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!
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
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.
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.
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?
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
Drugs & Wires
Mary Safro, Io Black
Dan used to be a VR operator until his brain got fried by malware. Now he's stuck delivering packages in a post-Soviet hellhole all while trying to adjust to his new life and find some answers.
Solstoria
Angelica Maria
After her brother goes missing, Samantha vows to become a Knight and help those around her in the Kingdom of St. Helena.
Patrik the Vampire
Bree Paulsen
Patrik loves to knit, bake, and help his friends while dealing with his own demons... like his thirst for blood because, oh yeah--he's a vampire.
Killjoys
Flatw00ds
When two disgraced ex-feds fall backwards into trouble with the clown mafia, getting out in one piece is gonna be no joke!
Clockwork
Chikuto
Cog Kleinschmidt is a diligent, quiet worker at the Mercia Fortress, the world power's leading stronghold. His orderly life is thrown into chaos when an enemy kingdom sends a diplomat for peace talks. This diplomat needs something from Cog - whether he agrees to their terms or not!
Tove
Severin
The end of the world is coming, and Tove doesn't want to be a hero, but SOMEONE has to look after her little brother.
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
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...
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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!
MASKLESS
kickingshoes
In a world where people can wield the magic of elemental Masks, all Ashe wants to do is help. Maskless and useless, with dreams of fire and smoke on the back of his tongue, he finds himself on a strange, dangerous path to uncovering the secrets of these incredible objects, and the source of the monsters plaguing his home.
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.
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
Demon Studies
Miyuli
Four students summon and study potentially dangerous demons within the walls of the mysterious Summerland University.
Heart of Gold
Eliot Baum, Viv Tanner
A pianist with failing eyesight seeks out a priest with a miraculous healing touch, drawing him deeper into a world of miracles and curses.
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.
Fairmeadow
Kendra P. / KP
A wayward soldier finds herself in a pacifist commune deep in the wilderness of a war-weary land. Living in isolation brings her closer to those she was sworn to kill than she could ever imagine - but also threatens to tear the place apart.
Countdown to Countdown
Velinxi
Iris Black is a self-proclaimed inventor with the curious ability to bring his drawings to life, and yearns to find a space where he can use his powers freely.
Awaken
Koti Saavedra/Flipfloppery
Superpowers, monsters and conspiracies. Piras, the spoiled Dameschi heir, fights to recover his identity after becoming a terrorist!
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
Folklore
Adam Ma, Colin Tan Wei
A superhuman horror story focused on a small band of survivors trying to navigate a war-torn world in the aftermath of the Federation’s collapse.
Far to the North
Allison Shaw
Kelu turns to the monsters of her remote mountain home when her family is held hostage by outsiders.
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!
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.)
Lunar Blight
Studio CARTRIDGE, Laura Lee
Lunar Blight is a gothic horror story about an elite knight serving a moon cult who must choose between upholding his honoured duty or condemning everything he’s grown to know.
Goblins
Ellipsis
A fantasy RPG as told through the eyes of the low-level monsters.
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...
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
Come Hell or High Water
Jenny/Star, Mori
Prince Gladimir was never meant to fall for a pirate. Swearing off love for duty, the threat of war propels him back into the Captain’s world of high seas and high stakes. Their relationship could be the thing to save the kingdom of Yvoire - or destroy it.
How to be a Werewolf
Shawn Lenore
Malaya Walters was bitten by a werewolf as a child. After being raised by her human family, she faces the chance to learn what being a werewolf is really like as an adult.
Spinnerette
Krazy Krow, Rocio Zucchi, Pablo Rey
When a lab accident gives Heather Brown spider powers and six arms, she does what any midwest comic geek would do: Become Ohio's #3 superhero!
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.
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
Obelisk
Ashley McCammon
In 1908 New York, a young woman struggles to put her life back together in the wake of her father's death - until she discovers a vampire in the shambles of her inheritance.
Shaderunners
Alex Assan, Lin Darrow
A ragtag band of bootleggers open a speakeasy for bottled colour in the greyscale city of Ironwell.
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
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.
Anacrine Complex
Sae Cotton
A superhuman heist involving probably too many pigeons than entirely necessary.
Sunshine Boy
Moosopp
New-kid Kelly is sweet but naive. Luckily, he's got his outgoing neighbor Grey in his corner.
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.
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
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 (201) ¬
Yup. That’s some eldritch there.
Techno-eldritch
Wouldn’t that be Cthulhu wielding a pair of glow-stick nunchaku and dancing to a bass beat?
That’s rave-fhtaghn.
You know, that sounds suprisingly awesome! :D
There’s no sense crying over every mistake.
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
And the science gets done and you make a big gun . . .
. . . for the people who are still alive.
‘an thinkin’ they don’t have to take no mo jive.
I love all of you so much right now.
Yeah… that was a perfect moment.
Meh. Comments repeated a thousand times over across the Internet.
I pulled it off in meatspace down the pub. THAT is where it is at.
THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST
It’s a nice closer look at the people in the tubes. Just makes me wonder more. Monday can’t come fast enough!
yrs. No new info here.
Well, looking closer we can see that there’s no Bandit in there. So…you know who’s dead.
Possibly, but there’s no 6th tank visible and he called them “The Five” Which would seem to imply that Bandit is was not part of this project in the same way they are. What that means of course, who knows?
Actually, I have a different thought… There’s only five of them, but what if it’s not b\Bandit that’s missing? Think back, who is the only character out of the six that always seemed a little… asynchronous? Frigg. Even the name seems weird. What if they’re making games and these five (Byron, Syr’Nj, Gravedust, Bandit, and Payet Best in order, given the colors of their tubes seem to match their general outfits or appearances) are being forced into NPC-dom? What better way to make an immersive game? And Frigg, in this case, was the player character? Just because none of them in there are short doesn’t mean they couldn’t be a gnome. Just my idea, lemme know what you think fellow readers.
Seems to me that grey fit’s Frigg just fine…. Bandit is more likely to be the other character, perhaps player made, perhaps something else… It’s hard to tell.
Payet was the only one acting with ‘player character syndrome’ and treating people like those children as if they weren’t real, so maybe that last tank is Bandit, not Payet.
Then again, of all of the characters Bandit was the only one not to get her own introductory story, though she showed up in some of the other characters’ stories.
BYRON!!!!
Funny, now I’m thinking Alan Moore’s run on Miracleman, where the evil scientist Dr. Garzunga used reverse-engineered alien technology to create superhero-selves out of ordinary human beings kept in stasis for years.
Calling it now: Genre shift into their new game, but the actual storyline continues more or less the same.
+1;this;qft;etc
Or: These 5 are the plot NPCs of the MMO – which is how it can be so rich in the first place. Bandit was an actual player.
“Runs on lost puppies and the souls of orphans”
So.. Bacta-the-future tanks?
I like to think of them as Bacta-reality containers.
my brain….my brain….!
Uh oh. I am concerned by the quotation marks. That could mean they’re just players and H.R. is using their handles rather than their real names. Until I see pointy ears on Syr’nj, I am going to be nervous.
Byron looks a lot like a certain character from X-Men there. I’m half expecting him to pop claws and tear this place apart.
Sideburns are too short … but I see you’re point. Guild-X, perhaps?
Well, given the very Human sized ‘Gravedust’, I’m thinking them being players might be pretty on the mark unfortunately :\
I think he looks human-sized to make us wonder either way. He was only a head shorter than everyone else, and that could still be the case. It also (artistically speaking) explains why Bandit isn’t there–you could NEVER make her look human-sized without totally giving away the fact that they were players. Similarly, you could never have her in a tube at her normal size because that would clue us all in on the fact that everyone actually was from a “Real Akerra.” It’s a very well crafted “Keep everyone in suspense AGAIN” moment.
I’m holding out hope, considering all the magical hoodoo on the table. If they were just players you could go straight sci-fi. If they’re from a magical alternate universe, however . . .
Bandit is going to give byron the choice between the red potion or the blue potion later
Health potion or Mana potion . . . that’s not gonna help him get out of the rabbit hole . . .
Beard intact.
All is well.
Byron has something stuck to his chest, but Gravedust doesn’t?
It’s under his beard.
That’s what I was thinking.
First line of comic + alt text = Win.
but is this a triumph? What should I add in my notes?
HUGE SUCCESS.
Of course.
You should add,
“Achievement Unlocked!
Post the 13,000th Comment!”
Wow Phill! I daresay it must be hard to overstate your satisfaction.
I do what I must.
Hey phil. Want to justify why you completely jumped the shark?
Not to you.
Are you worried, though, that the webcomic will continue to be defined by the Licentious Adventures of Payet Best? Eight chapters in, it still dominates your output.
Tune in Monday and find out, I guess!
(I see what you did there)
Because Phil is really Fonzie. After Happy Days ended, he had to find a new calling.
So much a win that I didn’t realize until I read the alt-text that I was whistling the song. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
Or, if still going with the H.R. = Bandit theory, even if you are interacting via some kind of VR (or not) having someone bury two large axes through your avatar’s shoulder blades leaves an impression. Especially if you’ve been dismissing the “berserk” thing as just a embellishment of vanity until that moment.
But I agree, it is worrisome if they turn out to be captive players.
Not that I’m leaning this way, but I suppose it’s possible that bandit is the one in the blue/gray tube, while Frigg is in a container off to the side with much heavier restraints.
Because she’s friggin Frigg.
…I can see that, actually. Except for he keeps saying ‘five’. still, it’d make perfect sense
I agree that bandit could be the one in the blue tube. Dark blue or purple is her color, while Frigg is more of an orange type. And even floating in a nutritious fluid she seems to have some sort of stealthy pose. Oh well, perhaps it’s just my imagination…
H.R. states there are only five… Maybe Frigg is in the yellow tube, since orange would be too close to Byrons color. And, frankly, I just want to dismiss the thought that Payet is part of the group. Not only is he the only character definitely still alive, but what makes me think he isn’t part of the real ‘group of five’ is the alt-text for chapter five: “The one where the real fifth member shows up.” As I recall it, Best left and Bandit joined them.
To make up for the rather manly silhouette inside the yellow tube: Hell, Frigg is a friggin meat-shield, of course she has a more… err… robust outline. Or perhaps her player counterpart is indeed a man.
Maybe? Pretty please? I just don’t like Payet…
Hell, the prophecy he believes matches him was already shown to refer to another guy. Talking sword, loose bootstraps, remember?
So either there are some reeeeaaally good reasons why Best is still part of the group although previous chapters state otherwise, or… well… get ready, incoming errata-storm!
I maintain that he hasn’t ‘Gotten’ to two of them yet.
hence his interest in Best. I suppose Bandit has eluded him as well, which makes sense!
Go Bandit!
I think Bandit’s either dead or at large. SOMEBODY’S gotta rescue these guys. If my whole party was captured minus one person I’d want the sneaky sneaky Rogue to be the one to escape, considering they would have the best chance of getting back in and busting us out.
That is, provided they weren’t the kind of Rogue liable to watch the party die so they could loot the corpses.
Is it possible that his secretary might be Frigg?
Paperwork or gtfo.
I am almost sure that Bandit = Daedalus. First, the tie color. I also remember now when she said “I have 9 in lockpicking” when rescuing Frigg, and Syr was rather puzzled by this remark.
Some of you already noticed that H.R. face does not move a lot and is described as “reptile” looking. Maybe he is just a “nice hat” disguise for our rogue?
I rather like the grimoire and candles…
those are crazy large candles…
And if you notice, professionally dribbled.
Your name wouldn’t happen to be Nuts, would it?
Nah, I suspect it’s “Igor”. or Eegore. Or Ygor.
It’s Nutt, sir.
Mr. Nutt, how come you are here? I thought you were out training the boys for their footing-the-ball match this wednesday?
Five jars on the right.
But are they canopic?
It’s not a grimoire, it’s the tech manual.
RTFMftwfm
Read The Freakin’ Manual (for the whole freakin’ month)
“Hello, ‘Commissioner’.”
“Hello Byron. Seen any good movies lately?”
And the science get’s done
You make a sweet VR gun
For the people who are
Still in tubes
*golf clap*
heh bandits an npc, that is a bit shocking.
Ok, long time reader, first time poster in here.
I am going to take a WAG at what might be happening. Everything we have been reading so far did happen in reality (give or take a few points), but it was in the far past! the age of magic came to a cataclismic end and much of the evidence of that age is gone. The party was indeed “killed” but their bodies/bones were found with enough D.N.A. samples to clone new bodys. H.R. has found remnets of that age (the occult books and gear in first panel) and is in the process of “rez-ing” them in the modern age.
This comic’s title is starting to make some sense to me now. just how would a group of people who lived in a “midevil age” would react to today’s world.
of course all of this is just my WAG at it.
Oh, now that is an interesting take!
The idea is killed. Daedalus was watching Payet Best real time through his computer. Nice try though…
This does not necessarily kill the idea, merely suggest a ‘see back in time’ program for the PC. Granted, this does make the guess more contrived and thus less plausible, but by no means impossible.
H.R. reminds me of Dr. Brackman from Supreme Commander. Especially in the last panel with all the red.
I want tube people of my very own.
Will take better care of them then your last ones?
I believe they were called “Sea Monkeys”.
but now they’re monkey sea, monkey dead.
Sorry folks, we just can’t get the cake through the tubes.
No there really is cake. It’s moist and delicious.
Really.
Mmm. Cake. Not a lie at all. Pity you don’t DESERVE cake.
So evidently Byron is that guy from that Valvoline commercial with the righteous ’70s muscle car hair.
Hello, squarehead.
Hello, “my-mind-control-strip-is-on-your-forehead-head.”
Better squarehead than TINY HEAD! stupid priest robot.
Hair Hair Long Beautiful Hair.
…Sorry, his hair draws my eye to it for some reason. I didn’t even realize the other guy was in that frame.
it’s very well drawn hair.
Oh and those “drawers” on the side are actually servers?
looks like it. I’d been assuming they were servers already…
Somebody’s been served, alright…
I’m doing Science and I’m still alive.
Not that I’m hinting that I want Syr’Nj to say something like that…
I’d really prefer to stay inside.
…I was kidding! Let me outta the tube already!
Did they “summon” their bodies from an alternate reality and are basing the games on their “lives” from said reality? O.O
Now did he grow all of that beard while in the tube, or is his hair growth “paused”?
I would think paused, or else someone has to go in there every 3 or 4 days to shave or trim Byron’s sexy stubble.
Is it just me, or does Syr’Nj’s silhouette resemble a female Undead from WoW?
Well, I guess Parson Gotti found a way out of Erfworld.
bwahahaha
And here I was just gonna make a Matrix comment, that’s much better than what I had in mind, thank you.
Can’t believe I’m saying this, but… Monday now, please.
Is that the Necrotelicomnicon I see?
No way, man. It’s the phone book. The boss is ordering out for pizza for the whole office. Casual Friday tradition.
I’m a little thrown here. Payet hasn’t died “in game” so far as we know, so any ideas stemming off all of them having died doesn’t exactly work.
He died inside when the party rejected him.
It slew the child in his heart.
inb4cake
You missed by a lot.
As if I didn’t already have a crush on Byron. Unf.
Gravedust seems a little too tall proportionally, but otherwise, they all look very much like their characters.
Phil, are you Gravedust? :P
Are you a wife-beater?
Are you still writing about your characters?
Are we suddenly playing questions now?
Why would we start playing games with you?
Are you able to rephrase this in the form of a yes/no question?
Would you be able to?
No.
Hey, that was just a very dark moment in Hank Pym’s past! And, well, this picture made me laugh for fifteen minutes straight in it’s use in the “Comics Everybody” article on Pym’s history.
The LBFA crew is my not-so-secret webcomics crush.
Puuuurdy. Oh, and much cooler than I was thinking. I’m glad I kept the faith.
Keeping the faith and waking up with your favorite Uncle Mike standing over you naked would have sucked. Er, blown. Umm, no, well…
Just glad things are turning out non-creepy. Not that the candles and spell book aren’t creepy. They’re just creepy in a good way… …rather than in a way that might scar you for life.
Or not that there’s anything wrong with incestuous relations. I mean, for some folks that’s cool and all. It’s just that if that happened to me…
Well, to be fair, nobody wants to wake up with their favorite Uncle Mike standing over them. Not even the hillbillies. They’re more into cousins.
Nothing wrong with a little incest, as long as you keep it in the family…
Hello Byron.
You’re sleepy now.
Your silhouette is so stationary.
You’re released but your custody calls.
And I want to be free.
Don’t you want to be free?
Now that i#m thinking about it,this opens a door for many theories that they are maybe “not” players.Just to mention my favorite two:
-They could be from a Parallel world where H.R has contact to and power to manipulate things.
-or like someone above mentioned already it could be from the past of they world where magic still existed and there where time traveld in the “Present”.
Both theories would also explaine why he could make a game out of it.
In any case i hope H.R Raised them from the death and brings them back to there own world/time to fix some problems. Because then it would mean that the Fantasy world really existed and i can happyly ignore the whole future(present) world in this chapter.
Oh yeah and to all you Bandit fans out there.if they get back in “time” to fix things,Bandit would also be saved that way even though she issn’t in a tube here.that would bwe nice right?
They used to have her stored in a publicly viewable tube in the lobby until the government Bandit.
They weren’t too keynes on it. Reminded them of that fiasco with BO games a few years back.
Maybe this was the original development team. “Gravedust” sure looks like one of those crotchety old UNIX sysadmins.
So I’m glad you got burned, think of all the things we learned.
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction!
you know. . .
i think that bandit is already present on that room….
you know, like the way they used colors to show who is who…
there is something more than have a purple color there…. and if you think about it, bandit always had something different bout it… a little…. outsider
All the GlaDos stuff = WIN.
Also, Monday now please? Can has Monday now? Update now?
….please?
I must find something to torture until Monday to ease the waiting…!
C’mere Ahdok
Out of Beta and releasing on time? Sounds like Rift in two weeks!
I don’t know but i see 5 persons, but there are SIX in the story, maybe one of the is an AI or something?
Logically, the 5 we have back stories for should be the Tube Team here
Am I the only one thinking that Grimmoire has all the old pages of the comic in it? It certainly looks like it’s pictures, and not words on those pages… Twisting magical energies to make an MMO… Rather twisted.
I’d play it.
Can’t …tell…if tube Byron is as hot as regular Byron…
Also, I never would have guessed that Frigg had such a bangin’ figure. 36-24-36 Oww what a winning hand. ;)
Or is that Syr’nj? Either way, nice figure.
Depends on whether you like the nose job? ;-)
You’re right. His node is significantly smaller/more straight… I disapprove.
I like big noses and I cannot lie.
Bandit is in one of the jars on the table.
…uh oh, or several.
LOL
I’m still guessing than Bandit is the perky secretary with the upturned nose that keeps walking on her toes. Didn’t Bandit used to prance like that at times?
Gravedust’s beard: so manly that it exists in every possible reality.
Yes.
I repent for my sins. Screw ditching out for a while, I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON HERE.
John: Second (lower) panel is really nice.
“Still alive” + “we’re out of beta, we’re releasing on time” = the players survived the TPK event that ended the beta test. Couldn’t market a game that might kill the actual players, now could you?
I guess that means that Payet Best just got sent out to his certain death. Which really is his ‘destiny’, just as it was the destiny for all the beta testers. Playtime is over, everyone get out of the pool.
The pool is closed due to machinations.
No, the pool is closed because it was built by BS Johnson…
The kidney-shaped pool that had to be closed because it kept being filled with kidneys every full moon?
..and the cake goes to the artist of the page.
I don’t know, man. This is getting to where I can’t see any sensible endings to this scenario.
What the hell is going on with this Dedalus fella…?
Unless someone’s already mentioned this. I reakon Bandit was probably an NPC within the game the 5 encountered.
I’m not sure I like this twist.
I have a theory. I think Bandit is the secretary. She hate’s privilege and honesty, and she is privy to the secret.
I just have a feeling that she either channels the little gnome’s spirit or at least has something to do with her.
Just my two cents.
I agreed with you in a response further up the page. The secretary also has Bandit’s nose and her walk!
Yay! It’s nice to be validated, even if only for a few seconds, until the authors decide to pull the rug out from under all of us by telling us that Bandit didn’t actually exist, she was a figment of our imagination. That the Island from “Lost” was actually just a suburb or Orlando, and that we are actually all existing to be nothing more than Batteries for a Robotic Ubercollective in the far flung future of a dead Earth…
Yay, validation!
That’s the most consistent theory, at this point, given that we’ve confirmed that Byron in the glass tube looks just like Byron the Berserker, corroborating the general idea that the party members look like the people in the glass tube.
I’d felt sure that Payet Best was played by Dedalus, given that Dedalus was introduced watching Best, but given the closer look at the jars in this page, it seems pretty clear to me that the one on the right end is Best.
Bandit seems to be the one unaccounted for among the tubes, and she at least arguably resembles Dedalus’s assistant. There’d been almost no character development for Bandit, and she joined the group through an encounter when the rest of the group had already coalesced, so the idea that she was deployed to watch “The Five” makes sense.
If you compare hair styles then the tube contents would range from left to right: Byron, Sy’ringe, Gravedust, Frigga, and Best.
One does wonder where our little rogue is and why she isn’t in a tube along with the others. Also as much as I hate to admit it best does seem to be part of the team. If you go all the way back to the beginning and look at the cover art he’s there with the rest of them.
But so is Bandit.
I wasn’t disputing that.
Maybe Bandit is not actually an NPC, but a hacker who broke into the beta test and joined up with the others, and H.R. either couldn’t kick her out, or decided to see what happened. Gravedust’s stature is explainable by the fact we can’t see his feet, and Bandit… Maybe the hacker is a child genius, so she was just naturally short.
Which would mean Bandit’s player probably ended up in the hospital when she got murdered, or survived due to having hacked her client to remove the problem that caused near-death. And she’s not one of “the 5” because she’s either freelance, or not supposed to be there anyways.
Hey … where’s Bandit ?
” “Byron”, or, should I say, “Wolverine”…”
DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNN!
Either H.R. is Bandit or Bandit is a representative of Hurricane Inc. who’s job was to look after and guide The Five.
I’d bet a hundred-billion dollars on it.
my bet is that this is Gastonia millinia in the future and their eldritch science honed in on whatever magic Syr’nj used before she died and they chose them as subjects for their reincarnation experiments. There was a leak in the company so to cover it up they made a MMO game based on the heroes memories.
Weird how he maintains the permanent stubble even in the tube.
The color coding of the tubes is no accident. We have a man and a woman in these two tubes where we would have expected two women. The colors and genders of Byron, Syr’nj, and Gravedust’s tubes seem consistent. I won’t lie. It looks like Best is in. But who’s out? The hair and build suggest Frigg, but the color says Bandit. Or does it? Ch 8 pg 5 has Frigg wearing gray armor over a blue outfit, while Bandit’s wear is more purple. And who has a purple tie? I would hate for H.R. to be any incarnation of anyone we’ve already seen, even Best. But the stark use of colors in these otherwise sepia pages has a meaning, or else the artist is a dick.
I’m thinking the far right is Frigg, despite the look of the figure, and the reason I say that is quite frankly you can almost mistake Frigg for a guy early on in the story. So I think it’s bandit in the fourth one.
As to HR being any of them, that’s doubtful as the beginning of the chapter states where the real villain appears or whatever with HR’s silhouette. Plus he’s also on the 2010 coming to Guilded Age poster.
Still itching to see where this goes.
I like seeing byron in a more realistic drawing style
I’m kind of hoping I get the same view for all of them-especially syr’njj (not sure I spelled that right vv)
I’m a little disappointed in some of the commenters here. Why do you keep assuming that a player is going have a character who’s the same sex or body type as them? You don’t expect them to be the same species, after all!
I don’t.
But I do expect, when facing 5 player characters that each look like one of 5 game characters, for the look-alikes to correspond.
We’ve just had confirmation that the one in the glass tube who most of us thought looked like Byron actually looks exactly like Byron, and is Byron. The one in the middle looks a great deal like Gravedust. The others are, I think, less definite, but then there’s the color coding. At this point, assuming that the characters strongly resemble the people in the tubes seems a pretty well-supported conjecture.
As an aside, I frequently roleplay female characters and elven characters, despite being neither female nor an elf. So, no, I do not generally assume characters are identical to players.
Oh, and for this VR tank portion of the story, the real question is: what is the involvement of that plucky programmer from “Duel in the Somme”?
Im guessing that big blue ghostman from a few pages ago sent Best to get some magic whatsit that somehow ended up putting the group where they are now, and H.R. was simply going threw their memories the last eight or so chapters, possibly trying to find the Whatsit.
or maybe he was going*through* said memories as well. (Beats head with a dictionary.)
I’m going with the HR is Bandit theory. Bandit’s armor was mostly purple. So far, the only thing in color aside from the tubes has been his tie. Also, the different character’s tubes kinda match up to the theme of their armor colors if I remember correctly.
In the Cold Light of Day,
The colours all fade away.
We live in monotony
…nothing to say.
The “Spring break look” comment of Frigg’s makes a lot more sense now.
While i do have some doubts about the direction this comic has begun to take i will trust the authors decision in this, they have not let us down once during the length of this comic and i doubt they will let us down now! :D
Suspended animation or do they have scuba midgets shave him?
everything i know is a lie! D:
-Hello “Byron.”
He spoke as-if to say “I hate you most of all.”
This comic just grew a really, really epic beard.
Wait, so the thief isn’t an actual person?