Author's Comments:

Z-Axis, 04 Aug 2008 06:16 pm

The unthinkable has happened, and the hiatus has ended.

Thank you to everyone willing to wait while I made this comic, and I hope that you are satisfied with the result. I did my best to follow the criticism and requests given for previous comics. Thanks as well to everyone who complained about the time, offered threats of Inquisitorial wrath, accused me of false promises, etc. You provided a much-needed bit of encouragement to get on and draw, so loads of thanks to all of you!

The massive wait was a result of several factors. The first one was real life. Often, I was busy with all sorts of things. Perhaps more importantly, in terms of how long it took me to draw the comic, was the art upgrade.

Reading previous comics, especially the most recent one, I felt that the art needed a rather significant improvement, especially in the character designs. The rather boring backgrounds of the most recent comic were also an issue. I have redrawn the main cast, which means future comics will be much quicker to draw (although the more detailed designs take longer to pose).

Enough excuses, here is the comic! The text on the computer screen in the first two panels reads as follows:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+Danger: Core containment failure+
++Significant risk of explosion!++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++Praise the Emperor++++++++
+++++for our imminent demise++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The servo-skulls are intended to reflect the demon roaches who appear in OotS, and depending on how they are received they will either become supporting characters or vanish back from whence they came.

Apologies to anyone having trouble downloading the file. ImageShack is sometimes a bit slow, but I cannot compress it any further without causing ugly artifacts and it's too big for SmackJeeves to store on their servers.

Once again, thank you, and I hope you all enjoyed the comic! If you didn't, though, tell me. I can always use criticism.

User's Comments:

T1868 (Guest), 04 Aug 2008 09:53 pm

Kudos Great Job! im very satisfied. as to the servo-skulls i say keep them you never know when one will come in handy. also could we be looking at a consistent update with the character upgrade?

Shadow (Guest), 05 Aug 2008 03:48 am

Brilliant, and I agree about the servo-skulls, they certain add that "Fly on the wall" kind of humour to the strip. Thumbs up!

the wolf (Guest), 08 Aug 2008 08:57 am

i loves it i was looking at your steamID and i saw that you like warhammer 40k (i do to XD)i loved how you did the I.G. are you go to add new army like the tyranids (that is my fav) btw my steam nickname is the wolf XD lol o ps dawn of war is 40k's game but you need to buy the winter one to get in I.G. pss i am in the http://steamcommunity.com/groups/BlackMesa Group as you r well bye

Mc. Lovin' (Guest), 10 Aug 2008 05:04 pm

Sweet comic Z! It's great to see an update ;D

However wont the new art upgrade make the gap between comics even longer? I don't want the next comic to be when I'm 18 D:

Miko the Paladin (Guest), 11 Aug 2008 08:25 am

Praise Z-Axis Well done Z-axis! Your comic is epic, as always.

Keep 'em coming!! :D

I love the servo skulls, they rule. Keep them!!


Miko the Paladin,

mikopaladin@hotmail.co.uk

Joe (Guest), 15 Aug 2008 04:13 pm

Wow Yay, finally I am able to read your comics (because now they finally are displayed!) and I LOVE THEM!

Imperial Navy rulez :D :D :D

SolkaTruesilver (Guest), 17 Aug 2008 04:40 am

Very good I'll enjoy reading more of this. If I may suggest, you shouldn't abuse of the Roach-jokes. Occasionnal comic relief only. They usually appear only in OotS's strips while we are on the villain's side, which means they don't appear often.

Here, you seem to want them following the protagonists (and the only freaking character of the strip) around. I think there is too much potential of.. abusing those kind of jokes. Be careful.

t1868 (Guest), 18 Aug 2008 08:40 pm

do you have a rough idea when the next comic is going to be?

Shas'aia Toriia (Guest), 19 Aug 2008 09:48 pm

Yay! Ooh, shiny!
I, for one, support the servo-skulls.
However, I agree with Solka Truesilver. Skulls as occasional comic relief, not every strip.

Also, good comic. :D

Z-Axis, 22 Aug 2008 07:04 am

Thanks to everyone who has given me advice! From what you've said, I will make the servo-skulls appear occasionally, but not too frequently.

t1868, the next comic will go up when it's finished. My current project is a CGI animation one, and I'll go back to making a comic once that's done; hopefully I'll get it done in the next couple of weeks.

SolkaTruesilver (Guest), 15 Sep 2008 04:51 am

Again? Oh... so you ended an hiatus to start another one? Cruel webcomic artist!!! :(

Z-Axis, 20 Sep 2008 09:12 am

If I can find the time I'll do it this weekend. That's about as specific as I can go, based on past experience :P

Also, the Techpriest is getting a lot of modification and some new poses, which might take a while but right now I'm thining he just looks awkward, especially with the 'small' head.

Exachix (Guest), 10 Oct 2008 04:33 am

'tis a cool comic! =)

T1868 (Guest), 10 Oct 2008 01:52 pm

come on man just take a day o get the comic done for the love of god.

Z-Axis, 12 Oct 2008 03:17 am

The moment I find a spare day, I'll do just that :)

t1868 (Guest), 22 Oct 2008 05:25 am

im gonna geuse the next comic has to do with zombie lincon?

t1868 (Guest), 11 Nov 2008 06:02 am

??????

Z-Axis, 14 Nov 2008 06:31 pm

Erm, sorry about that rather odd spam - it's been cleaned up now.

Current plan is to get back to En Guard sometime next weekend. Hold me to that, please. Lincoln is somewhat unlikely to make an appearance :P

Elboyodiablo (Guest), 22 Nov 2008 09:06 am

As You Wish nagnagnagnagnagnagnagnagnagnag

Z-Axis, 25 Nov 2008 02:19 pm

I forgot myself D:

Elboyodiablo, thank you for the effort. Next weekend I'll quickly rewrite a bit of history - we were always at war with Eastasia, etc.

T1868 (Guest), 28 Nov 2008 07:02 am

Tick, Tick, Tick it is currently friday morning 8.00 AM here in Canada

At 12:01 AM Saturday the clock will start ticking for the new comic.

kais246 (Guest), 29 Nov 2008 05:19 am

so.... Well this is moving like a Bolt (40k pun :P).

T1868 (Guest), 01 Dec 2008 01:56 pm

Failure...yet again well it is offically monday so much for are weekend comic.

Z-Axis, 01 Dec 2008 04:38 pm

...
repeat 5 {headdesk()}

Sorry about that. Let's see if I can't hold the ever-slipping comic date still this weekend... I believe I'm playing in a concert on Saturday, which leaves Sunday. Hmm.

T1868 (Guest), 02 Dec 2008 03:45 pm

or friday night...

Z-Axis, 06 Dec 2008 10:03 am

Saturday, but I have some time. Scripting begins. Will post updates as frequently as possible.

Z-Axis, 07 Dec 2008 07:43 am

Main background is complete!

Z-Axis, 07 Dec 2008 12:16 pm

Why is this taking a while? For once, it's not because I'm a lazy artist.

It's because I've gone for full 3D renders for all the backgrounds in this comic.

As a result, each panel has to go through three different programs - Blender, for 3D stuff, the GIMP, for post-processing, and Inkscape, for adding the characters.

Like all the comics, the panels will then have to be compiled in Inkscape for lettering and titling.

Then I have to do my best to compress it without losing quality (PNG can supposedly compress as well as GIF, but I haven't yet figured out how to get it to do so).

Anyway, currently I've finished two panels out of a planned five (approximately). Progress will accelerate after this one though since I've finished most of the backgrounds I need.

Rutskarn (Guest), 31 Jan 2009 04:46 pm

12 The wikipedia joke was clever, as was the "holy blank grey walls" comment.

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