Annotations Every Day - Written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn - Illustrated by John & Jason Waltrip
Guilded Age
The Saga of the Working Class Adventurer – New comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
This is Not Fiction
Nicole Mannino
What do you do when the person you're in-love with is an anonymous romance novelist? Get your best friend to hire your worst enemy for help!
Bybloemen
C.B. McPherson
An infernal plan to corrupt the small town of Stenen Brug at the height of tulipmania is complicated by a pact made between a talented young merchant and a demon looking to change careers.
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
Paranatural
Zack Morrison
Superpowered middle schoolers fight evil spirits in their rural hometown. Come for the jokes, stay for the cast, the creatures, and the mystery that ties them all together!
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Girl Genius
Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio
In a time when the Industrial Revolution has become an all-out war, Mad Science rules the World...with mixed success.
Alice and the Nightmare
Misha Krivanek
Alice finally attends University to learn to collect the dreams of humans, meet new friends, and deal with a pesky reflection along the way.
Caramel Corn
Potchimew
Sarah is the only human left in a world full of mythical creatures and monsters. All she wants to do is live a quiet life, but everything changes when she meets her guardian angel, Jacob.
Between Failures
Jackie Wohlenhaus
The low stakes adventures of an assorted group of 20 somethings trapped in the declining years of American retail. They are naughty and say lots of swears.
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
Fireweeds Moors
Gato Iberico
A cat-headed man and a girl with a sandwich hankering accidentally end up in a myth-infused country where magic chalices are a really big thing.
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
Kochab
Sarah Webb
A YA F/F fantasy comic about Sonya, a lost skier trying to survive a snowy wilderness and find her way back to her village; and Kyra - a fire spirit trying to fix the home that she let fall apart around her.
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
Ghost Junk Sickness
Studio CARTRIDGE, Laura Lee
Two hunters try to survive and end up being pushed to pursue a deadly bounty dubbed "The Ghost".
Monsterkind
Taylor C
Wallace Foster, a young, bright-eyed human social worker, has his entire world view rocked when he's suddenly relocated into a city primarily inhabited by monsters.
Devil's Candy
Rem, Bikkuri
A lush fantasy about boy genius Kazu Decker, the girl he constructed for his 9th grade science project, and the world of devils and monsters they live in.
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
Wychwood
Varethane
When Tiara's pyrokinesis is finally noticed, she is captured by a magical research organization for study. If she cooperates, she could be helping to save humanity from a dire threat - but can she trust them?
Monster Pulse
Magnolia Porter Siddell
Four kids run afoul of a creepy secret organization's experiments, which turn their body parts into fighting monsters. Part sentimental coming-of-age story, part monster-training shonen manga, with just a bit of sci-fi body horror.
The Witch Door
Anni K.
Katariina Lehto discovers her neighbor is a witch called Jousia Muotka. Jousia introduces Katariina to the strange people and places beyond the witch door...
Goodbye to Halos
Valerie Halla
Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
Demon's Mirror
Harry Bogosian
Based loosely off of "The Snow Queen", a story by Hans Christian Andersen, we see things take a different turn as the demons become central characters, and the side characters stick around. Yup, that's the only differences. Enjoy!
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
Hazy London
Scotty
A story about messy relationships. From friendly foes to crazy families. Nothing is black and white, just full of color. But, all colors can get a little hazy...
Cassiopeia Quinn
Gunwild, Psudonym
A cute, pantsless thief is pursued across the stars by a buttoned-up military officer in the spacey, laser-filled future.
Tiger, Tiger
Petra Nordlund
A young noble lady steals her brother's identity and his ship to find love and adventure, and to write a book about the fascinating life cycle of sea sponges!
The Lonely Vincent Bellingham
Diana Huh
Vincent is an unkind man looking to disappear, and finds himself in the care of a vampire and her two wicked children.
Godslave
Meaghan Carter
Edith has been thrown into the dangerous world of modern-day Egyptian mythology. Fighting monsters and dealing with family drama of godly proportions.
Kiwi Blitz
Mary Cagle (Cube Watermelon)
Steffi thinks she can use her kiwi mech to become a superhero. This idea turns out to be very stupid.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Star Impact
Jack McGee
A young, energetic woman fights her way up in the world of super-powered boxing after discovering the mighty gloves of her missing idol!
Lilith's Word
inkPangur
If you had the power to make any wish come true using just one word, what would you say?
Phantomarine
Claire K. Niebergall
A ghostly princess must sail across a haunted sea to save her soul from a devious, shapeshifting death god known as the Red Tide King.
Go Get a Roomie
Clover
Experience the queer journey of an upbeat hippie and the friendships she makes along the way! A tale of self-discovery and love of many forms.
Starhammer
J.N. Monk, Harry Bogosian
A teen girl inherits a powerful alien artifact and proceeds to make a series of increasingly poor decisions
Jailbird
Charlie Davis
An all-ages comic about a recently escaped prisoner's struggle to understand the outside world, and vice-versa. Also, a magic cape!
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
Bicycle Boy
Jackarais
A cyborg named Poet wakes up in the post-apocalyptic desert with no memory, no limbs, and no idea why he keeps getting punched.
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
Awaken
Koti Saavedra/Flipfloppery
Superpowers, monsters and conspiracies. Piras, the spoiled Dameschi heir, fights to recover his identity after becoming a terrorist!
Widdershins
Kate Ashwin
A series of light-hearted Victorian-era adventure stories featuring grumpy bounty hunters, accidental thiefkings, and more, in England's magical capital city Widdershins!
Cut Time
Juby
Rel and her trusty avian friend Fugue are on a quest to save a world that's lost track of time. Follow them and their new recruits, in a story written with help from the stars.
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
The Automan's Daughter
Mike Stamm
Aisha Osman and her uncle Siddig outwit bikers, spies and kidnappers while gearing up for a showdown with the formidable Widowmaker mecha.
Empowered
Adam Warren
A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
The Sanity Circus
Windy
Magic, monsters and mysteries await in the odd city of Sanity. It's up to Attley and a colorful group of characters to find out just what is going on.
The End
August Brown, Cory Brown
Two aliens crash a sci-fi convention and accidentally take seven nerds on an adventure that spans the galaxy!
Tigress Queen
Allison Shaw
A barbarian warlord and a pampered prince try to avoid a marriage alliance that could end decades of violence.
Sam & Fuzzy
Sam Logan
Troubled by gangster rodents, lovesick vampire stalkers, or confused ninja assassins? Don't panic! Sam and Fuzzy are here to help. (For a reasonable fee.)
Astral Aves
Moon Cabal
A fantasy coming-of-age following the adventures of Astra The Black and friends, as they navigate the mysterious world around them. It's politics, adventure, and the supernatural; oh, and crazy hair.
Love Not Found
Gina Biggs
Abeille is on a quest to find someone who wants to do it the old-fashioned way in a time when touching has become outdated.
Anarchy Dreamers
Emily Ree
Sparkly undead kids fight society's worst Nightmares in this pastel-punk urban fantasy coming-of-age!
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Sufficiently Remarkable
Maki Naro
Two young women living in Brooklyn discover that you're always coming of age.
Never Satisfied
Taylor Robin
Lucy Marlowe, a magician's apprentice, competes against other apprentices for an important, magical, Goverment Job.
Guilded Age is co-written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn, and illustrated by John Waltrip. Site design by Samantha Kyle. Fonts by Blambot.com.
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Privacy Policy
Guilded Age does not claim ownership of any of the corporate branding that appears in this comic, nor does it claim any affiliation, partnership, or endorsement of any kind.
They are used strictly as an artistic choice for the set dressing of the comic.
They are used strictly as an artistic choice for the set dressing of the comic.
Such cheerful sarcasm. I like this gnome.
i hear no sarcasm from the gnome.
It’s the best sarcasm: Undistinguishable from honest boot licking
Look at the alt text. Gnome is being honest. And stupid. Elf is realizing how thick the gnome is.
The gnome’s not stupid, just a typical socially awkward scientist/inventor. He seems quite sweet actually. On top of that he’s most likely worried about the impending bullshit Gastonians are about to lay down at this meeting. Despite their differences him and the archmage are in the same boat but reacting to it differently.
OK. I admit I was wrong. The gnome is *socially* stupid.
So who else feels bad for this Caneghem guy already?
I feel bad for the gnome actually
I have a sneaking suspicion he’ll say/do something soon that will take those feelings away.
I feel bad for the Shit Elf that will have to sit by the two of them.
Dean Fargoth Reynolds… from Seyda Neen.
If this is an MMO, then who are these people?
AI? Players staying in character? Very good AI, in fact more alive than not, because the magic of the…book-thing…made this world, in fact, something of a real world?
Hrrrrm. My money’s on #3. I doubt people would play an MMO in order to roleplay /a political meeting/. …Well, unless they’re part of a very organized guild. Or a meeting of Admins*. But I doubt that’s the case here.
*: I googled ‘mmo lexicon’, to look for the best word to use here (Sysop? Moderator?). I came across something called “The daedalus project / the psychology of mmorpgs”. Is this where Guilded Age character Daedalus got their name? I think** so.
**: Looked up Daedalus on google; mythologically speaking, wikipedia says they’re the one who made Icarus’ wings. Eh…it’s possible that our Daedalus is named after greek-mythology Icarus, but I think it’s much more likely the project is named after mythological Daedalus, and guilded-age Daedalus is named after the project. Wikipedia disambiguation didn’t have any more-promising leads for Daedalus.
Can’t say I have seen an actual MMO who actually supports or encourages playing/roleplaying a political meeting, as you put it. That said, to this day there is a bunch of MUDs where that kind of thing is an important part of the gaming experience and the player base supports it faithfully. Achaea and the other games from that company are the first that come to my mind. (You dont know what a MUD is? Wondering what wet dirt has to do with games? Damn kids, get off my lawn and go google it!)
+1 million hugs for you :D
Oh my god, not only is Achaea mentioned but HAWK comments? ‘lo! <3
Dear god, I LOVED political meetings on the Mu* I used to play. My character would place bets on who would say the most ridiculous thing, who would blow up, and what herpderp their Tea Party equivalent would come up with.
Funny, Achaea was also the first thing I thought of when ‘role-playing political meetings’ was mentioned. Man it has been a while.
Deus Ex players might see some other potential reasons for the name “Daedalus” popping up where computers are involved.
Daedalus (from GK myth) invented a myriad of intricate designs, everything from labyrinths to wax wings that allowed a person to fly. In modern terms we would call him an artificer, inventor, or some kind of wizard.
Without nitpicking terminology further, Guilded Age’s Daedalus (sp?) invented an entire mythical universe (or at the very least, created the artifact that it is via some means indistinguishable from magic) in which all of those things have potential to exist. Much as any decent MMO creator has done, he has “invented” the “game”. The name is entirely appropriate, even if only as a name that represents a stereotype. Plus, he’s some kind of wizard.
As for the characters in today’s strip, I would argue that there are no true NPCs in this “game” – an immersive universe, which is after all what the Arkerra experiment is designed and implied to be, would contain a sizable enough amount of content (and present it to its players in such a way as) to give even the least roleplaying-savvy participants enough brain fuel that it would be difficult for them to break immersion over constant political feuds, magics/sciences, ancient artifacts, etc. simply due to the fact that it makes them solidly a part of it. Any important-looking characters we see can probably be assumed to either be GM-run, regular players, or community organizers who are given access by the GMs. NPCs go from being plot-integral to minor, automated security systems in dungeons, and all things similar in nature to that.
Not to mention all that MUD discussion above, there’s plenty of evidence for player- or operator-run characters. And given that only one man so far seems to have Administrator privileges outside of the game, the meaning of the term “GM” as it applies to Arkerra would seem to be different from what it means in most MMOs these days.
Er… I trailed off in that last paragraph, but the “evidence” is evidence that the people in today’s strip are not NPCs.
You may be correct that those are player-characters. I’m not sure, however. Have we ever before seen any part of Arkerra without one of the five present? The only previous time I can recall taking a break from their perspective was Chapter 9, with Daedalus and Carol in Sepia World.
Lately, I’d been assuming that to the five, everything looks like a self-consistent reality, whereas to any others, it’s obviously a game and a simulation. This page is the first real indication to me that this isn’t the case. I think it suggests that the “NPCs” are conscious beings.
On the one hand, we know the five are in VR tanks, in a game. On the other hand, we know that Daedalus doesn’t understand what’s going on, despite great efforts to find out. There’s something going on that we don’t understand yet.
We have seen a few scenes without any of “the five” before. We have the actual prophecy guy after Best leaves town, way back when. We have the meeting of the political leaders around the pirate fiasco. Those two stick out to me, and both have their people treat the world as persistent.
I don’t think their world is an MMO, more like a fantasy game like Baulders gate or Champions of Norath. The characters are too immersed, having complicated back-story made for them when they enter. Too many people in this world entering and leaving would break that. And even if it is going to be an MMO the server isn’t open so the average character you meet is going to be an NPC.
Baldur’s Gate. Not Baulders. BALDUR’S.
I swear, people do that just to torment me, because there’s no other logical reason why so many people get that wrong.
Also, I’m thinking their world might be an actual thing, and all the technosorcery does is somehow create player avatars in that world. It all seems a bit too detailled and intricate to be just a game, even if the other characters were somehow fellow players.
And besides, if there were players, you’d expect more people to talk like Frygg. Or worse. So yeah, too consistently in-character to be players, too complex to be NPCs. Either the game is crazy good (which is possible because of magic I guess) or Arkerra exists independently of the game.
Balder the Fair’s gait.
Is the Archmage a Sky elf?
Well, as an ARCHmage he certainly qualifies as a “Master of The Arcane”, and his ears don’t match the image of Winter Elves as shown in the elf-type rundown found in-
http://guildedage.net/webcomic/chapter-1/chapter-1-page-13/
-so yes, I believe we can go ahead and assume he’s a Sky Elf.
Or possibly an up-jumped Shit Elf that’s mastered a cantrip or three …
I just noticed that the example for Shit Elves is Payet. I guess he is the best example…
You think he’s honestly happy to be segregated?
Tokenization always makes me feel cheerful.
Tolkienization on the other hand….
“… at least I’m not sitting next to a human.”
Nothing says “disdain for your mundane way of life” quite like spending the juice to conjure your own quill and ink rather than use the quill and ink provided.
Well-noticed.
That is a properly elfy elf. You’d never find him making demeaning comments about his own species for the entertainment of humans.
The little guy seems nervous.
Good eye, just noticed he was shaking in the first panel.
Hey, Jon van Caneghem reference. Not sure I can see someone that into Star Trek as a needlessly elfy elf, but hey.
Also, I love the eagle-arrows-and-thunderbolts motif. Everyone loves eagles, especially if they’re holding.
That’s what the US seal is missing, thunderbolts!
Wow, the axe head on that halberd is HUGE!
The better to THWACK! you with, my dear.
Also, that’s what she said.
I want to see a buddy-cop movie starring these two. Reynolds & Caneghem: Cops On The Edge. It would be HILARIOUS.
THEY FIGHT CRIME!
You forgot to preface that with:
“One’s a bumbling tinkerer and scientist. The other is a stuffy elven archmage. Together, THEY FIGHT CRIME”
To be scheduled in between “Grizzly Adam 12” and “The Harold and Maude Squad.”
And, on Saturday mornings, the kiddiwinks get to watch “Sindar the Science Guy”.
That stuffy, cold-fish thing is just an act. I can tell with one look that this Caneghem is a barely-controlled psychopath who wants to strangle everyone with his bare hands and eat their hearts to fuel forbidden, impolite magics.
he’s a big cuddly teddybear really.
Yeah, but you know how *that* always ends. Soon enough he’ll be saying “It was only a setback!” and after that, well, you can forget any retirement plans.
I think Joel and the ‘bots put it best:
“Well, he seemed like a nice guy..”
“…AT FIRST.”
Hey, who invited Christopher Lee to the meeting?
…I’m not sure if (assuming this is Gastonia) the Gastonians are assholes or not for giving the gnome dude a huge chair.
On one hand they’re not giving him a tiny chair which would be laughable compared to the other large chairs. On the other hand, it shows they don’t care enough for his comfort to get him a gnome sized chair.
I’m going with assholes though because GASTONIANS ARE XENOPHOBIC DICKS.
Dude, we could only afford to rent this room from the community center for an hour and requesting special chairs would have cost extra. We could have brought him his own special chair but he never checked ahead of time and by the time anyone thought of it Ardaic’s van was already full.
We all feel really bad about this, but the guy should have spoken up. There’s a lot that goes into organizing these little get-togethers and unless people are telling us what they need we’re not always gonna think of everything. We totally forgot about Caneghem’s duck allergy too.
There’s a request box for just that reason. I don’t know why people aren’t using it. We’re totally reasonable here, you just need to tell us what you need. I got a cell phone, it’s on all hours of the day. Tell Reynolds to give me a call and we’ll work something out for him next time.
Is that the requests box that feeds directly to the paper shredder?
Wait, do I smell… powdered mandrake?
Crap.
You all remember the discussion about herbal sensitivities, right? Did anyone think to mention this to the archmage?
Okay, someone needs to go get a fan. In the meantime, someone please ask the archmage — very politely — to sit near the window.
Gah. Now you’ve broken my brain trying to figure out whether it’s more racist to give him the same (almost mockingly huge) chair everyone else has or to bring him out a special chair that highlights how little he is compared to everyone else.
Give him a regular chair, but with a cushion on the seat, so he can see over his desk properly. Which he is doing, so maybe thae Gastonians have already done this.
How about a footstool?
Or just bring him a box…
At least they’re bonding over their mutual disdain for humans, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
I’d like to say that Reynolds has a small problem with his disdain detector, but then again, you can’t argue with elves.
Or perhaps he is secretly designing a donkey-powered Elf squishing machine.
Oh I really do hope so. T, Phil, John, please? Gnome-designed donkey-powered elf squishers? Pretty please?
Nah. Sheep powered ray gun.
This is very weird dialogue for characters that do not appear to be PCs in an MMO (they don’t appear to be adventurers or former adventurers). The fact they are even having this dialogue is unexpected. We very rarely get to see characters who are not the definitely PCs interacting, but apparently they do and with personality. This and the discussion among the heads of houses earlier lends credence to the idea that maybe there is more to Arkerra than some servers.
Well, we knew that there’s more to Arkerra.
What we still don’t know is whether it’s all created from the influence of the minds of the PCs trapped in the world or whether the world is independent.
Anyone else think League of Non-Aligned Worlds from B5 when seeing this?
The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
Caneghem looks a little too much like Saruman (at least from the movies) for me to not think he’s up to something.
I mean, check that Goatee man. He’s def. evil.
Dudes, Reynolds is not that far away. There is no reason so cheapen out on drawing some eyes on him for panels three and four. If we can see the buttons of his boots we should be able to see his eyes.
Disregard eyes, acquire women. The gnome knows what he’s doing.
Cue “Why Can’t We be Friends?”
Since conjuration is basic teleportation Caneghem just swiped someone else’s ink & paper.
Maybe it’s his stuff from home?
So he is not just the archmage, he is a thief too. He stole my heart already… Refusing to even use the ink of Gastonia like that…