If the pace of the comic is too slow for you, never ever watch Dragonball Z episodes.
It’s unsurprising that Burlew gets fawned over on the forums hosted on his site. That’s true for a number of webcomics, Questionable Content having a much worse set of fanboys on their forum (probably because Jeph Jacques takes criticism much more poorly than most artists).
This individual comic was a little hazy on details but, in the context of the full book, I’m sure it’ll be just fine. “Confused? Turn the page!”
It just feels that way because of the online format. When you read the books, the plot flows along quite well. In fact, Burlew often adds in extra pages.
Basically, we’re reading a relatively fast paced story but we’re watching it being produced one page at a time.
Well, he’s only the one guy. It’s not like there’s a team working on the comic. Besides, he’s had health problems in the past relating to his hand. Perhaps he’s purposely taking it easy to avoid further problems?
He’s also got all the kickstarter rewards he’s working on that are taking longer than expected.
IIRC, he had chronic health problems with things other than his hand, before the accident, although he’s been cagey about exactly what condition he suffers from.
Way longer. At the time he figured it’d take him a year or so to do it all. Ignoring the 3 months he was out of action due to the thumb, it’s now been 3 and a half years and he still has some to do.
This does not surprise me. Even though I didn’t know exactly what would be involved, I knew that list would take at least 3 times his estimate. And it looks like my estimate was too conservative. What’s that law that says that things always take longer than expected, even if you take said law into account?
The thing that doesn’t make any sense is that there is any time for a back-up plan or a cut-away to the Mechane.
The vote is 3-3. The seventh cleric/demigod is in the hall* right now*. The vote is taking place right now. Why does Team Oblivion get a time-out to enact a back-up plan? If the seventh demigod is on their side, he votes with them. If he’s not, why is he standing mute while they pull some last-minute shenanigans?
I know Elan would patiently explain the value of increased dramatic tension, but it has to make some kind of sense and there is literally no reason for the last vote not be cast in the next 10 seconds.
My bet: the Mechane scene happened a few minutes ago, giving V/Haley/Elan time to sort it out, then arrive at the moot just as the last vote is delivered.
Yeah, that’s my thought - we’ve gone back in time to see some concurrent action.
It’s not so much how long it takes to produce one strip, it’s how much he chooses to advance the plot in one.
This fight between Roy and Durkon started at strip 1000, which dropped on 8/28, so that’s 80 days between that and the latest strip. What’s happened in this time? They have traded some devastating wounds but both got healed mid-battle and now Durkon’s just waiting it out in his anti-life shell. So the fight action itself has ended in a bit of an anti-climactic stalemate.
We learned Roy finally understands it’s not really Durkon - a plot point which itself has dragged on basically since the vamping (which was almost 3 years ago, can you believe it?)
We saw the green glowy thing on Roy’s sword - yay? Again, we just end up with a more-or-less healthy Durkon hiding in his shell anyway.
Only now we are seeing some action with the demigods and how they affect the voting and Hel’s plan. It doesn’t seem like a lot to happen in almost 3 months, but maybe that’s just me.
Well, I don’t read any forums of any other webcomics so I’ll take your word for it. But I think you touched on a salient point, how accepting of criticism is the comic creator? Not all the jokes in the comics are winners, no one can expect that. Yet every single joke in the comic generates pages of posts like “HAHAHAHAHA Giant you are the funniest man alive, please make a shirt with this line on it so I can buy it!!!” :rolleyes:
I’d guess that Durkon sent Gontor to the Mechane almost immediately – between tossing Belkar out the window and entering the Hall – and Gontor is just getting there now. After all, if the vote is successful it doesn’t matter but if the vote fails, you want Plan B going as soon as possible now that your plan is revealed.
Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if the last panel cutaway took place just a little in the past. Durkoff vamped Gontor in strip 995 and has been talking about plan B for awhile. So it’s very reasonable to conclude that this Plan B has been going on for awhile. You don’t wait for plan A to fail to implement plan B. You do them both and give yourself twice the chance to succeed.
The only reason it hasn’t been shown until now is because it’s finally time to clue the readers into what plan B is.
I do read the OotS forums some, so I can’t deny this goes on, but there are also those people who post every time saying “OMG this character should have had Contingency prepped, this fight is totally unrealistic and now this strip is the worst thing ever”. Basically the worst part of D&D rules-lawyering and internet commenting combined, and it at least seems to me like some of the over-explanation in the strip is Burlew’s attempts to somewhat appease these people. I would never read the forums if I were him, it’s just maddening sometimes.
He’s far from the worst webcomic author in terms of his pacing (that’s right Sluggy Freelance, I’m looking at you), but his crazy erratic update schedule does not help with it.
Man, that’s for sure. I also suspect his new art style probably requires more time than the old style did.
That’s one thing I really like about Schlock Mercenary: he never misses a day. Now Sluggy Freelance, on the other hand…
Except V reports “a good deal of yellow light and a few thumps” shortly before Gontor materialises aboard the Mechane. Assuming the thumps are the Roy/Giant Durkon fight (strip 1009), that means that this is virtually concurrent - at best only two or three minutes before we cut away and *not *just after Gontor got vamped. Which gives Gontor a very small window for enacting plan B.
Rich does seem to get pretty worked up over some of the criticism, but again that could just be the relentless rules-laywering you mentioned. In the past, he’s also said that it drives him nuts when the fans figure out where he’s going with the story during their discussions. I think he’d probably be happier if he didn’t read the forums, but if I were in his shoes, I don’t think I could stay away either. Hundreds of people from the most dedicated corner of your fanbase, talking about your work every day? Who can resist that kind of temptation?
I don’t read the official forums specifically because I think it would spoil a bit of stuff for me. I do appreciate, however, when others who DO read those forums offer Word of Giant clarifications that I’d otherwise miss.
New strip - 1013: Little Empathy