PJU - Book 1 - Page 7

Closing in on an adventure, I can just feel it!

I just hope I can get them in to some trouble and then back out of it.  So far the writing and composition has been fairly easy.  We'll see what it looks like once we get to some action.

PJU - Book 1 - Page 6 (bonus video)

Backstory time:

Toar the Fearless wasn't raised in the Farhar like most charr cubs.  His mother was a gladium and his father was in the process of defecting to the Flame Legion when he sired Toar.  He was raised outside of the Black Citadel by his real mother, Exxa the Brave.  His mother taught him early on about hunting, tracking, and how to survive on the land without the support of the Legions.  While she did not hate the Legions, she was skeptical of their practices, and thought they were on a slippery slope of following the Flame Legion lead down a dark path.  This skepticism was passed on to Toar.

At the age of 7 Toar's mother was killed by a misplaced group of branded near Ironhead Lake.  She fought them off long enough to give Toar a chance to escape with the promise that she would be right behind him.  That was the last time he saw his mother, and the last time he ran from anything.

His interests now lie in helping those who can't help themselves and bringing justice to their aggressors.  He founded Private Justice Unlimited with the hope that he could make the world a bit safer by bringing those who would do harm to justice, by any means necessary.

I also wanted to make a video showcasing the process for making these pages.  This video is at 12x speed, and is still 9 minutes long, but it shows most of the stuff that goes into it.  I cut the part where I took the screenshots because it was choppy, and unnecessary.  And I didn't record where I went back and fixed some bits.  Overall I probably have 3 hours of work in this page, which was a bit more intensive than the previous pages, but still not as complex as it's going to get once we get to some action.

PJU - Book 1 - Page 5

Another missing person.

PJU - Book 1 - Page 4

Another dialogue page in the home base with Toar and Sparx

PJU - Book 1 - Page 3

Another individual capable of handling herself is missing.  Surely there is a connection.

PJU - Book 1 - Page 2

I think what I was trying to do with that first page fell a bit flat, so I decided to go ahead and put together and release another page today.  I think this is closer to the idea I have going.  That being said, there will be more pages similar to the first.  But I'm trying to set up a story with very small chunks.

PJU - Book 1 - Page 1

I'm back with some Guild Wars 2 comics I'm working on with my son.  I will try to release a JPG page every week until a book is complete, and then upload the whole book as a PDF.

GotG #17 - Of Frost and... More Frost

We've made it through the portal, and join Warlord Hank and his crew as they deal with the harsh world of Draenor.

You can find the full-res version HERE

Hammerfall

asdf

We came through with Khadgar and were tasked with deactivating the portal.  After freeing this world's Cho'gall and Teron'gor, we were sent to free Gul'dan.  After we freed him from his bonds he attempted to flee through a shadow portal.  Marshal Hammerhandle attempted to stop him, but was flug through the portal himself.  We followed just in time to catch a glimpse of Gul'dan taking another portal before both closed and stranded us on a world with red ground and a purple sky. On the strange planet we were instantly stricken with a type of sickness, and it took all of our will to press on.  We encountered many demons some like those our warlocks control and some very different.

Hours passed into days, and even weeks as we tried to avoid as much conflict as we could.  Eventually we happened across a ritual circle and took shelter in the hills surrounding it.  We were near starvation and very weak when Gul'dan appeared at the circle and began summoning.  Much to our surprise a group of draenei came through a portal and nearly interrupted his ritual.  A pit lord appeared before Gul'dan and attacked the draenei.

Hammerhandle Dies?

Ultimately the pit lord was defeated and we revealed ourselves to the draenei.  They were wary, but agreed to take us back through the portal.  On the other side of the portal was a glorious

Tyrant #2

Special guest brown orc - my level 2 monk Hoc.  His regular color is the terrible teal color, but I found it easiest to change to the color I wanted... likely due to it's higher level of saturation compared to the other orc colors.

I'm going to try to get one more comic out this week, but I'm not sure I will be able to.  I have one more, but it's not completed yet, and it might not even be the next comic...  I haven't decided.  I have next week off from work, so I should be able to get some more story going.

A Guardians Special Report

The time estimated seems accurate.  This was about 3 hours into the queue.

I know the servers were suffering from a combination of player load and DDoS attacks, which turned into a perfect shit-storm of lag, connection issues, and frustration.  The only people I can really blame remain unknown and haven't even made clear their intentions for the attacks.  Probably someone along the lines of Burgermeister Meisterburger giving a big BAH-HUMBUG to our fun.  I hope it clears up in the next couple days so I can get my garrisons moving along and start heading toward level 100.

Preparations for War #2

I made this comic mostly because I really liked the visual concept of it.  I probably could have posted it without any of the internal dialogue and still gotten the same message across, but I enjoyed the RP value of it.

I meant to get this posted earlier today, but was playing through lag trying to get all of my level 90 characters to their Garrison.  I think I got all but 2 of them there before the servers crashed me and I ended up in a 5 hour queue.

Tyrant #1

"Tyrant" is the second series I'm running with at the moment.  In it we will explore Hankz a bit and follow the Horde group in their preparations for confronting the threat at the Dark Portal.

In the game I have done everything I set out to do before the launch of Warlords, and I'm very happy with my progress in this expansion.  I'm trying to work on a 10 year retrospective that goes through my experiences in the game.  I hope to post that on the 23rd to celebrate the anniversary.

I have 3 more comics done beyond this one, but I hope to stagger them with the hope that I can get caught up after the release of the expansion.  Look for "Preparations for War #2" this Thursday!

I won't be rushing to 100.  I have 13 level 90 characters that I want to get to cap before I start doing anything serious.  I will probably be an explorer and LFR hero for a good while as I get everything set up.

Preparations for War #1

I'm going to be posting smaller strip-style comics for a while.  With the release of WoD I don't think I'll have the time to dedicate to making the larger comics every week.

This allows me to fracture off the story and better manage different series that might deal with different topics.  It also lets me make one-off comics or light-hearted pieces without distracting from the more serious nature of the main story.

"Preparations for War" will follow the Alliance group between #12 and the point they go through the portal to Draenor.

The other series I'm planning is going to be called "Tyrant" and have a similar timeline to Preparations for War, but deal with the Horde characters.

GotG #12 - Between Iron and Ice

When we last saw our paladin and his team, they had been ambushed by an undead known and Hankz.  The fight thus far has been very one-sided with the Horde about to claim victory, and Hammerhandle's life.

You can find the full-res version HERE

I feel like I've gotten back on track with the comic this week.  The images turned out considerably better in my opinion.  Needing only to stitch together a few pictures helped quite a bit.  One thing I noticed last week was lacking...  shadow.  I completely forgot to add shadows to the stitched pictures.

This comic more or less concludes the arc set forth back in #3.  I will be changing the format moving forward and branching off stories into smaller strip style comics for a while.  With the quickly coming release of Warlords of Draenor I can't see myself having enough free time to make a full-size comic every week.

My goal over the next few months is to smooth out some of the characters and build them up a bit.  I have a good number of ideas where I want individual stories to go, but I'm not certain when these two groups will meet up again.

GotG #11 - A Clash of Clans

The continuation from last week's comic.  Paladin Hammerhandle tries to hold the line allowing Concealcarry and Huhot to make a swift retreat.  Unfortunately for them a group of bloodthirsty horde have taken notice to their struggle and have moved in for a swift kill.

I think I missed the mark this week with the comic.  I had a lot of ambition with this confrontation and I feel that it has fallen flat in several areas.  My editing skills (or lack thereof) really show here and I'm just not happy with the outcome.  I think my biggest problem is that all of these characters are on one account, so I have to get screen captures of each individually and edit them together to make a scene. Most of the action shots weren't even taken in the Blasted Lands.

I can hopefully finish up this part of the story next week and move back to comics that don't rely so heavily on editing.

GotG #10 - The Fate of Worlds

Another long patch this week, so here is a comic!

You can find the full-res version HERE

I haven't formally introduced my Horde characters very well yet, but plan to in the comics in the near future.  For now I can give you a short rundown of who they are.

Hankz - Undead Mage
Staticprofit - Goblin Shaman
Stankfunk - Troll Druid
Broxeph - Orc Warrior

Since this story features some internal dialogue for my mage, Hankz, I'll expand on him a bit.  Hankz is the leader of this small unit and a little on the crazy side.  Years of being undead hasn't gone well for him.  He is still a master tactitian, but his hatred for the Alliance and the slow onset of dementia sometimes clouds his view.

I'm hoping to get another comic out this week, but I'm not sure how that will pan out.  Between trying to get that elusive Headless Horseman mount, and as many Garrosh heirlooms as possible, my free time is pretty busy for a change.

GotG #9 - To The Portal!

Happy 6.0.2 day!

The Paladin Hammerhandle and his team have made it to the Blasted Lands to lend aid in dealing with the invasion force coming through the Dark Portal.

Without the help of their priest, Charyou, they've come up against some fairly staggering odds.  It looks like the Horde has also made their way to the portal.

There is definitely some bad blood between these two groups, but that will be explored sometime later.

I'm looking forward to the patch today, so I can start capturing these images on the liver servers rather than needing to log on to the beta to get them.  I have plenty to carry me through the next several issues, but I find that there are always one or two frames I don't have quite right.  6.0.2 will make my whole process considerably easier moving forward.

GotG #8 - The Beast's Burden

After nearly a year of separation, Hammerhandle finds his second in command, Priest Charyou, alone in an abandoned church in Gilneas.  Will he be able to convince Charyou to once again take up arms against an unknown threat?

You can find the full-res version HERE

In the next episode the team gathers in the Blasted Lands to confront the invasion force head-on, but there are more threats to worry about than what is coming through the Dark Portal.

Who is Ahxanna?  The back-story has covered a good deal of ground in my own mind, but I'm not sure when or how I will be able to interject it into the comic. I should be able to cover all of the questions at some point while there are content lulls in the in-game story.  I also think it's good to build some mystery into stories, especially stories like this one that have a familiar theme.

GotG #7 - The Sniper

Hammerhandle continues his journey to bring his team back together to confront the threat at the Dark Portal.  Specialist Concealcarry is the right guy for the job when it comes to tracking and infiltration.

I've started to use a filter on the images to make them pop a bit more and bring a more comic book feel to the whole thing.

You can find the full-res version HERE