I think the main thing we’re overlooking is that adventurers do nothing BUT adventure. Not every story is really worth telling, in full. They’re windows into the characters lives, not biographical.
Also, there really IS a very prevalent plot…you’ll just have to wait for the comic to not be BRAND NEW. If you look at any other long-lasting comic, most of them take months just to introduce everyone.
So this is going to be like Girl Genious, when for 100s of pages I’m not really going to understand who’s who, what’s going on and what are everycharacter talking about. And when it all finally starts to come together, I’ll have reached the latest panel?
I think the main thing we’re overlooking is that adventurers do nothing BUT adventure. Not every story is really worth telling, in full. They’re windows into the characters lives, not biographical.
Also, keep in mind that this is a new comic, still. Other comics in the fantasy vein can spend months before we’ve even met everyone.
Also, I know Frigg is talking to Syr’nj, but it totally looks like she’s talking to Bandit, who is so bored that she’s carving the outline of her shadow into the table.
I must say I am finding the half-telled storyline almost too hard to follow…
Shame, the artwork and the characters are great, but right now I feel like I am reading a book, skipping to and fro when reading, and finishing the chapters when I am halfway through them.
Oh well, just for Frigg I will give it a few more chapters…
Although I’ve often wondered if the past comments where people expected Bandit to jump into the storyline during a time she is not yet a member of the party were sarcastic or not. Is it really that complicated?
I guess I kinda have to agree. I’m not really getting the pace of the narrative at all. But then again, there’s lots of ways to tell a story for a reason. Just cause I can’t follow the story doesn’t mean it sucks for other people. Or for me. I find it funny even if I can’t make two cents of the timeline.
Hmm, I have no problem whatsoever with the jumpy storyline. It serves it’s purpose of getting a pretty good insight into the character of the… errrm…. characters and also into the development of the social balance between the group itself. I’m very curious how it all will play out and I get the feeling there will be some massive arguments between certain members of the party coming up :) at least, I hope so…
Next to that the artwork is simply amazing. Especially postures and facial expressions…
I dislike that we keep getting parts of the story without a sense of closure. I don’t need everything spelled out for me, but none of the arcs so far have felt complete. This is very early in the story still, so these jumps could be intended almost entirely as character set-up prior to the start of the main story, but I would appreciate an arc that goes from beginning to end, instead of just doing one side. We have so far had one end, one beginning, and several character introductions, but the end and the beginning were only related by having most of the same characters in the party.
I’m with Wyrd on this one. Personally don’t mind story arcs bouncing around in the timeline. But just throwing the beginnings and endings of several seemingly unrelated plots at us for months might confuse a lot of people as to where, if anywhere, this is going. I just think it’s tedious.
I can definitely see how you’re giving us character depth and the like. How they met and why they stick together and that. But too much jumping around in the timeline just makes the plot more difficult to follow.
It’s just foreshadowing with a glimpse of the future, it’s not an uncommon literary technique by any stretch. You don’t know need to know when it’s happening, you just need to know it’s sometime in the future and to observe what’s different between then and now (ie no Best in the party).
The comic starts. Then there’s individual flashbacks that eventually run together into a quest(they make good funnels) and now we’ve flashed forward, just not to where we were at comic one.
I understood all that.
Gravedust and Byron is like Clark and Ding Chavez.
I *LIKE* the format of the storytelling. It’s different and keeps the story interesting, not like your typical fantasy webcomic. I also like how instead of starting the story in the middle where everyone knows each other, they started from the beginning and pepper the chapters with scenes of the future typical of the fantasy genre.
Liking things is the status quo around webcomics. There is a strong implication that things would be liked irrespective of their nature or content… which really doesn’t do much in terms of value-based comparison (nor any other sort of comparison, for that matter).
That said, a lot must be said for the atrocious prejudice towards positivity, whereby those who do NOT like things are generally much less forthcoming (or more banned / deleted) than those who do… so we only ever get one side of the story.
… As a general rule, I’m sorta neutral about most webcomics… and sorta hate most webcomic-fans / commenters. A soft hate mostly though… because I just don’t have enough heavy, hard hate to really go around.
I spare a bit of it for the Homestuck fandom though. Like Homestuck myself… but the things I’d want to do to some of the prats on the forums there would make the Jigsaw Killer cringe.
I have been generally been enjoying the character focused story telling used in GA, but I have to admit, at this point, I’m starting to get a little bored with no discernible plot.
The format is actually very simple. Each chapter starts of with a small snippet of some future event. Then it returns to the main story line. The main story line started with the individual “origin stories” for the different characters, and progressed to them meeting, deciding to take on the quest of finding the kidnapped children, and most recently with the discovery of the pirates in the mine shaft. We are currently in “future snippet” mode again, but give it a few more pages and I highly suspect we will get back to the pirates.
So, for those complaining that there is not “discernible storyline”, pay a little more attention and be a little more patient. I, for one, am enjoying this storytelling method.
Really like the format, It’s a great way to start the chapter with some action of some sort without skipping the character development. It’s also fun trying to figure out “how did they get into this mess.â€
The thing about being in the middle of a story is that it’s not done yet, and the flash forward is a recognized literary technique. I agree the jumps can be hard to follow at times, but I’ve found it’s a lot easier if you read several comics at a time instead of doing it day by day. And at least it has a fairly consistent pattern.
The storyline might be confusing to say the least, but why hasn’t anyone pointed out the obvious? Apart from the meeting of the characters, we’ve never seen Bandit and Best in the same substory. Tells me that Best either gets bored with the party, gets killed, or suffers a worse fate by managing to make Frigg jealous – not to sound sexist, but below all that armor, she is a woman. And below that, a psychopath.
Hmmmm… Best out, Bandit in….but why only the girls at what seems to be a diplomatic meeting? I daresay Bryon and/or Gravedust would be better suited than Frigg for this type of thing. Can’t wait to see what those two are doing *grin*
Ah i see, well i guess i new it at heart anyways. Its like Heroes or other good stories where it flashes back/forward to provide insight to characters at times. But either way, be it randon or not, i think it serves to do one things. No matter where you are in the story the focus seems to be on the characters and what they do. The storyline is there to support the characters, not the characters there to support the story.
Im a fan of the entire comics set up to be honest the humor and the jumping arcs are what make it stand out from other generic fantasy comics that are out there. Go read those if you dont like it.
Hmmm anyone wondered why only the girls are in the Meeting?
Maybe the Sky Elves don’t have/know women ;)
And noone mentioned our Mr. Best while talking about rejoining Gravedust and Byron. Maybe he got sliced in half by Byron already at this point in the timeline ;)
But… what about the pirates?!
Shush. There’s palping afoot.
…well, of course there’s palping afoot. Palps get airsick.
Keep your palps to yourself buddy!
I’m not your buddy, guy!
He’s not your guy, friend!
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!
I think the main thing we’re overlooking is that adventurers do nothing BUT adventure. Not every story is really worth telling, in full. They’re windows into the characters lives, not biographical.
Also, there really IS a very prevalent plot…you’ll just have to wait for the comic to not be BRAND NEW. If you look at any other long-lasting comic, most of them take months just to introduce everyone.
And, said Pirate ship had what appeared to be wings.
The stomped the pirates and flew there in the ship.
QED.
So this is going to be like Girl Genious, when for 100s of pages I’m not really going to understand who’s who, what’s going on and what are everycharacter talking about. And when it all finally starts to come together, I’ll have reached the latest panel?
I think the main thing we’re overlooking is that adventurers do nothing BUT adventure. Not every story is really worth telling, in full. They’re windows into the characters lives, not biographical.
Also, keep in mind that this is a new comic, still. Other comics in the fantasy vein can spend months before we’ve even met everyone.
OK, if wood elves are made of wood, do sky elves have wings?
What would a night elf be made out of?!?
Errrr…..Dark elf.
Night soil?
…Nah, that’s just Best.
Hush: the falcon is bearing a message.
That’s clearly an eagle, but what is the message, I wonder.
“Get an email address, Grandpa, no one writes letters anymore”?
“I prepared Explosive Runes this morning”?
“Look out, Captain Kirk will kidnap you and force you to work in the mines at phaser-point”?
“CHE@P MED$!!! wholesale price V1@GR@ make you’re ears B1GGER add INCHEZ!!1!~~ “?
Also, I know Frigg is talking to Syr’nj, but it totally looks like she’s talking to Bandit, who is so bored that she’s carving the outline of her shadow into the table.
Awesome Star Trek reference! The others are good too.
It’s the OOTS reference I’m giggling at heh explosive runes
Damn, yet another jump in the storyline.
I must say I am finding the half-telled storyline almost too hard to follow…
Shame, the artwork and the characters are great, but right now I feel like I am reading a book, skipping to and fro when reading, and finishing the chapters when I am halfway through them.
Oh well, just for Frigg I will give it a few more chapters…
It’s really not that complicated.
Although I’ve often wondered if the past comments where people expected Bandit to jump into the storyline during a time she is not yet a member of the party were sarcastic or not. Is it really that complicated?
(no, it’s not)
I love the jumps to these random points in their adventures. Very interesting storytelling. This comic is the definition of ‘fantasy cool.’
Not confusing. Just frustrating.
I guess I kinda have to agree. I’m not really getting the pace of the narrative at all. But then again, there’s lots of ways to tell a story for a reason. Just cause I can’t follow the story doesn’t mean it sucks for other people. Or for me. I find it funny even if I can’t make two cents of the timeline.
Hmm, I have no problem whatsoever with the jumpy storyline. It serves it’s purpose of getting a pretty good insight into the character of the… errrm…. characters and also into the development of the social balance between the group itself. I’m very curious how it all will play out and I get the feeling there will be some massive arguments between certain members of the party coming up :) at least, I hope so…
Next to that the artwork is simply amazing. Especially postures and facial expressions…
I dislike that we keep getting parts of the story without a sense of closure. I don’t need everything spelled out for me, but none of the arcs so far have felt complete. This is very early in the story still, so these jumps could be intended almost entirely as character set-up prior to the start of the main story, but I would appreciate an arc that goes from beginning to end, instead of just doing one side. We have so far had one end, one beginning, and several character introductions, but the end and the beginning were only related by having most of the same characters in the party.
I’m with Wyrd on this one. Personally don’t mind story arcs bouncing around in the timeline. But just throwing the beginnings and endings of several seemingly unrelated plots at us for months might confuse a lot of people as to where, if anywhere, this is going. I just think it’s tedious.
I can definitely see how you’re giving us character depth and the like. How they met and why they stick together and that. But too much jumping around in the timeline just makes the plot more difficult to follow.
Thirded.
No exposition from me though.
It’s just foreshadowing with a glimpse of the future, it’s not an uncommon literary technique by any stretch. You don’t know need to know when it’s happening, you just need to know it’s sometime in the future and to observe what’s different between then and now (ie no Best in the party).
The comic starts. Then there’s individual flashbacks that eventually run together into a quest(they make good funnels) and now we’ve flashed forward, just not to where we were at comic one.
I understood all that.
Gravedust and Byron is like Clark and Ding Chavez.
AWWWWWWWESOOOOOOOME!
I *LIKE* the format of the storytelling. It’s different and keeps the story interesting, not like your typical fantasy webcomic. I also like how instead of starting the story in the middle where everyone knows each other, they started from the beginning and pepper the chapters with scenes of the future typical of the fantasy genre.
So, in short for all the haters: QQ moar
Liking things is the status quo around webcomics. There is a strong implication that things would be liked irrespective of their nature or content… which really doesn’t do much in terms of value-based comparison (nor any other sort of comparison, for that matter).
That said, a lot must be said for the atrocious prejudice towards positivity, whereby those who do NOT like things are generally much less forthcoming (or more banned / deleted) than those who do… so we only ever get one side of the story.
… As a general rule, I’m sorta neutral about most webcomics… and sorta hate most webcomic-fans / commenters. A soft hate mostly though… because I just don’t have enough heavy, hard hate to really go around.
I spare a bit of it for the Homestuck fandom though. Like Homestuck myself… but the things I’d want to do to some of the prats on the forums there would make the Jigsaw Killer cringe.
I have been generally been enjoying the character focused story telling used in GA, but I have to admit, at this point, I’m starting to get a little bored with no discernible plot.
The format is actually very simple. Each chapter starts of with a small snippet of some future event. Then it returns to the main story line. The main story line started with the individual “origin stories” for the different characters, and progressed to them meeting, deciding to take on the quest of finding the kidnapped children, and most recently with the discovery of the pirates in the mine shaft. We are currently in “future snippet” mode again, but give it a few more pages and I highly suspect we will get back to the pirates.
So, for those complaining that there is not “discernible storyline”, pay a little more attention and be a little more patient. I, for one, am enjoying this storytelling method.
How dare you bring common sense and the power of observation into this discussion!
Really like the format, It’s a great way to start the chapter with some action of some sort without skipping the character development. It’s also fun trying to figure out “how did they get into this mess.â€
Remoinds me of the disjointed narrative of Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five.
Doesn’t make it any less disconcerting.
The thing about being in the middle of a story is that it’s not done yet, and the flash forward is a recognized literary technique. I agree the jumps can be hard to follow at times, but I’ve found it’s a lot easier if you read several comics at a time instead of doing it day by day. And at least it has a fairly consistent pattern.
The storyline might be confusing to say the least, but why hasn’t anyone pointed out the obvious? Apart from the meeting of the characters, we’ve never seen Bandit and Best in the same substory. Tells me that Best either gets bored with the party, gets killed, or suffers a worse fate by managing to make Frigg jealous – not to sound sexist, but below all that armor, she is a woman. And below that, a psychopath.
Hmmmm… Best out, Bandit in….but why only the girls at what seems to be a diplomatic meeting? I daresay Bryon and/or Gravedust would be better suited than Frigg for this type of thing. Can’t wait to see what those two are doing *grin*
Ah i see, well i guess i new it at heart anyways. Its like Heroes or other good stories where it flashes back/forward to provide insight to characters at times. But either way, be it randon or not, i think it serves to do one things. No matter where you are in the story the focus seems to be on the characters and what they do. The storyline is there to support the characters, not the characters there to support the story.
Are we sure that these ppl aren’t like A.D.D. or some thing and can’t keep a single straight thought??????
I had a snarky response to this, but I forgot it.
Wanna go ride bikes?
I’d rather fly trucks.
That’s precisely what we’re doing.
Do you work here? No matter. TRUCKS, HO!
Im a fan of the entire comics set up to be honest the humor and the jumping arcs are what make it stand out from other generic fantasy comics that are out there. Go read those if you dont like it.
Hmmm anyone wondered why only the girls are in the Meeting?
Maybe the Sky Elves don’t have/know women ;)
And noone mentioned our Mr. Best while talking about rejoining Gravedust and Byron. Maybe he got sliced in half by Byron already at this point in the timeline ;)
Yes, I prolly need to read them all at once from the start, and I means start as in first page, not start as in storywize :)
But how do we know Best is not in the group yet? Just because he isn’t mentioned? Is he DEAD?
/Seb