Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
Never Satisfied
Taylor Robin
Lucy Marlowe, a magician's apprentice, competes against other apprentices for an important, magical, Goverment Job.
Kiwi Blitz
Mary Cagle (Cube Watermelon)
Steffi thinks she can use her kiwi mech to become a superhero. This idea turns out to be very stupid.
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?
Godslave
Meaghan Carter
Edith has been thrown into the dangerous world of modern-day Egyptian mythology. Fighting monsters and dealing with family drama of godly proportions.
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
Caramel Corn
Potchimew
Sarah is the only human left in a world full of mythical creatures and monsters. All she wants to do is live a quiet life, but everything changes when she meets her guardian angel, Jacob.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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.)
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!
The Automan's Daughter
Mike Stamm
Aisha Osman and her uncle Siddig outwit bikers, spies and kidnappers while gearing up for a showdown with the formidable Widowmaker mecha.
The End
August Brown, Cory Brown
Two aliens crash a sci-fi convention and accidentally take seven nerds on an adventure that spans the galaxy!
Paranatural
Zack Morrison
Superpowered middle schoolers fight evil spirits in their rural hometown. Come for the jokes, stay for the cast, the creatures, and the mystery that ties them all together!
Cassiopeia Quinn
Gunwild, Psudonym
A cute, pantsless thief is pursued across the stars by a buttoned-up military officer in the spacey, laser-filled future.
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
Demon's Mirror
Harry Bogosian
Based loosely off of "The Snow Queen", a story by Hans Christian Andersen, we see things take a different turn as the demons become central characters, and the side characters stick around. Yup, that's the only differences. Enjoy!
Sufficiently Remarkable
Maki Naro
Two young women living in Brooklyn discover that you're always coming of age.
Jailbird
Charlie Davis
An all-ages comic about a recently escaped prisoner's struggle to understand the outside world, and vice-versa. Also, a magic cape!
Fireweeds Moors
Gato Iberico
A cat-headed man and a girl with a sandwich hankering accidentally end up in a myth-infused country where magic chalices are a really big thing.
Kochab
Sarah Webb
A YA F/F fantasy comic about Sonya, a lost skier trying to survive a snowy wilderness and find her way back to her village; and Kyra - a fire spirit trying to fix the home that she let fall apart around her.
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
Widdershins
Kate Ashwin
A series of light-hearted Victorian-era adventure stories featuring grumpy bounty hunters, accidental thiefkings, and more, in England's magical capital city Widdershins!
Monsterkind
Taylor C
Wallace Foster, a young, bright-eyed human social worker, has his entire world view rocked when he's suddenly relocated into a city primarily inhabited by monsters.
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.
Phantomarine
Claire K. Niebergall
A ghostly princess must sail across a haunted sea to save her soul from a devious, shapeshifting death god known as the Red Tide King.
Starhammer
J.N. Monk, Harry Bogosian
A teen girl inherits a powerful alien artifact and proceeds to make a series of increasingly poor decisions
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.
The Sanity Circus
Windy
Magic, monsters and mysteries await in the odd city of Sanity. It's up to Attley and a colorful group of characters to find out just what is going on.
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
Anarchy Dreamers
Emily Ree
Sparkly undead kids fight society's worst Nightmares in this pastel-punk urban fantasy coming-of-age!
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
Lilith's Word
inkPangur
If you had the power to make any wish come true using just one word, what would you say?
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
Tiger, Tiger
Petra Nordlund
A young noble lady steals her brother's identity and his ship to find love and adventure, and to write a book about the fascinating life cycle of sea sponges!
Ghost Junk Sickness
Studio CARTRIDGE, Laura Lee
Two hunters try to survive and end up being pushed to pursue a deadly bounty dubbed "The Ghost".
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
Awaken
Koti Saavedra/Flipfloppery
Superpowers, monsters and conspiracies. Piras, the spoiled Dameschi heir, fights to recover his identity after becoming a terrorist!
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
Tigress Queen
Allison Shaw
A barbarian warlord and a pampered prince try to avoid a marriage alliance that could end decades of violence.
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.
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.
Love Not Found
Gina Biggs
Abeille is on a quest to find someone who wants to do it the old-fashioned way in a time when touching has become outdated.
Astral Aves
Moon Cabal
A fantasy coming-of-age following the adventures of Astra The Black and friends, as they navigate the mysterious world around them. It's politics, adventure, and the supernatural; oh, and crazy hair.
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...
Bybloemen
C.B. McPherson
An infernal plan to corrupt the small town of Stenen Brug at the height of tulipmania is complicated by a pact made between a talented young merchant and a demon looking to change careers.
Bicycle Boy
Jackarais
A cyborg named Poet wakes up in the post-apocalyptic desert with no memory, no limbs, and no idea why he keeps getting punched.
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Star Impact
Jack McGee
A young, energetic woman fights her way up in the world of super-powered boxing after discovering the mighty gloves of her missing idol!
Cut Time
Juby
Rel and her trusty avian friend Fugue are on a quest to save a world that's lost track of time. Follow them and their new recruits, in a story written with help from the stars.
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.
Devil's Candy
Rem, Bikkuri
A lush fantasy about boy genius Kazu Decker, the girl he constructed for his 9th grade science project, and the world of devils and monsters they live in.
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...
Alice and the Nightmare
Misha Krivanek
Alice finally attends University to learn to collect the dreams of humans, meet new friends, and deal with a pesky reflection along the way.
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
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.
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
This is Not Fiction
Nicole Mannino
What do you do when the person you're in-love with is an anonymous romance novelist? Get your best friend to hire your worst enemy for help!
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.
I do think we need more payoff, more often. These comics are starting to get a little too similar to Lost in the way they time themselves. I’d rather have a story in which I see that meaningful things are happening than a story in which I see that the authors have intentionally given me almost-but-not enough information to parse the basics of what’s going on.
Hooray! All the characters aren’t real! Their heroics, deeds, and deaths are all utterly meaningless! We might as well have been reading WereGeek or DM of the Rings!
I already told you, meta-fictional characters are still fictional… only powered up… like super saiyan style.
On a serious note. Perception is reality. Ask a schizophrenic. If the world has depth and meaning to the characters then who are we to say its not real (or as the popular opinion goes “lose all vested interest because its all a sham”?
I’ll keep my sense of humor about it, but dude: no, and outright wrong, and if you actually ask some currently lucid schizophrenics, we’ll confirm that the problem is that perception isn’t reality. It’s not even close. Sheesh. Reality is reality, perception is perception, and there’s a truckload of difference. I promise I’m less offended by the faulty diagnostic there, and more by the fact that I hate masturbatory philosophy. ;)
HOLY MOLEY. Wait, someone made a Bruce Almighty reference on the last page, and that gives me an idea: this guy is one of a pantheon of gods who rule Arkerra. The computers are just how they interact with the world.
Ah, the suggestion My GM made earlier :) – the sky elves had some pretty hot technology, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was some kind of advanced scrying machine.
I just assumed it was a tabletop game this whole time with how all the characters seemed to have different views on the world, mostly Frigg. Whether or not it is doesn’t matter to me, I enjoy the characters, plot, and everything else about this comic. I’m glad to see not everyone’s jumping ship like the first few comments seemed to indicate people would. I’m aboard for the whole ride, no matter where it takes us.
People sure are eager to jump the gun in here.
We’re kind of only at the title page, here, with only the introduction preceding.
I think the old phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” comes into play here.
I’m not sure if it counts as hubris to say that, as readers, we can safely make assumptions about where a storyline will go from its first three pages, so much so that writing it off or walking away from it completely would be justified. ESPECIALLY since these writers have chops proving that they’re not the trite, boring-ass writers that readers -can- make predictions from, three pages in.
I mean, its a sign that people really love this comic – but, honestly.
Are these photographical elements in backgrounds going to continue to be a common occurrence? I really had no qualm with the new artist until the last few pages when they appeared; it just looks kinda lazy.
the images on 4 and 5 look flat because they are the images on ‘computer’ screen as the camera pans back to see we are viewing this from some ones office.
I’m fairly certain the floor in all of the tavern shots has been 3d rendered or is a photograph, and the first page of chapter 9, the middle 3 backgrounds are all photographs with filters applied.
WHAT THE F—– (Censored for reading audience). While I’m kinda annoyed at the sudden loss of character depth (atleast in my opinion), it definately provides something different.
I’m sure T. and Phil will eventually make this as great as they make everything else, but right now this is… disappointing. That’s all, just disappointing.
I agree. I support the two and will continue to follow the series, but as optimistic as I’m trying to be, unless my guess is dead on, I’m afraid whatever plot twist will be coming might be too much for me. I mean, if they ARE going with the “it’s all a MMO” idea, which is my personal worst case scenario, it will strike me like the “And it was all a dream” twist that Dallas tried to pull off, which was pretty darn cheap.
Aw, who am I kidding, though. They could put my mother in there as a street hooker, mock my entire life, and then put me into the comic for the sole reason of giving me a long, protracted, humiliating death, and I’d STILL read this. They got the plot hooks into me, man, I couldn’t quit if I was PAID to.
i agree as well. I am currently cringing over this change in the heirarchy of reality, but i trust that it’s just a tiny hiccup and the awsomeness will continue.
Ohhhhh…. come on!!! I liked this story but now… will start this crap “that was all fiction inside the fiction”? CLICHE! BULLSHIT!!! And if you think this is very smart, grow up!
Wow, you know, Brugo, you’re going to be so PISSED when your life hits chapter fourteen. That chapter’s going to totally break the fourth wall, allowing me to reveal myself as the author of your life. Stuff’s gonna get off the WALL, yo!
Also, not all of us like how this twist is looking to turn out, but, hey, we have faith in Phil and Mr. Campbell to make it turn out well. I mean, you’re right, the “Story-within-a-story” twist has been used quite a bit within a few works lately, but I’ve seen it pulled off very well. For example, read Inkheart. That was a good series.
I have a bit of faith in Phil AND T AND John to pull this off, but T’s Fans lost me when he went on a metaphysic rampage brain-fart. Really, really hope this isn’t the case here.
Whereas no one has ever written a straight-up story about a group of fantasy characters on a quest, right, Brugobar?
(Sorry, but calling it “cliche” is pretty much a failure to acknowledge the ultimate truth of fiction: “Whatever you do, it’s been done. Your only hope is to do it better than most.”)
I wonder. This reminds me in some way of Brian Aldiss’s “Helliconia” trilogy. His world has a rather low technological level, but it’s watched from orbit by human explorers from Earth aboard a giant space station who witness pretty much all that is going on, but rarely interfere… (and when they do, things get messy rather quickly)
So out of nowhere I decide to check out a new webcomic, search a bit for good suggestions, find The Guilded Age, click directly to #1 and start reading forward. It took me about six hours total (two “sittings” in two days) to enjoy every drop of that interesting adventuring party’s individual character development.
I also enjoyed the alt text, and a lot of cool and funny comments.
This is the exact comic where I totally lose interest in the whole thing and click to “Latest” to see where the story ends up at the current date, instead of reading them carefully one at a time. It took me about ten minutes to click backwards to this specific page, trying to find something that interested me, but honestly, I’m no longer engaged. I stopped looking at the alt text.
I am reminded of the new Star Wars movies, and Payet Best is playing the part of Jar Jar Binks.
(spoilers)For me, Soliloquy’s comment on this page was the last one worth reading.
Were politics involved somehow? Does this new direction have anything to do with Erica’s sudden exit?
See, for me, I came to this a couple weeks ago, and read the cast page ahead of time so I already knew about the Earth dude and his secretary and his plans to connect the worlds or whatever (haven’t read the cast page since, honestly). So this is different from before, yes! But I was forewarned. Maybe I would have found it as jarring if it was a total surprise? Who knows.
But I love all the characters I’ve met so far (yes, even Best and Harki and Pornstache) and I can’t wait to meet the rest–I’m especially looking forward to meeting the nun, she was in the banner ad I clicked. :D
Have a little faith! People will surprise you, and these writers have already proven themselves to be awesome.
It is odd to read comments like this, then look over and see that the writer’s avatar is a not only still a character from the strip, but a character that hasn’t even shown up yet.
Archive diving can be weird sometimes.
I can definitely sympathize with the feeling you express (with the worst in 1997, it has happened to me too often) but I am glad you stuck with the strip :)
*Deep breath* can someone please tell me what the hell is going on? ‘Cause i think my brain just broke down and the repairman tells me it will take a day or two before it can get fixed…
This is why i like Best, though he´s a huge douchebag and he´s doing this all for selfish reasons, he still wants to do good and save the world, damned the consequences. :)
Consequences which could end in a continental war though despite his saving the world. XD
This is another of those times when I realise that normal, regular people choose the strangest things to complain about. They’ll spend their time gushing and screeching orgasmic joy over the most unoriginal and erroneous crap imaginable (Disclaimer: Not this. This story is quite good, on average.) in wave after wave of repetitive sycophantic dross…
… BUT tell them that the fictional story they’ve opted to invest themselves in has another layer of fictionality inbetween, and suddenly half of them will start screaming and whining about how awful it is and how everything is ruined forever because it isn’t real.
Idiots.
That is all that can be said about it.
Idiots.
Idiots choosing the most ridiculous thing to complain about.
It doesn’t matter if it is a fantasy world in a game in a book in a picture in a dream in a drug-fuelled hallucination… None of that makes a monkey’s bit of difference to anything that has happened and the relative validity of any of it.
Idiots.
Oh, that’s kind of disappointing actually. Sometimes I seek out similar premises but I usually desire them to be set up the other way around…
Eh, I can probably get back into it shortly. Who knows maybe it will have at least one character who does this the way I like it if I hang in there long enough.
Anybody play Star Ocean 3? Clearly Gary Oldman here is in the Fourth Dimension.
lets hope he is nothing like luthor.
Well, this sucks. Someone played them all along… Hm… I think, I hear clicking and tacking from above my head… Wait!
Next comic: mysterious guy balances his checkbook … mysteriously.
I’m calling him “The Faceless Man” until further notice.
Other alt text favorites?
incredulous reader is incredulous.
GASP! the horror the horror not payet best the worlds largest douche >.<
This could work to our advantage, as now our hearoes can respawn. Or maybe mister User at leat kept some backups.
They say the user inputs games for pleasure.
No one knows for sure, but I intend to find out.
<3 Reboot reference
+1
Hey BW, your pentagram is incomplete. Just thought I’d let ya know.
How else is he gonna let the demons run rampant?
I do think we need more payoff, more often. These comics are starting to get a little too similar to Lost in the way they time themselves. I’d rather have a story in which I see that meaningful things are happening than a story in which I see that the authors have intentionally given me almost-but-not enough information to parse the basics of what’s going on.
Hooray! All the characters aren’t real! Their heroics, deeds, and deaths are all utterly meaningless! We might as well have been reading WereGeek or DM of the Rings!
I hate to be a spoilsport, but the characters weren’t real anyway :)
They were/are real in the context of the story.
I already told you, meta-fictional characters are still fictional… only powered up… like super saiyan style.
On a serious note. Perception is reality. Ask a schizophrenic. If the world has depth and meaning to the characters then who are we to say its not real (or as the popular opinion goes “lose all vested interest because its all a sham”?
I’ll keep my sense of humor about it, but dude: no, and outright wrong, and if you actually ask some currently lucid schizophrenics, we’ll confirm that the problem is that perception isn’t reality. It’s not even close. Sheesh. Reality is reality, perception is perception, and there’s a truckload of difference. I promise I’m less offended by the faulty diagnostic there, and more by the fact that I hate masturbatory philosophy. ;)
Can you define reality without being recursive?
(Hint : The Dictionaries can’t.)
They were real to me. Doesn’t that count for something? ;^;
I’m not sure, to me, you’re just a commentator on the internet, so I don’t know if you count as real.
There are only 200 real people in anyone’s life (this number varies depending on the research group that comes up with it.)
I dont let a lot of people into my monkeysphere
D8 Give me an existential crisis, whydoncha ;^;
I’ve watched enough Reboot and Tron to say that just living inside some guy’s computer doesn’t mean people aren’t real.
HOLY MOLEY. Wait, someone made a Bruce Almighty reference on the last page, and that gives me an idea: this guy is one of a pantheon of gods who rule Arkerra. The computers are just how they interact with the world.
I like this idea.
That could work I suppose.
Ah, the suggestion My GM made earlier :) – the sky elves had some pretty hot technology, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was some kind of advanced scrying machine.
I like the idea, but I don’t think sky elves have a company named LG.
…unless it’s short for Lux Grandiose…
Libra Grimoire?
(I know, it’s lame.)
Nope, no pointy ears. I’m hoping the logo will be a clever shout-out.
Or maybe the creator is screwing with us, showing us his meta-avatar to lighten the mood…
This vividly reminds me of the matrix-theory
You seem to have Lost me a couple of pages back.
:/
I just assumed it was a tabletop game this whole time with how all the characters seemed to have different views on the world, mostly Frigg. Whether or not it is doesn’t matter to me, I enjoy the characters, plot, and everything else about this comic. I’m glad to see not everyone’s jumping ship like the first few comments seemed to indicate people would. I’m aboard for the whole ride, no matter where it takes us.
Hitler seems very confused about where his mouse went.
His name isn’t Payed Best, it’s Douchebag McDouche.
People sure are eager to jump the gun in here.
We’re kind of only at the title page, here, with only the introduction preceding.
I think the old phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” comes into play here.
I’m not sure if it counts as hubris to say that, as readers, we can safely make assumptions about where a storyline will go from its first three pages, so much so that writing it off or walking away from it completely would be justified. ESPECIALLY since these writers have chops proving that they’re not the trite, boring-ass writers that readers -can- make predictions from, three pages in.
I mean, its a sign that people really love this comic – but, honestly.
Alternate response-
> Payet: Examine fourth wall.
Are these photographical elements in backgrounds going to continue to be a common occurrence? I really had no qualm with the new artist until the last few pages when they appeared; it just looks kinda lazy.
the images on 4 and 5 look flat because they are the images on ‘computer’ screen as the camera pans back to see we are viewing this from some ones office.
I’m fairly certain the floor in all of the tavern shots has been 3d rendered or is a photograph, and the first page of chapter 9, the middle 3 backgrounds are all photographs with filters applied.
Oh yeah, didn’t notice.
Something allot of artist do. If it was easy/lazy, I would do all the time ;)
JAW.
OPEN.
WIDE.
Note: there five caves in the cluster and there are… er, where five members in the party.
Nice catch there.
AMAZING. I am waiting eagerly for next update.
PS:Now, i demand that Best be given the rocket launchers.
WHAAAAAAAAT
WHAT THE F—– (Censored for reading audience). While I’m kinda annoyed at the sudden loss of character depth (atleast in my opinion), it definately provides something different.
My steampunk sense is tingling… “shuddering” would be more accurate :P
I like how just two comics ago, I remarked how the number of comments had dropped off, and now we’re already back up to 250+.
If nothing else, you guys (Phil and T) sure know how to get your fans riled up.
Now if only they’d open up the GA Forum in the Tea Room, so we could REALLY cut loose!
I’m sure T. and Phil will eventually make this as great as they make everything else, but right now this is… disappointing. That’s all, just disappointing.
I agree. I support the two and will continue to follow the series, but as optimistic as I’m trying to be, unless my guess is dead on, I’m afraid whatever plot twist will be coming might be too much for me. I mean, if they ARE going with the “it’s all a MMO” idea, which is my personal worst case scenario, it will strike me like the “And it was all a dream” twist that Dallas tried to pull off, which was pretty darn cheap.
Aw, who am I kidding, though. They could put my mother in there as a street hooker, mock my entire life, and then put me into the comic for the sole reason of giving me a long, protracted, humiliating death, and I’d STILL read this. They got the plot hooks into me, man, I couldn’t quit if I was PAID to.
psst! Phil!
This is where you say “All this, and more! Next time on Guilded Age!”
@2nd paragraph
Jeez Locke don’t give them any ideas, you know how Phil gets.
….someone make a fan-fic of this?
*evil grin*
Dammit. That’s right. Oh well, as long as I’m not killed by Bes- I NEED TO SHUT MY MOUTH.
Hmm, evidence that Locke can be taught – !
*hugs Locke*
i agree as well. I am currently cringing over this change in the heirarchy of reality, but i trust that it’s just a tiny hiccup and the awsomeness will continue.
Ohhhhh…. come on!!! I liked this story but now… will start this crap “that was all fiction inside the fiction”? CLICHE! BULLSHIT!!! And if you think this is very smart, grow up!
Never! I like sucking breasts too much.
Wow, you know, Brugo, you’re going to be so PISSED when your life hits chapter fourteen. That chapter’s going to totally break the fourth wall, allowing me to reveal myself as the author of your life. Stuff’s gonna get off the WALL, yo!
Also, not all of us like how this twist is looking to turn out, but, hey, we have faith in Phil and Mr. Campbell to make it turn out well. I mean, you’re right, the “Story-within-a-story” twist has been used quite a bit within a few works lately, but I’ve seen it pulled off very well. For example, read Inkheart. That was a good series.
I have a bit of faith in Phil AND T AND John to pull this off, but T’s Fans lost me when he went on a metaphysic rampage brain-fart. Really, really hope this isn’t the case here.
It certainly won’t. I’ve got T on a short leash.
I see you have this planned down to a T.
And, to be fair, Fans has calmed down again. T has great ideas, but I like it when he works with his characters more than anything else.
Whereas no one has ever written a straight-up story about a group of fantasy characters on a quest, right, Brugobar?
(Sorry, but calling it “cliche” is pretty much a failure to acknowledge the ultimate truth of fiction: “Whatever you do, it’s been done. Your only hope is to do it better than most.”)
I wonder. This reminds me in some way of Brian Aldiss’s “Helliconia” trilogy. His world has a rather low technological level, but it’s watched from orbit by human explorers from Earth aboard a giant space station who witness pretty much all that is going on, but rarely interfere… (and when they do, things get messy rather quickly)
You mean the earth is just one giant supercomputer designed to calculate the answer to a single question?
The mice… can’t you hear them. They’re chanting 42… 42… 42…
I think you mean the question to a single answer. ;)
I think you mean the answer to the question regarding the answer.
Am I the only one that’s been predicting this ever since we first saw Best get the Achievement of “Become a huge douchebag”?
I refuse to believe anything other than this man being a god and that being a meta-joke. :P
MY face is a disappointed frown.
Well, it was a good run while it lasted. So long folks.
this is either a really unexpected twist, or you just decimated the seventh wall
So out of nowhere I decide to check out a new webcomic, search a bit for good suggestions, find The Guilded Age, click directly to #1 and start reading forward. It took me about six hours total (two “sittings” in two days) to enjoy every drop of that interesting adventuring party’s individual character development.
I also enjoyed the alt text, and a lot of cool and funny comments.
This is the exact comic where I totally lose interest in the whole thing and click to “Latest” to see where the story ends up at the current date, instead of reading them carefully one at a time. It took me about ten minutes to click backwards to this specific page, trying to find something that interested me, but honestly, I’m no longer engaged. I stopped looking at the alt text.
I am reminded of the new Star Wars movies, and Payet Best is playing the part of Jar Jar Binks.
(spoilers)For me, Soliloquy’s comment on this page was the last one worth reading.
Were politics involved somehow? Does this new direction have anything to do with Erica’s sudden exit?
It has everything to do with my sudden exit.
See, for me, I came to this a couple weeks ago, and read the cast page ahead of time so I already knew about the Earth dude and his secretary and his plans to connect the worlds or whatever (haven’t read the cast page since, honestly). So this is different from before, yes! But I was forewarned. Maybe I would have found it as jarring if it was a total surprise? Who knows.
But I love all the characters I’ve met so far (yes, even Best and Harki and Pornstache) and I can’t wait to meet the rest–I’m especially looking forward to meeting the nun, she was in the banner ad I clicked. :D
Have a little faith! People will surprise you, and these writers have already proven themselves to be awesome.
[/late to the party]
It is odd to read comments like this, then look over and see that the writer’s avatar is a not only still a character from the strip, but a character that hasn’t even shown up yet.
Archive diving can be weird sometimes.
I can definitely sympathize with the feeling you express (with the worst in 1997, it has happened to me too often) but I am glad you stuck with the strip :)
*Deep breath* can someone please tell me what the hell is going on? ‘Cause i think my brain just broke down and the repairman tells me it will take a day or two before it can get fixed…
This is why i like Best, though he´s a huge douchebag and he´s doing this all for selfish reasons, he still wants to do good and save the world, damned the consequences. :)
Consequences which could end in a continental war though despite his saving the world. XD
This is another of those times when I realise that normal, regular people choose the strangest things to complain about. They’ll spend their time gushing and screeching orgasmic joy over the most unoriginal and erroneous crap imaginable (Disclaimer: Not this. This story is quite good, on average.) in wave after wave of repetitive sycophantic dross…
… BUT tell them that the fictional story they’ve opted to invest themselves in has another layer of fictionality inbetween, and suddenly half of them will start screaming and whining about how awful it is and how everything is ruined forever because it isn’t real.
Idiots.
That is all that can be said about it.
Idiots.
Idiots choosing the most ridiculous thing to complain about.
It doesn’t matter if it is a fantasy world in a game in a book in a picture in a dream in a drug-fuelled hallucination… None of that makes a monkey’s bit of difference to anything that has happened and the relative validity of any of it.
Idiots.
Oh, that’s kind of disappointing actually. Sometimes I seek out similar premises but I usually desire them to be set up the other way around…
Eh, I can probably get back into it shortly. Who knows maybe it will have at least one character who does this the way I like it if I hang in there long enough.