Boston Comic Con!
Hi everyone! Because I’m in Boston this week for Boston Comic Con, we decided to postpone the next page until next weekend — but in lieu of that, we also decided to share the print we’re selling this year at Boston and Baltimore (and soon to be online)!
(ComicPress restricts the display size of posted images, so if you want to see it bigger: right-click and View Image.)
This is the first time that we’ve really seen Lutren shark hunters up close, in the midst of plying their trade, so we wanted to make the piece just as awesome as the very concept was to us from the very beginning. These Lutren don’t just kill sharks — all they have are harpoons and their own wits, so the act of killing a massive shark (which yields the best quantities of shark leather) becomes a bit more hands on than you might expect. Not only does this require nerves of steel, but it requires a bit of lunacy, as well. When the slightest mistake could result in you getting chomped in half, well — that job requires a special kind of Lutren.
These burly, heavily-tattooed Lutren shark hunters are the cowboys of their day, living a rough-and-tumble lifestyle on the brink between the open sea and the rest of Lutren civilization. While the story of Beyond the Western Deep won’t take us to the western seas off Lutra anytime soon, it is absolutely part of the world we plan to explore (perhaps in the eventual War of the Western Deep).
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I’m at Boston Comic Con this week, selling the world-premiere first volume of Beyond the Western Deep, along with the featured Shark Hunter print, a mini-print version of the postcard we made up last year for NYCC, and some bookmarks!
I managed to snap a picture of the table the moment I finished putting it together, before everybody else arrived. I’ll have to snap some more pics of the booth in action over the next couple days.
If you’re in the area, I highly recommend you swing by and say hello! You can find me at table D320!
Looks fantastic! I really enjoy the composition of the print, as we as the spectacular colors! BWD is simply amazing!
As for the con, I wish I could be there. I’ll be all over that online store when it gets up! :D
Wonderful print! I love the composition and the contrast of expressions- two of the Lutren look like they’re enjoying themselves and the other two are like SRS BUSINESS GAIZ >:{
I like the look of them- tattoos and chain mail (which I bet isn’t easy to swim in) the feel of them kinda remind me of the sea otters from the Redwall series, which if I’ve understood correctly, are about what you’re aiming for.
I love how the one guy is just chilling (Ok not really but my point stands) on the back of the shark with the chain while the others deploy. And the water running off his fur off him… and of course the dynamic shot of the shark just popping out of the water. Excellent work as always Rachel.
Is that a turtle shell I see them wearing as armor? (LEO NOO.) Out of curiosity, why only on the front of the torso? Why wouldn’t they have it on the back too, or does it restrict movement too much? And is that a moon on the sail? (Now I’m thinking water tribe)
Unfortunately I can’t make it to Boston but best of luck to you, Alex! Spread word of the precious to the masses and sell all the things!
(THAT ONLINE STORE someone’s going to have to physically restrain me.) ASDh YOU HAVE THE POSTCARD I’m curious- you have two stacks of that green and white piece of paper. What is it?
… Yes, Fourth Master, I guess we have established that I am officially obsessed with this webcomic.
Yup, turtle shell. It’s main function is to make disembowelling a bit harder, since I’d think it’d restrict movement more to have it up front than on the back. When you’re in the water with a massive shark, there’s only so much armor is going to do anyway. Hence the crazy part. X)
As for the green and white paper: that’s just the price sheet, heheh.
Well, never enough crazy lutren. Finnbarr Galedeep would be proud.
…release the prices, maybe?
Finnbarr Galedeep?
Yes, you don’t know who he is? He’s a famous Redwall otter, who is the main character in the novel- Okay, no, I don’t know who that character is, either.
Redwall sea otter from the Bellmaker. Crazy as a loon, heavily tattooed, and one of the best-developed characters in the series. If he were in the BWD world, I’m pretty sure he’d be a shark hunter.
Called it! There are so many Redwall fans in this place that (insert punchline here.)!
We could conquer it ourselves
Finnbarr Galedeep? That literally just made my night.
and this time he would have armor for his stomach
eh Bladetail would just stab him in the back.
Sadly, I don’t live near Boston.
Otherwise, I’d commandeer table D321, set up a tent there, and never leave you two alone. And I think Shieldmaiden would join me.
You think right
I think you’re forgetting to invite someone.
…So I was wrong in assuming you’d show up whether we invited you or not??
Oh, I see you brought a tent too…. well…
This is awkward. (I saved you some salmon.)
Oh, no; I was fully intent on crashing the party anyway without any invitation, as expected, but invitations are nice. (Thanks for all the fish).
Bring whoever you like and take table D319. :)
Oh, they actually get in the water with the sharks and just stab them to death! I was envisioning something more along the lines of dropping bait in the water and then having some boats dragnet them. The lutren as a people seem to have a cheerfully direct approach to problem solving.
I imagine that sharkhunting crews vary. There are the practical ones that do their job as you described, efficiently and safely… and then there’s the ilk of this crew. Sure, they’re likely to have shorter careers due to untimely deaths or amputations, but their stories are the best and everyone wants to buy them a drink at the tavern. :D
We now know who that enthusiastic Tamian patron in the tavern scene was drinking to.
At last! Another mystery solved!
(Can this be canon? Pretty please?)
All I am going to say is: Never enough Beyond the Western Deep fanfiction.
Think about it.
There is no such thing as “fanfiction” in this story: Everything is official stuff!
Let’s see if you’re still saying that when the Quinlan/Clovis shippers show up.
I don’t quite understand what you mean? Both are located in the middle of highlands, so them having maritime adventures together is unlikely at best.
Tronn . . . (facepalm). I can’t tell if you’re serious or not, so I’ll just say, if you are, you don’t want to know what they’re talking about.
That is one of the bonuses of this comic being relatively unknown, thought–very few shippers.
It’s like we want a bigger fandom because community and the emotional satisfaction we (I) get from watching people suffer and frankly we’ll need the support network when someone finally dies.
But also the bigger we get the more we open ourselves up to the crazy shippers who are absolutely convinced that Kenosh and Clovis have a secret thing going. While we’ll never get as crazy as SuperWhoLock (Thank Tesque) it can ALWAYS go downhill.
On the creepiness scale:
Kenosh + Clovis < Bevan + Clovis
Kenosh + Clovis < Hardin + Clovis < Bevan + Clovis < Dakkan + Clovis < Tosch + Clovis < Anchovis
We're talking about teams in a boating race, right?
All aboard the S.S. Mission Abort!
Fanfiction: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Mission Abort. Her five-year misison: to explore strange new pairings, to seek out new characters and new storylines, to boldly ship where no one has shipped before.
I was more familiar with the final frontier when it was called the Pit of Voles.
Woah, those are some hardcore Lutren. I love it, heh, and in agreement with Trees; when in doubt, the Lutren apparently go for the most hands on and direct approach. I have to wonder if there are any Polcan who have some similar tactics for getting sharkskin, or if that’s just a staple of Lutren crazy.
Picture the scene: One day, a very long time ago delegations from every species congregate on a beach. Someone steps forward and points out that if only there was some way of catching sharks then civilisation as a whole would benefit from the nutritious meat, the versatile fat and the high quality leather that could be collected. Before anyone can so much as stroke their chin in thought half the lutren contingent have already taken off towards the ocean whooping, waving harpoons and generally appending their statements with the word “dude”.
Even better, those are the reactions of the more sober of the contingent.
All the drunk ones are either planning to clean out the Polcan or they’re taking bets on which ones are gonna die first
Burly Lutren yay! Five bucks says that Dakkan wanted to be a shark hunter as a kid and tried to run away, then had his mom beat some sense into him.
I would imagine then in Speedos but not chain mail. Ah well. :P Very vivid picture telling how Lutren’s get food and at the same time protect their waters.
Don’t forget the sharkskin plates that their warriors use for armor.
Most. Awesome. Armor. Ever.
Oh Lutrens, you crazy! Their hunting attire looks really awesome….and adorable (the belly turtle shell lol) but wow thats it! I’m completely envious of not being able to attend the con now. Seeing the BWD table setup here is just so full of taste. Sucks that I cant purchase the books early on but oh well. I wish you guys the best of luck on attending the booth!
Anyway Rachel, your coloring is absolutely gorgeous. I really love how rich and smooth both the colors and textures are presented. And the way you give shading and lighting to the characters is really beautiful. I hope you’ll show us your coloring process sometime in the future because I’m very interested to know the techniques you use for making these compositions.
I stopped by your booth today at boston comic con and purchased your book. I just finished it and I can’t wait for chapter 2!!!!!! Please tell me that’s soon :)
Hey Jessica, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before! Are you a lurker who just commented or a new addition to the fandom? Either way, Welcome!
Seconded. Welcome.
Hi Jessica! Thank you SO much for stopping by the booth and picking up the book! We’re about half-way done with Chapter 2 on the website now, and once that’s done you can be sure we’ll try to figure out the best process to getting another book out there. For now though, we’re still trying to get the first one into people’s hands (like yours! :D)
Welcome to the crew, Jessica. x)
*shush shut up we’re not scaring the new person off with terrible puns or jokes yet; we need to lull her into a false sense of security or she’ll leave
Don’t worry, I don’t scare so easy. Haha.
“It’s adorable”? Them’s fightin’ words.
Thank you everyone. I’m brand new to BWD. I wouldn’t have known it existed until Boston Comic Con (so you’re diabolical plan to get new fans worked!!). Once I saw the big ole banner I was immediately drawn to the characters. I’ve never followed and web series before so this is a first for me too! Thank you for welcoming me to your group!
Gonna be honest….I keep distracting myself from my work by flipping back to this page. That shark-wrangling Lutren just too awesome!!!!!
Maybe you can show this at your next meeting as an example of “the sort of teamwork that we want to emulate at this company . . .”
Look for the expressions of horror on other people’s faces.
This needs to be one of those hammy black-framed motivational posters. “Teamwork: Keeping the other guy from being disemboweled.”
I’d put it on my wall.
It was excellent meeting you at the booth today! I regret not picking up one of the books after reading through the archives, but the print will look very nice hanging on the wall.
Thanks for coming by the table and grabbing a print, Matt! We’ll do our best to get the online store set up so we can start selling books from the full shipment as soon as they arrive :) Glad you’re enjoying the story so far!
Whoever made bets on the book selling out at Boston Comic Con — congratulations! :)
Even though it was just the small portion we had expedited to have in time for Boston, sell out they did. 8)
ARGH I now I’m in debt to Shield; she called it. *grumble* I thought there was going to be at least one left.
…..wait a minute, we both lost.
If I remember correctly, I had meta on it in the tags when I reblogged the betting post- basically I bet on one book being left so that the Irony Gods would ensure they sold out. MY EVIL PLAN WAS A SUCCESSSSSSS AHAHAHAAHAHAHA
…Wait now I have to write 7000 words.
Oh Tes-
Shieldmaiden has fallen victim to karma. I am now obligated to leave this here.
Just realized . . .
. . . it’s Shark Week.
8O
Alex and Rachel . . . you planned this!
I didn’t realize that, but it’s perfect.
I wish I could claim cleverness credit, but I’d actually forgotten about Shark Week until after we got them printed up and people started mentioning it. I just really wanted to draw sharkhunters, haha. :D
The only respectable way any Lutren shark hunter can die.
The shark week connection pulled a LOT of people to the Western Deep booth last weekend :)
Did it now? I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to notice.
Just to give you all an update — the main shipment of books will be on my doorstep this Friday! I will work to have the online store together soon. Expect an update either with this week’s post or next week’s!
HUZZAH! PRAISE TESQUE!
Hoorah! I look forward to it.
*keyboard smash of happiness*
Wahoooo!!!
I would expect them more to be like the shark hunting mini game in Black Flag, where you wait in a boat, harpoon him, then keep harpooning him until he stops moving XD
Boston, why are you so far away? *sob*
Congrats on selling out! Perhaps it is an omen of– nope. Never mind. Shutting up.
And, wonderful, wonderful art. Lutren are the best. *hums the shark song, including the appropriate hand motions*