(What, I thought it was clever at the time, okay? )

Well, here's the place where I'll be putting my Comic Battle Webcomic strips. They're not the best humor-wise, they're a pain to read screenwidth-wise, and their art is not the best, but I still enjoy writing/drawing/painting/digitalizing/what-the-heck-is-the-proper-word-for-drawn-in-MS-Paint?-izing it the most of all my webcomics.

ADVERTISING:
If you like Comic Battle, then you might want to check out something you'll probably like: In Real Life is equally as enjoyable! Same art! Same bad humor!
(Alternative version: If you don't want to look at the thread, I *do* have a Set for it, but it doesn't have the same good comments which I put in the thread.)




Another to check out would be College. You can find the set here. *Forum Version Here*

Also, Another to check out would be my Hand-Drawn Comic, Earth. *LINKS NEEDED*

That's all I've got Webcomic-wise, but I do have others.

Other things I highly recommend browsing include Hand-Drawn and "Weapons".



There's more, too!
Guardians of Lore can take you through a long trip of my history. Then, there's always my Contest Entries, too!

Let's not forget, Artix Entertainment-related Images play a SIGNIFICANT part in my history!
The topping on the cake? My Novel-related Images.

I have a thread for them somewhere, so I'll go make it again later, if needed.

The Original Comic Battle:
--This is where I'll put all of the original Comic Battle Strips. They're terrible. Absolutely horrendously inconsistent art-wise, and the dialog's too confusing at some points for even *me* to stand it. I recommend looking at them if you want to see how the series has evolved over time, or if you want a memento of my past, or to compare to their newer versions, but that's about it.
The full set is here.

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Comic Battle--There is no "Day One" because it was--at the time--just a one-time thing.

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Comic Battle day2--I later capitalize the D in "day". I keep the numbers, 'cept in Day One R, which didn't originally have a number. So, this would look like Comic Battle Day2 R, in the R version.

For Simplicity's sake, I'll be referring to these as "DayX"/"Day X" (X equaling a number), or "DayX R"/"Day X R". (One has a space, the other does not. I prefer the no space format, but occasionally, I do the space accidentally and don't correct it.)

An interesting note about this:
In Comic Battle R, I'm reusing the same figures for consistency. I am using them from the first panel of Day One, with occasional modifications as the situation calls for. When I did Day2 R, I used the same figure as from Day One R with slight modifications...except in the last panel. Where I used the top half of the body in the original Day Two--in other words, they were so close to identical that--side by side--I could barely tell the difference.
I knew I had *some* consistency throughout the original. I didn't know that I had *that* good consistency in some areas. ('Course, the rest of Day2 was off, but still...)
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Day3. Interesting note is how the lightning is solid yellow instead of yellow with a black line. To this very day, I *still* haven't decided which of the two looks better.

If you don't know which things are which, don't ask. I didn't write down which ones, and have since forgotten. (Probably could remember if I spent some time on it, though...)
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Day4--Still one of my favorite moments in the series.

And once its predecessor, the third, is out of the way, I'll write this one.
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Day5--Definitely not my favorite. Giants are killers to draw, especially if you have limited paint skills. (I did, at the time.) I like the sword's blade, at least!

Grunts, Goons, A defeated Gang, whatever. That's what they were. Cannon Fodder, come pre-shot.

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Day6--ONE of the worst. But worse are on their way...

(The characters DO have names, by the way. They'll just never use 'em, as I go through great lengths to prevent it from being necessary. )

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Day7--This one will be fun to rewrite. I can play around a great deal with being Genre Savvy. As it is, it's a bit humorous. I intend to double that.

True enough. Almost nothing really happens, and that's a problem.

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Day8--I am not very proud of this strip. It's a lead-up to the next one. I'll have to fix that in the rewrite. Y'know, add a few things from TVTropes, that kind of thing.

Yes, he was intended as a major--if not THE main--villain originally. Ended up differently, though.
As you begin to see in fifteen, he gets beaten by the real bad guys and teams up with the good guys. And never betrays them. That kind of thing.
[ Hidden Content - Reply to see! ]

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Day9--Humor-wise, this one's meant to be hilarious. I think people can appreciate it even as it is, right now. I've got even more things planned for the rewrite, though. QUALITY-wise? Well...

...Yea...this is one of the primary strips inspiring me to do the rewrite in the first place.

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Day10--It's not bad, but it definitely could use some work humor-wise.

Although, the lightning does look kinda cool...
And, I think there could be a difference between rain, lightning, and tornado, versus just lightning and tornado--this strip could be the lightning and tornado only.

I'll work out the quirks eventually.

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Day11--This one will definitely be a joy to rewrite, as there are *so* many things I can add in. I think you'll definitely like it.

Yea, I was a bit harsh on myself, but I deserve it. These webcomics ARE good. They're just not NEARLY up to par with my full ability, which I deserve to let brought out.

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Day12--You know how the quality of things tend to go up with time? I think I was letting my previous comics get to my head, making them get worse. In some ways, I bettered myself. In most ways, I was worse.

I can make this fairly humorous, with effort. But the real focus point here will be on quality--I need it badly.

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Day13--You know how the number 13 is unlucky? That certainly applies for this strip, to say the least. It's another huge low point in the series. I'm questioning if I can even rewrite it.

Lorithia have mercy and grant me the power to fix all of the above...

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Day14--I might have a special surprise for you in the rewritten version of this. I believe I can do more.

I am thinking of doubling the size for this strip alone. As a 'two week' anniversary, I'd give a double-sized comic strip. Not sure I can pull it off, though.

Again, I'll need a miracle to fix this.
Unless I do that special surprise...

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Day15--Officially the last uploaded, although I did complete Day Sixteen as well. (Just never got around to uploading it.)

Aside from the text, there's not much that actually needs rewriting. I can put plenty of TVTrope-like comments, the characters being Genre Savvy at that particular point in time, but that's about all that is needed.

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When I get around to it, Day Sixteen will be placed here.

Comic Battle R:
--The redone, rewritten, reenvisioned, revised, retweaked, the reimagined Comic Battle Webcomic. Bigger, Better, Consistent.
200% more references than before (as there were very few)!
100% more consistency!
50% more humorous than before!

Yadda, yadda, you get the point. The series has become better than it was before.
Here it is!

I'm Rewriting Comic Battle. To be Better. Stronger. (And Faster? )

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Comic Battle Day One R--Truce! (Meh, might as well add pseudo-names. The title's Day One R, as the Comic's called Comic Battle. Doesn't stop nicknames.)
I don't think I can make this any better. It's achieved peak quality. As you might've noticed, there's a big, huge ramble to go along with it. Here it is.

(NOTE: Some links may not work. Do inform me if this is the case.
NOTE2: Currently using a slightly modified version of the Microsoft Word version. Compare to the online version, just in case.)

NOTE: The Below Ramble WAS In Quote Format, but I find that color is harder to read.





Right. So this...is the redone version of Comic Battle, Day One. [Dead Links] In other words...

I'm redoing the series. I'm redoing Comic Battle.

I'm making the flaws you see in there...no longer as flawed. I'm redoing the art, updating the dialog, etc. I'm making it better.

Comment:
There is a lot to say about this strip. An epic ramble on its own [nine pages]. TRUST me, I will not have this much to say in others, but I'll say it here. It's all important to me.

First of all, look at the date. (Okay. So I know it says March 6th, 2007 is when it was last modified. But keep in mind, that date continues for the first ten or so strips. Do you think I did ten in one day? Heck no. At March Sixth, 2007, all I did was modify the already-existing strips to be *slightly* better. They are older than that. I’ll try tracking down an older backup, doubt I’ll succeed, though.)

This thing is YEARS old.
It started off as just me doodling with a pencil on brown tables. (! Graffiti! I stopped a year later after I got caught, okay? ^)
A tornado.
A tornado with boxes.
A tornado with boxes, and a stick figure crying out for help.
...And it progressed onto the prototype.
A figure stuck in the tornado, with a second figure laughing (presumably the cause of the tornado).

...Then, thinking of another thing that uses stormclouds. Lightning does. Second guy gets fried, I find it slightly humorous (That's where the "Comic" comes from. The "Battle" is from the fighting, of course. /Captain Obvious. ) for some absurd reason. (I think the original humor was in the person laughing at the dismay of the man in distress, only to be put in a bad situation himself. If that were the case, it has been lost. Now...it's just there. Setup for later strips. I applaud you if you find humor in Comic Battle [Day One], but I can't find it, anymore.)

It slowly evolved into what it was, the original. You can still see it here, and I give you my word you'll see just how bad it is.

Ah, well. It eventually started off the series.

Second of all, again look at the date. I did not rip off ANYTHING when I originally made this comic. It was years old.

Do you know what I was doing online when I made this comic?
Very little to nothing at all.

"Le Gaspeth! No Intorwebz?!? Heresy!"
Hey, I said "little to none", okay?

Darkthrone (Beta; they're in Gold, now. Darkthrone.com and beta.darktrhone.com, if you're interested) was one of my main activities. ‘Twas still popular, but Silver was new at the time, new enough…that it was killing Beta, so I came in the twilight years of Beta. Had a load of fun, made some good friends, but it wasn’t something I was truly passionate about.

My REAL activities?

Dragonfable (dragonfable.com) was new. AQ (battleon.com, although I believe nowadays adventurequest.com leads there as well--I liked it better when the adventurequest.com page was a declaration of how they finally got said domain name) was still popular to most people, due to being, well, not outclassed by the other games.
Mechquest (mechquest.com) was just a single, black and white sketch-banner.

I was still a newb on the forums. (forums2.battleon.com, specifically, this is the home page which I spent countless hours refreshing.)

Basically, yes, I had an obsession, and its name was Artix Entertainment.
In fact, I now have a set for AE due to that. They are a significant influence.

The third thing I have to say, is about my schedule. No, I am not Questionable Content (questionablecontent.net). I do NOT regularly update.

I once got advice from someone (don’t remember who, though) in art (one section covered was webcomics, amongst other subjects): No matter how absurd the number is, always set some sort of schedule up. (I'm butchering the wording; remember, years ago?)

Yea, well, I draw when inspiration comes to me. (ESPECIALLY in the case of In Real Life, my other comic. You can find the forum version here, and a flikr version here.) So if people want a deadline...try one to two years per comic.
Happy?

Another thing to note is that, unlike In Real Life, Comic Battle has a continuous storyline of sorts. It certainly doesn't seem this way, but I am slowly building it up.

My second-last note is that I am not a professional. I am not an artist. I am an average guy. I don't do fancy stuff. I use freakin' MSPaint. The most basic program in existence. I use Flikr for my uploads, I don't have some fancy webpage to call my own. The closest I have is a forum post with all my links (on several places. In Real Life’s most up-to-date one is on archive.b1.jcink.com. Comic Battle was just now revived after nearly a year’s vacation, so Flikr’s my only current location, sorry), or the Sets with all in said set.

(I have several sets, now. The original Comic Battle, In Real Life, [already linked], College, Hand-Drawn, and Weapons.)

In other Words, Don't expect me to create anything nearly on-par with a professional.

The last thing to note is mostly just a memento: keep in mind, while these are stick figures done in paint, you'd think they wouldn't take that long. You'd be wrong. Up until around the original Comic Battle Day Fifteen, (actually, all the way up to the last panel. The finish date is in the new format, and the second half of the dialog there is new, as is the sound effect. The rest, however, all done by hand) these things were completely done from scratch.

Each panel, I redrew EVERYTHING. No reused text. No reused sound effects. (I drew EVERY SINGLE LETTER up until the last panel of Day fifteen, mid-dialog. Everything before “Ah Well� was done completely by the line, circle, eraser, and pencil tools—so consistency was rather hard, understandably.)

No reused stick figures. (Anything you see with nearly consistent size in stick figures pre-15, you should be impressed with. I worked hard [and failed, but I did try] to try and keep it consistent within panels. [However, between strips, their sizes were often altered greatly.]) No reused weapons, no reused animations. (Each and every tornado, [do you have ANY idea how hard it is to do a tornado in paint the way I did? It took at least half an hour per cyclone—good thing they normally only last for one panel. ] windstorm, lightning blast, raindrop, and combination thereof was done with only referencing earlier ones, sometimes, not even that. I hand-drew each of those clouds using the circle tool. I then used the eraser, and then colored the cloud using the paint tool. When I decided to remove the top halves of the circles, there was white space because I didn’t know how to use the eraser any other way than the default, so I had to recolor the clouds.)

No reused speech bubbles. (Very important skill, speech bubble drawing. I was better at it then than I am now, because I had to do it all by hand—yes, with the pencil tool in Paint. YOU try making consistent speech bubbles, that fit all the text, no matter how you formatted it, using a hand which has problems with stability [I inherited it from my mother, unstable hands—they shake a lot, and it isn’t pleasant]. I had to alter speech bubbles to accommodate text until I learned to do the text FIRST, making the process even longer and harder. I had to compromise in some cases with both bubbles and dialog. All in all…there is no way to describe how hard something so simple in appearance was.)

No Reused spacing. Each and every break (The Black lines separating panels) was made using the maximum size of the line tool, in the default black. Each and every strip has slightly different dimensions than the last. There is no standard number of panels in the strips, so that changed from time to time. So I had to do guess work as to how big of a panel I needed each time, and find ways to use the space I had available.

Put all of those together, if you can. They meant that the strip took considerably more time, and some times, working two to five hours a day, it still took me a WEEK or even TWO to finish a single panel. Even now, with what I know, it takes HOURS, if not DAYS. Why? Because. I don’t cheat.

Nowadays, it is so much simpler, yea. I reuse figures, reuse speech bubbles, etc. I’ll copy the figures, sure. I’ll copy a lot of things which I once did by hand. I've mostly standardized the text, but unlike In Real Life, I'm not using Paint's Text feature (except for my name, “To Be Continued� text used in plotlines, and dates). Copying letters one by one only adds consistency—it doesn’t cut down on time wasted. Copying speech bubbles saves me the effort of drawing them—not the time, as I have to position them, edit them, modify them, etc. You should get the idea. Through all of that, some is still made from scratch, and what isn’t made from scratch takes just as much time as making it from scratch. I take my devotion to Comic Battle VERY seriously, and don’t cut corners.

So if you take the time to comment on Comic Battle, original or the redo...then you'll let me know I exist. I'd rather negative feedback than no feedback. Better yet, if I were to ever receive an honest (I do not take well to half-hearted, sarcastic, or down-right lying “compliments�) comment on how someone enjoyed my work...it'd mean more to me than you can imagine.

Comic Battle…is one of my favorite projects of all time. Reading Web Comics amplified this enjoyment I feel. Taking a long break made me realize how much I miss it. Now, with the help of TVTropes, and Web Comics, and what I’ve learned since originally starting Comic Battle (I was a newb to paint back then; experience from time spent on Comic Battle, In Real Life, drawing things, etc. helps, though), and everything that inspires me…I will keep it going. I will start up the storyline that I’ve been waiting to write for years. I’ll get back to my first attempt ever at a product to entertain others.

Now, this was a great ramble so far, but I’m not close to done yet. I'd like to wrap things up with my inspirations. (Mainly for In Real Life, not Comic Battle, but the inspirations do influence both, not just In Real Life. And as I wouldn’t be doing Comic Battle still if not for In Real Life, those that don’t inspire Comic Battle directly still do via IRL.)

Xkcd (xkcd.com), of course, is a huge inspiration to me, and has been ever since the moment I first heard about it from someone I know in real life. I got addicted and began reading everything, keeping up to date. I caught up in far, FAR less than a week of reading, I liked it so much. Besides the great humor, there’s one thing that sticks out about Xkcd. (No Pun Intended.)

Be honest with me:
How many webcomics with STICK FIGURE art are even CLOSE to successful? Not many that I can think of. (Although, admittedly, I am far from the best role model for knowing Web Comics. :/ But most Web Comics I see are NOT stick figure art.)
Xkcd is stick figure art (for the most part).
And is successful.
What more can I say?

That takes great skill, and it is admirable. If I had a list of goals, getting to 1/10th the skill of xkcd would be at #1, just above #2: Entertaining others.
(...Luckily, I don't, so Entertaining others/myself is still my first concern. )
Comic Battle was made before I had heard of xkcd, but In Real Life was slightly inspired by it, and I never would've made In Real Life into a series without xkcd--and as IRL is what made me continue Comic Battle...well, xkcd remains important to me.

Order of the Stick. (When I wrote this ramble, this was their latest. They, of course, have more now...)

I LIVE by this comic.

No, really. Not literally live by the comic, but it has become very important to me in a very short period of time. (It took me three days to read it all, and I never let go once I got ahold of its awesomeness.)

In Real Life (not my comic, which retains that name. In MY real life, the thing most people live every day? For those who still don’t understand, it’s what you do when you’re not online, playing games, or watching Television. Yes, sleeping, eating, drinking, and other such activities count as “real life�, so those who insist they don’t know what real life is now have the knowledge to touch RL’s surface. ), sure, I'm fairly normal (okay, I’m definitely not really, really normal, but I’m far, FAR from the person I am online, to say the least), not like the comic. I've got an average life (for the most part), sure.

...But online, I AM Vaarsuvius. (Umm…for the most part. Arrogant, Reckless, and long-winded, at the very least. It’s complicated, actually. I say I’m Vaarsuvius, but in truth, he’s only part of me. Most of my problems come from the above three [though they can be further expanded upon: egotistical, slightly evil, impulsive, rambler, boring, etc.], but I’ve got another aspect of me, The Elan-type part of me, the joker, the one who can’t resist to let out a humorous line.)

Despite the differences I show, he's still the character who best describes me, in my opinion, (online. In person, I am the “not-so-strong, silent guy�-type. ), when I go anywhere on the internet. (One of three personalities seems to always be present in my online activities: Vaarsuvius, the arrogant, long-winded reckless smart-a’d know-it-all, Elan, the jester, joker, funny guy, or a combination of both V+E. I can’t think of any exception) Take this big comment, for example. It's freakin' huge and uber-long-winded.

I loved reading the Order of the Stick, and it is easily my favorite web comic ever. (…Umm…So far. You never know; I like xkcd as mentioned above, and then there’s the below example I have…like I said, I practically adore them, I just like Order of the Stick a BIT more.)

My third inspiration is Questionable content (linked above), to a slightly lesser degree as well. (Lesser because as of typing this, I started only yesterday--I am ashamed that I have thusfar only read 230 strips, out of thousands [Update: 305 out of 1505, a rate of 150 per day]. [UPDATED Update: Finished it completely! ])

It’s mainly due to the comments he makes at the bottom of the strips. I can find many things in common with this guy, like the format of the comments [not to mention, even HAVING comments], Adult Swim [though, uh, his choice of programs is likely different than mine… ], Mythbusters, the need to better oneself [though I don't do this for comics--I do it for writing], smiley usage, shyness, online activities, depression [I prefer not to show it], sleep habits [6AM as I am typing this], a like of The World Series of Poker [By Lord, I love Poker]...the more I hear, the more I see...me. Only far, FAR better. )

Oh, and frequent updates MULTIPLE TIMES A WEEK. That helps as well.
No true webcomic artist WOULDN'T dream at least once of having that kind of success. (Okay, so it's primarily the artist who's the inspiration, not the actual webcomic itself, but, meh, still a good figure to be inspired by. Thank you, Jeph Jacques.)

My fourth inspiration would be TVTropes. Sure, I had no idea it existed when I started making these comics. (It might not have, actually. This could easily have been as early as 2003 when I started. When was TVTropes Made? [Citation Needed] {“Hey, that’s WIKIPEDIA! Get out of here, ‘Pedian! We here Tropers don’t like Citations!�}. )

...But now I do. And they'll never leave my mind. They're permanently imprinted on my mind. (Xkcd's 609 touches on what they did to me perfectly [although Wikipedia does it to me as well]. I knew it was happening, yet I ENJOYED it.) I've written strips about them, constantly given references to them...

My fifth would be Kingdom of Loathing (kingdomofloathing.com)--good humor all around, stick figure art. What more can a guy like me ask for in a game?

My sixth would have to be Artix Entertainment. They've done so, so, SO much for me, you'd never believe it. (And I seriously doubt they would, either. I swear, if I ever become well-known/popular, despite having said so for years, they’d probably STILL not believe me. )

I owe my online activities to them. AQ started it off. Dragonfable continued. Mechquest had me hooked, and I wished AQW worked more often than it did, because I wanted to play it so much more that I did, but couldn't (I was eligible for Alpha/Beta testing, however, I never got in—Poor Sir Ver was overloaded). Then there's The Zardian. They have great senses of humor on there, have good writing talent, and write absolutely amazing articles.

Oh, and the forums. By Lorithia, *the forums*! Where I have never, EVER felt more welcome in my life. Nothing can match what I've experienced there. (Again, I somehow doubt they believe me, ‘specially considering how long I’ve been gone, but…it’s true. I came close to that level with a friend in Darkthrone [JusticeofTime was kind to me until he vanished], before I came to the BoF, but that still can’t match it.)

AQSuggestions.

Legends and Lore, where I have made some permanent contacts with fellow Amateur Writers (As Alixander Fey [Have you ever seen me misspell someone's name, when they're named Alex? I'll misspell it Alix. There's a reason for that--he is that good of a friend to me, although him being in college does hinder contact.] describes us on his homepage. ). Where I started taking writing seriously. Where I, essentially, started down my current path.

UCAG (Unofficial Contests and Games). Where I had endless amounts of fun.

Contests, where I entered. (Most of these contests were Holiday in Nature. I have rather a few art contest entries uploaded to Flikr. This entry has a good comment/ramble on the matter. There’s also this. I’ve got another one over here, as well as one right here. There's also An Older, far worse example)

Design Notes (MQ, AQW, and DF have ‘em, and they’re more fun on the forums than in the actual notes due to forumite responses. ) that made me laugh. The forums are my online home. (See Inspiration # Seven--they're so important, they get mentioned TWICE! )
And comic-wise, Dragonfable is the largest inspiration of them to me. (Dragonfable is their best game, when I last played.

[Around December '08 is when I last played, though. I've...gotten caught up in real life issues, so that hindered my ability to play, or even to read. I want to go back...so, so, SO badly. You wouldn't believe how much I miss them. They have been my idols for YEARS. The people I look up to. The people I admire with every fiber of my body. Artix followed his dream, and he does many of the same things I'm interested in. I...wish I could go back so badly, there is not a word to describe it.]

AQ is best graphics-wise. Storyline-wise, it's either AQ or MQ, close race between the two. I don't know which is better, The`Galin Epic Saga, years in the making [due to time constraints, I stopped playing AQ about half a year before I stopped playing the others. I did read about its storyline on Wikipedia, though], or The ShadowScythe, some of the best [and coolest-looking, too!] enemies of all time. *

So Dragonfable doesn't have a plot-edge, or a graphics edge [only AQW has simpler storylines+graphics, but that's understandable, considering its an MMORPG]. **

It does have the edge in combat, though. AQ's obsessed with balance, and it's not as fun as when things were...less balanced. I felt the balance was fine, I didn't die too often, I wasn't SUBER MEGA PWNING everyone, I was fine. It...lost its appeal to me in combat, and that's the main part of AQ. [Add in time restrictions, and I haven't played since.] ***

MQ has only eight attacks, and has the opposite problem of AQ: Instead of being so obsessed with balance, they're not obsessed enough with it. Either you EPICALLY PWN every enemy you meet, or you get brutally massacred. AQW is an MMORPG, so of course, 1-on-1 [at least, boss] fights don't end well. ****

The other, and more important, edge DF has is humor. ALL the games are funny. Hilarious. Laugh riots, some of the best humor-based games in existence, the things that INSPIRED me to make Comic Battle into a series. But DF does this better than the others, with only MQ coming close. [AQ's third, AQW is stuck at fourth. Not AQW's fault, that you can only do so good humor-wise in an MMORPG.) *****

It's present in all their games, but they have an anime-influenced style of graphics. They look good, of course. But that's from a side view. The frontal view...it's so, so much better. Due to them, I don't *really* suck at frontal art. (Side...still working on that.)******

My Seventh and Final Inspiration is actually many inspirations in one.
Legends and Lore (see six. I have No Link at this time, ‘cause I can’t go to the forums, nor can I find a link in a Google search), in the Battleon Forums.

AQSuggestions. (I'm not positive if I did the link correctly. Link may not work; I haven’t tested it.)
All my friends that I made there, giving me inspiration. (To this day, I still maintain contacts with Firefly [lessened due to us both being busy, apparently, and with a three hour time zone difference, and my unusual schedules…], Alixander Fey [lessened due to him being in College], DemolitionDragon (DD—we talk over YIM), and to a lesser extent, Nartashi (different forum name, though). (There is another, Hinzelmann, who stated an intention to join the forums, but is mainly on the site we use the chat, only.)

Tomix's absolutely stunning Tomix Saga (No Link, sorry).

And friends+family in real life. All, in some way or another, managed to influence me positively, and I will never forget them. Because of ALL of the above, I will never stop doing what I love. (Mostly, writing. Comics are just a habit of mine, but I do enjoy them, moreso than my stories, poetry, game ideas [I’m ambitious, okay?], etc., so they’ll become more and more important as time carries on.)

And with that, you have been properly introduced to Comic Battle. It gets better, really. Hope you enjoyed this little rant, wherever you're viewing it from.


*
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***
****
*****
****** (Yes, they’re all the same footnote!)
Please note that I HAVE been out of the loop for MONTHS, now. So do NOT take my word for the aspects of AQ, DF, MQ, and AQW that I am describing. Some things never change, sure, but most will, with their weekly updates and all.

I am describing what I remember. Both positive and negative of all Artix Entertainment was to me. From the art gallery to Legends and Lore, to DF Suggestions, to the Zardian, to DFDN, to MQ, whatever. I can only describe what I remember, and the places can change over time.

So, it all being out of date, I’d just encourage you to look for yourself, but to NOT be expecting ANY of what I say—expect nothing. Go in with an empty mind, find if you like it or not, stay for a while, and THEN compare what I said about the above to what you’ve seen and decide if it’s worth staying longer.
^Just making sure you know, there IS such a thing as a joke, you know. The lines about graffiti are jokes, to make sure you know. They were done on brown tables, yea, but with lined paper separating table from pencil. I stopped about a year later doing these random dabbles when I decided to move onto larger projects like, say, Comic Battle, instead of just a similar dabble.


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Unrelated Note: I now have thirty unique viewers, and 26 views of this photo alone. Well, I suppose I'm popular. (Probably due to Comic Battle R being my first listed Set.)

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Decided that I need another post for other days.

Comic Battle Day2 R--Team (Yes, alliteration is awesome!)
It's better, I suppose, than what it had been in the past. It also doesn't have any confusing dialog. So I suppose it's decent. I like the artwork far better, too. I know, mostly the same as before, but it took time to blend old with new in this. I hope you appreciate it.

Comment on it:

See? I told you I'd have less to say!

This is the rewrite of day two. The original can be found here.
Now, it's amazing how little I had to change this from that. I added more to the dialog involving their team-up, sure.
I edited the response on what they were saying to make it seem less random.
Sure, I added the outline of the tree, and the tornado's a bit cut off. And, alright, I added the clouds dissipating in the last one, too, because I thought it was a neat effect to add.
But, for the most part, this is the same as what it was before. It's not the most humorous, but it certainly does have redeeming aspects to it.

Also, the clouds in the last panel are fading away. They didn't exist in the first due to the tree, but are implied to have been there already. They become visible when the tree becomes permanently invisible, and then begin to fade as the storm's power has been discharged.
(The heroes do not CREATE storms. They USE them, amplifying existing weather patterns, and then discharging their storm energy on their target, but the process drains the original storm. They're powerless on sunny days, initially.
There's a reason the alternate title to this is called "Stormy Fighters". [I might drop the y, for just "Storm Fighters", although that sounds a bit like they're fighting storms...I dunno. The webcomic's just called "Comic Battle". All other titles are just nicknames.])

You'll get to see the opposite effect in strip 3, where they have a storm brewing in the initial panel. (More on that on Day3 R.)

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And, hey, 'cause I'm lazy and didn't upload Day2 R when I finished it, here's Day3 R without pause!

Comic Battle Day3 R--Trouble (last T nick for a while, swear. I couldn't think of any other T words for Day4 R. )

By Lorithia, wasn't the whole point of the rewrite to get RID of massively confusing dialog? Well, that worked well.
Well, I explain the dialog below. I still can't believe how badly that was done... *facepalm*
And to think...it IS better than before...*shudder*
(Actually, the third panel in the original was rather clear, simply because of how little it had. The middle panels still have equally little dialog, just drawn in a different way--neither original nor rewrite is NOT confusing, because they're confusing in DIFFERENT ways. The first one, maybe better. YMMV.)



Sadly, yes, I do have a lot to say on this one. Hey, at least it'll never top Day One!
This Is the Redone version of Day Three, original found here.


I tried to get the dialog right, but it's still a bit confusing. You should read the comic before taking a look at this dialog. Once finished, check over it and see if you got it right; if not, read it again with the correct dialog in mind to fully appreciate the intention of the comments.

The Dialog panel one is

"Oh Hey" to "Let's Fight!"

"Oh, I noticed.
I'm just not that fond of Leeroying."--Referencing Leeroy Jenkins-style tactics: charging in mindlessly with no thought to strategy, other than 'hit them with everything we've got!'.

"No problem" to "though".

"Now We're talking!"

"...Fine."

*the below are simultaneous*
"Wind!" "Lightning!"

"Suckers..."
That--- *is cut off by what happens next*--he was going to say "That can't be good", the equivalent of "Hmm...I wonder what that meant?" in the original.

In Pannel Two, Shield Guy (he has a name, but it's a love-it-or-hate-it name, and I think hate's more fitting) says his line.
They both say Uh-(leading up to an "Oh" finish; "Uh-Oh...", basically. I'm sure they'd have more to say, but that'd come first.), but are cut off and both react differently after cut off.
The text looks poor because 1: I'm trying to keep as much of the original as possible,
and
2: It adds a little bit of realism, in my opinion. Their voices aren't going to remain the same when electrocuted and blasted by wind.
This shows that.
Wind is doing an elongated "AHG!".
I'm not sure how to describe the electrocuted sound. "aeueaeueaeue" and "ooohg..." are the only ways I can think of it, so no help there, sorry. It's just one of those sound effects you can never describe...


The last panel's the worse. I easily could've made the dialog boxes extend wider and further upward, in order to make the order more clear. Instead, I went for neater dialog boxes, at the cost of dialog clarity. Sorry.


The third has the Villain practicing his evil laugh, then the Lightning-user complains about the pain, then the Wind-user makes his comment, followed by the "Hey!" from the villain.
Then, the Lightning User ushers a very weak "I told you so", referencing not going into battle blindly, for the Wind user to wrap up with his line.
(I considered making it "Told you not to Leeroy", but decided 1: too long, and 2: Not as suiting.)

Also, text isn't the only problem.


To be clear, the animation in the second panel might be a bit confusing.
The wind is reflecting off the shield and bouncing back, hitting the caster.
The lightning is striking from the sky, and reflected back towards the caster.

Both get blasted by their own attacks.
The lightning never touches the person being blasted by the wind,
Nor does the wind touch the one being blasted by the lightning.

(They have actual names [I had to name 'em eventually], but they're to be avoided [soooo terrible...] at all costs. Anyone wanting to hear them can simply ask; they'll receive, but I can say that ~80% of people will definitely hate 'em.)

(There ARE some limitations to using MSPaint with only my meager skill set. Things will never be completely clear, as paint is a hard tool to visualize with. But that doesn't mean I can't strive to better myself; these mistakes prove how I can still better the work, even after the R versions.)


You'll note the black lines on one half, and the solid yellow on the other in the lightning. That's because I think it's the compromise I'm going for:

Black on one half, yellow on the other. However, given the nature of the yellow, when appropriate, it can be lessened by black.

As I promised in Day2 R, elaboration on the storm rolling in.
The original Day3 already had a storm, right there, already existing.
(The black outlines and dark gray cloud colors should be a hint to a storm existing. )

So, I could've used that. But, I decided I'd use something which becomes a plot point later on:
They need storms to use their powers. Without them, they're powerless.
...But, they don't need, say, a hurricane. Just a small bundle of clouds, no matter how light, is enough.
They amplify these to the point where they can use the storm's power as a weapon, ie, lightning, rain, tornadoes, etc.

(The Wind User needs wind. While not necessarily requiring a storm, having a storm amplifies his wind power. In theory, with no wind, he would be powerless. With wind, but no storm, he can only direct wind to a limited extent, making it mostly useless.)

Panel one was meant to show a storm rolling in. It then gets amplified many fold, into the hurricane of Panel 2.
Also, I was lazy. I didn't want to bother with drawing the details needed on the cloud, along with dealing with my signature and date up there. So, I didn't.

Panel 3 lacks one because I was too lazy to show the storm dissipating, and the original didn't have it, so I figured, why bother?

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Day Four, when written, Here.