03

Feb 2014

Chapter 3: Page 1 - HUDdle Up

Posted by / in Comic / 49 comments

Hey everybody!

Couple of things. Remember that we are on a Monday-Thursday comic update schedule now, so like/follow/subscribe to us somehow if you want a reminder when it happens.

Also, you’ll notice a couple of changes around the site. We’ve been meaning to make them for a while. They include getting rid of obnoxious and redundant headers at the top of pages, removing huge “similar posts” icons at the bottom of pages, and centering and increasing the size of pages. Let us know what you think about these, especially the last one.

Today and tomorrow Nick may also be working on improving pagination (with real First, Previous, Next, etc buttons) and making clicking on the comic page advance you to the next page. So keep an eye on it and let us know what you think of the changes.

I know we got a lot of new readers over the weekend. As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the comic.

Dan

PS What do you think of a Chapter 1-3 composite title (for a 1-3 volume we’re thinking of making) of “Lot’s of Blood”? Too cheesy? To spoiler-y? Let us know below.

  • Delta-v

    I really appreciate the larger images. Now I don’t have to mess with enlarging stuff myself. The other cleanups do streamline things, and they leave more room for comments. :D

    As to naming this sub-arc, Ch. 1 and 2 build to Tenzin’s revenge response in Ch. 3. In Greek mythology, the Furies were responsible for avenging the unjustly slain and were relentless, implacable, and merciless. They were also pretty much claws-on in meting out justice, but I can imagine all three of them riding Tenzin’s shoulders in the upcoming confrontation. Sooo… I humbly submit the line from a stage direction for a chorus in Aeschylus’ “The Eumenidies”. The one that says. “The Furies awaken”.

    • Ydo Ucare

      Having spent some time with the Oresteia, I second this. “The Furies awaken” is much more awesome than “lots of blood.”

      • I really need to read up on my Greek/Roman mythology. The nice part is, if I get it a little wrong, I can just say that an apocalypse and 100 years of history distorted Minerva’s understanding of history :)

    • Charlie

      Sure beats “Exit, pursued by a bear.”
      Shakespeare, “The Winter’s Tale.”
      I like the cleaner look. I’d vote for a surrounding color, but that’s just me. And I’d like to see the “First” “Previous” “Random” “Next” and “Last” buttons.

      • Nick tells me he is working on the navigation buttons. I’ve seen some site visitors drop off after being unable to figure out how to advance the page. By surrounding color, do you mean the grey to the sides, or immediately around the comic page, like a border?

        • I think the gray would fit the pages much better if it was changed to a more immersive pale yellow. Most of the pages have an almost sepia theme to them thus far.

          • Charlie

            But not the pale yellow that was leaking from those drums. We all know what that reminds people of.
            Even a darker, maybe battleship gray. Something with a military feel, but not distracting from the colors of the comic.

          • Hahaha, I was thinking of using that color… but couldn’t find it. Searched for “urine yellow”, “pale amber beer yellow” and even Seba’s supposed “oil yellow”… but yeah i’m playing with a slightly textured battleship gray at the moment.

      • Not a “random” since it doesn’t make sense in this story, but we did add an “archive” button. So, I need to style them after lunch, but you now have first, last, and clicking on the image takes you to next.

  • Ydo Ucare

    “Lots of Blood” is ridiculous sounding. Maybe if you guys were a goofy comic, but it just doesn’t make sense with your actual content.

    • Hehe… Its perhaps more of an inside joke since lately Seba has been saying about each page as he delivers the colors: “Oh and don’t worry I haven’t forgotten the ‘lots of blood'”. But yeah, your furies idea is way better.

      • nightgaunt

        Just remember that older blood gets darker and turns brown then a black-green.

  • Jason Clayton

    From a graphic design perspective, normally vast amounts of anything (in this case blood) in an image can make the scene appear too “busy.” That is not to say that in a scene where a murderous killing machine massacred an entire squad and “civilians” should be relatively clean. Seba has been doing a great job of not over, or under-doing the blood.

    The web page design changes definitely help make the comic easier to read, and the site easier to traverse. Good job on the changes.

    • It’s good to hear the graphic design side of things. I’ve always been exceptionally pleased with Seba’s ability to balance things like that. While we did just have 25+ people get killed, I think he managed to show just enough without being too graphic or gory.

      Nick supposedly is going to be doing a couple of more changes today and tomorrow, so please let us know if anything starts looking weird.

      • Jason Clayton

        I will do my best, while keeping my prior promise ;P

        • That’s right… I don’t wanna have to revoke one of my welcomes… don’t make me do it.

  • I’m a fan of the larger pages! Not so much of the title “Lots of blood.”

    “The Furies Awaken” has a nice ring to it, but seeing as it’s a first volume you might find that people pick it up expecting literal Furies. Maybe something a bit less specific but along the same lines would be more fitting. “The Fury Awakened?”

    • Yeah, we’re trying to find a subtitle that embodies the feel of the first three chapters. Things Fall Apart? Awakening Wrath? Terror at Arkjut?

      • Oh! Terror at Arkjut is my favourite one yet!

        • Delta-v

          Those are good points. I still like the idea of Tenzin “bringing the pain”, though. How about “Deathmatch at Arkjut”, or “Keleres Revenge”, or even “Tenzin Triumphant” ’cause if he doesn’t win, it’s all over but the footnotes.

          • Hahaha… maybe this is actually only a 3 chapter webcomic… ever think of that??? Maybe we’re just a brotherhood of sadistic bastards getting you involved with a character only to… well… then again maybe not.

          • Delta-v

            Oh, you’re probably sadistic enough, but where else are you going to find such an entertaining method of throwing your money away than this one? And you expect me to believe that you’d give up the giggles so soon? Pbbbfffftht! :P

          • Curse you and your intuition hehe… That and the fact that we hinted that chapters 4 and 5 are almost done :D

      • sebasp

        Hey, I wouldnt say that stark won on season 1 of game of thrones and here I am waiting for the season 4!

        how would you like Sean Bean as Tenzin in a suposed adaptation? Mmmm…

        maybe hes not so asian, but who knows? (I do)

  • Delta-v

    After a stunning start, the voting for Demon Archives is limping along at only thirteen votes. Please don’t let such a good comic sink away.

    By the way, are there any ladies out there? Or is this a testosterone-only community.

    • Delta-v

      Okay, this is better. I’m starting to wonder if the drop-off had anything to do with the merger making it such a pain in the backside to sign in to vote on TWC.

      Persevere, Oh, noblest of fans! Brave the adversity, and vote for Demon Archives. Don’t let the bureaucrats win!

  • jerry mcmasters

    I’m guessing this was a tough one to draw…well done! The view from above, at an angle. Loved the writing too, the *ahem!* cough was great. Much more powerful than something wordy like “Uh, hey, I’d kinda like to know how to kill this thing too!” Good job.

    • Yay a writing compliment! ;) Although more than half of why it worked is because Seba made it look cool visually.

  • Neil Kapit

    I like how Tenzin’s helmet is completely opague, and we don’t see his face, just the bullet hole on the visor. It’s a good visual metaphor for emotionally switching himself off.

    • Yeah, Seba does really well with all the visual good art stuff ;)

  • spg

    Somehow I feel reminded of long ago doom network sessions.

  • nightgaunt

    I can see three or more robots as opposed to just drones called “the Furies” used as a blitzer movement when needed. Maybe loaded up with HE plasma bombs to give that implosive destruction on the molecular level that is needed a certain times.

  • tnzn

    I think there’s a typo in the last panel: Vitkor -> Viktor

    • Why so it does. I’ll see if we can’t fix that :)

      • tnzn

        Nice.

        By the way, the comic is great so far. And I love the world-building stuff from Extras. Especially the approach of starting with existing people and projects and extrapolating it into the future.

        • Thanks! Most people don’t see the Extras so I’m glad you found them :)

  • Citrus Reaper

    I think “Lots of blood” as the composite title will take away a lot of the impact of seeing this badass bunch of power armor guys get wiped out. As I’m overdramatic, I suggest something like, “Arkjut Rumble.”

    • “battle of arkjut” is the current leader in my mind ;)

      • Citrus Reaper

        Yeah, that makes more sense :P
        I think mine was a bit too eighties-movie.

  • theRoUS

    It’s not a possessive, so “Lots of Blood” if you please.. :-)

    Yo ho ho and an Arkjut of blood?

  • smurfton

    So, what title did you end up settling with? Was it Lots of Blood, or something else?

    • Still need to actually print it, but “Battle of Arkjut” is my working title.

  • smurfton

    Speaking of page size, on my cell phone, the page only takes up about 33% of the width of the screen, and disallows zooming. Could you change that?

    • That is something I’ve been bothering Nick to work on coding for the site.

    • NickDA

      Working on that actually. Once cache expires you should be able to zoom up to at least 4x.

      • Woot!

      • smurfton

        Well actually, I disabled the website’s ability to prevent me from zooming in my accessibility settings, but thank you.

  • Jay

    Typo: Vitkor

    • Man, did I still not fix that? Hey @sebastinpriz:disqus did you fix this and I just forgot to upload it, or do you still need to fix it?