So… What Up With the Black & White?

May30
by on May 30, 2005 at 3:41 pm
Posted In: Yamara

Today’s comic has posted sans color, and folks are saying, “Wuh?” in a Jon Stewart kind of way.

Actually, the first four-panel posted originally in b&w, before the color one went up. But we probably won’t be colorizing all the early strips.

  • For one thing, they’re… early. The first fourteen were turned in in batches, make standard set-ups and jokes, and have fairly simple art. We started to get weird after we’d established our track record, around August of 1989. These strips take their turn beginning this July, and will likely be full color.
  • For another thing, we’ve seen so many webcomics futz between b&w and color, that we’re just not scared of the concept. We have all hundred of these strips already drawn in b&w, so there’s no performance pressure there.
  • Finally, we’re going to monitor hits vs. level of colorization. You never know when we’ll toss a random colorized strip out during June, so enjoy the show, and try not to think to hard about how we’ve made you aware that you’re our guinea pig.
 Comment 

HOB Concludes (Again) (For Now)

May30
by on May 30, 2005 at 1:55 pm
Posted In: Hob

Revisting HOB has been like remembering your favorite Halloween, even if it’s just the memory of the best parts of each your life’s Halloweens. The one with the kickingest parties, the one with the best/most candy, and the ones with experiences that made you really consider the nature of fear, mortality, and the failing of years. These are things we very much wish to revisit, but their very natures, their express point, is that they have passed away.

Today Bar expressed a desire to continue with HOB: “There is so much more to tell.” Back in ’96, we had a number of different directions we wished to take the story; the strange friendship between Sandy and Hob, how the angels operate and what they are for, and of course, the impending Gulf War and its impact on them all.

And yet, no additional pages have been written beyond what’s posted. There remain those sketches of Mr. Hob we’ve promised. When we get them scanned and up, we’ll ping the blog. And any forums, if we ever get them live.

But for fans of our serious comic work, take heart. We have a series that is very old, and very new, brewing. In keeping with this month’s Star Wars mania, let us just say this:

“There is another.”

 Comment 

Don’t Go– Fetuses Are Too Dangerous!

May27
by on May 27, 2005 at 10:06 pm
Posted In: Earth Politics, Quotes of the Week

Quote of the Week:

“Senior Alysha Cosby became pregnant by a fellow student and was suspended in March, reasons cited being that she was a ‘safety concern’. Were they worried someone would slip in a puddle of amniotic fluid if her water broke? I just don’t get it.”
                 –Kim (basement variety!)
                   Alas, A Blog, May 21, 2005

 Comment 

Yamara: The Hundred Classic Episodes

May24
by on May 24, 2005 at 10:37 am
Posted In: Yamara

In 1988, we decided we were going to get in Dragon Magazine.

Seriously, that was a decision on our part, sitting in our kitchen, arrogant little %#!&%$ that we were. Its ‘Dragonmirth’ section was for fan humor cartoons. They had run four-panel strips before, but usually it was single-panel gags.

Most of these gags… were not that rip-snorting funny. Set against What’s New and Wormy, many were (and note this is our younger, arrogant-little-%#!&% selves talking here) just plain awful. But we were certain we could bring the funny. Though we’re not sure “bring the funny” was a common phrase back then.

Anyway. Chris had drawn a one-panel with several gags back in 1984, and–

Okay. Puns. The damn thing has five puns.

And we hate puns, naturellment. Dragonmirth was already crammed with them, mostly screamingly bad ones. Was this really our big push for a star on Sheridan Springs Road?

Oh yes. Because that pun-despising attitude is dripping off that panel. The characters, still without fixed names, are plainly in the middle of some actual story, an adventure of theirs, and not just set pieces for a one shot gamer gag. The way each character wields their puns already tells you more about them.

So we sent it in with some suggestions for an ongoing strip. We did have to mention Talanalan over the phone to convince them that a four-panel could fit in Dragonmirth (and if you recognize that reference without Googling, you get a cookie!) But with the technicalities out of the way, so began an eight-year romp which we were delighted to share with the gaming world.

And we are now proud to present…

Yamara: The Hundred Classic Episodes.
Should be running Mondays & Thursdays, good Fortune, Walrus, and St. Nobian willing!

PS- Oh, and, um, Kim Mohan the editor and Roger Raupp, the art director of Dragon in 1988? Yeah, they actually had something to do with our getting in and all. Seriously now: Thanks, guys.

4 Comments