First off, This page is dedicated to my friend, the incomparably talented Niko Geyer, artist of Fantasy Realms.
Okay, I’ve decided to tell you a bit about the Fallen, since I’m not going to be able to tell a whole lot of exposition in this scene without adding a bunch more pages. The Fallen is the name of the Azloeans banished to Epsilon (our homeworld Earth) who ‘fell away’ from the rhetoric of their homeworld, and banded together to find a way to usurp Deimos. It will surprise you who founded this group – when you find out. Which isn’t now. Ahem. Anyway, over time it devolved into a rather sinister gang of troublemaking beings who tossed out the originator’s noble intentions. Kay?
All right, so here we have Psulli (Spider gal)Rhuax (the big guy in the back) Zono (she likes snakes…delightful) and Chooloo, the Marmite loving sprite. Chooloo’s addiction is an inside joke sort of- one of my Xylia pals is from England, and has sent me a delightful packages of British goodies- teas and sweets, biscuits and crisps, so that I might understand Charlie a bit better. One thing she told me is that Charlie would definately put this Marmite stuff on his toast. It’s a curious and salty yeast spread that we don’t have here in the states. (A bit like Aussie vegemite…) Anyway, had to get the Marmite ref in there!
Finally- I apologize for the itty bitty font. I don’t know what happened there, becuase I always copy the lettering from previous pages for consistancy… Perhaps I copied a whisper balloon. Anyway, sorry about that. But there was a ton of dialogue on this page.
More news: I’m so happy to announce that Josh (Canterrain) is able to rejoin Team Xylia as my Marketing director. Josh is going to work at getting our numbers back where they were when he was in charge last year. He’ll also be posting some blog goodies here and there, so please watch for that!
I hope you are all enjoying our new page layout that Kez did such a terrific job on!
I want to thank my friend, the phenomenal and unbelievable prolific David Reddick for his tips on inking and on the Cintiq tablet. Still in the ‘thinking about it’ stage, but I want to thank him for recommending it!
Check out his amazing work here at Legend of Bill!
Has anyone out there seen Benjamin Button? I reheeeally want to see that. I’m not a Brad Pitt fan (Adrien Brody is more my type – I like the bigger noses, you know…) but this movie just looked really beautiful. Tell me what you thought if you’ve seen it. In older movies- Josh tells me I have to see Last Samurai. I never have, and he says I must. So I will!
Okay, the vote incentive. This is another in my collection of pinup type art. So PLEASE DO NOT CLICK if you don’t like PG 13 nudity. Now those of you who are going to say- AW that’s nothin’- well yeah, compared to a lot of what’s on the internet, no, but this is a classy joint. Kay?
Ahem. This is a goofy piece I did sort of in the ad style of the Rolling Stone cover of Scully and Mulder in bed…don’t know if you ever saw that, but it was one of MY all time faves. This pic…well…I call it ‘Dilemma’. You see, our hero has a dilemma. That’s ALL I’m sayin. Actually, it’s probably best if ya don’t click it, for everyone involved.
Thanks for reading! Thank you for your comments! I love hearing from you!
~B
January 19th, 2009 at 12:02 am
I don’t think I can ever even begin to convey how terrific this page is! All these characters are so… (there’s that word again) AWESOME!
Also: I have two theoris about who started this little club, one is that it was Ambrosia. The other is that Xenor changed his mind about Deimos, left (or was bannished) and started his private revolution.
*Imagines Xenor with a bandana tied around his head, wearing two cartridge belts instead of a shirt and gazing into the distance in that way that tells you that the gazer is most likely a hero (or possibly a pothead). *
Le sigh…
January 19th, 2009 at 2:41 am
Ah, marmite. Over here, they say you either love it or you hate it…
And all these new characters are overloading my own awesome sensors. They’re all so wonderfully designed!
January 19th, 2009 at 7:37 am
My poor eyes! You weren’t kidding when you said the font was small. I had to about press my nose up against the monitor to read the page, lol!! But what a great page, I love how Zono’s eyes look so snake-like.
Oh! And I still owe you that auth Barb, I admit I forgot about it over the holidays, but I will get that to you!! It’s on my desk here somewhere, lol!
January 19th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Benjamin Button was so, so good. The special effects were unbelievable. I wasn’t partial to Cate Blanchette’s character, but she did a phenominal job portraying her. I’d make sure you go see it. I think it’ll be up for more than a few Oscars, and all of them will be deserved.
I especially loved it because over half of the film takes place in New Orleans (which I’m sure Brad Pitt had more than a little to do with) and it’s all filmed on location–I can tell, because I used to live there. It made me & Mike really “homesick” actually, and we almost jumped on the next plane back to the Big Easy.
p.s. Your son is awesome!
A real life guitar hero!
January 19th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Love what you’re doing here
Benjamin Button, as Lora said, was a very visually beautiful film. Yes, Cate Blanchett’s character was very irritating, but only for the first half of the film. She matures and becomes much more tolerable. And, of course, Blanchett portrayed every stage of her life wonderfully.
As for Brad Pitt’s performance… I was very disappointed. There was hardly any expression on his face. Maybe it was done to show that he doesn’t think like everyone else because of his situation, but really, he just came off as being a little slow sometimes.
The film itself is obviously not a documentary, but it’s sort of like one in the sense that there is no great conclusion. Not really much of a climax. It just tells the tale of Button’s life in a very straightforward manner. There are no great surprises or big moments. They try but fail at many points, I think. If that doesn’t bother you, it’s worth seeing, but I wouldn’t spend $10.50 on seeing it. Wait for the DVD or something.
If you like the storyline, the actual short story is kind of blah, but Andrew Sean Greer wrote this book “The Confessions of Max Tivoli” that follows basically the same plot but with a lot more emotion. Give it a shot. It’s not very long.
January 19th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Love the page. Zono is really creepy, I’ve always been scared of snakes.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Beautiful page indeed. I love both the details on the fairies, and how different they all are from each other, yet all clearly shout “eeeevil.” (Or batsh** insane, for our spider gal.) Also love Tychia’s expression in the last panel.
I really really loved Benjamin Button, and would wholeheartedly recommend it. I’ll respectively disagree with Kirstin, and say that I actually really liked seeing it in theaters, and thought my $11 were well spent, for once
. The way they portray Brad Pitt at different ages (and Blanchett) was kind of amazing to me, and it’s a very beautiful film visually, so I think seeing it on the big screen was worth it.
(I actually was never crazy about Brad Pitt either, but he is quite gorgeous in this movie.)
January 19th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I’m going to say this here and on the forums.
AWESOME CONVERSE SHOES! Or trainers in Brit Speak.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
so what is doing with a lot of demons is going star awar or meby she is going ues to atek him
January 19th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Lora nailed it. Button was beautiful and sad and funny at some spots and just the best romantic tale since Titanic (and about as long too). I gave it five stars.
Well, I was half-right — the hive was a club, of sorts. It’s just only accessible to Fallen. I mean, seriously — we’ve got the sex fiend (snake girl), the muscle freak (baldy), the junkie (that naked brownhair), the idiot (Brimey Cumming), and the psycho scrapper (Tychia). What more do you need?
And Brimy is so cute. “I stabbed him with the thing! I did it good! It’s all me! Pay me respect!”
January 19th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I think that Claudius started it…in like a different life of his or something. Or maybe the weird monkey dude. Because that would be a shocker. lol. I really really love this page. It is incredible and I am in awe! They are all incredibly creepy and it’s perfect.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Besides The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (in which I have very little will in wanting to see) I HIGHLY recommend watching the Last Samurai. I have only seen it twice but the movie is still quite vivid in my mind. Of course the movie follows Tom Cruise becoming that ‘last samurai’ but there is so much too it. The movie helps to give some insight into the western and eastern versions of ‘honor’ and an idea of what happened when Japan became westernized (in means of weaponary and fighting). I love it. That is all … I cannot think of any movies to compare it too at the moment. I would say Pearl Harbor but that movie just made me angry (not a big fan of romancing war time history). Ok, enough ranting.
January 20th, 2009 at 6:43 am
The Last Samurai is an absolutely beautiful film.
… it is also complete historical hogwash.
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/10mosthistoricallyinaccurate.html
January 20th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Benjamin what? Ugh, I think the last movie I saw was Dark Knight, just nothing really out to see.
Dilemma nothing. Claudius is a good-girl kind of guy, he never really had a choice, but he can enjoy the current ride. XD
Tychia should be nicer to Psull.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Ah Last Samurai.
I was actually saying to Barb that she should watch this.
As for historical hogwash… yes.. and no. It’s an amalgoration of several true stories with a generous dose of entertainment added. Yes, it would have been the french who were signing on to arm the Japanese. Yes it wasn’t an american who fought along side the samurai.. but actually several officers who did go over to fight the samurai did convert. No one is exactly certain how Saigo Takamori died, tradition holds he committed seppiku.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Samurai
But let’s be honest. It’s a movie. To try and tell it exactly how it actually would have happened.. really would lose the interest of 90% of movie goers. They can’t do that. So liberties are taken, and in the end we appreciate that.
January 20th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I almost refused to see The Last Samurai because Cruise was in it. It pissed me off to no extent that they couldn’t get a REAL martial artist, someone who actually knew how to use the sword, someone not so um, eccentric, to play the character.
BUT!
I finally did see it. Tom Cruise did the role justice. I loved the movie. All the actors were great.
January 21st, 2009 at 8:03 am
agreed, i thought they sold out, going with cruise instead of a bruce lee-type. now you’ve made me want to see the last samurai.
benjamin button stunk. the new orleans backgrounds, the scenery and the effects were nice, but yeah, blanchett’s character was not lovable (you couldn’t identify with her in any way), though she’d been charming as a child, and yes, her acting was fine & i thought she looked surprisingly good in this film. but pitt, who i personally do like, admire & think he’s hott! was really bland. his southern accent was pretty on, but that’s about it. one of his worst films. and an oscar? no way. that’s absurd. the oscar contenders for best actor are going to be penn, for milk, rourke, for the wrestler, and maybe frank langella for frost/nixon. no chance for pitt or leo this time around, even if either of them score nominations.
i appreciate your response about the connection between donations & updates, barb, and the clear communication. if i can scrape it up, i will donate now.
January 21st, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Actually barb, if you want to see a truly good and historically mostly accurate film based on true stuff, see Valkyrie. I know it stars Tom Cruise but his performance in it completely redeems any craziness of the last few years, and it’s based on a true story of German officers who tried to have Hitler killed in the closing days of the war. Seriously, it is one of the best films I have seen in the past year.
On the other end, though, you might also want to try to see Seven Pounds. I really can’t describe this film, so I’ll just say that Will Smith gives a great performance (never mind what critics are saying), Rosario Dawson does her best job ever, and I got so into the film that when the final coup de gras came and the truth of the story came out, tears were coming out of me as if a dam had burst and I couldn’t even understand why and was left blubbering….all of which is only a good thing.
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:42 am
Hey y’all, thanks for the movie tips! Lora, I think I will like Benjamin Button too, because I like things like that.Kez- I felt the same way about Cruise- I have a hard time with him, but Brent, yes I think Valkyrie looks like a good show, too.
Spastic- thank you for bringing up that the donation thing wasn’t clear. I had another person bring it up, and it was really my fault because I had a typo in my blog. I’m going to try to pull back on the donation thing, I know people find it annoying, but it’s one of those necessary evil type things. Sigh.
Thank you all for the nice comments on the page and the new chars. I love to design new characters. That’s what I always wanted to do for an animation company is design characters. I like to think about their backstories- things that will never be told in the story, but that I know about them. ^_^ This chapter will not be terribly long, and I won’t get to develop these folks too much. That’s the thing about comics and webcomics- and even film, your time is so limited to create characters compared to written stories.
See you Monday!
~B
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:16 am
Hello! Enjoyable comic. Just letting you know that while browsing through your archives, one of your ads forcefully redirected me to a malware site.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:35 am
Thank you Korish, for reading! And also about the ads- the malware issue is attached to some of the Keenspot ads and their IT folks have been looking into it. It’s a frustrating and irritating issue. Thank you for letting us know.
~B
January 31st, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Hmm… Cladius’s dad couldn’t have made them, could he have? (shrugs) It’s the first thing I thought of when you said it’d surprise us.
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:34 am
You know, everybody seems to focus on the Fallen on this page (and rightly so), but I find it just as interesting that Tychia referred to Claude escaping “Through one of Adora’s portal paintings…” Does this mean that that’s Adora’s fairy power?