Prologue: Page 1
Happy New Year, folks!
We’re pleased to begin posting the pages for Beyond the Western Deep, though it seems that because of how ComicPress works, we can’t post more than one page a day without them piling up on one another and ruining the nice page-by-page flow.
So, to alleviate this, I’ll be setting up the pages so they release each subsequent day. This shouldn’t be a problem going forward, since we’ll only have one page a week most of the time anyway, but I do apologize that we couldn’t offer all five starter pages in a clean manner at the same time.
Of course, if there are any ComicPress wizards out there that know how to get the pages in sequence without having to wait a day between them, drop us an e-mail or leave a comment!
First… Ever. This looks promisingly fantastical!
Well dome so far team
I must say, so far my favorite part of this comic is that I can get a distinct sense of CULTURE. So many “alternate universe” comics lack this, as they usually play off of currently existing cultures (ex. all characters speak English for some reason, Jeans are popular across the universe). However, this comic is looking very promising in the history and culture portion (oh boy! My favorite!), so I look forward to the political unrest! :)
Already it looks amazing, plus its very adverse in characters already. Plus there’s an otter! Always a plus in my book heh.
It took me a while to realize it, but after coming to back to this page with a jolt, I realized that those two beasts looked rather familiar. And I’m thinking that if that one-eyed otter is whom I think it is, and that cloaked weasel-y looking figure is also whom I believe it is, then I’m VERY concerned for Quinlan’s health in the future of this tale.
I could just be jumping to dark conclusions, and he may be alright by the time this story ends and these two are coming to tell the Felis of the history– he hopefully alive– but I really hope Quinlan is going to fare better than the squirrel character that was his namesake, for both his and Janik’s sakes. :C
Please don’t die, Quinlan.
The first real page of the comic! I remember seeing this image on the old development blog – it was one of the pics that really got me interested in the comic in the first place. I was surprised when you added the lightning effect to it in the final product, and I’m kinda torn on my thoughts on it – while it looks absolutely marvellous, I do kinda miss the colours in the old version. Anyway, both versions look great.
One thing strikes me in both, which will be recurring element in the comic, is just how much you manage to tell with a single panel. Each of the background characters here feel like there’s an entire story behind them – the one-eyed lutren, the felis mother with her kitten, the vulpen and cat talking with each other about the chicken, the fish merchant looking at our cloaked central character suspiciously, the finely dressed cat in the lower left who looks like a wealthy nobleman… I admire any artist who can make a picture just come alive the way you do.
I also noticed that you changed the script on the table from “Palf’s/Balf’s Pottery” in the draft to genuine Felis script here – very nice touch!
Huh. Sounds like something an Assassin would say.