Comics and Webcomics – Page 3

The Firelight Isle

A graphic novel without compromises

I’m about to head off on my mystical* journey to the East, but thought I’d drop in a quick plug for Paul Duffield’s Firelight Isle.

(No, not that one, that one!)

Paul, late of FreakAngels, has taken the really bold step of starting work on an entirely creator-owned graphic novel. Because he unfortunately has to eat and such, he can only afford to spend one day a week on it, but the work he’s done so far looks fascinating.

If you’re of a mind to help a talented artist – and get a few goodies along the way – please consider dropping a few bucks into the IndieGoGo campaign. If that’s not your kind of thing, there are also a number of other ways you can contribute.

OK, I’m off to pack my bags. Sydney, Sydney here I come!

(Sydney, Sydney, yum yum yum…)

* Not at all mystical, in any definition of the word

Rødgrød med Fløde

Scandinavia and the World is a lot of fun.

It’s an irregularly updated webcomic that provides a Scandinavian view on the world by personifying countries as characters. Kind of like Axis Powers Hetalia but with a lot less stupidity.

It’s entertaining, informative and enjoyable, and I give it my hearty approval.

You should really start reading from the beginning, but if you just want a taste then the Christmas Traditions episode is my favourite. Oh, and my favourite character is of course Finland because there are plenty of days where I’d like to be able to get away with being a brooding, mute, knife-wielding maniac.

Finally, if you check it out and enjoy it, then this may be of interest.

That is all.

They’re Watching Meeeee!!

You make me walk like a camel!

When everyone else in the office visits Dilbert, they get ads for BankWest. I get want ads from the DSD. Hmmmm.

In other news, I’ve been indulging my fondness for Psychobilly lately. There’s something about wild-eyed maniacs screeching nonsensical lyrics over distorted, old-fashioned rock-n-roll/surf-rock baselines that really speaks to me on a fundamental level.

I mean, how good is this?

Good times man! Good times!

Terrible

William Winsbury took 40 gold bars. He took 40 gold bars. That’s as many as four tens. And that’s terrible.

Really? That seems rather inconvenient…

Ah….

OK, I think Servants of the Imperium has been hacked… (Not Safe For Work!)

(The hackers have been changing it up a bit, so the title of this post doesn’t make much sense anymore. Move along!)

(Much Much Later: Note for future generations and other interested parties – at the time I originally wrote this entry the Servants of the Imperium site had been replaced with a somewhat undecorous illustration of two men engaged in, shall we say, “the art of love”, with the caption This is how I play 40k with my boyfriend)

Expansion

Not a good idea.

Have a new employee starting today. A new female employee.

I’m going to have to resist the temptation to address her as “new girl” 🙂

All Good Things

The end of the story of what happened next.

Well, FreakAngels is finished. A good, sensible ending where people take responsibility for their actions and things finally start to get better. Bravo Mr Ellis, Bravo!

On the other hand, what am I going to do with my Fridays now?

At the same time Warren is taking his leave of Whitechapel. The new landlord has moved in and is making himself at home, but it remains to be seen how things are going to go. He seems a reasonable sort, but nonetheless, things are going to change.

But hey, that’s a concern for the future. Let’s all just raise a glass to an amazing achievement – three and a half years of a high quality, FREE webcomic, and the building of a unique online community. Here’s to Warren, Paul, Ariana, the often forgotten about colourists and Avatar Press. Well done guys – even if you didn’t feature Miki anywhere near enough 😉

Wokka Wokka

Halloween, Cruises and Golf

It was Halloween last week wasn’t it? I didn’t do anything, or at least didn’t do anything Halloweeny. I actually went up to the Maze in Bullsbrook with Fabes and Paula and (among other things) played mini-golf (I came last :)). There are photos up on my Flickr stream if anyone’s interested (not of the golf though).

We actually did a fair bit of other stuff as well. We had lunch at an excellent kebab place, looked at a whole lot of Fabe’s photos from his trip to Switzerland, and had dinner at the newly opened Kingsway Tavern. I had the garlic prawns which were astonishingly good. Outstandingly good in fact. I think I could live on that sauce.

Then I got stuck at Stirling railway station on the way home, having got off the train with the expectation that the circle route buses would still be running – which they weren’t, meaning I had to wait half an hour for the next train. While waiting I did help out a couple of Danish tourists though, who borrowed my phone to call a taxi. They wanted to pay me, but I refused, so instead they made me promise to visit the Roskilde festival.

Did I mention that I’m going on a cruise? I’ve booked for a 14 night (I think it’s 14 night… I’ll have to check) cruise to New Zealand early in 2012, on the basis that I should at least try and have some fun before the world ends *grin*. I’ll be travelling steerage in the bowels of the Diamond Princess from Sydney to Auckland, taking in Melbourne, Hobart, the South Island and points in between. Should be a laugh. I’ll book in some time to do some sight seeing at both ends.

Finally, I’ve made another update to the FreakAngels Google Earth map. Enjoy!

Beware of Coyotes

Off to the Gunner’s Crag

After an exhausting week at work I’ve been taking it easy this weekend. Annotating photos on Flickr, playing Fallout 3, avoiding any contact with the outside world, that kind of thing. I’m almost at the point where the idea of going in to the office tomorrow doesn’t fill me with a deep sense of dread, which is pretty good all things considered ;D

One thing I’ve been particularly enjoying for the last few weeks is Tom Siddell’s webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court. I stumbled into it via TV Tropes (Warning – Do not visit that site unless you have five or six hours to spare. It’s worse than Wikipedia…) and have been reading my way through. It’s pretty intriguing, essentially a prolonged mystery story about a very strange school full of robots, ghosts, gods, psychics and alchemical symbolism, but it’s very hard to pin down to any simple genre. And the art has gone from a bit shaky at the beginning to excellent quality in the present.

One of the things I find so fascinating about it is it takes some themes that I thought of many years back, and tried unsuccessfully to work up into a story, and runs with them in a way far, far better than I could ever have done. The Court thus fitted right into a hole in my brain that I’d been trying to fill for years (that may sound like I’m accusing Tom Siddell of stealing my thoughts. Firstly, no, and secondly, if he is then I’ll let him off in this instance since the result is so good).

So, Gunnerkrigg Court. Go check it out.

(Personally I suspect Jones is the Seed Bismuth, but what do I know?)

Anyone who tries to hug me will be shot dead…

Some general updates

Every week I like Miki more and more. Mind you, she’s been my favourite FreakAngel ever since her first appearance, it’s just that the more we see of her the more my initial opinion is confirmed.

Of course Kait is growing on me too.

I do have to ask though – in the last frame is that a tentacle?!

OK, enough FreakAngels (except to say that the Google Earth file has been updated).

I’ve finally bitten the bullet and put Abandoned in Perth out of its misery. It’s been sitting in a state of abandonment (how ironic!) for almost five years, and I while I’ve been taking photos of plenty of derelict sites I just haven’t had the time to process them all and get them up.

I haven’t abandoned the concept however, as almost all the photos from the site (and a whole lot more) are now up on my Flickr account. Flickr makes everything so much easier, so expect the Abandoned in Perth collection to grow and grow! (Assuming that is that I can find more places to photograph).

OK, that’s all for now.

(Ah! It’s art!)