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!
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...
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
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.
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.)
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.
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
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.
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".
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
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!
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
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!
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
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!
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.
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.
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 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...
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!
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
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.
Anarchy Dreamers
Emily Ree
Sparkly undead kids fight society's worst Nightmares in this pastel-punk urban fantasy coming-of-age!
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
Goodbye to Halos
Valerie Halla
Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
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.
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.
Starhammer
J.N. Monk, Harry Bogosian
A teen girl inherits a powerful alien artifact and proceeds to make a series of increasingly poor decisions
Tigress Queen
Allison Shaw
A barbarian warlord and a pampered prince try to avoid a marriage alliance that could end decades of violence.
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
Never Satisfied
Taylor Robin
Lucy Marlowe, a magician's apprentice, competes against other apprentices for an important, magical, Goverment Job.
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.
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!
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
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.
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.
Lilith's Word
inkPangur
If you had the power to make any wish come true using just one word, what would you say?
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Awaken
Koti Saavedra/Flipfloppery
Superpowers, monsters and conspiracies. Piras, the spoiled Dameschi heir, fights to recover his identity after becoming a terrorist!
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
>implying adventurers give a shit about budgets when GP rains from the sky in dungeons
>implying the military would live long enough to be cooperated with
>implying adventurers wouldn’t take responsibility for their actions because they find said actions HILARIOUS
I particularly like your third point. Seriously, how many times have we been playing and somebody pulls of some crazy batshit stunt that actually works instead of needing massive healing if not a res? And how many times that that’s happened did the person in question (and usually everybody else who was witness to it) NOT brag about to anybody who would listen?
Referring perchance to the Leroy Jenkins school of adventuring?
Windows with permanent alarm and mending put on them meets… the chaotic neutral thief = awesomeness. he wasn’t breaking any laws because no property damage was done.
I’ve been doing D&D and RPGs for over ten years, never seen something like this happen but once. Everyone died. ._. DON’T PUT A BAG OF HOLDING IN A PORTABLE HOLE IF IT’S FILLED WITH MILLIONS’ WORTH OF MAGICAL ITEMS! D:< We blew up two sections of Ravenloft fer frick's sakes! ;-;
So you’re basically saying that… say… a person could stockpile the cheapest versions of Bags of Holding, fill them with assorted scrap metal… purchase an equal number of portable holes…
… and then… use some magic or device to safely insert one into the other from a distance in order to weaponise the resultant devastation?
Strictly speaking, I’m amazed they didn’t add an adjustable-rate tax on anything.
That comes with having to report all guild income, where normally adventures work under the table for direct transactions that often go unreported.
“>implying adventurers give a shit about budgets when GP rains from the sky in dungeons”
Do you imply adventurers are well-known for their steady flow of incoming ralds ?
Please.
That’s remarkably… straightforward.
Just wait, now they’re going to throw him in jail under the premise of “You take responsibility for the riots the other day!”
Sucker!
Well, he did have a deathwish…
Does Guildmaster Persson get a tag?
I GUESS.
You rock, Phil.
:D
So does this mean that Byron gets a voice in the Hall of Houses along with all the other guildmasters?
Guildmaster Adventurer may be the best title conceivable.
So the guild is subject to all rules that already apply to guilds and does not exempt its members from martial law.
I guess it’s always good to keep everybody on the same page. Definitely not what I was expecting from the conditions.
Those are the ones they told him about, but notice they can have plenty of scummy backdoor clauses and/or implications.
Oh for sure, but nothing unusual.
Like the second one. Must cooperate with the military during an emergency level crisis. We’re in the middle of a war right now so the short term of that is obvious, but in the long term it’s really gonna be important to learn the exact legal definition of “Emergency-Level Crisis”, as well as exactly how much a guild has to do to be deemed cooperative.
That was always gonna be an issue though. I mean this whole thing is happening in the aftermath Byron and the gang being assigned to take out a group of adventurers for going off to do their own thing for a while instead of helping out with the war efforts. It was pretty effectively the case even before we put this so neatly on paper. But now they’ve got protections. He wasn’t working to get Adventurers excluded from the war efforts, he was working to get them the benefits that are supposed to come with being so central a part of the war efforts.
The budgetary issue. That in practice is gonna give them a huge amount of power over the Adventurers Guild, but they have that power over all guilds and to a certain extent that’s just the trade off for the ability to even get a budget in the first place.
Actions of the guild, again that has all sorts of ways it can bite them in the ass, but that’s completely unavoidable when we’re gonna turn Adventurers into a unified body instead of a series of individuals.
There’s a bare minimum number of hidden hooks in these agreements, and they’re mostly hooks that were being asked for anyway.
The questions there though, include what do they mean by cooperate with the military? Do they mean that they should work along side, do they mean that they should submit to the military authority? If i were Bryon i’d get that issue sorted out immediately, because chaotic adventurers are chaotic
The next set asks how effective the budgetary power does in fact control the Adventurer’s Guild. Most successful adventures easily pay for themselves, while as Bryon and so many others have pointed out that others simply cannot find a job at all. I believe the Guild in that way will be able to break even depending on it’s structure, and perhaps the smallest budget of all the houses, except the navy who doesn’t do anything
in this case i think “cooperate” means work alongside, and if need be, defer to the authority of the military in the event of a state of emergency. After all, the governing body would hate to have a rogue force that running around causing trouble, that could potentially try to seize power if the SHTF…especially a mercenary force trained and equipped using government resources.
Budget control is just another way to ensure safe expenditure and decent returns on the financial outlay. Besides, the government is forking out money to establish this guild, and probably a yearly stipend to cover costs. it functions a bit like tax returns in that it promotes transperant and honest business too.
[thats my 2 cents anyway lol]
Byron should make sure his “meds” are covered under the Guild budget; that way he has a berserk amount of leverage.
I can’t imagine him having to pay for them himself. That would be an outRAGE.
I swear…you people are batsh*t crazy! :D
It’s hard to tell if Iwatani is planning something, or if he’s just being neutrally smug….
Iwatani is always smug. ;-)
And Iwatani is always playing something.
He’s always planning something. Why he has the job. Don’t think it’s anything nefarious though. Just sees a new presence on the political field and is thinking of a few ways he’ll be able to use the power he’s establishing over it.
If I were to hazard a guess I’d say that his ability to get some favors from the Adventurers Guild in exchange for budgetary boons is gonna put him in a stronger bargaining position with Grand Marshall Jarvis.
Oh wait, the guy in the second panel is Admiral Annunziata in charge of the navy. That could explain why he’s looking displeased. This whole development probably leaves all the military council members on poorer footing for next time they need something.
Not necessarily. The obligation to cooperate with (that is, obey) the military can certainly help the military keep control of the adventurers when needed. Also, while Admiral Annunziata clearly dislikes the adventurers, Ardaic appears to be quite keen on them. Since Ardaic works for his silent master, Jarvis, that suggests Jarvis also likes the idea of having the adventurers as a resource. And if you’re going to have a group of people working for you, then getting them organised in this way is a good idea. They become more cooperative because they have been given a carrot of self-government (reducing the need for any kind of law-enforcement schtick), and someone else is tasked with the day-to-day affairs of the organising adventurers, thereby keeping the chaos at arm’s length.
Yes.
I’m somehow reminded (as I was yesterday) of the Soothsayer Cultist (whose name I forget) and his prophecy concerning Byron. “Your final army’s yet to come/you’ll be amazed when you count up the sum/of loyal troops in your employ/but first you must learn how not to destroy.” An army of adventurers?
Goddamn it, came here to post that quote. :-P
I dub thee Guildmaster Hackenslasher! Now, go take your seat next to Guildmaster Persson
I find these conditions to be quite fair. Yes, there are ambiguous terms in the conditions set that can be used as loopholes, but I’m sure their increased political standing as a now recognized guild means they can also legally defend themselves. It’s still a better state than not having an organized guild and lacking state support.
I like how the admiral is flipping Byron off
I was about to say the same, heh.
Yes, very… british, of him
I was about to point that out. I am certain the Admiral and Byron will get along perfectly!
Good thing this isn’t an English comic, cause in our point of view the Admirals telling Byron to piss off with that finger sign :-)
Probably entirely deliberate
Not really, I know in the US they tend to use that to show the number 2. I’ve seen wrestlers on WWE shows when they’re going on about how they’ve been ‘two-times world heavyweight champion’ they use that hand signal while they’re saying it.
Probably entirely deliberate
Yes, wrestlers are stupid. No, Americans do 2 like normal people, palms facing out. I think it’s Australia where palms facing out means f you.
I don’t believe palms in or out is something people actually think about- both mean the same thing.
I think if an American is using two fingers to say ‘screw you’ they’ll waggle a tongue between them.
Firstly, Australians use both American and British (and assorted other countries’) methods of insulting people. Thus, palm facing out would be the number two, or would be peace. Palm facing in would be f you.
Secondly, those who are aware of the meaning of Annunziata’s gesture DO think about such things.
As a rude bugger of an Australian, if I held 2 up with the palm facing me, I’d be telling you to “piss off”. Just the middle finger for the traditional “F.U.” salute ;D
Yes. This was, indeed, a joke for our international readers.
Swearing on a law book and not a religious text? how… oddly progressive!
At least he doesn’t have to swear on a Harry Potter book.
…..oddly progressive??? that’s standard procedure from where i come from. It’s the state and nation you are swearing to. why would they swear on a bible?? what for ?? it makes no sense to me.
Clearly you are not an American.
We are one weird fuckin’ country.
well, im south american :) but i get you. Seriously you guys need to get a demonym. America its all from canada to Cape Horn.
I think “usians” works pretty well as a demonym ;)
I’m partial to Murikans.
I’ve always liked how Mexico names the U.S. Estados Unidos
Maybe something working on that since the hispanic community is booming?
Isn’t that just Spanish for United States?
Looks like it. Different countries got different ways of saying it, obviously… some neater than others. And I’ve got my own personal ways…
So far as I’m concerned, Yankland is under Cnadaland… and Mexico is just Mexico… and all together they form Transatlantea … i.e. “Over the pond”… a charming place of funny accents, baseball caps and wooden (or pseudowooden, or flag) houses spaced vast distances apart… with fast food drive-ins (or Tim Hortons in Cnadaland) inbetween.
Still… the whole swearing-on-a-book thing is something I hope to never experience either side of the pond… mostly because I wouldn’t. I’m incapable of lying, but I will never swear away my ability to omit the truth.
I know I haven’t commented here in a while, but… Someone HAS to edit the Admiral to where he’s just straight-up flipping the bird.
I mean, I know in some areas of the world what he’s doing means the same thing, but still, there’s just no beating the good ol’ single-digit.
This.
Actually in America, that’s their hand signal for the number 2.
As illustrated by the people signing 1 and 3, typically the hand faces the other way. I do believe he has turned his hand around so that this cannot be mistaken for a peace sign. Can’t be spreading those types of misunderstandings as a high ranking military official during wartime.
In American Sign Language, the “V” sign means “2” with palm in, or the letter “V” with palm out. I’d never heard of the insulting usage before, but I can totally see the “this is NOT a peace sign” subtext.
The single-finger salute used to also have a phrase (“Sit and Rotate”) because you also rotated your hand (at least, that’s how it was taught to me in the 80’s)
By memory the 2 finger salute comes from old british times. they would cut of the 2 fingers of an archer as a punishment for various reasons. This gesture shows you’ve still got them to someone who is annoying you XD
It’s time for Byron to learn some responsibilitah.
Anyone who thinks these conditions are innocent should look at the center one and the last one and then remember how Mamma Bear died.
Yeah… remember that part about how the center condition wasn’t in effect when Momma Bear died, but she died anyway?
Your point would be stronger if you could summon an example where somebody had not died because the center condition was not in effect, but were that same scenario to play out now they would die.
Sundar would almost work as an example except that the scene seems to make it pretty clear that they had the legal right to kill him too, but simply chose not to do so.
It’s innocent because they’re not really asking for anything they didn’t already have.
To make a real world parallel let’s say you’re a group of arms manufacturers. The government regularly mandates that you make certain materials in war time and even goes so far as to requisition anything they want outside of the mandates, on occasion putting people to death for not making enough armaments or for supplying the wrong people. You ask for the right to form a union so that you can make sure that all these people who are working themselves to the bone during war time can leave with comfortable pensions when their bodies give out. The government officials list as one of their conditions that your union will be required to cooperate with military needs under emergency level crises. You think to yourself, “Well of course. That much was expected.” because really, the right to refuse military orders was never even on the bargaining table. You would’ve been foolish to put it there. That’s the kind of demand that gets somebody executed for treason.
Didn’t they decide on that day that they wouldn’t let adventurers do that kind of dirty job in the future? Even if they could now force the Adventurers’ Guild to do stuff like that, it seems like they’d have the sense to leave it to the regular army. After all, there should be plenty of heroic suicide missions left for everyone, and the army would probably be grateful for the chance to do easy, but immoral stuff.
The conditions aren’t innocent…however, its largely irrelevant, now. The Gastonian military has a demonstrable level of ineptitude and the guildies have every single adventurer worth their salt in the kingdom, and likely quite a few defectors from said military under their banner.
The Peacekeepers are now the largest asymmetric military force in the world, with a clear precedent for accepting membership from savage races as well and Gastonia’s single best siege engineer building war machines for them. Gastonia couldn’t force their hand if they tried.
Frankly, I think the council has SERIOUSLY overplayed their hand and overestimated their strength.
^this. although if they can obtain control over byron as guildmaster through various diplomatic and social methods such as blackmail or threats against the guild, they can both control this ragtag mercenary army, and destroy the command structure if they rebel by maintaining control over their leader.
His girlfriend has a history of channeling gods and destroying whole armies, and without his meds Byron is among the most singularly lethal fighters around.
I’m not holding my breath on either of them being used as a bargaining chip.
There’s a fire burning in those eyes. Let’s hope he doesn’t get burned.
Remember, not even Ardaic knows that “the Berzerker” is more than a job description.
So… loophole?
Byron said nothing about being in berserker mode.
So all he has to do is find a cursed belt of altering and go crazy with those axes and they can’t touch him… /her.
Also non of these people can count.
Its.. 1, 2, 3, 4!
Not 1, 2, 3, 5!
Unless of course you are talking about the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, if which case it is a series of 1,2, 5, while shouting out 3 during the release to expel yon daemons from thy way.
And so begins the Guilded Age of Adventuring, hurrah! Here’s to many more chapters of this great webcomic *raises glass* :)
*raises glass, too*
I just realised something… is this an NPC or PC Guild? If PC Guild, is it the only one?
well, debatable. the only “true” PC’s so far are the Five which presumably includes Best. all others are either NPC’s or PC’s using computers to interface. For example I kinda figure that E-merl is probably a computer access PC. not much history in game, but defined character with pretty standard repetiore of spells:)
Back on page 25, Byron states, “Just another line item in the budget, while we revolutionize the way the citizenry protects its own.”
Probably a bad thing to point out because, historically speaking, the “rulers” don’t want the citizens to be capable of protecting themselves…Especially when the government itself decides to go on the offensive against them. There also has been no time in human civilization when the “rulers” were even CAPABLE of keeping the citizens safe or protected, no matter how intrusive or how big the military gets. Hey, this is politics in action, folks…and it’s been proven time & again throughout history!
On page 26, Byron talks about the new guild’s economics & having a whole new labor force under their control…He wisely appeals to their greed for power & control. Again, this is politics in action, historically proven.
That’s why some of their “conditions” on THIS page are phrased so loosely: “Your budget is subject to our approval.” This allows them to determine, politically, that they can control this new labor force by grabbing (& pulling) at the purse-strings…If they can’t keep control over the new guild, they can defund it into oblivion.
“Must cooperate under military direction during any emergency-level crisis.” Again, it’s about CONTROL. This is a method of DIRECT control, through orders passed down through the military chain of command…A bit more subtly, they can declare ANY kind of situation as an “emergency” that they want & KEEP direct control. Even in the USA, Congress has not declared war since the US entry into WW2…Yet, we’ve been placed under “declared emergency” on top of “declared emergency” that has kept us in a perpetual “war-like” situation ever since then!
“Take full responsibility for the actions of your guild.” Of course, if they decide to find a scapegoat for any reason, political or otherwise, this does the trick quite handily.
Of course it must be noted that, these conditions being stated in such general terms, they failed to include the “fine print” details to Byron before pressuring for his agreement…Byron is about to receive a “crash course” in politics the HARD way, it seems.
O.o
The alt text is too much.
You know for not running the Peacemakers these two are going to be running everything else.
Having to co-operate with the military is not the same as being a subordinate part of the chain of command, neh?