Chapter 1: Page 33
Youch! Looks like Quin shouldn’t have overreached! Obviously he’s a bit rusty at Tesque, but who wouldn’t be after standing around at all those meetings with the king?
Tesque takes a lot of inspiration from Muay Thai, among other martial art forms, but watching Tony Jaa do numerous spinning flips and then leap tens of feet through the air to plant his knee into somebody’s chest seemed strangely squirrel-like.
Each race of the Four Kingdoms has their own martial artform that they draw on, each uniquely suited to their race and/or culture. We haven’t dived too deep into this, but we’ve both had ideas on how to capitalize on this. For example, for the Lutren, Rachel experimented with the idea of them having a Capoeira-esque fighting style, playing off of their streamlined form and fluid movements.
Whether or not Dakkan himself is well-versed in this artform in the comic is yet to be revealed – but similarly to the Tamian and Tesque, young Lutren would have at least been subjected to a training regimen for a good few years growing up. After all, the Western Deep is a dangerous place, and many Lutren find their calling in the Sea Guard that protects the coastline from the ever-raging war against the Polcan, so getting ahead on learning hand-to-hand and weapon-based combat never hurt a Lutren in the long run.
This week, we have one more piece of Adventure Time-inspired fanart from SaraaLuna! Last week was Dakkan, this week we get to see Quinlan!
He just NEVER looks comfortable with the captain’s sash on, does he? Anyway!
Thank you, Saraaluna, for an incredible pair of pieces – we love seeing our characters in new art styles, and pairing them with something as EPIC as Adventure Time was a great idea! :)
Punch to the ribs and a knee to the chest…ouch.
C’mon, Quin, show him that he’s not as tough as he thinks he is!
I dunno – seems to me that no matter how rusty Quin’s let himself get at Tesque, he should still be doing better than he is … especially if he was considered very good at it at one point.
As for the Lutren martial arts – don’t forget those thick tails! They’d make formidable natural weapons, and if they’re not incorporated in such a way, I can easily seeing them becoming encumberances rather than assets, because otherwise they’d just be big slabs of meaty flesh our ottery friends would have to work around. Just my 2¢.
Aah, but Crim is also very good. Tesque happens fast, and Quin’s rust really is making quite a bit of difference. I suspect Quin didn’t expect him to be so rough with the demonstration, either.
There was a video I found while I was doing those doodles for the Lutren martial art: (this here) At about the 1:36 mark, the kind of spinning the guys are doing there could be pretty brutal if they happened to have big thick tails. Even when there’s a kick incorporated into the spin, which is the real attack and which is the feint – the foot or the tail? It’s those circular movements that I think would let the Lutren incorporate their tails into the fight, instead of having to work against them.
*wince* ouch….why do all the cool characters have to be tortured and brutalized by their creators? We authors must just be plain evil! Poor Quin! Don’t worry, even if you get the crap beaten out of you, I’m still your top fan!!!!
Mm, I’m with Highwing, really.
And for me Quinlan is so far coming off as rather lame, which isn’t exactly a desirable effect for a protagonist. So far Crim seems to be right – Quin does appear to be an “empty suit” and after following a comic for 30+ weeks I should like to have some sympathy for the main character, but I actually do not… :/
I dunno, that is my comment on this story thus far.
For what it’s worth, Quin would probably agree with you. Crim certainly does. X)
How long does it generally take to make a page/are you usually a few weeks ahead?
We try to keep a buffer of pages wherever possible, though right now Rachel is cranking out the art for each page the week before it goes up.
I noticed that when I go to https://westerndeep.net/2012/10/20/chapter-1-page-33-delay/ via my RSS reader, I get the following error message:
Page Not Found
Click here to return to the home page or try a search:
//end bug report
Nice camera angle too, focused entirely on the two foreground characters. I wonder if we’ll see the otter soon.
That’s likely because I removed the delay pages after the corresponding real pages went up. That way, when people read through the story, they won’t end up with the non-canon joke pages in the middle. They’ve been preserved in the guest art section, however.
Hehe, watching a main character get the stuffing beaten out of him is always fun :) You can clearly see that Crim is enjoying laying into his opponent so much! He better be careful though – Quin might come back with a vengeance soon…
Great discussion of the martial arts in the world and their real life inspirations. It’s cool knowing about the Lutren’s own traditional fighting styles, and how they’re inspired by Capoeira. I hope to see Dakkan give an example of it sometime.
Also, I’m sorry Akeru doesn’t find Quin a very sympathetic protagonist so far. Tastes differ, and what interests one reader might not interest another. As for me though, I really like him and think he’s a terrific main character!