; when you live in a land practically rent asunder by incessant volcanic activity, the air quality's bad enough that a bit of tar isn't going to make that much of a difference! You may have seen photos from the Thirties and Forties of school staff common rooms or journalist bullpits, seen through a blue gauzy haze... the Hill Top Zone found those scenes and never left them. People sample different brands and crops of tobacco as some might the vintages of fine wines; a carton of Azureloam Acris in the newsagent doesn't come with any Surgeon-General's warning. A few more Keepers to add some variety. I really enjoyed panel 2.1 - Lock's character designs and Retro's use of distinct colour for the skin/fur/scales of each Keeper meant that subections in the panel told their own separate silent stories, adding a depth that lets you appreciate the panel for long after you've scanned it for the plot. "Hey--! Are you... are you an echidna?" "Oh, no, not at all. I'm an armadillo, I just wear my hair long." "Oh, alright then. Sorry for bothering you." " *krkk* He knows too much, deal with him. *krkk* " Aww, look at the ickle teddybear. I just want to hug him and squeeze him and make him mine! Use this avatar to join the cool crowd and be ironically cynical about the quality of the discussions you participate in.
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Post by Retro on Jul 3, 2008 1:26:31 GMT
You know, I did at one point consider making all the Keepers in that office enviroment pretty messy and with some faint but visible sweat marks, to try and emphasise the constrast between these scruffy and serious men trying to bring down the elegant, clean and sly humouring female Rouge.
However, after experimenting it quickly took a panel and instead of making you look at it, made you wanna skip by it. It was pretty hideous to look at to be honest, and I'd like to think the Keepers were a bit more professional than that.
Dunzi's "used to be white but forgot my Daz" shirt is a remainder of this though, as well as an effort to make him stand out as a central character among these other shirt and tie grunts running around.
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Post by Chigs! on Jul 3, 2008 9:17:55 GMT
Mixed love for High Noon I see, despite the fact that it's pretty much one long fight scene (albeit a very one-sided one!) - hee hee, there's just no pleasing you people Still, had a lot of fun drawing it, and it pays off a lot of things that Mike's been building up to with the series - he's on art duties now for the rest of this story arc and I'm keen to see what he comes up with! Its going to be weird seeing others tackle these characters I've been drawing for so long! ^__^
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Pitt
Script Hume
Ungrateful Sonic Saxophonist
If Lando dies, I'll destroy your planet!
Posts: 7,007
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Post by Pitt on Jul 3, 2008 14:24:37 GMT
I just had a thought; shouldn't Lucan/Frazer get some sort of Script Hume title? They seem so thin on the ground now!
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Post by Robert Frazer on Jul 3, 2008 14:47:03 GMT
Well... I wouldn't mind! I'd agree, that would have been labouring the point rather heavily, and as you say they are professionals - it's fine as it is. Let's assume that a perk of working for a government agency is free air coniditioning.
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Post by Charles on Jul 3, 2008 16:48:31 GMT
Re Rob's writing - it was longer originally, you won't be shocked to know! As a first strip though, I think it's not a problem; and let's face it, some degree of verbosity is going to turn up as a result of this being a Rob Frazer strip. I think we can manage a different style of writing now and then, and he's packed quite a bit of world-building info into the text. WHY DIDN'T YOU GET ROBERT WRITING EARLIER? He wrote the first version two years ago! Things can take damn long sometimes. (High Noon was plotted out before I even joined...) He repackaged it and sold it as high-strength weed-killer. having said that I doubt that mobians have the internet (i don't know if it's been stated they have) They do - the resolution for Hyper Sonic involves trainspotting websites. But as you say, the tech varies from Zone to Zone. The Hill Top Zone security forces have this stuff, Generic Hilly Zone won't. I... really don't know what to make of this one. The absence of a Knuckles strip was a letdown, for one thing; surely it's bad form to leave a plot thread dangling to start a new one? The final part of the Knuckles story wouldn't be ready in time for #246, so we altered which strips ran when. It will be ready and out before the year's over, honest. Basically I didn't schedule Vichama very well and that's buggered it up a bit, which is a pity - sorry chaps! It's a two-parter, it'll be back next issue.
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Post by Charles on Jul 3, 2008 17:12:14 GMT
Although not as much as Rouge's story. I mean no offence to Robert Frasier, but what the feckity feck feck? It's not made clear who any character bar Rouge is, it's not made clear what they do, it's not made clear what Rouge is up to, it's not made clear why they do what they're doing. I can't argue with Rouge's actions being confusing (they are and that was the idea) nor personal enjoyment of the strip, but I'm confused at the rest. The main other character is called Dunzi and he's the head honcho in the Zone's secret service; their goal is to keep everything safe while a VIP makes a public appearance. This is covered through dialogue and a caption in the last panel of page 1 and the first in page 2. I'm not sure what's confusing you here. The very first line of dialogue is Dunzi saying their job is "Duke Biruid's presentation here at the Academy" and the second line is someone calling him "Officer Dunzi"! Didn't say it was the army. Just captured. That could mean anyone. Plus I don't ever read next issue things, due to spoilers. This is true, fair point. I didn't think we'd need it explicitly stated that Sonic was being arrested by the proper authorities as I thought the context - it being explicitedly said Sonic's been captured, people are shown descending on Sonic from a Chinook, he's believed to have gone evil - would make it clear. Who wants to see a topic full of "Thanks!" and "Oh, you liked that colouring? You'll make me blush!" etc? Sonic would. I'd utterly forgotten Set (or Seth or Sut -- how does one approximate spelling from a language which never used the Western alphabet anyway...). Could have been grounds for one of Megadroid's asides there I think. Yup. My bad. We've never set down and explicitly set that out, no - the writers just tend to go for bringing up reminders in the story rather than in footnotes to make it flow better. I'm particularly glad you picked up on the consistent theme for the Hill Top Intelligence gang I only just noticed now you explained it! I dumb.
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Post by The Tikal who had no Toes on Jul 3, 2008 18:04:48 GMT
The Sonic story depressed the hell out of me. Not because it was crap, it just had a depressing storyline. Nice nods to earlier characters, though. I wasn't keen on the Tekno and Shorty story, but then they're characters I have little interest in anyway. The Rouge story, on the other hand, I liked. It's not like anything I've seen in STC-O before, and I mean this in a good way. Yes, the dialogue was too verbose in places, but I didn't have any problems understanding it, and I actually loled when I saw 'spiffing'. And the art was fantastic. I'm looking forward to the next part. I can't wait for Knuckles to come back.
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Tom
Ex-Hume
Hume-who-used-to-think-he-was-in-charge
Posts: 3,786
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Post by Tom on Jul 3, 2008 19:15:20 GMT
Yup. My bad. Not on a cliffhanger panel like that though.
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Ed
Ex-Hume
Satan (Apparently)
Posts: 4,320
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Post by Ed on Jul 3, 2008 21:20:54 GMT
Robert/Retro: No specific reply, but I get a kick out of reading these analyses.
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Eileanach
Boomer
I <3 Pirates! Yar!
Posts: 56
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Post by Eileanach on Jul 4, 2008 13:53:08 GMT
I think the new artwork is VERY pretty for the new comic and Retro's colouring is epic! *hugs* Since I've not read every comic up to this point and only went back a couple to see what exactly was going on I cannot comment much more on it.
But I still think the comic is doing great and well done on everyone who participates.
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Post by Baron Canier on Jul 5, 2008 19:06:53 GMT
I enjoyed the Sonic story the most; lots of places visited without feeling too rushed or cluttered. Also its the first time I've ever cared about Kane as a character. He's pretty good. Rouge's story perplexed me a bit, but it was pulled off nicely and had an interesting set-up. Nice to see Rouge herself finally upto something. Shorty's story? Not so much. It wasn't bad per se, it just didn't really do anything for me. The art was decent but the writing feels like a reject for All-Star Batman and Robin. Next Issue: Sonic force-feeds Tails rats, then proceeds to paint himself yellow and taunt Knuckles with some lemonade.
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JJ
Script Hume
Bit of a hack, really.
Posts: 4,902
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Post by JJ on Jul 5, 2008 20:18:56 GMT
The art was decent but the writing feels like a reject for All-Star Batman and Robin. Owch owch owch owch ARRRRGGH! Sonic is very pushy towards Kintobor in this one, but other than that I have no idea what you mean. He's STC Sonic. He's facing one of the toughest and humilating events of his career, and he's acting out of desperation and frustration. Seriously man, [censored]ing owch.
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Tom
Ex-Hume
Hume-who-used-to-think-he-was-in-charge
Posts: 3,786
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Post by Tom on Jul 5, 2008 20:20:42 GMT
I liked your page, Jamie
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JJ
Script Hume
Bit of a hack, really.
Posts: 4,902
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Post by JJ on Jul 5, 2008 20:29:18 GMT
Interesting fact that I've never admitted to the other humes: I thought Kane was a lion for ages. I think he might've been possibly when Ed was plotting this arc (I think), so I was deeply shocked when the art showed up and he's a freakin' wolf. I completely missed that memo. I'm not saying it's bad, but I kind of envisioned Kane as being a bit like that king Lion character from Disney's Robin Hood, but much more stern and without the thumb-sucking. This is just the place my brain happened to go to.
Hence, the 'fat cat' line was supposed to be a double entendre, originally. It still works fine, though. And I'm used to the wolf now. Bad Wolf, lol.
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Tom
Ex-Hume
Hume-who-used-to-think-he-was-in-charge
Posts: 3,786
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Post by Tom on Jul 5, 2008 20:38:21 GMT
He appeared in a previous story (Fandom Menace)!
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