I took the black blotches were blood, and the purple glow was the special effect at his hands, both distinct things. Also, the straight movement lines at HR’s arms in frames (frames? forgot the word) 4 and 5 seem to support Aydr’s theory.
The strength to do that one handed, lift a guy and bash him against something hard until his skull cracks open, is still pretty impressive, if that’s what happened.
Now that I think, how many people had their brains (or other part of the body, since HR has skulls) blown out and/or hearts ripped a la Mola Ram until he found someone with the right amount of crazy like Carol?
And… yup, just like Byron. People kept complaining about not berserking enough. Total party kill in a low-fantasy setting (Limb regeneration? Ressurection? Cure critical wounds? Pour that diamond dust on a bowl and eat with milk), happy now?
Now HR shows that, if ever any cultist manages to cross the Battlezone desert and reach him, he can just pull their heads with their spine still attached to it (although it would be a great honor for those guys).
Perhaps he’s already in the game, and he’s created some rudimentary AI to run his body while he’s gone?
Sudden shift in behavior, offsetting responsibility to Carol. It would make sense for him to give the AI a primary set of protocols involving taking care of the body, explaining the apple and the shower. A secondary set of protocols for what to do if the pods are discovered.
He’s already populated an entire world with fully sapient intelligences. He’s said that most of his difficulties with getting the desired result have to do with discrepancies between the world he’s working in and the world he’s trying to influence. It’s likely well within his abilities to put together a crude mind lacking the complexity of personhood, and in the time since he put those pods together perhaps he’s advanced his understanding to the point where he can enter Arkerra without them.
What are you saying that ? He just got a pat from the boss, isn’t that an attendance bonus ? Okay, HR have quite a definitive definition of “pat”, but still.
This is absolutely NOT what I expected. O_O Straight up killing the guy is beyond anything sane, especially where he can silence him without killing him while using him to further his agenda.
There’s no guarantee that he would have said anything to the authorities. Not to mention that we don’t actually know if the universe that HR “created” was actually created by him, or just discovered. In addition to that, killing someone that’s innocent is still evil, whether or not its for a good cause. Lesser evil is still evil… and my last point is, with all the power HR has, he could have just as easily locked Ferris away instead of killing him.
I take your point on protecting the other universe, but that doesn’t seem to be motivating HR to do this AT ALL. It’s as if he knew Ferris would walk in here and is dispassionately executing some (parts of a?) bigger plan.
My original thought was that he looks so very tired, the lines on his forehead, the slow drooping of his features. The look of a man who wishes he could just stop, but knows things can’t go back the way they were. Remorse could be a part of that certainly.
huh? what this? so many comments and not one..not one is suggesting that this is not really H.R.? Even after the glowing hand thing? It could be one of the chaos Cultist instead. I mean,they seem to have crossed dimensions so a little illusion spell should be nothing i guess.
Of course i could be obviously wrong about this.its just a the first thought that crossed my mind when i saw this.
Well any good shapechanger studies it Preys before taking its places.who knows how long the cultists are already there (if they are there)? There is also the possibiliity that the cultists traveled a little through time too and landed in the past so they had enough time to studying they behaviour and gimmicks.
Just food for thoughts.
I could make a few, but I’m kinda burned out on hand puns. In our local LARP game, one of the players defeated a dragon in single combat, but it ate his hand in the process. The newspaper dealt with the story by printing this
Holy crap. Did NOT see that coming. After what Ferris was saying to his coworkers and what he was thinking right before going down the elevator, I was starting to think he’d have been HR’s next most valuable ally.
Or at least I would have liked to have seen more of him in the comic later. It was endearing to see him stick up for HR while knowing very little and being kept in the dark just as much as the rest of his coworkers.
I do wonder what Carol’s reaction to this is going to be…
a)In other news, Google launches multi-billion-dollar suit against Hurricane software for trademark infringement and brand dilution as regards Google’s popular internet video provider.
b) Eh, still better than any other HR manager I know.
“When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you” I think while HR was busy staring into the game world something was busy staring back at him
I believe he is taking on the persona of the Creator/Death God of Arkerra, going by the old trope of fantasy worlds that having followers is what gives a god their powers… and didn’t recently a mass of cultists contact their god via sacrifice, and it turned out to be HR? I feel an Epic fight for the heroes to return to their real world to stop this new “God”
HR’s actions still have yet to affect the primary narrative. The tube room as a plot cul-de-sac is batting 1000. The audience comes out at exactly the same point at which they went in. Nothing in sepia world means anything except to people in sepia world, and the people in sepia world are almost all tedious and unsympathetic.
Like an appendix flailing around in the story space? I disagree, and I don’t think you can complain about sepia world’s existence just yet. Sepia world’s development so far is underwhelming but given how little we’ve seen of it, it’s fairly compelling in its own right. It also has already affected Arkerra a few times, though the details aren’t clear. More importantly, bear in mind that this webcomic is likely just starting to reach the bulk of the story; it’s called Guilded Age and yet the featuring guild(s?) has only just been established. I salute the authors for going farther with universe building than just a decently-written fantasy world. The sense of impending spectacular collision between the worlds adds suspense to the narrative. Woe unto the authors, of course, if they fail to meet our expectations of intruige and epicness! I don’t expect that to happen though, and I’m happy to give GA all the time it needs to unfold.
I invite you to point out any of the occasions when any actions taken in sepia world have had any effect on any of the protagonists in Arkerra. Be specific, I’m ready to be enlightened.
We’ve farted around in the tube room for two and a half years. One of Guilded Age’s strengths is it’s dependable and frequent update schedule, so those 18 months have been dense with activity–in Arkerra. Character deaths, character debuts, factional disputes, curses and cures, origin stories, combat, comradeship, love, lust, and jealousy. In Sepia world it has been completely static. Glowing tubes and malaise. I think everyone’s patience has been quite thoroughly tested by the sepia world story.
Well, there was the time they all got put in the tubes and their souls were transferred to Arkherra. That was a thing.
There was also the time the cultists opened a portal to an in-development realm.
Could both of those events have occured without ever mentioning Hurricane Entertainment? Yeah. But they would have had a very different meaning. The same events would have occured, but it wouldn’t have been the same *story*.
There have also been a few times when the events in Arkerra have affected Hurricane Entertainment. Payet Best’s death, Gravedust’s party resurrection, and to a lesser extent the attack on the wood elven homeland were all events that reached outside of Arkerra in their sphere of influence, and I believe that in itself is extremely important.
I think it’s interesting, from a which-part-of-the-story-really-matters point of view, that it’s easier to come up with definite concrete ways that Arkerra has affected Hurricane Entertainment than vice-versa. We don’t even know for sure that these characters have the connection to the players in the tubes that HR thinks they have. Certainly they don’t seem to *remember* sepia world. They remember children’s tales of dwarven treasure, cities burned to the ground by orcs, and judgementalism of parents and kings that drove them away from home. They’ve never once asked another character to contact the police.
If one of the two realms is “fake,” I’m pretty sure I know which one it is.
So sepia world is the fake one, it can’t affect Arkerra, but Arkerra can affect it, the characters are static to the point of coma, and story progress is measured in presidential terms. Why do we need it again?
And strictly speaking, we were introduced to all the protagonists ages before they were put in tubes. We didn’t need that “origin” anymore we’d need to see the character’s parents first date. The Arkerra story existed before sepia world, and sepia world has added zero story complications to it. If Arkerra is the world where all the good stuff, the interesting stuff happens, why do we need sepia world/
It’s rhetorical, Phil. I’m trying to figure out what purpose it serves in the narrative. The fact that it’s functioned as a plot cul-de-sac each and every time we’ve visited it seems to suggest you’re not sure yourself. If you compare how much the protagonists in Arkerra have evolved and changed over the past 18 months, compared with how static sepia world is, it’s a pretty severe dichotomy.
It’s funny, I keep saying 18 months, but it’s actually like 30, since “Sepia World” was introduced. With the admirably dependable update schedule (best on the net) Guilded Age has, I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to have expected something to connect these two narratives by now.
The content of Sepia World is experimental. The content of Arkerra is not.
That’s pretty much the purpose.
Sepia World has its own narrative, Arkerra has its own narrative, they are currently linked together rather tangentially, but as with the Arkerran narrative itself, it’s a slow build into what it will eventually become when the two worlds cross over. I mean, c’mon: It took us four years for the protagonists to actually form a guild and even now, it’s still in the beuaracratic development stage.
The scope of the stories we want to tell with the whole of Guilded Age means that sometimes we will be focusing on things not strictly related to the main characters, and that overall the saga goes at a pretty slow pace. We would also argue that HR and Carol count amongst the main characters, and so their development is slow because we know you guys generally prefer that we focus on Arkerra. So we develop it when we can afford the time and try to make it as interesting as possible. I think we’d also argue that HR and Carol have gone through a bunch of changes as well, but they’re certainly more subtle, and might not be seen if one’s predisposed against it.
But I’d rather you not say things like “I think everyone’s patience has been tested,” because you don’t speak for everyone. There’s quite a few other people in the comments thread you can see here that seem to be enjoying it. And other trusted critics of mine tell me “I definitely want to see more Sepia World stuff.”
So Sepia World is here to stay, it has a purpose, one that will become more clear sooner than later. Yes, it’s rather obtuse because it’s all part of the experiment we’re conducting with our little artistic opus here, and as such We’re taking a little longer to get there than we initially anticipated, but that’s comics for you. We’re going to continue making it as interesting as possible and tell the kind of story we want to tell with it, but I gotta say: I’d really appreciate it a lot if we didn’t keep re-opening this wound over and over again, because this is it, your final answer to your question “Why do we have Sepia World?”:
Because we have a purpose for it and it’s admittedly very experimental, so it might not always hit the mark exactly, but we’re doing the best we can to balance the both of them. It was a part of the plan for Guilded Age since we started writing Chapter 1. We didn’t just throw it in for funsies, as many still suspect we did. Everything in Guilded Age is a big experiment, and I think it’s a little more fair to wait until the end until we start deciding if it’s a success or failure (not that we don’t appreciate the feedback during the process, because changing course is always a valid option).
And as we’re in the middle of Chapter 25 out of a currently slated 60… yeah, it’s going to take some more time.
I hope this satisfies your inquiries on the matter. You’re a very sharp reader, so I always take your feedback into consideration.
It’s admirable that you feel it necessary to try and give me insight as to where the story’s going, and I appreciate your hands-on approach in this matter. I hope you understand that a critic can only really criticize something he’s passionate about, and I’m not just looking for stuff on the internet to hate on.
That said, I don’t really expect direct explanations from the author when I’m commenting on the way a serial narrative is progressing. It’s a little weird, but mostly, it’s not really ideal with regards to getting some kind of resolution from a story. You obviously aren’t going to tell me a bunch of secret content from a year in the future (and no one could reasonably expect that), so all you can really do is tell me that yes, you have a plan, and please be patient. This is reasonable, certainly, but my options, as part of the audience, is pretty much limited to that anyway. Either I’m being patient, or I’m not reading the comic anymore. If I’m commenting, if I’m examining, I’m invested. When I stop pulling threads, it’s because I gave up. What that means to your bottom line is negligible (I’ve never bought anything directly from the site, but I might in the future). You aren’t making the strip for me, specifically, and I totally get that.
But I’m also not sure why I should sit on my hands if I have some measure of insight to bring to the comments section. My complaints have been consistent because my complaints have been consistent. If it feels like I’ve been saying the same stuff about sepia world for two years, that’s because it’s been, for me, a consistently familiar and disappointing aspect of the strip for two years. My complaints haven’t changed much because that whole section of the strip hasn’t changed much.
I know I’m not everyone, and saying “everyone” when I really mean me is hyperbole. But on some level I suspect I’m not alone when I see a page update that takes place in Sepia world. I mean, if I’m not representative of what the readers are feeling, then why would my complaints comprise a “wound” being opened? Who cares what I say? If I’m more-or-less alone in my opinion, who are these “many” who think that Sepia World was ‘thrown in?’ It might be your contention that HR and Carol are now part of the main cast, but if you had a poll where you asked people who the character was that they most identified with, or thought was the sexiest, or was most like a character they’d like to play in an RPG, or who was the most conflicted, or was the biggest badass, or who was the most interesting underdog, or even just who they wanted to get more panel time, I don’t know that HR or Carol would crack the top 10. Maybe I’m wrong. But there are characters who’ve had 1/10th the panel time as those two who I’m not disappointed to see on panel. I was serious when I said that the few panels of Carol getting out of her debris-strewn car did more for the character than the previous two years of updates. She now budges the needle on the “give-a-shit-o-meter.” But what big reveals have we seen from HR? A lot of the people commenting seem surprised by the purple glow coming from HR’s hand. But we’ve known he could do magic since March of 2011. I admit freely I’m tired of seeing the same reveals every year, it feels like you’re perpetually restating what the character’s about for new readers. But I’ve read those beats already. I’ve seen him make the hands glow. I’ve seen him be casual with human life. You showed it already. Sure, he killed a guy, but so has virtually every other character ever on panel. For the guy who we were told was “the real villain” 30 months ago, he hasn’t done anything to remotely deserve that hype-job. I don’t think that’s an unfair position to take. It’s also not too likely I can save all my criticism for when the story is complete. It’s not a super-practical option for a serialized narrative. I will happily eat my words if something renders all my previous criticism invalid, or (more likely) point out whenever I see something I feel has particularly improved.
It is what it is. If you feel like the sepia world “experiment” is as interesting as Arkerra, (or will soon be); if you’re satisfied in the direction it’s going, and the majority of readers are, then you can and should ignore me right into the ground.
If you are having trouble with the pacing or structure or characterization of the Sepia World characters, then why would you want people (I mean me, I am the people I mean) to stop asking questions about where it’s going? Isn’t it a reasonable thing for a fan to consider where the story is headed? Isn’t that the sign of someone invested in the story? From my own limited experience, I find that the right question is more helpful to the writing process than the most lavish praise. I’m just gonna keep moving forward like always. If my feedback is respectful (as I intend for it to be), you shouldn’t lose any sleep over it. I’m a fan, and I think you know it.
TL:DR I appreciate your willingness to engage me directly with my concerns, I understand I’m just one voice who is in no way entitled to disappointment-free free entertainment. I understand you have a plan for Sepia World, and I don’t expect the Sepia-World portions of the story to be cut (nor did I ever). I hope that your enthusiasm for the Sepia World segments will soon translate into a more dynamic storyline, and I don’t intend to stop questioning every aspect of the strip I feel like questioning, as long as I can do so with clarity and respect.
Good observation! I’m very patient however, so if this is all just a huge build up to something significant much further down the line, then I’m willing to wait. Suspense is a useful literary tool, even if you can sometimes guess where it’s going.
This isn’t quirky and eccentric at ALL. H.R. Pufnstuf has Taken a Level in Grimdark!
I appreciate the fact that despite using some form of arcanery to make his hand glow, he just brute-forced the guys skull into the glass. Truly an artist.
Ok Peeps you may disagree with me, but there’s a possibility that HR has transcended to godhood in Arkerra and is using his knowledge of techo-magic to actually insert Ferris into the other-scape that the god of the cultists (HR?) now inhabits for-reals. Kind-of-like “well human sacrifice is all well and good in an artificially created universe when your just dealing with ones and zeros, but this has gotten to the point of needing real sacrifices from Real Life. Has HR finally succeeded in opening the door to a universe inhabited by H.P. Lovecraft-like “Old Dark Ones???” Inquiring minds want to know!!!
If there is proof a God exists, it is certainly shown by the miracle I had stumbling across this comic yesterday. Due to its crack-like qualities, I went through all of it in one night, and am now sad for catching up to present. I can only eagerly await for my RSS reader to tell me of the newest update, for this is certainly one of the best comics to grace the internet, and I could always use an awesome comic in my life. Thank you very much for making this :)
Good stories contain characters who fit a certain persona. They don’t drastically change behavior, they don’t behave erratically one moment and thoughtfully the next. This doesn’t fit his standard behavioral pattern. This has just lost value..
You seriously didn’t see the clear downward spiral, the desperation, the flaunting of laws of both God and man, that led to this moment?
Were you reading a different comic?
Let’s also not forget to note the tie’s change in color scheme. From a solid purple to striped with black. The symbolism of the tie, while never fully explained, has always meant HR. Now that it has two colors in it, well, who’s to say that HR’s fully in control of himself at this point?
and its always possible that HR is posessed in some fashion. he’s playing with dark powers, making deals in the dark with the creatures in the closet….this guy is asking for posession XD
Just because you COULD do something doesn’t mean you will do something. Or should do something. Or would even want to do something.
I mean, I could donate all my worldly possessions to charity and live in a monastery. I could drive my car at top speed through the mall food court during the holiday rush. I could do all sorts of things. But I probably won’t.
I’m not surprised H.R. went insane. After seeing the full color world of Arkerra, he can’t stand living the rest of his life in sepia. He’ll do anything to bring all those colors into his world.
I wonder if the same kind of thing happened to the developers of Technicolor, back when our world was black-and-white?
Did you notice how shocked Ferris was to see H.R.’s purple tie? And it wasn’t seeing the bodies in the tanks that shook him. It was seeing all that colorful liquid.
YOUR HEAD ASPLODE
10 seconds… the pain begins.
15 seconds… you can’t breathe.
20 seconds… you explode.
You do know he’s being repeatedly slammed into the tube, right? Not just being choked.
Either that tube is glowy-er than I thought, or that ain’t blood.
I took the black blotches were blood, and the purple glow was the special effect at his hands, both distinct things. Also, the straight movement lines at HR’s arms in frames (frames? forgot the word) 4 and 5 seem to support Aydr’s theory.
Panels?
Oh yep, death by skull-asplode-itis.
Speaking of which, I doubt Byron will be happy having blood, brain, and other bits on his stasis tank.
The strength to do that one handed, lift a guy and bash him against something hard until his skull cracks open, is still pretty impressive, if that’s what happened.
It seems like H.R. isn’t really that happy about what he did in the last panel either…
Ferris has been taken off the wheel of life.
This ride is officially over.
Ouch.
WOW, this shit just got real…
Holy crap!
Now, what’s he going to do with the body?
Extra spell components, yay!
Now that I think, how many people had their brains (or other part of the body, since HR has skulls) blown out and/or hearts ripped a la Mola Ram until he found someone with the right amount of crazy like Carol?
And… yup, just like Byron. People kept complaining about not berserking enough. Total party kill in a low-fantasy setting (Limb regeneration? Ressurection? Cure critical wounds? Pour that diamond dust on a bowl and eat with milk), happy now?
Now HR shows that, if ever any cultist manages to cross the Battlezone desert and reach him, he can just pull their heads with their spine still attached to it (although it would be a great honor for those guys).
Eh, you can just BUY skulls.
But that doesn’t have the same artistic value, plus it’s hard find a source of proper fatalistic terror anymore…
Eat it… duh.
What to do with the body?
Well, that just brings a whole new meaning to “human resources.”
“It was all there in the job title: The head of ‘Human Resources’.” – Doctor Who.
Put dead body in one of the game jars: instant zombie invasion world event.
A place for everything, and everything in it’s place.
everything.
right where it belongs.
Why it is a possible sign he’s gone 100% off the deep end, do note the glowing hand. With great madness comes great power.
I wonder if that’s still HR we’re looking at. He acts and sounds like an automaton. Or a simulacrum.
D: It’s a pod person. You’re next. YOU’RE NEXT!
Lights are on, but HR isn’t home. He’s busy elsewhere, please leave a voicemail and a GM will send you a message.
or he’s a cultist!
He could either be the Cultist that was sacrificed, or maybe… just maybe…
He’s Best. And really angry.
Perhaps he’s already in the game, and he’s created some rudimentary AI to run his body while he’s gone?
Sudden shift in behavior, offsetting responsibility to Carol. It would make sense for him to give the AI a primary set of protocols involving taking care of the body, explaining the apple and the shower. A secondary set of protocols for what to do if the pods are discovered.
He’s already populated an entire world with fully sapient intelligences. He’s said that most of his difficulties with getting the desired result have to do with discrepancies between the world he’s working in and the world he’s trying to influence. It’s likely well within his abilities to put together a crude mind lacking the complexity of personhood, and in the time since he put those pods together perhaps he’s advanced his understanding to the point where he can enter Arkerra without them.
The shadow in the closet got him.
That was my guess too. The sudden change in personality certainly seems to support that theory.
What shadow?
I think he gone beyond the deep end, he’s got the reactors at 110% and and diving with a 90 degree down bubble.
Yep, he’s showing all the signs of sinking to the LOWEST depths…
oh shit.
he’s not giving up at all.
he’s done it. he’s going inside, and he’s reaching godhood in the process.
shit, meet fan. fan, do your thing!
You splatter it right round, baby, right round!
Like a shitstorm baby
Round round round round!
So much for that attendance bonus…
What are you saying that ? He just got a pat from the boss, isn’t that an attendance bonus ? Okay, HR have quite a definitive definition of “pat”, but still.
Who says he’s not getting that raise anyway ?
don’t worry, Ferris is due a raise. he just needs to hope its a raise dead.
win
This is absolutely NOT what I expected. O_O Straight up killing the guy is beyond anything sane, especially where he can silence him without killing him while using him to further his agenda.
Maybe killing him does further his agenda
Don’t be ridiculous. If HR was still going to get some use out of him he’d just be transfered to another department, not fired.
you’re thinking corporate level. HR is thinking apotheosis level.
Funny thing is, the living tend to get kinda upset when you plan to play with their skull (specially their entrails)
Well, it’s been established now that he’s not suicidal.
Also, whatever he’s going to do, he’s doing it tonight. And he doesn’t want Carol in the blast radius.
/agree
oh
You said it.
Why is William H. Macy kersploding people?
Because Bill Macy is a BAMF.
I always wonder if William H. Macy knows about his likeness being utilized here.
Asked that last page
Yeah, so that just put HR well into that “definitely evil and needs to be stopped” zone.
I dunno. I see his point of view. One life isn’t worth the authorities possibly destroying an entire universe when they find it.
There’s no guarantee that he would have said anything to the authorities. Not to mention that we don’t actually know if the universe that HR “created” was actually created by him, or just discovered. In addition to that, killing someone that’s innocent is still evil, whether or not its for a good cause. Lesser evil is still evil… and my last point is, with all the power HR has, he could have just as easily locked Ferris away instead of killing him.
I take your point on protecting the other universe, but that doesn’t seem to be motivating HR to do this AT ALL. It’s as if he knew Ferris would walk in here and is dispassionately executing some (parts of a?) bigger plan.
Ow shit … :s When Ferris doesn’t show up at home, doesn’t answer calls and all … HR going to be in for a surprise when Police officers show up.
and the police are going to be in for a few surprises when HR repeats the process to them…
Does anyone else think he looks somewhat… remorseful in that last panel? Like, he didn’t want to do it, but he felt it was the only way.
I mean, either ways, he’s gone past the point of redemption with this one.
My original thought was that he looks so very tired, the lines on his forehead, the slow drooping of his features. The look of a man who wishes he could just stop, but knows things can’t go back the way they were. Remorse could be a part of that certainly.
‘We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.’
HMMMMMMMMM. A HINT PERHAPS?
I read it as more of standard farewell when your employment has been terminated. Still, undead would be interesting.
I don’t know, the “It’s never fun terminating employees”, while hilarious, also seems… pretty terminal. =/
There -is- also the matter of blood splattering everywhere. You don’t tend to do this when you go unconscious.
Future endeavors: bleeding out, moldering, feeding the rats by the Dumpsters.
As these days, “future endeavors” often means “years of unemployment”, it’s just a hollow phrase.
Man, H.R. As if I NEEDED any more reasons to dislike you.
I know, right? That tie is just hideous.
You just crossed the line.
huh? what this? so many comments and not one..not one is suggesting that this is not really H.R.? Even after the glowing hand thing? It could be one of the chaos Cultist instead. I mean,they seem to have crossed dimensions so a little illusion spell should be nothing i guess.
Of course i could be obviously wrong about this.its just a the first thought that crossed my mind when i saw this.
Well, HR had been studying magic for a long time too.
And, I mean, that one-liner is a dead giveaway that it’s really HR, if there were any doubt.
Well any good shapechanger studies it Preys before taking its places.who knows how long the cultists are already there (if they are there)? There is also the possibiliity that the cultists traveled a little through time too and landed in the past so they had enough time to studying they behaviour and gimmicks.
Just food for thoughts.
Everything’s still sepia colored, except for the red tube of course, and the purple glowy death hand. And the purple tie. Wait … the purple tie?!
OH GAWRSHK – THE TIE IS HIS POWER SOURCE!!
Gives new meaning to the term “Power Tie” then… :-D
My first thought was that HR has gained Psycho Powers, like M. Bison.
And then I really wanted to see him in massive shoulder pads and a cape…
you’re not being fired, you’re being demised.
Mmm. Hand Puns.
I could make a few, but I’m kinda burned out on hand puns. In our local LARP game, one of the players defeated a dragon in single combat, but it ate his hand in the process. The newspaper dealt with the story by printing this
Maybe he just knocked Ferris out?
I mean, its possible, that’s a lot of blood, but its possible.
Or maybe he is capturing his soul for use…
Wow, talk about unlawful termination.
more like a compulsary retirement:)
“I find your lack of faith… disturbing.“
That’s not a handkerchief, it’s a neckerchief!
well okay, Moral Event Horizon complete!
Holy crap. Did NOT see that coming. After what Ferris was saying to his coworkers and what he was thinking right before going down the elevator, I was starting to think he’d have been HR’s next most valuable ally.
Or at least I would have liked to have seen more of him in the comic later. It was endearing to see him stick up for HR while knowing very little and being kept in the dark just as much as the rest of his coworkers.
I do wonder what Carol’s reaction to this is going to be…
You uhh…
What?
You got a little … blood (points at face)
Here?
Other side.
Oh, That got it?
Yeah.
a)In other news, Google launches multi-billion-dollar suit against Hurricane software for trademark infringement and brand dilution as regards Google’s popular internet video provider.
b) Eh, still better than any other HR manager I know.
Hmm, what if HR didn’t kill him, but just (magically) pushed him into an empty tube?
“When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you” I think while HR was busy staring into the game world something was busy staring back at him
Computer: [HR] has killed [Ferris]
Computer: Components acquired. Opening Portal to Arkerra.
HR: Excellent.
Wow, Mr Macy has really gone off the shallow end, hasn’t he?
I’m not sure what to write as I didn´t saw that coming. o-o
I think he planned this…
So much for that attendance bonus…
I believe he is taking on the persona of the Creator/Death God of Arkerra, going by the old trope of fantasy worlds that having followers is what gives a god their powers… and didn’t recently a mass of cultists contact their god via sacrifice, and it turned out to be HR? I feel an Epic fight for the heroes to return to their real world to stop this new “God”
This is why his tie is purple.
It is the source of his power! It is possessed! And is choking the sanity out of him!
So it’s an executive power tie?
Well, at least Ferris didn’t end up stuck in a tube.
HR’s actions still have yet to affect the primary narrative. The tube room as a plot cul-de-sac is batting 1000. The audience comes out at exactly the same point at which they went in. Nothing in sepia world means anything except to people in sepia world, and the people in sepia world are almost all tedious and unsympathetic.
Like an appendix flailing around in the story space? I disagree, and I don’t think you can complain about sepia world’s existence just yet. Sepia world’s development so far is underwhelming but given how little we’ve seen of it, it’s fairly compelling in its own right. It also has already affected Arkerra a few times, though the details aren’t clear. More importantly, bear in mind that this webcomic is likely just starting to reach the bulk of the story; it’s called Guilded Age and yet the featuring guild(s?) has only just been established. I salute the authors for going farther with universe building than just a decently-written fantasy world. The sense of impending spectacular collision between the worlds adds suspense to the narrative. Woe unto the authors, of course, if they fail to meet our expectations of intruige and epicness! I don’t expect that to happen though, and I’m happy to give GA all the time it needs to unfold.
I invite you to point out any of the occasions when any actions taken in sepia world have had any effect on any of the protagonists in Arkerra. Be specific, I’m ready to be enlightened.
We’ve farted around in the tube room for two and a half years. One of Guilded Age’s strengths is it’s dependable and frequent update schedule, so those 18 months have been dense with activity–in Arkerra. Character deaths, character debuts, factional disputes, curses and cures, origin stories, combat, comradeship, love, lust, and jealousy. In Sepia world it has been completely static. Glowing tubes and malaise. I think everyone’s patience has been quite thoroughly tested by the sepia world story.
Well, there was the time they all got put in the tubes and their souls were transferred to Arkherra. That was a thing.
There was also the time the cultists opened a portal to an in-development realm.
Could both of those events have occured without ever mentioning Hurricane Entertainment? Yeah. But they would have had a very different meaning. The same events would have occured, but it wouldn’t have been the same *story*.
There have also been a few times when the events in Arkerra have affected Hurricane Entertainment. Payet Best’s death, Gravedust’s party resurrection, and to a lesser extent the attack on the wood elven homeland were all events that reached outside of Arkerra in their sphere of influence, and I believe that in itself is extremely important.
I think it’s interesting, from a which-part-of-the-story-really-matters point of view, that it’s easier to come up with definite concrete ways that Arkerra has affected Hurricane Entertainment than vice-versa. We don’t even know for sure that these characters have the connection to the players in the tubes that HR thinks they have. Certainly they don’t seem to *remember* sepia world. They remember children’s tales of dwarven treasure, cities burned to the ground by orcs, and judgementalism of parents and kings that drove them away from home. They’ve never once asked another character to contact the police.
If one of the two realms is “fake,” I’m pretty sure I know which one it is.
So sepia world is the fake one, it can’t affect Arkerra, but Arkerra can affect it, the characters are static to the point of coma, and story progress is measured in presidential terms. Why do we need it again?
And strictly speaking, we were introduced to all the protagonists ages before they were put in tubes. We didn’t need that “origin” anymore we’d need to see the character’s parents first date. The Arkerra story existed before sepia world, and sepia world has added zero story complications to it. If Arkerra is the world where all the good stuff, the interesting stuff happens, why do we need sepia world/
It’s not going anywhere, so I don’t really understand why you keep asking the question, “Do we really need it?”
It’s rhetorical, Phil. I’m trying to figure out what purpose it serves in the narrative. The fact that it’s functioned as a plot cul-de-sac each and every time we’ve visited it seems to suggest you’re not sure yourself. If you compare how much the protagonists in Arkerra have evolved and changed over the past 18 months, compared with how static sepia world is, it’s a pretty severe dichotomy.
It’s funny, I keep saying 18 months, but it’s actually like 30, since “Sepia World” was introduced. With the admirably dependable update schedule (best on the net) Guilded Age has, I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to have expected something to connect these two narratives by now.
The content of Sepia World is experimental. The content of Arkerra is not.
That’s pretty much the purpose.
Sepia World has its own narrative, Arkerra has its own narrative, they are currently linked together rather tangentially, but as with the Arkerran narrative itself, it’s a slow build into what it will eventually become when the two worlds cross over. I mean, c’mon: It took us four years for the protagonists to actually form a guild and even now, it’s still in the beuaracratic development stage.
The scope of the stories we want to tell with the whole of Guilded Age means that sometimes we will be focusing on things not strictly related to the main characters, and that overall the saga goes at a pretty slow pace. We would also argue that HR and Carol count amongst the main characters, and so their development is slow because we know you guys generally prefer that we focus on Arkerra. So we develop it when we can afford the time and try to make it as interesting as possible. I think we’d also argue that HR and Carol have gone through a bunch of changes as well, but they’re certainly more subtle, and might not be seen if one’s predisposed against it.
But I’d rather you not say things like “I think everyone’s patience has been tested,” because you don’t speak for everyone. There’s quite a few other people in the comments thread you can see here that seem to be enjoying it. And other trusted critics of mine tell me “I definitely want to see more Sepia World stuff.”
So Sepia World is here to stay, it has a purpose, one that will become more clear sooner than later. Yes, it’s rather obtuse because it’s all part of the experiment we’re conducting with our little artistic opus here, and as such We’re taking a little longer to get there than we initially anticipated, but that’s comics for you. We’re going to continue making it as interesting as possible and tell the kind of story we want to tell with it, but I gotta say: I’d really appreciate it a lot if we didn’t keep re-opening this wound over and over again, because this is it, your final answer to your question “Why do we have Sepia World?”:
Because we have a purpose for it and it’s admittedly very experimental, so it might not always hit the mark exactly, but we’re doing the best we can to balance the both of them. It was a part of the plan for Guilded Age since we started writing Chapter 1. We didn’t just throw it in for funsies, as many still suspect we did. Everything in Guilded Age is a big experiment, and I think it’s a little more fair to wait until the end until we start deciding if it’s a success or failure (not that we don’t appreciate the feedback during the process, because changing course is always a valid option).
And as we’re in the middle of Chapter 25 out of a currently slated 60… yeah, it’s going to take some more time.
I hope this satisfies your inquiries on the matter. You’re a very sharp reader, so I always take your feedback into consideration.
It’s admirable that you feel it necessary to try and give me insight as to where the story’s going, and I appreciate your hands-on approach in this matter. I hope you understand that a critic can only really criticize something he’s passionate about, and I’m not just looking for stuff on the internet to hate on.
That said, I don’t really expect direct explanations from the author when I’m commenting on the way a serial narrative is progressing. It’s a little weird, but mostly, it’s not really ideal with regards to getting some kind of resolution from a story. You obviously aren’t going to tell me a bunch of secret content from a year in the future (and no one could reasonably expect that), so all you can really do is tell me that yes, you have a plan, and please be patient. This is reasonable, certainly, but my options, as part of the audience, is pretty much limited to that anyway. Either I’m being patient, or I’m not reading the comic anymore. If I’m commenting, if I’m examining, I’m invested. When I stop pulling threads, it’s because I gave up. What that means to your bottom line is negligible (I’ve never bought anything directly from the site, but I might in the future). You aren’t making the strip for me, specifically, and I totally get that.
But I’m also not sure why I should sit on my hands if I have some measure of insight to bring to the comments section. My complaints have been consistent because my complaints have been consistent. If it feels like I’ve been saying the same stuff about sepia world for two years, that’s because it’s been, for me, a consistently familiar and disappointing aspect of the strip for two years. My complaints haven’t changed much because that whole section of the strip hasn’t changed much.
I know I’m not everyone, and saying “everyone” when I really mean me is hyperbole. But on some level I suspect I’m not alone when I see a page update that takes place in Sepia world. I mean, if I’m not representative of what the readers are feeling, then why would my complaints comprise a “wound” being opened? Who cares what I say? If I’m more-or-less alone in my opinion, who are these “many” who think that Sepia World was ‘thrown in?’ It might be your contention that HR and Carol are now part of the main cast, but if you had a poll where you asked people who the character was that they most identified with, or thought was the sexiest, or was most like a character they’d like to play in an RPG, or who was the most conflicted, or was the biggest badass, or who was the most interesting underdog, or even just who they wanted to get more panel time, I don’t know that HR or Carol would crack the top 10. Maybe I’m wrong. But there are characters who’ve had 1/10th the panel time as those two who I’m not disappointed to see on panel. I was serious when I said that the few panels of Carol getting out of her debris-strewn car did more for the character than the previous two years of updates. She now budges the needle on the “give-a-shit-o-meter.” But what big reveals have we seen from HR? A lot of the people commenting seem surprised by the purple glow coming from HR’s hand. But we’ve known he could do magic since March of 2011. I admit freely I’m tired of seeing the same reveals every year, it feels like you’re perpetually restating what the character’s about for new readers. But I’ve read those beats already. I’ve seen him make the hands glow. I’ve seen him be casual with human life. You showed it already. Sure, he killed a guy, but so has virtually every other character ever on panel. For the guy who we were told was “the real villain” 30 months ago, he hasn’t done anything to remotely deserve that hype-job. I don’t think that’s an unfair position to take. It’s also not too likely I can save all my criticism for when the story is complete. It’s not a super-practical option for a serialized narrative. I will happily eat my words if something renders all my previous criticism invalid, or (more likely) point out whenever I see something I feel has particularly improved.
It is what it is. If you feel like the sepia world “experiment” is as interesting as Arkerra, (or will soon be); if you’re satisfied in the direction it’s going, and the majority of readers are, then you can and should ignore me right into the ground.
If you are having trouble with the pacing or structure or characterization of the Sepia World characters, then why would you want people (I mean me, I am the people I mean) to stop asking questions about where it’s going? Isn’t it a reasonable thing for a fan to consider where the story is headed? Isn’t that the sign of someone invested in the story? From my own limited experience, I find that the right question is more helpful to the writing process than the most lavish praise. I’m just gonna keep moving forward like always. If my feedback is respectful (as I intend for it to be), you shouldn’t lose any sleep over it. I’m a fan, and I think you know it.
TL:DR I appreciate your willingness to engage me directly with my concerns, I understand I’m just one voice who is in no way entitled to disappointment-free free entertainment. I understand you have a plan for Sepia World, and I don’t expect the Sepia-World portions of the story to be cut (nor did I ever). I hope that your enthusiasm for the Sepia World segments will soon translate into a more dynamic storyline, and I don’t intend to stop questioning every aspect of the strip I feel like questioning, as long as I can do so with clarity and respect.
Good observation! I’m very patient however, so if this is all just a huge build up to something significant much further down the line, then I’m willing to wait. Suspense is a useful literary tool, even if you can sometimes guess where it’s going.
I just hope we don’t get a tri-colored ending. :P
This isn’t quirky and eccentric at ALL. H.R. Pufnstuf has Taken a Level in Grimdark!
I appreciate the fact that despite using some form of arcanery to make his hand glow, he just brute-forced the guys skull into the glass. Truly an artist.
Ok Peeps you may disagree with me, but there’s a possibility that HR has transcended to godhood in Arkerra and is using his knowledge of techo-magic to actually insert Ferris into the other-scape that the god of the cultists (HR?) now inhabits for-reals. Kind-of-like “well human sacrifice is all well and good in an artificially created universe when your just dealing with ones and zeros, but this has gotten to the point of needing real sacrifices from Real Life. Has HR finally succeeded in opening the door to a universe inhabited by H.P. Lovecraft-like “Old Dark Ones???” Inquiring minds want to know!!!
He’s gonna put him IN THE MACHINE.
Guys, guys…you guys.
I don’t think Daedalus is actually better, in fact if I’m correctly interpreting the subtle clues in this comic, he might be worse.
Perfect avatar ;)
And the angry god rears his mustached visage. Love it
It’s always tough letting an a good employee go. Especially when your fingers get stuck in there throat.
So I think Walt here has officially broken bad.
You seem so pleased with that comment.
Well, for all those who thought Ferris was actually Scipio, let’s see if he still shows up in the game.
He does, but he’s not Scipio
D8
I’m flashbacking to all my SnK “OMG NONONONONONONOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” moments.
HERE’S MY HAND
ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE
If there is proof a God exists, it is certainly shown by the miracle I had stumbling across this comic yesterday. Due to its crack-like qualities, I went through all of it in one night, and am now sad for catching up to present. I can only eagerly await for my RSS reader to tell me of the newest update, for this is certainly one of the best comics to grace the internet, and I could always use an awesome comic in my life. Thank you very much for making this :)
Aaaand…we go back to Arkerra.
Yup.
Good stories contain characters who fit a certain persona. They don’t drastically change behavior, they don’t behave erratically one moment and thoughtfully the next. This doesn’t fit his standard behavioral pattern. This has just lost value..
Doesn’t it?
You seriously didn’t see the clear downward spiral, the desperation, the flaunting of laws of both God and man, that led to this moment?
Were you reading a different comic?
This Syr’Nj is right.
Let’s also not forget to note the tie’s change in color scheme. From a solid purple to striped with black. The symbolism of the tie, while never fully explained, has always meant HR. Now that it has two colors in it, well, who’s to say that HR’s fully in control of himself at this point?
and its always possible that HR is posessed in some fashion. he’s playing with dark powers, making deals in the dark with the creatures in the closet….this guy is asking for posession XD
Wait…..couldn’t he just have wiped his memories? I mean surely someone with his power could do that.
Just because you COULD do something doesn’t mean you will do something. Or should do something. Or would even want to do something.
I mean, I could donate all my worldly possessions to charity and live in a monastery. I could drive my car at top speed through the mall food court during the holiday rush. I could do all sorts of things. But I probably won’t.
His tie is purple!
IT IS THE SOURCE OF HIS POWER
Overreaction much? ¬_¬
No wonder Hurricane Software has the best MMORPG. Their brainstorming sessions are unbeatable.
I’m not surprised H.R. went insane. After seeing the full color world of Arkerra, he can’t stand living the rest of his life in sepia. He’ll do anything to bring all those colors into his world.
I wonder if the same kind of thing happened to the developers of Technicolor, back when our world was black-and-white?
Did you notice how shocked Ferris was to see H.R.’s purple tie? And it wasn’t seeing the bodies in the tanks that shook him. It was seeing all that colorful liquid.