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!
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!
Goodbye to Halos
Valerie Halla
Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
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!
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.
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.
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...
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.
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?
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.)
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.
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?
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.
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
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!
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.
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!
Sufficiently Remarkable
Maki Naro
Two young women living in Brooklyn discover that you're always coming of age.
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Awaken
Koti Saavedra/Flipfloppery
Superpowers, monsters and conspiracies. Piras, the spoiled Dameschi heir, fights to recover his identity after becoming a terrorist!
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.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
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.
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.
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.
Anarchy Dreamers
Emily Ree
Sparkly undead kids fight society's worst Nightmares in this pastel-punk urban fantasy coming-of-age!
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.
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.
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.
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
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!
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...
Starhammer
J.N. Monk, Harry Bogosian
A teen girl inherits a powerful alien artifact and proceeds to make a series of increasingly poor decisions
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
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.
Tigress Queen
Allison Shaw
A barbarian warlord and a pampered prince try to avoid a marriage alliance that could end decades of violence.
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
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.
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.
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
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.
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".
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
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.
Discussion (105) ¬
Kiss seen in 5…4…3…
Wow…. with that kind of willpower, sometimes I wonder if he doesn’t have a little bit of Monk in him. Or Jedi. Or both?
and he’s a fighter, maybe a barberyn, he should have nothing for a will save, and he has not shown a high wisdom
Stereotypes aren’t always right. I believe we’ve already seen he’s a bit more than a big dumb ‘zerker.
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What are you talking about he hasn’t shown high wisdom? Have you been reading the comic? Next to Gravedust he’s got the highest wisdom in the party.
I don’t recall seeing any note of which system this comic is using, or if it’s using a game system at all. Really, there’s precious little in real life that means you have to have a dump stat, or that says everyone’s sum total of stats is the same.
It could be Byron just won the genetic lottery, or rolled a high wisdom if you will, and happens to have a strong willpower. Alternately, he could have spent the time he was recovering from physical exercise exercising his wits and vice versa.
Will save success!
And without him muttering, “Must…unnh…fight it,” Silver Age comic book style.
So I see all kinds of “When’s he gonna lose it? We Want Berserk!” re: Byron, but this comic strongly reinforces the impression I’ve had for a while: Byron is not trained as a berserker, he’s naturally one and this fact terrifies him. Remember that scene of the trashed village, with corpses all over? My guess is, he did that as a teen, and when he came to his senses he was crippled with guilt. He’s got “…the Berserker” on his name as a constant reminder, personal mark of shame, not as a job description. He’s spent decades since then training himself to keep his cool, to avoid the rage. And that’s the only reason he doesn’t snap Syr’Nj’s neck in panel three.
Agreed. Berserking, pretty much by definition, is…not good.
Berserking … not good, maybe, but it gets shit done.
That was my thinking too. It doesn’t change the fact I wanted to see him flip out for ages.
As counterpoint, it may be that the slaughter of the village was what caused him to flip out, or that it caused him to flip out and he couldn’t stop even when all the attackers were dead. We can’t say for sure, but I agree with your general point.
Though he does use it as a job description.
I had the feeling the cult is responsible for the whole thing. Like, they were the ones who cursed Byron to become a berserker in the first place. Which is why he hates them so much.
And just now the seer tried to use him as a directed killing machine…
Berserking isnit a CURSE.
It’s a way of life!!!
Clearly you’ve never read some of the grimmer stuff about berserkers. Go, educate yourself, sonny.
He’s pretty hot, though. For is it not said… I am like to making fuck beserker.
You know what other class is not taken seriously enough in fantasy stories. Rogues. Thieves and murderers, every last one of them.
Everyone stop what you are doing and educate yourselves.
Depends on which version of “rogue” you look at. Technically Indiana Jones could qualify as a rogue. Possibly a multiclassed rogue, but still.
Of course, narrow definitions are FTW! (sarcasm button)
I have to say, I wouldn’t see Indy as anything but a Rogue class. He just maxed out his ranks in a bunch of knowledge skills and chose CON over DEX.
He’s got at least one level of barbarian, I think. Indy does have a POWERFUL rage when provoked.
What are you all talking about?? Indy is CLEARLY a 1st ed Monk! He has a little bit of thief skills, and can trigger massive traps but take no damage with a single saving through. He can also fall great distances with no ill effects!
I always saw him as a rogue/swashbuckler myself. Maybe he dipped into fighter, but.
For me, I’ve always encountered Berserker types as either happy violence junkies or mouth frothing maniacs. For me, this will be the first work to deconstruct it.
YEAH THATS why he doesn’t kill humans, it would SET HIM OFF
Kill.
Kill, KILL!
Dear Syr’inj looks adorable vulnerable in that last panel.
She also looks rather…”zonked on fairy dust” in panel 2
She also just got choked by the guy she trusted
No, she didn’t. I think.
I just have one thing to say. Where there is a will, there is a way.
……………….Go on and kiss the girl! Sha-la-la-la-la-la! Don’t stop now! Don’t try to hide it how! You wanna kiss the girl! >.>
At the current 2 strips per arc progression it will be a while.\\- 2 strips on Frigg + 2 on Gravedust * Bandit –
It’s the period that makes the difference:
“Kill” –> doin’ it wrong
“Kill.” –> professionally direct and concise.
Kill?
The expressions in this one are great. The second panel reminds me of sensationalist movie posters or even war propaganda
Also, this would be a pretty good time for the cultist to stick a knife in his back. Just sayin’.
Yes.
I’m curious, who pictures the voice in Byron’s head as his own and who pictures it as belonging to somebody else?
Donald Duck.
Arlo Guthrie.
…C’mon, we already saw Bandit stting on the Group W bench.
…havin fun fillin out the forms and playin’ with the pencils on the bench there?
Wilford Brimley.
It said ‘kill’ not ‘dia-beetus’.
It is Byron’s voice.
The “Kill.”s are in red, red is the color of Byron’s thoughts to himself. I think this is a ‘gimme’.
Still, VERY MYSTERIOUS.
Yep–you beat me to the comment. Ever since Byron’s first appearance, his thoughts have been in red boxes like that. I think I more interesting question, if you would like to discuss the symbolism of speech/thought containers, how about the white-on-black ones he uses before coming to his senses?
I think we can safely say that those are actual noises Byron makes (groaning and the like)
OK, good point, it probably is Byron’s, but in my mind I imagine this horde of angry voices uncontrollably chanting “Kill.” over and over.
I wonder if the cultist a catalyst or a puppeteer to Byron’s beserking.
Yeah, I could definitely imagine a horde of voices–maybe his own, his subconscious/inner voice/whatever, layered and goading him on.
He obviously suffers from Guthrie Syndrome –
And I went up there, I said, “Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL.”
And I started jumpin’ up and down yelling, “KILL, KILL,” and he started jumpin’ up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, “KILL, KILL.” And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,sent me down the hall, said, “You’re our boy.”
The Auld Grump
*gets pencil ready for hanging out on group W bench*
My impression is that they are in fact the ones who can trigger his rage. And he was killing her before he snapped out of it. And she just realized why he is called a Berserker. And possibly, she just realized how much she means to him, if he finally managed to stop it before killing her.
Or she just really really enjoyed being choked…
Dammit! So close!
And next time we see them, Syr’nj is smacking Byron upside the head. “What the HELL was that?!?”
Since she may or may not have “heard” all the kill commands.
I mean, for Syr, what did that look like? Certainly she can deduce that the cultist caused Byron’s, uh, outburst, but she’s likely to either demand details (as his physician, you know) or she’s going to be very freaked out and not want him near her for a while. Just in case.
BTW it does not look like his hands have actually contacted her throat, in panel 2, so I don’t think he hurt her. Unless he bruised her wrist when he grabbed her to get her out of there.
Also, where’s that pesky cultist? Syr needs to do science to him!
Byron escapes the cultist’s trap of murderous inTent!
Ooh, a pun in the most unlikely of places. Those jokes just seem to be all the rage nowadays.
cultist = ????
what is a cultist
Someone who’s part of a cult Michiko.
A cult being an organization dedicated to a non-mainstream god, typically very evil ones in fantasy literature.
Of course: define “mainstream.” ‘Cause most assume their deity is.
Whereas those who don’t do deity assume none of them are.
So: good definition, Mutters. :)
No, mate. I’m a lifelong atheist and I still have an idea of the difference between a “mainstream” and a “non-mainstream” god. There’s no clear definition (and it’s obviously a culture based decision), but common sense comes into it somewhere.
Hence the brief humorous jab, rather than a detailed intellectual analysis, shallot. ;)
I’m aware of the difference between “mainstream” and “non-mainstream” cults, too. (Generally speaking: numbers and political influence.)
But I still see pretty much all of them as cults.
A miserable pile of black magic.
They summon monsters that don’t belong in this world.
‘Cause they bad, they BAD, they really really bad
They ain’t no good they don’t do GOOD
They BAD. Shybonk.
By chanting “DRA-AG-GON” over and over again while sitting in a circle . . .
HUGS. Now.
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kiss!
looooooool
That was an excellent will roll.
The obsessive mantra in his head is now “Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.”
-Kill. Kill kill kill, kill kill? Kill kill kill!
-Die die, die — die.
You see, the voice failed because it wasn’t specific. When it said “KILL.” Byron took it to mean “KILL the crazy voice in my head.”
I am also on the side of the people who were hoping for the makeouts.
You’re not alone.
Nevertheless I don’t expect we’ll get a kiss in the next strip. GA is way to unconventional for that. Or is it?
Byron: Damn that Cultist!
Syr’nj: What was his name?
Byron: Bill. We must find him… We must KILL… BILL.
Syr’nj: (reaching into her bag) I have just the jumpsuit… *zziiiip*
(Would make for a bad-ass drawing I must say…)
they held hands! oooOOOooOOOoooh!
One thing you guys haven’t asked yet, what was Syr’nj hearing in her head?
If the Cultist was trying to get them to kill each other, I wouldn’t be surprise to see a dagger from Syr’nj’s Bag-O-Plenty sticking out from Byron side in the next page.
Killing has such finality to it, it seems like there’d be less resistance to less…brutal suggestions. Perhaps the cultist should have started with “maim” or “wound”, or really scaled it down and tried “poke” as a warm up.
This would be called the foot in the door technique! Or wait, was that the low-ball technique? IDK, I DIDN’T DO SO WELL ON MY PSYCH TEST.
I think “poke” might be too vague. I can imagine alot of ways that wouldn’t involve violence at all
Poke. Poke poke poke, poke. Poke poke! POKE! POKE POKE!! POKE!!!
Picturing all the kills in this comic replaced with poke has me cracking up
I love how scared/desperate Byron seems in panel 5–like he’s afraid the Berserk!Blackness will follow him out…
All the repetitions of “kill” make me think that a bard will turn this into an epic verse of Syr’ynj’s Restaurant.
Yeah, I had that same reaction when I first saw The Crawling Eye…
Come to think of it, this cultist’s religious symbol looks a bit like the crawling eye…
My god… it’s a cult of Crawling Eye worshipers… What madness do they seek to unleash upon the world?
OK, this is something I’ve been thinking about that I don’t think anyone’s pointed out yet: There has been some speculation on the meaning of the Cultist’s “fairy dust”–now, is it me, or in the last panel, after Byron and Syr’nj’s exit from the tent, is the background distinctly un-town-like?
Love the comic, guys–I was finally inspired to comments since the comments section is always fun to read. Also wanted to remark that as a former gamer who never liked and rarely played D&D, I’m not reading this in gaming terms or wondering if it’s meant to parallel any actual game–I’m just enjoying it as a good story with some anachronistic/internet/meta humor.
isn’t the background the ripped up tent still standing on it’s poles?
Soo, in just a few pages we’ve had Bandit’s most adorable expression yet, and then Syr’nj’s most adorable/beautiful expression yet.
And pretty darn good story on top of it. I may squee.
Byron: founder of Adrenaholics Anonymous.
In the last couple of comics there have been plenty of “kill, kill, kill”‘s, but no “ka, ka, ka”‘s. Can you have kill, kill, kill without ka, ka, ka following it?
Actually, it looks to me like Byron didn’t actually choke Syringe. If you look at the panels, looks like he’s about to – but he manages to pull his hand back just short of it. So at least there’s that.
Is it odd that I saw the last panel as Byron looking lovingly at Syr’nj and whispering into her ear
softly,
seductively
…
Kill.
Byron: Normally I only choke, the chicken…
Of course, being a warrior at all takes tremendous mental willpower: we saw this with Frigg, to, and her resisting torture so adamantly.
Secondly, someone recommended “training his wits.” While Byron is obviously intelligent, intelligence does not willpower make. There are a huge amount of beta scientists. INT doesn’t equal WIS doesn’t equal CHA.
(And the D&D system has some huge incongruences if you apply it to real life ™, which this comic seems to be using as it’s default platform (save magic). For example, I’m an above-average endurance athlete. This should indicate that I have a high Constitution, right? Well, I’m also very prone to stomach aches and cramps, things that would be easily shaken off by a nice Fort. save. So, you know, odd…)
Holy crap… I just realized, not only did Byron resist his rage, but he pulled Syr out of the tent of doom.
Way to go, man.
The art style from these earlier comics is very cool and stylized. Is it the same artist?
Given how Byron has been acting so far and the flashes of carnage we’ve seen, I assume he sucks at fighting normally, but when he gets bloodthirsty, armies fall at his feet