‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 745

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You know, for a while I was wondering why I hated the sections in the Game last time. I remember now. We’re, what, five comics in and I already have no idea what’s going on and am bored out of my mind. The NAV-verse is such a fantastic world with likable characters and fascinating intrigue but it keeps getting pounded down by these incredibly slow and drawn out action scenes whenever we transition to the Game.

I know, I know, there’s a lot of nuance in the characters’ actions, the art is really good, and the (probably) Kat-AI’s actions are interesting to try and interpret. I still like comic book style action scenes more when they move in 1080p and have more CGI than the average Final Fantasy cutscene.

Just wait till it’s over and read it all in one go. It only seems slow because we gotta wait for them to be posted, once done it’ll be fine. Once you can read through them quickly, it’ll be quick. 🙂

Oww, you missed the “Goblins” webcomic: I took like a year for a single action scene to finish (Battle of Brassmoon).

I vote story over art. Bias warning: I read stick figure comics like OOTS and XKCD

Ultimately, the existence of this comic owes more to the author’s interest in art than storytelling, though, so I don’t think complaining about misplaced priorities is going to get you very far. I don’t disagree that the construction of an action page is a skill that could use some work, but you kinda have to take certain things as they are. This is never going to be a comic that prioritizes story, and as a result, pacing will always be one of the things that gets sacrificed. It’s still pretty great in a lot of important ways.

I complain because I love. I’m still gonna read it. <3

Oh my, seeing this discussion I can only conclude that it must’ve been fate that I felt like returning from lurking for this update specifically.
You (plural) can add to your points that Aneeka had multiple burn-outs because of the art (mostly because of the Reality Arcs) and even hired a colorist for the previous Game arc (who was initially more expensive than the comic’s income). I have been quite vocal about this in the comments in a (hopefully) constructive manner, because I read OOTS and XKCD etc. as well and from my point of view there’s no need to work hard on something I’m not here for, and there’s never any reason to entertain me at the cost of one’s own health. I was intrigued by the story and the complex characters, not the pretty trees and grass. If I want to see pretty flora I’ll just read Twokinds. 😉
I do see improvements here, though, i.e. compare the amount of panels to the previous fight which ended up in splash-page after splash-page and with no more than 4 panels per page for months (yes, I counted XD). Imagine reading through THAT arc while it comes out. 😀 The entirety of book 4 felt as if it took place during 15 minutes tops, so at that pace my grandchildren won’t live long enough to see how it ends. 😉 But yes, the pages are super beautiful.

I wouldn’t have minded some time- and health-saving filler that could’ve explained more of the lore. I have been having literally dozens of questions regarding how each of the 3 worlds work (Reality, LiFe and the Game), i.e. mechanics, cultures, politics, finances, character profiles etc., but we didn’t even get to see the Dude’s Special and the Ha! Special yet.
Apropos: Now would be an opportune time for either or both of these Specials, am I right? 😀 Just imagine Kat forgetting to remove that Special because of her current emotional breakdown and the A.I. just going ahead and abusing the heck out of it. And since the Dude requires excessive violence for his Special, a violent A.I. Kat is his best bet to ever get the chance to use it again.

Or wait, can players without Esones use Specials at all? I forgot. But nevertheless, if the A.I. gets one she just might do it then.

NAV is an excellent comic, that has too many nuances for its update speed.

I can only recommend rereading webcomics as they get published as ebooks or print versions – the latter mostly for people living on the same continent as the artist, as otherwise the shipment fees can become quite disproportionate.

It allows to relive the story in a more natural pace, unfettered by the needs of maintaining a webcomic audience, AND gives financial support to the artist.

Plus, it allows fulfilling that itch for archival and collecting. Though I need to think about a solution to backup the comic outside the DRMed ecosystem of Kindle…

Made her pause, to shake her hair, at least

The Dude’s shirt being close in color to the background makes it look like he got bisected and is just a pair of legs.

Hmm… the code doesn’t support pockets holding things, but it does support knocking sand away with your hair?

If your hair if programmed as a defensive method, certainly. Is that standard or something custom for Jane? I’ve no idea.

I really would not put it past Jane to have her hair programmed as an another limb so she could whip it in peoples faces if she gets grappled.

I suspect you can knock away sand with your pockets too.

The outside of them at least.

It’s probably the inside of pockets that aren’t supported; too many possibilities for bounding box collisions.

LOL Jane looks so smug there in the last panel …

Danni did slow Jane up enough that Bandit should easily be able to get hold of her now!

POCKET SAND!

Yeah, seems like this is a kind of sand that doesn’t get everywhere. 🙂

Y’all creative types? Yeah? Don’t you feel all bubbly when people praise your work? Makes ya wanna draw or write all the time. After all, when you work on something it’s half for yourself and half for the consumer. If the consumer stops enjoying it or you feel like your actions are constantly being psychoanalyzed, it is insanely hard to keep going. Meaning you slow down and what you produce doesn’t carry the same oomph it once did.

I get that it’s frustrating to wait for updates and action scenes in writing and comic form are best appreciated when they’re fast paced… But this is still better than all those animes that repeat a scene 15 times while bystanders tell us how we’re supposed to feel about it. Every. Single. Time. (I’m looking at you, My Hero Academia). Kleya at least treats us like we are intelligent enough to determine character actions and motives ourselves.

AND, I’ll add that the whole “art over story” argument has to do with an artist trying to improve, and the fact that people used to say “it’s a great story, just ignore the crappy art.” A statement no artist wants to hear.

Well, there’s that, but there’s also the side that feedback is important, even criticism, so that an artist knows how their work is received.
E.g. Magda from Replay said she regretted taking a “break” for half a year to redraw the first pages, because the users went elsewhere.
Or a Youtuber I follow who makes (non-familiy-friendly) recap videos about MLP added more and more self-drawn art, which took more and more time to make, and then he made one video where he didn’t do anything of the sort, saving like 90% of his time, and nobody seemed to notice, because it appears that most people follow him for his wit.
And DawnSomewhere’s comic Hotdog boy Stebe started out so disjointedly that people pointed it out and now the story has become more coherent (relatively speaking, but he said is was meant as an art exercise to begin with anyway).

Of course an artist would want to improve their art, but look at the text above the current vote incentive that explains how the Danni/Sandra merge happened. I’d be all for less pretty art if it saved time and health. The bar for “good” art is currently WAY too high anyway. Nobody should feel obligated to keep up with comics from professional companies. And this comic had been at the very top of TWC for years (literally No. 1, sometimes “scuffling” with Replay and TwoKinds), likely because of the story.

I know criticism can be tough, but as long as it’s not hatespeech, from my experience it’s still better than people just leaving. I’m not an artist, though, I’m talking about other things.

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 745