12-23-2006 They're attached!

[Valynth]

BACK, BACK BLAST YOU!

*begins beating back the hoard of people who begin to chant for more comics with a mace*

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!

look, this is realy a mood killer about the comic, lot of us like these new characters, they carry things, and not just simply alike pupets. One die, thats ok.... but all... now thats gose way to far in my oppinion. We got the drama, truely, but now something good could happen, "good" as not every one die, get hurt, sure, struggle in the buttle for survive, sure... but kill them all... just don't do any good.

I'm not saying all will die.  I'm saying that not all will live.  There is a difference.  I'm also saying that characters should not be thought of as through they were items(honestly, "stock character?")

[Ice4s]

Well... from 2 is 2 so far as it seams... which is 100% rate as well. Or say i'm wrong, Abel is basic he can't die., rest possibly can... Xander, we not know truely anything about him, he is simpatic character, and thats it, now Devin is different, We started to know him, see the good in him, even the way he is jerk at times, as he act... alike Abel in the first times, he also do things, but we did see the good in him, and today, we know him preaty good.

Kill Devin as well would be an fatal mistake.

[Valynth]

OH FOR THE LOVE OF....

It's Amber's comic and she can darn well do what she darned well feels like with it!  There is no "mistake" or "right or wrong" about it!

[Ice4s]

It is her comic, not said that she can'T, but it's a mistake if the public isn't like it, yeah i am realy much agents to that Devin die, i'm surely an extream on this out of the many.

I just don'T have good time here, and seen this didn't done any good to me, so thats why i'm this much steamed up on this. Death of a char is natural, the chose of the athor is natura, it's her / his own right. But as an individual, i'm not happy with this what i see now on the last screen if thats mean Devin's death.

I love both comic, and story line, but this is a huge cut, from my personal view it is.

[Manawolf]

The title of stock character goes more by the role in the story the character recieves rather than who the character is.  Since Xander ended up doing little to nothing story-wise, he was practically an extra, but just a little above that rank, so he becomes a stock character.

Of course, if you want a good example of a stock character, look to some of the members of the STARS teams from Resident Evil to get a good idea of how one ends up a stock character.

[DigitalMan]

Holy cripes... And Dan thought his first day as a cubi was rough.

Well... from 2 is 2 so far as it seams... which is 100% rate as well. Or say i'm wrong, Abel is basic he can't die., rest possibly can... Xander, we not know truely anything about him, he is simpatic character, and thats it, now Devin is different, We started to know him, see the good in him, even the way he is jerk at times, as he act... alike Abel in the first times, he also do things, but we did see the good in him, and today, we know him preaty good.

Kill Devin as well would be an fatal mistake.

"Fatal mistake" makes it sound like a threat, just so you know.

The comic is one area where I have to say, Amber is pretty much unerring. If Devin dies... it's not a mistake. It's not a flaw. You might not like it, but that doesn't mean she has to go back and "fix" it. She'll do what she wants with the story, and she'll do it on purpose. It's not like she's making this all up as she goes along, there's at least a structured plot involved that specifically involves some people living and some people dying, at Amber's discretion.

I know I sure as hell wouldn't change any of my stories just because the way it all went down was unpopular with some people, and I think it's way out of line for you to demand that Amber do such.

[VioletDusk]

 

Does anyone besides me want to lay odds on the chance that rather dissolve into a whimpering pool of snivel as expected,  Abel instead might be motivated to some violently vengeful acts of rightous cubi fury?

If so...YAY! (What can I say? Rightous fury is one of my favorite flavors.)

Also, wouldn't it be delicious if the thing on the roof happens to be a relative of Abel's? The lack of faces on his tentacles (at least so far) seems to indicate that whoever Abel's clan founder is, that 'cubi is currently pushing up daisies. I wonder how that happened.

[Manawolf]

Great, now I'm thinking of that "Leroy Jenkins" thing, with the sniper going, "Kekekekekekekeke."

He must die a horrible and painfilled death.

"God mode turn on."

[Zina]

"A fatal mistake" hah.
Is it wrong for me to think that calling an action a "mistake" when you have yet to see the result of said action a little...irritating?
Fact-Devin may or may not be dead. We wont know for sure until the next comic(possibly)
Fact-We don't know what is going to happen next. We don't know where Amber is going with this. I'm going to take a wild guess and ASSUME that Amber has the story all planned out. That she didn't just spend all this time making the readers actually LIKE Devin and Xander just to kill them off on a whim. I'm going to assume there's a reason behind this, whether it be for plot's sake or character growth.
So...telling Amber she's made a "fatal mistake" when the only person that knows what's going to happen next is Amber herself is just....
Well.
You know.
A tad insulting.

[Ice4s]

I appolages, sry, as i said as well, i dosen't had the best week, and this dose have the mark on me. 

[Jack McSlay]

it wont be confirmed he being dead until it is shown where it hit exactly, but for me it seems it hit right his NECK, and exited on his back, not his chest or shoulder

big question is, is Abel gonna keep acting as a wimp or will he go super cubi-jin and blast the guy away in a desperate but effective blow?

[Tiger_T]

I've got a question for you lot:
Would you rather that Amber created only pale two-dimensional characters to tell Abels story?

I think that giving us an incentive to like the people Abel meets, makes his story more vivid.
I won't deny that seeing so many of them die isn't all lolipops and sunshine but what do you expect.
Amber tries to explain to us why Abel is how he is and acts the way he does 'today'.
I feel it's good storytelling whether I like the theme of the story or not.

Poor Xander, poor Devin. May they get to rest in peace.
Poor Abel having such a horrible day.
But yay story progress!

[Netami]

Easy to guess summary: Piccolo kills Devin, Xander's already toast, the paladin lady comes around and sees Abel's headwings (accompanied with an Abel freak out or not) and assumes he is in cahoots with Piccolo. Then Abel either kills them all and is later found by someone, or he is initially chased off by the paladin lady and then goes on a rampage. Somehow, his parents die! I blame piccolo.

[Arcalane]

Rocks fall. Everybody dies. ¬¬

"It's worse than that - he's dead, Jim."

[Aridas]

they're all dead in DMFA's timeline anyway. Give it a rest. >.>

[Snap]

Oh my... 
Im speechless. Maybe someone else could express what im feeling right now?


Also, hasnt this subject already been covered?
http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_159.php
http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_175.php

[rant]
Its incredible that Amber is able to pull of drawing two (quite distinctive) comic strips at the same time, DMFA being the comical "one strip one joke" one, and Abels story the darker story-telling one.
Hell, majority of webcomic ive seen doesnt even manage _one_ properly or sometimes switches between the two.
There are thoussands of webcomics out there putting "story progress" on top of their priority list, thus unfortunately rendering the strip dramatic and "not funny at all". Ive never seen the fascination in that, but maybe its just me being wierd.

Anyway i guess the reason for many people being surprised is the sudden change of pace. We havent really seen enough piles of corpses in Ambers art to be used to them. "Everybody dies" in one of Ambers strips just seems so out of place. And it has never mattered that they included deamons and carnivores and all other kinds of deadly "things with sharp teeth".

Apparently, with Abels story lots of unwritten DMFA rules (no killing besides for comical purposes, funny strip over story progress) have changed or dont apply anymore - which is impressive and well done, but also takes a bit to get used to. I guess back then, it was simply a darker time than "now".
[/rant]

On another note:
I giggled about the line "What, they're attached?". It sounds like  Devin really wanted to say something like: "Woa, where did that bat in your hair come from?"
Also, Devins answer shows that he didnt know that cubi had headwings, thus rendering all speculation about Devins reaction null and void.

[MT Hazard]

Rough rule of thumb, 'magic can do anything the author/artist says it can', in this case cause physical damage and apparently larger exit wounds.

Id say it cut though the shoulder, but maybe did damage lower. But then again I'm no expert of blood splatter, could of cut a clean line though. If the creature firing them wanted to kill all of them straight away, wouldn't they aim for the head? Then again it is close to his neck..

Speculation ends here (for this comic anyway)

I good realisation of doom expression on Devin, and the impact shot is fully effective without too much detail.

[Turnsky]

ouch, poor devin, what's the likelihood of him having some last words, neh?..

either way, i get the mental image (or animation in this case) of Devin tugging Abel's headwings.

[Tait-Fox]

Pooooor Devin >.<

Pooooooor Xander! (<3'ed Xander )

POOOOOOOR ABEL!

Not only is Glory gonna find an Abel very sad at her friends body, but she might accuse her of doing it, Glory might end up dying too by the cubi institutes headmaster type person because of the recent spike in Cubi nature from Abel. 

Complete theory though >.>

EDITED CAUSE OF NAME MISTAKE CAUSE I FAIL AT MAINTAINING SPELLING WHEN AWAKE FOR A LONG TIME

[Akisohida]

I like Devin and Xander but that's what ake sit cooler if they are killed off.; you don't see it coming. You don't say 'This guy is a jerk with a 2D personality and no past..He will be dead soon.' You say 'This guy is awsome! I hope we learn more about him! ...Noooo!' I mean, imagine if the real world had Red Shirts 'Dude..You have no personality, keep your eyes open!' Giving characters that are destined to die personalities and making us like them pulls us into the world of the comic and proves what a good storyteller Amber is.

[Snap]

Since when does being like the real world make a comic more fun to read? 

[Brunhidden]

only when it involves sex, violence, and videogames.

even then i guess the whole fun is that you can embelish the realworldey stuff

I tell the truth quite often, yet people are always supprised

[/glow]

[Aridas]

Glory might end up dying too by the cubi institutes headmaster type person because of the recent spike in Cubi nature from Abel. 

There's no magical cubi radar that they just find some guy who just got his headwings and scoop him up >_>

[Alondro]

*Charline hmphs*  Frankly, I think it's a very good manner of storytelling.  Not to mention we can't be sure if he's dead yet.  There are thousands of comics that have had characters get blasted and appear dead in one scene, only to reveal that they're not quite dead yet in the next.  (I think I'm getting better!)

Buuuuut, since Amber knows this, she might well kill him at the end of the next scene... just to be mean to the whiners.  I certainly would.  (He's died!)   

Besides, controversy only increases fame!  Forcing people to take a vested interest in a character, invading their minds to the point where they foam at the mouth and begin rioting at the thought of losing one of their precious inked pseudo-people... it's a delightful form of mind control!  Then, all the comic creator has to do is say "If you'll invade this country and slaughter all the first born, I'll bring the character back!"  And thus, a simple comic artist becomes Empress of the world!  *sighs*  Ah Amber, you have outdone me in one mode of evil.  I'll have to greatly increase my other evil to compensate! 

*Charles notes*  Until we see exactly where in the chest he was hit, we can't know for sure that it's fatal.  Having read many case studies of chest wounds, being hit on the right side is often survivable as long as none of the major blood vessels are severed. 

[superluser]

I'm trying to make my thinking clear on these issues, but I'll probably wind up goofing it up again and again until the day I die.

I don't like loosely-defined characters dying.  Something strikes me as rather twinky in developing a story where the author is saying something like ``So the main character needs to have an emotional breakdown.  I know!  I'll invent another character and have him DIE in front of the main character!''

What about Devin?  What about Xander?  How have their own deaths affected them?

Xander has a sister.  How is she going to react?  We'll probably never know.  Does Xander have any other living relatives or friends?  We were never told.  The only things that we know about him are from his interactions with the main character or from his interactions with other characters that interact with the main character.

The same is true of Devin.  We don't know if any of his relatives are alive, and his only compatriots that we know of are the other adventurers.  Surely he has other people that care about him.

It seems rather cheap to view a life through the narrow prism of one social connection.  Not to mention that if, in character creation, you have the death be more important than the life, you tend to make the character's personality about his last few minutes, not about the twenty-some years that came before.

Oh, well.  That's my view, not Amber's, and I think that reasonable people can disagree about this.

(I think I'm getting better!)

I feel happy!

[Seth C Triggs]

I'm trying to make my thinking clear on these issues, but I'll probably wind up goofing it up again and again until the day I die.

I don't like loosely-defined characters dying.  Something strikes me as rather twinky in developing a story where the author is saying something like ``So the main character needs to have an emotional breakdown.  I know!  I'll invent another character and have him DIE in front of the main character!''

What about Devin?  What about Xander?  How have their own deaths affected them?

Xander has a sister.  How is she going to react?  We'll probably never know.  Does Xander have any other living relatives or friends?  We were never told.  The only things that we know about him are from his interactions with the main character or from his interactions with other characters that interact with the main character.

The same is true of Devin.  We don't know if any of his relatives are alive, and his only compatriots that we know of are the other adventurers.  Surely he has other people that care about him.

It seems rather cheap to view a life through the narrow prism of one social connection.  Not to mention that if, in character creation, you have the death be more important than the life, you tend to make the character's personality about his last few minutes, not about the twenty-some years that came before.

Oh, well.  That's my view, not Amber's, and I think that reasonable people can disagree about this.

Generally, there's space limitations in every story. I don't know of any work that can possibly show all of the reactions for a particular character's extended relationship tree. And indeed, perhaps the reactions from different people might even become redundant. I'd probably assume all of them would at least be sad that Xander died, for example.

It's always more important, in my opinion, to keep the story moving. Not harp on one detail.

-Seth

[Caswin]

Oh, well.  That's my view, not Amber's, and I think that reasonable people can disagree about this.

Thanks for being reasonable.

[GabrielsThoughts]

I'm not sure, but Devin's injury didn't look immideately lethal... he will probably die slowly and start halucinating from blood loss first.

[superluser]

Generally, there's space limitations in every story. I don't know of any work that can possibly show all of the reactions for a particular character's extended relationship tree. And indeed, perhaps the reactions from different people might even become redundant. I'd probably assume all of them would at least be sad that Xander died, for example.

True enough.  I guess my point is that the death of a character should be about that character, and not about someone else.

[Alan Garou]

All right, that's it.  Right now, I want to find that sniper, grab them by the neck, then rip their face off and watch them die.  Why Amber, why? Hasn't Abel suffered enough?