Reclaimer - A Halo 3 Comic

Ok, I lied again – I promised that Chapter One would complete on Friday.  Turns out, it’s going to have to wait until Monday.  I was originally just going to let today’s page drop as unnecessary minutiae, but of course it wouldn’t leave me alone.  And as every writer knows, ignoring the muse is generally a very bad thing to do.  Muses can be somewhat vengeful, doncha know, and if you ignore them too many times, they’ll usually end up going away and leaving you to fend for yourself.  I love my muse, so I prefer to keep her happy.

I’m actually glad I kept this page in, though.  I think it adds a little extra flesh to the skeleton of the story, gives it a little bit of philosophical richness, not to mention making the science fiction behind it a little more interesting. 

And of course, now my muse is satisfied and grinning at me like a little banshee.  Funny – never noticed that connection until now.  That’s actually a little disturbing…

Single-panel page today – this marks the end of Chapter One.  The context is set now, and we know enough about the Reclaimer’s background to set the challenge and to be able to move on into something different starting on Wednesday.  It’s about time we were introduced to Viper.

I apologize for the poor color contrasts on today’s page, gang.  The Poster Edges filter doesn’t play real well with dark pictures, and I’m having a difficult time figuring out the Adjustment Levels filter in order to achieve a good balance of light and dark that will let me use Poster Edges effectively while still retaining the gloomy atmosphere of the scene.  I’ll figure it out, though – I promise.

Oh, and what’s up with that Archimedes reference?  Viper obviously wants it, and probably to no good end.  I’ll let you speculate awhile, though, on what – or who – exactly Archimedes is and why Viper is looking for it. 

Starting with Friday’s page, I’m going to start producing the Reclaimer comic sans Poster Edges filter.  I’ve found that it really doesn’t work with low-light shots or with objects not in the immediate foreground.  Those objects end up just looking blurry, which in the long-run hinders both the effectiveness of the storytelling and the enjoyment of the reader.  I expect this will make the comic more fun for everyone involved.

By the way, you may notice that there are now small Digg buttons with each comic.  If you enjoy Reclaimer and would like to help further its readership, please feel free to Digg the comic and push it out to where others can see it.

There is also a Share This link that provides access to several social bookmarking sites.  Please feel free to use this to share Reclaimer around.

As always, feel free to add Reclaimer’s RSS feed to your feed reader.  It’s a quick and easy way to bring Reclaimer directly to you as soon as a new page appears.

Today’s is the first page without poster edges, and already I like it better.  The images are easily viewed, with no loss of clarity.  I do still like the Poster Edge effect, but it’s just so inconsistently rendered for the kind of imagery I constantly need to generate for a comic like Reclaimer.

So, Viper needs to find Archimedes (whatever that is), but it looks like they’re about to be interrupted by something.  I wonder what this is going to mean, both for events already in motion as well as for their immediate search.

I apologize for the lack of news updates this week.  I’ve been rather under the weather with a head-splitting sinus infection.  I’m glad that I managed to put Monday and Wednesday strips together before I fell ill because this thing has been rocking my world since Sunday night.  I’m on antibiotics now, though, so I’m starting to finally feel a little better.  Just in time, too, since I needed to put today’s page together last night.

As you can see, Poster Edges have returned.  The fabulously talented TT L Burritoh, my fellow clan member, gave me a few tips and pointers on using masks a little more effectively, so I think I can now apply the Poster Edges filter a bit more cleanly from here on out.  I really do like the effect, so I’m glad to be able to find a way to use them again without losing any visual clarity.  At some point when I have time, I’ll go back to redo the pages that don’t have the filter and add it to those for the sake of consistency.

So, the Commander is checking up on his boys and a little clue seeps in to the mix.  Too bad he doesn’t have time to follow up on it right now.  Cryin’ shame, if you ask me.

I apologize to those of you who read Reclaimer by RSS feed.  I messed up the file name of today’s comic, so the image didn’t post properly.  I’ve since fixed it, but it’s likely that for today’s page you’ll have to click through in order to read it. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m really enjoying the filtered look of the strip again.  The current look is much cleaner and sharper than my first attempts at it, and even in low-light situations, you can still tell what’s going on.  Much more satisfactory, in my opinion.

I also got a nice bonus when working on today’s page.  Originally, I had intended to build it as a 9-frame page but quickly realized that would be mashing too many things together.  I ended up splitting today’s page in two, taking care of today and Wednesday quite nicely.  Zeta squad has found Archimedes.  Question is, will they be able to survive it?

Sorry, gang – no comic today.  I’m planning to get myself back into graduate school, this time to pick up a Ph.D., and my previous set of GRE scores have exceeded their shelf life.  So, I’ll be taking the GREs again tomorrow, but that means that I’m cramming as much study prep as I can into every spare minute I have.  I will have new material on Monday – I promise – so you’ll just have to sit patiently until then.

Circumstances beyond my control, I assure you.  I have my evening pretty open tonight, though, so I’m planning to spend some time trying to get all three of this week’s comics put together and ready, with today’s comic simply going up a day late.  I apologize for the delay in this.

And in case anyone cares (thanks to all one of you), my GREs went very well on Saturday, and I’m in the process now of putting together my application to Purdue’s statistics doctoral program and gathering up all the supplementary materials that go with it.  If all goes well, I’ll entering the program this next fall as a doctoral candidate, and then my life will become truly busy.  It should be fun, though, as statistics are in my blood.

Alright, new comic tomorrow.  I appreciate your patience.