FOUR:
SABRE ascending the ladder. Again, maybe mid-thighs down as she scrambles up.
7. HANS/off: She’s heading TOPSIDE…
FIVE:
Stet, but her DRESS – now discarded – is flopping onto the head of the lead GUARD pursuing her.
NO COPY.
SIX:
On HANS, glowering in fury, as GUARDS flank him on either side, lowering their weapons and/or reloading. He’s got a dramatic dueling scar along one cheek, running down to his neck. Mean looking SOB.
The GUARDS, with their masks, are all rather ominous. They’ve all dropped their guns, drawing their swords instead.
8. HANS: …you men follow her up–
Great coloring
These segments are really too short.
Yeah, I see that, too. The new stuff I’m writing will pace better, I hope. I beg for patience as I learn what works best for both the web and the story.
Great visual gag. Was it Rick’s idea to re-order the panels like this?
It actually came out in discussion – he sent breakdowns, and if I remember correctly, I asked for the clarification of the dress flopping over the guard’s head.
she’s naked somewhere!
Hey… it’s me!
Does your mother know you’re here?
Bravo! I’m so looking forward to this webcomic! Keep’m comin’! =o)
I know, I totally did that all by myself.
Except for the coloring and drawing part. That was Rick.
The rest was me.
Except the coding, that was Eric.
Everything else…
…everything…else…
…I’ll just, hmm… be over here, in the corner, y’know?
It’s great to see your process.
I look forward to more installments, although I may wait a bit and let a few accumulate.
A perfectly sound approach, and one which I cannot dispute. The nice thing about the format is you can do exactly that. We’ll be here. We’re in for the long haul!
Good golly, Mr. Rucka, sometimes I feel like you are tapping my dreams and mid-summer-heat hallucinations to bring me exactly what I want to read at that moment. I know it’s not for me, but thanks for this, Sabre tickles more of my favorite things than you can even begin to realize.
Hey! How you been? And delighted to hear it!
The webcomic is truly a different world from print. You can do just about anything you want design wise with some limitations e.g. content space, but the timing, spacing, layout can be freeing. Would love to know if you guys are using any analytics to keep track of traffic. Also are you using just word of mouth to spread your awesomeness around.
Eric has been tracking hits somewhat, I think, but honestly, at this point, I’m really trying very hard not to know too much. I find knowing numbers – be it for the novels, the comics, whatever – is counter-productive to me from the creative standpoint.
And yes, word-of-mouth is out only means of promoting this, at least at the moment. We’ll see how long that lasts 😉
Right now, we’re just using basic out of-the-box Google Analytics. I haven’t set up any goals or campaigns. As Greg said, we’re sort of just keeping an eye on things right now.
Any analytics/stats packages you can recommend from your work at Daedalus?
Lady Sabre puts me in the mind of Maureen O’Hara.
I love it! I also love seeing the process. It seems sometimes getting any type of glimpse on process is a no-no, but you guys seem to give everything up to the readers. It’s greatly appreciated!
I definitely think you guys’re off to a good start – and the choice to do “screens”, as you called them, is a solid one, given the medium. You really, really do want to make it easy for readers to get hooked, and catering to the computer screen size is brilliant.
At the same time, there is also the tricky part that surfaces as a result; because you’re planning it out as a standard comic, you’re writing it with a page-by-page flow in mind. (Which is why the printed collection is going to read VERY well, no doubt in my mind.)
To accomodate the “screen” approach, though, you’ve cut Page One into Part One and Part Two – and disrupted the page flow. I think that’s what Chap meant by “it’s too short”; there’s an abruptness that results from the split, and it may very well be solved by posting full pages to maintain the flow, a la other webcomics (like http://guildedage.net/).
But – if you’re both committed to keeping things the way they are, I think the best thing to do would be to keep playing with it, and find a happy medium between a great-reading web-comic and a print collection with an excellent page flow.
An easy fix is an easy fix, but I think you two’ve already made a strong visual choice, and I’m encouraging you both to keep going in that direction. Can’t wait for the next one!
Yeah, I see what you mean, and I agree. This is why my plan is to revise Chapter Two pretty much… well, now, actually. One of the tricks for us thus far has been trying to figure out exactly how long it takes to produce how much, if that makes sense. IE, if Rick can do a “page” a day, for instance, how much is that in “screens”? I think Chapter Two will show a marked improvement – or at least I hope it will – in regards to pacing.
Oh, I totally get what you mean. And best of luck with it, I think you’ll nail the pacing issue. 😀
Yes yes she does, and at the moment she is in her PJs eating a Croissant.
I’ve a young midshipman here who would enjoy her company when he returns from California on the 28th. We should try to arrange that!
We will be in France by then, but we’ll call when we get back to town. With loot. AVAST!
these 2 pages look great so far and they really work, even with pace interruptions
it’s exciting to see you guys tackle the web comic independently
cant wait to read more!
I like the feel of the comic, very mysterious!
Woah looking amazing.
Can’t wait to see where this is going. Loving that more professional creators are looking at webcomics too. Easier to rec and hook my friends that way. 😀
Steampunk and pirates? If you manage to throw in ninjas and dinosaurs, my head will explode (BTW I love that you posted the script as well) BRILLIANT!
Duly noted.
*ponders*
Yeah, I think I can make that work. Might be a while, though. 🙂
There was that guy with the thing that you and Rick were discussing. If that’s vague enough for you.