So he is gonna send first civilized conversation with his ex-wife(?) in who knows how long to hell just for a chance to… do what? Take one of her many guns? That’s not gonna help him and will just ruin her mood.
No wonder they did not have amicable split.
That telescope looks like something from Girl Genius. Is that Gil’s walking stick on the side of it in fourth panel?
Maryz, Not sure that these two were ever married. I get the feeling that they had a relationship and I know Hunter burned his initials into Vane’s butt. Almost as a way of saying, “I own you.” The flash backs at best are sketchy, but that’s the impression I come to understand.
Now as for the taking of Vane’s gun, that’s a mystery. John Henry doesn’t really need a gun with his black magic he possesses. Again our writer/artist leaves us all twiddling are thumbs, or sucking them wondering what is going to happen next.
The “telescope” thingy? Not sure that’s what it really is. To me it looks more like some kind of weapon.
No, that’s not Gil’s walking stick. Let’s leave Girl Genius out of this. Next Town Over is a whole other ball of steam punk. 😉
Hunter refers to her as his “estranged wife” so I think they were/are married, seeing as how she’s not truly dead and he’s still wearing the ring. 🙂 I wonder if this is a time-traveling machine? if it can see into the future? what the heck is it!?
Actually, when he puts his initials on his dead horse (the one to become his fiery horse), she remembers when he did that to her, and he goes right to reanimate the horse. I believe he didn’t do that to mark her as his, but to reanimate her (?). Her shock expression in that chapter sure says so.
Now, Erin. What are you up to woman? I know, I can almost hear you thinking, “I’ll never tell. Ah HA HA HA HA!!!” Pretty slick move on Hunter’s part, and a bit violent too. Almost looks like he’s going to throw Vane through the door.
The detail on that thing is gorgeous– and must be hell to draw! I predict that it’s a big laser. Either that, or a completely useless shiny thing built by Hunter merely to entice Vane, lol.
Vane looks like such a child in this page. She quickly loses interest in threatening Hunter, despite the huge danger of doing so, because there’s a big new toy in the room. She turns her back on him, reaching out with her gun hand (fingers losing their grip) and trustingly asks him, “What is it?”
Hunter is HUGE compared to Vane and is literally tossing her around like a little kid here. Love his expression change.
This page makes me feel a weird combination of things. It’s simultaneously rapey, protective, shameful, gentle and really scary.
Annie, Hunter is huge compared to Vane, which is why I was so surprised a couple pages back that she was able to knock the big paluka throw a heavy closed door with a well placed flying kick.
Yeah, the actioney scenes are really hard to get into reading a page a week. I wonder if people would prefer to get like a month or two’s updates all in a clump? A little more like what Last Halloween does?
I feel like there’d be definite advantages but people might also just sort of forget about the comic and diasporate. I’d love to hear what people think.
Erin, I can tell you from my point of view, I love the weekly updates. I know it can be hard work, and yes, you can get a bit behind, but you always come through with the highest quality of work and writing. Besides, it gives me something to look forward to and maybe make foolish comments in the discussion area. So please, keep up the great work. I, we love it. 🙂
Please stick with the present update schedule. It’s hard enough to wait a week for your next installment. But it’s also just long enough really build the level of suspense into the frenzy zone. A month or two would take the edge off of the strip. You can only maintain a sense of keen anticipation for so long before it turns into “oh, well…I wonder what else is happening?”
I have a simple solution: discover the webcoming a few years into its development! Then you can binge along happily until you catch up to the creator. Then take a couple of months off, and ta daah, half a dozen or a dozen new pages to read!
I’m taking time off from Girl Genius and discovered you about a week ago. Look how far I am already …but I have a long way to go, still. AND IT ISN’T FINISHED YET! #happyreader #strategicDevourerofWebcomics 😉
I found this comic awhile back when I was searching for more Webcomics to add to my list. I just have to say I’m thrilled that I happened across it. The art is beautiful, the story is excellent, and combined it keeps me hungry for updates! Great job and thanks for the entertainment and fun you offer us all by sharing your talent and creativity!
I think My_Little_Annie made most of the points I noticed this week.
The expression change on John Henry, for instance… I’m always impressed with how much subtlety you achieve with their expressions, considering they’re graphic simplifications. His first expression (frame 2) is all wounded innocence, contrasting so well with the devil in the next frame. That innocence and wounded look are made up of so many subtle queues, like the exact tilt of the head, how open his eyes are, the shape of his mouth (and maybe more importantly the height of the cheek area) – it’s a lot to get just right, and (as I’ve said many times) a testament to how observant you are. The only other comic I know that manages this sort of thing with this much finesse is something quite different – prohibition cats in human guise… Lackadaisy. Possibly one of the most masterful web comics for detail, gesture, expression, and almost entirely in sepia tones, like photos from the 1920s. The artist has one section where she reveals how she works, showing the process from sketch to final drawing (done in two versions, one cool tones, one warm, merged selectively to create a unique method of indicating depth and focus). Which makes me really interested in a post or extra on how YOU work. Seeing your process from start to finished page would be fascinating (and help us all appreciate the effort that goes into our weekly NTO fix). If you took shots along the way, you could even store that result up to reveal in a later week when you can’t get us a new page…
Like My_Little_Annie also discussed, I love the size differences and white light framing Hunter in these frames – particularly the last one, where he appears at his most powerful and controlling best. Like the magnificent exit from the burning saloon in the first chapter.
I am wondering if the device needs the red stone(s) Hunter picked up in that chapter… and the light of the flower?
Like everyone else here, I vote for the weekly update. As I’ve said before, I savor the page all the more because there is only one each week.
Thanks as always for your comments and triple thanks for likening my stuff to Tracy Butler’s; she’s really in a league of her own.
I promised a process walkthrough or something like it as a Patreon bonus; I might do one independent of that — I think about it a lot. It’s just a matter of thinking of it when I’m working on a page that isn’t an embarrassing shambles as a WIP; most of them are. 😀
You know, it might be very interesting to see just how chaotic your initial work is AND THEN how it comes together… Some artists have a process that moves things a long way before final. I’m thinking of Wyeth sketches prior to his paintings, for instance. Not that they are some kind of mess – they aren’t – but they are often a far cry from the final composition, missing the particular proportions and placement magic that make his pieces so still and so recognizable. Bob Timberlake, for instance, doesn’t get it. His pieces usually end where Wyeth’s ideas start…
I also wanted to say how much I like the arrangement of this page – the geometry of the inset frames, the cropping in those insets. My favorite thing about the page layout is the wonderful focusing device of the pistol escaping the frames, tying all the insets together, the object of John Henry’s concentration right to the last image, where he is looking at the gun, not at Vane. And in the last inset, the gun is back inside the frame (cropped) which seems the right decision both for the position on the page and after John Henry twists her wrist.
I am surprised nearly every time John Henry speaks. The way he dresses, and the grandeur in his face always lead me to expect a more polished speech and better grammar. It makes me aware that he has a whole lot of back story. How did this guy get like this?
And he’s got her by the wrist gaiter… is this where that garment matters? As usual, I can hardly wait for the next page.
Yeah. About that. I realized after my earlier comment that the expository sequence re: the gauntlets in this book got written out and I’d forgotten. My mind is not exactly a steel trap these days.
So: the gaiters, the gauntlets and the serape are all asbestos.
Thanks for the info! We should have been able to work that out, in retrospect. Hunter might be able to control the heat and avoid burning his clothes off, but Vane may not be able to do that…
Panel 4 is my favorite. Vane and Hunter compared like that in size and skin tone. The way she reaches for the machine. His expression in contrast to the menacing body language enveloping her.
And finally, Dr. Black’s eyes. In panel two and three her eye glow is visible, but in panel four it is gone. Her eyes, Vane herself looks human. More so than any time since the flashbacks. Her inquisitive mind seems to overcome whatever fire burns in her for a moment. Wonder if Mr. Hunter could see that from his angle?
Wonder if seeing or not seeing that would have made any difference in his actions?
It’s a trap! 😀
So he is gonna send first civilized conversation with his ex-wife(?) in who knows how long to hell just for a chance to… do what? Take one of her many guns? That’s not gonna help him and will just ruin her mood.
No wonder they did not have amicable split.
That telescope looks like something from Girl Genius. Is that Gil’s walking stick on the side of it in fourth panel?
Maryz, Not sure that these two were ever married. I get the feeling that they had a relationship and I know Hunter burned his initials into Vane’s butt. Almost as a way of saying, “I own you.” The flash backs at best are sketchy, but that’s the impression I come to understand.
Now as for the taking of Vane’s gun, that’s a mystery. John Henry doesn’t really need a gun with his black magic he possesses. Again our writer/artist leaves us all twiddling are thumbs, or sucking them wondering what is going to happen next.
The “telescope” thingy? Not sure that’s what it really is. To me it looks more like some kind of weapon.
No, that’s not Gil’s walking stick. Let’s leave Girl Genius out of this. Next Town Over is a whole other ball of steam punk. 😉
I think it’s less him taking her gun and more grabbing her wrist to throw her off the train.
Hunter refers to her as his “estranged wife” so I think they were/are married, seeing as how she’s not truly dead and he’s still wearing the ring. 🙂 I wonder if this is a time-traveling machine? if it can see into the future? what the heck is it!?
Well, to Devil’s Advocate … Hunter referred to an estranged wife, and hinted this wife was dead. He didn’t explicitly say Vane was his wife.
As far as what the device is … I guess we’ll see!
When the heck did he burn his initials into Vane’s butt? O_o I honestly can’t remember. To the archives!
Docmike, page 14, chapter, Whisky Bend. Last two panels, flash back.
I am familiar with Girl Genius … but I have no idea what Gil’s walking stick is, so alas(?), it is not?
I think jsfury means the stick Gil uses to electrocute whole armies. 🙂
Re: Walking stick – What Drunken Nordmann said.
Re: Married or not – That’s why I put the question mark after ex-wife, we don’t know yet if she is his wife or someone else.
Actually, when he puts his initials on his dead horse (the one to become his fiery horse), she remembers when he did that to her, and he goes right to reanimate the horse.
I believe he didn’t do that to mark her as his, but to reanimate her (?). Her shock expression in that chapter sure says so.
Now, Erin. What are you up to woman? I know, I can almost hear you thinking, “I’ll never tell. Ah HA HA HA HA!!!” Pretty slick move on Hunter’s part, and a bit violent too. Almost looks like he’s going to throw Vane through the door.
Yes it almost does.
The detail on that thing is gorgeous– and must be hell to draw!
I predict that it’s a big laser. Either that, or a completely useless shiny thing built by Hunter merely to entice Vane, lol.
Vane looks like such a child in this page. She quickly loses interest in threatening Hunter, despite the huge danger of doing so, because there’s a big new toy in the room. She turns her back on him, reaching out with her gun hand (fingers losing their grip) and trustingly asks him, “What is it?”
Hunter is HUGE compared to Vane and is literally tossing her around like a little kid here. Love his expression change.
This page makes me feel a weird combination of things. It’s simultaneously rapey, protective, shameful, gentle and really scary.
Vane, snap out of it! His hand is already healed!
Nice observations and thanks so much, Annie!
Annie, Hunter is huge compared to Vane, which is why I was so surprised a couple pages back that she was able to knock the big paluka throw a heavy closed door with a well placed flying kick.
aghhhhh– next page, next page!!
>_<
Yeah, the actioney scenes are really hard to get into reading a page a week. I wonder if people would prefer to get like a month or two’s updates all in a clump? A little more like what Last Halloween does?
I feel like there’d be definite advantages but people might also just sort of forget about the comic and diasporate. I’d love to hear what people think.
Erin, I can tell you from my point of view, I love the weekly updates. I know it can be hard work, and yes, you can get a bit behind, but you always come through with the highest quality of work and writing. Besides, it gives me something to look forward to and maybe make foolish comments in the discussion area. So please, keep up the great work. I, we love it. 🙂
Well I didn’t mean you’d be getting less net updates; updating in contiguous clumps wouldn’t really be any less work for me.
But your other points stand; I think we’d lose some people without the weekly rhythm.
One vote for weekly (for whatever weekly translates to with the munchkin life and such)…
I much prefer weekly updates. I tend to forget about comics that update less frequently.
It makes it easier to read but yeah, I’d only check in every few months then and that’s not as good either.
You’ll just have to quit your job and do this full time for us 😉
Happily … but folks have a long way to go with the Patreon.
Put my money where my mouth is.
I consider it well spent…
Please stick with the present update schedule.
It’s hard enough to wait a week for your next installment. But it’s also just long enough really build the level of suspense into the frenzy zone.
A month or two would take the edge off of the strip.
You can only maintain a sense of keen anticipation for so long before it turns into “oh, well…I wonder what else is happening?”
And thanks for another great update!
Thanks for the input — and thank you doubly for kicking into the Patreon. It’s sincerely very much appreciated.
I have a simple solution: discover the webcoming a few years into its development! Then you can binge along happily until you catch up to the creator. Then take a couple of months off, and ta daah, half a dozen or a dozen new pages to read!
I’m taking time off from Girl Genius and discovered you about a week ago. Look how far I am already …but I have a long way to go, still. AND IT ISN’T FINISHED YET! #happyreader #strategicDevourerofWebcomics 😉
Hunter, you Magnificent Bastard. Well done, Erin. Well done, indeed.
Thank you kindly.
I just realized how much those guns resemble the ill-fated “Volcanic Repeating Pistol”, patent 1858. It’s really uncanny.
I wouldn’t say it’s uncanny; it’s been mentioned a few times they’re based on the Volcanic.
Very much wishing for the day I am able to be a Patreon participant–until then I will just vote every day and comment when I can. 🙂
It’s all appreciated, Karyl! 🙂
I found this comic awhile back when I was searching for more Webcomics to add to my list. I just have to say I’m thrilled that I happened across it. The art is beautiful, the story is excellent, and combined it keeps me hungry for updates! Great job and thanks for the entertainment and fun you offer us all by sharing your talent and creativity!
Glad you found it & thanks so much!
I think My_Little_Annie made most of the points I noticed this week.
The expression change on John Henry, for instance… I’m always impressed with how much subtlety you achieve with their expressions, considering they’re graphic simplifications. His first expression (frame 2) is all wounded innocence, contrasting so well with the devil in the next frame. That innocence and wounded look are made up of so many subtle queues, like the exact tilt of the head, how open his eyes are, the shape of his mouth (and maybe more importantly the height of the cheek area) – it’s a lot to get just right, and (as I’ve said many times) a testament to how observant you are. The only other comic I know that manages this sort of thing with this much finesse is something quite different – prohibition cats in human guise… Lackadaisy. Possibly one of the most masterful web comics for detail, gesture, expression, and almost entirely in sepia tones, like photos from the 1920s. The artist has one section where she reveals how she works, showing the process from sketch to final drawing (done in two versions, one cool tones, one warm, merged selectively to create a unique method of indicating depth and focus). Which makes me really interested in a post or extra on how YOU work. Seeing your process from start to finished page would be fascinating (and help us all appreciate the effort that goes into our weekly NTO fix). If you took shots along the way, you could even store that result up to reveal in a later week when you can’t get us a new page…
Like My_Little_Annie also discussed, I love the size differences and white light framing Hunter in these frames – particularly the last one, where he appears at his most powerful and controlling best. Like the magnificent exit from the burning saloon in the first chapter.
I am wondering if the device needs the red stone(s) Hunter picked up in that chapter… and the light of the flower?
Like everyone else here, I vote for the weekly update. As I’ve said before, I savor the page all the more because there is only one each week.
Thanks as always for your comments and triple thanks for likening my stuff to Tracy Butler’s; she’s really in a league of her own.
I promised a process walkthrough or something like it as a Patreon bonus; I might do one independent of that — I think about it a lot. It’s just a matter of thinking of it when I’m working on a page that isn’t an embarrassing shambles as a WIP; most of them are. 😀
You know, it might be very interesting to see just how chaotic your initial work is AND THEN how it comes together… Some artists have a process that moves things a long way before final. I’m thinking of Wyeth sketches prior to his paintings, for instance. Not that they are some kind of mess – they aren’t – but they are often a far cry from the final composition, missing the particular proportions and placement magic that make his pieces so still and so recognizable. Bob Timberlake, for instance, doesn’t get it. His pieces usually end where Wyeth’s ideas start…
I also wanted to say how much I like the arrangement of this page – the geometry of the inset frames, the cropping in those insets. My favorite thing about the page layout is the wonderful focusing device of the pistol escaping the frames, tying all the insets together, the object of John Henry’s concentration right to the last image, where he is looking at the gun, not at Vane. And in the last inset, the gun is back inside the frame (cropped) which seems the right decision both for the position on the page and after John Henry twists her wrist.
I am surprised nearly every time John Henry speaks. The way he dresses, and the grandeur in his face always lead me to expect a more polished speech and better grammar. It makes me aware that he has a whole lot of back story. How did this guy get like this?
And he’s got her by the wrist gaiter… is this where that garment matters? As usual, I can hardly wait for the next page.
Yeah. About that. I realized after my earlier comment that the expository sequence re: the gauntlets in this book got written out and I’d forgotten. My mind is not exactly a steel trap these days.
So: the gaiters, the gauntlets and the serape are all asbestos.
Thanks for the info! We should have been able to work that out, in retrospect. Hunter might be able to control the heat and avoid burning his clothes off, but Vane may not be able to do that…
NOPE!
– Hunters mind at that very second.
“…what is it?”
“A distraction, my dear.”
One more vote for stating weekly, please. I’ll hop on the Patreon as soon as I am employed again.
Yeah it seems like weekly is the overwhelming preference. I appreciate all the feedback & I’m glad the comic’s current schedule is working for folks.
Beautiful as ever.
Panel 4 is my favorite. Vane and Hunter compared like that in size and skin tone. The way she reaches for the machine. His expression in contrast to the menacing body language enveloping her.
And finally, Dr. Black’s eyes. In panel two and three her eye glow is visible, but in panel four it is gone. Her eyes, Vane herself looks human. More so than any time since the flashbacks. Her inquisitive mind seems to overcome whatever fire burns in her for a moment. Wonder if Mr. Hunter could see that from his angle?
Wonder if seeing or not seeing that would have made any difference in his actions?