Chapter 2: Page 51
This week, Ashtor expresses his doubts as to Hardin’s plan — though readers know he’s never been too keen on it. Though with the attack on Deltrada growing closer, Ashtor’s course appears just as irreversible as Hardin’s own.
Boston Comic Con was absolutely incredible last weekend! As I mentioned in the comments last week, our 50-copy run of Beyond the Western Deep: Volume 1 completely sold out early on Sunday. Friday was pretty slow, but there was a run on the things on Saturday, cutting my stock down to a mere 14 books for Sunday (which sold out by about 1pm).
I know Rachel put up a picture of the booth last week, but I figured I’d repost it with the appropriate before-and-after!
This is what the table looked like at 8:30 am on Friday when I rolled in, half-awake and sorely in need of coffee. The picture we put up last week was the booth on Friday, but I tweaked a few things around Saturday and Sunday based on my observations of people walking past the booth.
So here’s the booth on Sunday! It’s a subtle change from what was there Friday, but one of the biggest things I did was elevate the pricing sheet so people could actually see it as they approached the table. I also bumped the book on the right closer to the edge of the table so people wouldn’t feel as weird about picking it up and leafing through it. I discovered that once people had a chance to check out the artwork in the book and saw it mirrored the quality/color/style of the cover art, they were WAY more likely to pick it up.
Speaking of picking things up, check this out!
That, my friends, is a palette of Beyond the Western Deep! 450 copies, to be precise! The UPS guy was apparently very confused about it, since I don’t think my suburban neighborhood gets much in the way of palettes of things. Lugging those suckers up the stairs was also not that much fun — but it was totally worth it because…
Now we’re restocked with books! :D I got the web domain and back-end for the web store all squared away, and once we get a few polish bits finished up, we’ll be ready to update the site with a link to the store so you all can buy your own copies. I appreciate all your patience as we get this set up, and I’m looking forward to being able to get the books out there to everyone who wants one!
We all know what the Sratha-Din are doing here . . .
They’re taking the Ermehn to Deltrada!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE-1RPDqJAY
Come on, you know you want to sing along.
Hello darkness my old friend.
I do keep thinking of Helm’s Deep since page 48.
Ashtor has seen too many winters. Eira too few.
Good thing Hardin is leaving them behind.
I apologize for all of the Lord of the Rings references. I just see so many of them in a fantasy comic like this and I feel like I have to share them.
If I ever get a profile picture I might choose the One Ring.
The instant someone calls you “my precious” it’s time to depart or invest in a solid security system.
Would not surprise me.
I think this might be the first time I’ve ever seen anyone in any fiction streach his muscles before battle. Hardin reveals his true wisdom by recruiting not only the finest fighters, scouts and archers in the wastes but also the finest pre-match physiotherapists.
Hardin IS an Ermehn physiotherapist. He just put his career on hold to lead the Sratha-Din into battle and eliminate the Canis once and for all.
Yes of course! It should have been obvious. We’ve already seen him practice acupuncture of the neck on an agitated ermehn warrior resulting in the successful pacification of the patient who, I believe, sleeps peacefully to this very day.
It was done out of charity, too. So kind.
Let me guess you put all those comics in your Cube and drove around? :P I want a copy please.
Haha, that’s actually my neighbor’s Cube. I drive an Elantra, fwiw :)
And the store SHOULD be ready for next week’s update! Maybe sooner. Keep an eye on the page comments and if it’s ready beforehand, expect me to drop the news here or on my twitter feed @tdcpresents.
And speaking of planning, what happened to that story you claimed to be planning to release this year on your blog
Nay, I speak of the story about that long ancient alien world, one of the characters of which you use to represent yourself right now.
Uhh…Ashtor, you might want to not tick off a guy who just sharpened his knife in the middle of heavy rain while wearing eyeliner. Just saying.
Initially I misread ‘Ashtor’ in the final panel as something rude…
Please don’t mention eyeliner, that just makes me think of–
ARRGH NOW I’M THINKING OF THE KARDASHIANS AS ERMEHN AND OH TESQUE MAKE IT STOP!! MAKE IT STOOOPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!
I never realized the Kardashians were as bloodthirsty as… wait… nevermind. Reality TV.
It’s already been established that the Ermehn use a variety of topical products to keep themselves looking spick-and-span for when they bring down the Canid empire; eyeliner is part of this, obviously.
Clovis: Look at Ermehn. Now back at me. Now back at Ermehn. Now back to me. Sadly, they’re not me.
(Continues Old Spice parody)
I’m going to refer to Hardin as Bravefur and Clovis as John Snowball from now on, okay?
We aren’t stopping you.
Though the next time Clovis makes an appearance I have something to say about him, too. (Ominous music).
YOU KNOW NOTHING, CLOVIS
Shut up, Tosch
There was a comment last week saying that the shark hunter picture should be one of those motivational posters. So…
[IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/2zqyhsi.jpg[/IMG]
Crud. Technical difficulties, hold on… Here, this should work.
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2zqyhsi&s=8#.U_Kdn0tY7gA
Nice work!
(Internet high-fives Saraa for co-creation of idea).
Sweet; high five returned. I love it when more hilarious memetic stuff pops up in the comments.
This is freaking awesome! I’ll take it! I’LL TAKE TWELVE!
Just curious . . . anyone know what program or website to use to make these?
Good old MSPaint is more than enough.
For that particular poster, I just Googled “motivational poster creator” and used the first one that made sense.
By the way- thanks, everybody! :)
Hoho, I needed that chuckle. :D
Now people will look at and wonder whether the “insane” refers to the wrestling a shark or to drawing otter-men wrestling a shark.
Heheheh. Fantastic.
i have seen your comic book. I find the story very interesting. It seems that this story came from Redwall stories.That this could be cool and I might even buy this comic book. I think I will try to order this book when I have the extra money to spend.
Hi Chris! Thanks for checking out the comic! Beyond the Western Deep definitely pulls a lot of inspiration from the Redwall series — heck, Sean Rubin (who illustrated a number of Redwall books) wrote the foreword for the book! The world is also inspired by things like Disney’s Robin Hood, The Secret of NIMH, and David Petersen’s Mouse Guard books. Basically all the talking-animal stories Rachel and I loved growing up :)
We’re hoping to get the online store sorted soon. I’ll post an update along with the new page later this week.
I knew it! Talking animal stories are too much fun to ignore.
I’ve seen the story from the beginning. I get the feeling there is more history between the wolves and the weasels. I would like to know when and why all of the seven races became enemies.
Alex and Rachel have referenced a “War of the Western Deep” that occurred at some time in the past and covers a lot of the points you are making. Perhaps there will be additional information in-comic about the war or even a prequel story.
Thank you for the information. I look forward to hearing more about the War of the Western Deep.
Welcome to the comic, Chris. We’re a little nuts here, but don’t worry.
One of us . . . one of us . . . we will make you one of us . . .
We are legion.
For we are many.
Thank you noticing my comment. To tell the truth, I am a comic book designer too but mine are a little different. It does have talking animals. It also has talking dinosaurs in it.
I am a Christian. I listen to Skillet and TobyMac.
Found the perfect song for this scene.
Seriously, I really feel like this song captures the essence of what the Ermehn are trying to accomplish here, as well as the emotions that they are feeling. The Canid drove them out from their lands, and now they want them back. Simple.
i totally agree
How did you get it to appear as a link instead of an inserted video?
TEACH ME THIS SORCERY!!!!!!
This is what I use.
Thank you.
For some reason, whenever I do that, the site inserts the video, not the link.
As far as a fitting song for this strip goes, I believe this one is the one:
Awesome! Definitely excited for the online store to go up c: