Page 1274…
Happy Friday, All!
Thanks for hanging tight with me for the 3 days a week.
I think the combination that these pages have so much going on mixed with the extra work of re-working the Gary the Pirate screenplay just may keep me at 3 days a week for a couple more weeks.
But I promise I’ll get back to 5 days a week very soon.
And have a wonderful weekend.
PS. Is it obvious enough that Alex knocked one of Nicodemus’ horns off in the last panel?
We’ll see it closer on Monday…but just wondering.
Wow… broken horn. Alex is REALLY upset!
Hoooooly crud! Face pawnch!
By the way Scott, I’ve been following your comic for about an entire year now and I just want to say, it’s completely wonderful. The details of the panels, the storyline itself, including the conflict and everything is completely outstanding.
falcon PUNCH
http://www.instantsfun.es/falconpunch
That aside I’d be interested to see how Alex pulled off that houdini move, wasn’t he having his face rearanged at the end of Nic’s fist?
This battle is out of the park brutal though… you can almost feel those blows through the screen.
I said it a while back, and I’ll say it again, Nicodemus shouldn’t bring up Dan in any sort of negative context. Alex, like most brothers, may fight with his brother a lot, but nobody else had better try something with his brother, or else they’ll learn just how powerful the bond between brothers can be. I love the fact that Alex hasn’t backed down at all, despite his helmet being torn off.
I am curious about the second panel, though. It looks like the wound from the sword is gone on Nicodemus’ chest, and I wasn’t sure if that was intentional or not. I was expecting to see the scar still there, at least (if not the wound still bleeding a little bit).
Not so clear, actually.
It took me a bit of scrutiny to figure out what it was that Alex knocked loose. At first I thought it was a tooth.
Oh snaps! Literally! 🙂
holy frigging punch!
now thats some epic FALCON PUNCH!.
our hero just went Chuck Norris on Nico
Go for it, Alex 🙂 No one messes with your bro’ ^^
Cool Page, scott. Absolutely worth the wait. I don’t mind you going three pages a week. Not at all.
Ho…lee…shhh…shinola.
“So, what did you do today Alex?”
“Oh, you know… the usual, liberating Dreamland, kicking the crap out of a dragon…”
Gooo Alex! 😀
You could say that Nic was horning in on Dan’s territory.
Also… Boot to the head!
totally awesome. Does this sequence of attacks remind anyone of Parappa the Rapper? “Kick, Punch, it’s all in the mind…”
Also Scott, totally obvious it’s one of the horns. Nice going!
O.O It WAS a horn!! *squeeeee* Yeahh Alex is verryyy pissed lol
Yeah, I totally nailed the horn first time Scott. 😉
Awesome, AWESOME comeback from Alex. You mess with me? That’s one thing. But my brother, NOBODY messes with my brother… except me!!!
This really has turned into a fight to death for Alex at this point. Dude doesn’t even CARE about his missing helmet!!! O_O
Also, Arvamas now has me hearing ‘Master Onion’ when looking at this page, damn you Arvamas!!! 😛
Fantastic birthday present! Horn removal.
Falcon Punch!
Kiwi has taught you well, young Carter.
I wonder what it is that gives Alex that kind of power. Probably not the armor, but maybe the fact that he IS king, he DOES care, and Nic has reminded everyone of his own role in denying kingship to Dan. That could explain why Nic never took on Arthur in this way – the true king gets powers similar to Neo in the “Matrix” movies, but has to figure it out for himself.
Loving the comments. Man, what a hit! No helmet, no sword and he’s still a force to be reckoned with. Go Alex!
Just makes you think of X-Men Origins, when Logan’s brother tells him, “Nobody kills you but me.”
It’s about time – Alex still doesn’t really seem to know how to use the sword effectively, but anger fueling his punches and kicks seems to work pretty well. That, and being reminded that he’s fighting for others. He actually seems to fight harder for others than for himself.
Not the worst trait for a king to have.
Momma said knock you out!
I understood that it was a horn. 🙂 And liked it.
Wait.. he *punched* his horn off? It’s clear, yet a bit nonsensical. Find a goat and feel what a horn is like.. Without using a sword, he’s not going to break a piece off!
It is if you have Superstrength. Don’t forget, Alex spent lots of time training to control his Dreamform. That’s why he can fly, among other things.
And THAT… my friends, is a chip off the old DRAGON!
I agree, it wasn’t obvious to me at first. First thought was Alex threw a claw at Nic (arm looks like a follow through of a toss). Next thought was his horn but I couldn’t see the sword Alex would swing to lop it off. Finally it dawned on me he punched him, but did the punch hit the horn?
Still in all, it IS clear Alex is irked.
I had to laugh. I suspect Alex would question, “Being tossed off a cliff constitutes training??”
That’s going to leave a mark!!
Wonder if the horns grow back?
Ok Alex, enough fistage – get the sword!!!
Nyah naah!
I think nic is covering it, thats why you can’t see it
I’ve always assumed that a human being’s potential in dreamland is probably only limited by their own psyche (i.e. you can’t fly if you don’t think you can fly). In this instance, Alex is pretty hacked, to say the least and is probably channeling his entire rage into beating the crap out of Nic. I’d say under the circumstances he could probably throw a building at him.
Go Alex!!! yay!
I totally got the horn being punched off. Because I was like: Wooow!! Good one!
Okay, so Nico’s been punching/clawing/whatever on Alex… and yet Alex has enough strength and power to push a dragon off him (Dragons are generally heavy things), leap into the air, and punch Nico’s horn off? Really? Do natural laws not apply in Dreamland?
For those wondering about Alexander’s strength…remember this page?
http://thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/page-998/
Considering Alex is FLYING, I think that’s a safe assumption.
It’s definitely clear that it’s a horn, because you see the base of it still on his head, and the still solid horn on the right makes it clear that the pair is no more. Nick’s not flying away from this fight, I think, even with the great many chapters to go. A collection of scars is one thing but a broken horn is another.
What Nastajia won’t do this boy when the fight is over… *wink*
Did…
…did he just PUNCH a dragon’s horn clean off his head?
Well to be fair, it’s more of a jagged cut.
Hey all!
So we’ve completed a move of servers. We had to move over to a new host.
If you have experienced any problems…that’s why.
Thanks for your patience.
Scott
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!
Fawlcon Pawnch!, and that last panel is tight wish it had like a sound word there to make the hit intensified, i mean wow he broke…a dragon’s…horn off. That’s muscle
Took a few times going back and forth to figure out the action. Maybe it’s just me, but the close-ups are a little confusing at first glance.
Previous page, Nic has Alex in his grip, and then next page Alex is flying at Nic to punch his horn off. It took me two re-reads to finally see Alex’s blue legs pushing against Nic’s head.
But then I though, if Alex pushed that hard, he shouldn’t be able to fly back that fast without Nic recovering in time. Or that push was really a strong enough kick to stun Nic long enough for Alex to fly back and smack the horn off. Now THAT I did not have a problem seeing the first time.
I’m gonna go with Alex being lucky enough to hit at the exact weak point to shear the horn off.
🙂
Yeah I was wondering about the houdini move as well.. It just seems akward that Alex is kicking Nic in the face in the first frame, and then somehow rebounded to punch him within a frame… I just feel like there are frames missing.
Oh, snap!
*drum beat*
It took me a few takes to realize it was his horn being punched off, but I didn’t mind that I had to think a bit. Once I saw it, it became very clear.
What bothered me more was actually why Nic was off-balanced with his eyes closed. Took a lot of going back and forth between yesterday and today’s page for me to notice that Alex was kicking Nic in the 1st panel. But I still have no idea how Alex got his feet up to Nic’s face from yesterday’s position. Then again, guess from yesterday’s punch, I was already a bit confused over how Nic was holding Alex up…
Alex probably should be located closer to Nic in the second frame… almost like he flipped in the air and then flew straight up. That’s how I imagine it happening.
And here I was thinking it was the wraith’s messing with the site.
I had no problem understanding that Alex broke off Nic’s horn. What I didn’t understand was the sudden Alex-feet in Nic’s face in panel one.
yes I saw a horn snapping off right away nice hit. Now unless I vary much miss read that action what happened was Alix pushed himself off Nics face and out of his grip then used his flight to springboard off the air and land a big old Shoriuken right on nics mug.
Also Scott it seems the server change has messed up the link to the store when I click on it I get a message saying forbidden I don’t have authorization to assess the store on this sight.
It was clear to me. The shape of the horn is unmistakable, and seeing it detached in midair makes it very clear what happened. Admittedly, though, how Alex broke it off is a little less clear. I was looking for the sword in his hand but upon closer inspection it’s clear that he punched Nic’s horn off.
First to say it.
That’s what you get when you TOOT YOUR OWN HORN.
and…. Ho…lee…shhh…shinola.
I assumed just like Mykalson. Ever had a lucid dream? Happens to me quite often. Fantasy ones too. And believe me, I becomes quite a show when I get angry there. From my understanding, a human being than came to term with their psyche in Dreamland would be as a god.
I agree, there should be a more visible water splash effect (given that it’s raining) to indicate the force of the impact.
Hurray for sibling loyalty. Alex is really kicking butt…gotta love it.
While its obvious its a horn being knocked off, it is not obvious how. Is it a punch that broke it off? Did he cut it off? the angle of the break seems wrong to me for a punch because it is aligned contrary to the positioning of alex’s body after the punch would contact. the physics of it looks all wrong.
Alex is too far away after contact for the motion of the horn after the punch. as in, alex and the horn should be equal distance from nic’s head at this point in time.
It cant be the sword because that just got buried in the ground however the cleanness of the break (and yes i can see you tried to make it a dirty break but it doesnt seem like the right kind of jaggedness for a horn broken off in that matter) looks to me like a cutting off of the horn rather than a snapping off.
But that could be because Nic’s horns to me look like goat/cow horns rather than say deer horns. This is an important distinction for break patterns btw.
Overall however its easy to infer that alex caused the horn to snap off it just isnt clear HOW. unless alex mastered the ancient kung fu film art of i hit you from 10 feet away wow that really hurt.
Alex is too far away after contact for the motion of the horn after the punch. as in, alex and the horn should be equal distance from nic’s head at this point in time.
i worded this incorrectly in retrospect. alex, nics head, and the horn should all be specific distances from the point of impact. all of those distance should be proportinately equal. without seeing a defined point of impact allowing for angular trickery in the point of view this point could be moot.
That last panel is the most satisfying one in a long while! Not for the violence, per se, but for the sheer impact (pun totally intended) of that reversal.
not entirely sure but me thinks that some of these panels might be wallpaper worthy.
just a thought.
Oh oh. How will Nic replace that horn? How embarrassing! lol
Would a big tree trunk do? 😀
OH YESSS!!!
*munches on popcorn, presses F5 maniacally*
FALCON PAAWNCH!!!
That’s already been confirmed, gladly 😀
Remember back to when Alex and Co. saved Joey and the other kids from the pirate attack? Joey introduced them to his human friends from around the world and stated therein that several of the kids could not only fly, but had super-speed and strength.
Alex has simply had to forget all the things he CAN’T do, because the rules are different in Dreamland 😀
holy cr*p! did alex just punch off on of nick’s horns?! O.o that is kind of psychically impossible, he punched though a very thick part of bone.
whoa, way to connect with that punch, Alex!!
Had to study the first panel for a few seconds to figure out the kick to the jaw though. Maybe need to make that one a little more obvious, IMHO.
Holy freaking… Scott, you outdid yourself with these panels. Wow. I, for one, instantly saw the horn being punched off, but the kick took a second. Not that I didn’t get it, but connecting it with the last scene. However, it works, and works very well.
Like others have said (even though my siblings are MUCH older than me and I was practically an only child), NEVER mess with the bond of siblings!
FYI, can’t wait to see Alex explaining to Dan how and why he did this…
Dan: “So, what happened tonight?”
Alex: “Kicked Nic’s trash…knocked off one of his horns…”
Dan: “What?! …How?? WHY?!”
Alex: “He insulted you, bro!”
Dan: *Stunned, shocked look*
Alex: “…what?”
You Go Alex! W00t! I got that Alex punched off his horn, but the transition is a little difficult to understand as to how Alex was able to kick Nic. Although when I think about it, i understand.
I think the inside of the horn needs a little texture besides the break. Growth rings, layers, a core zone or such. It looks a bit like white chocolate.
I’m kinda half expecting the ruler of the Nightmare Realm showing saying “Now, release your anger and strike him down and take his place by my side.”
oh and btw, I know that might not be exactly how it was said but it’s been too long since I saw the movie 😛
Pffftttt, It’s Dreamland man! Anything is possible!
I’m on a horse. 😀
Ooooh, yeah. That makes more sense.
OK, so it’s like Neo in The Matrix.
Old Nick won’t feel so horny anymore.
“OW, My F*****g Horn.” “From whence you came, you shall remain. UNTIL YOU ARE, COMLETE AGAINE!” dude that horn WILL be the dreamland bong of destiny
if he bets nick to death with just his hand’s you need to make a hat for him that says king awesome!
Regarding Nic setting Alex off by talking about Dan: My view is, he’s running his mouth non-stop because, he’s up against it. Dreamland has united against him, he’s lost his city and the support of the Nightmare Realm, and he’s in (probably) mortal combat with an adult human who understands you can do what you want in Dreamland as long as you BELIEVE you can and are not afraid, and is armed with what may be a weapon that can kill a dragon. Nic’s only chance is to keep Alex off balance and fighting stupid until he can inflict enough damage to kill him; and to do that he’s trying to verbally push his buttons, constantly switching topics and throwing out accusations to confuse and disturb Alex and undermine his confidence. The trouble is, he doesn’t really know Alex and what’s motivating him, and he doesn’t know what things he shouldn’t bring up…
super human strength
It’s quite obvious that it is the horn, but I had to look at it again to figure it had come off.
YOUR HORSE IS NOW DIAMONDS!
I prefer
Shii…take mushrooms myself 😉
It’s just you, unoriginally-named person who’s stealing the name of a character from the story.
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Personally I’m wondering if there should either be an extra panel with some sort of rebound shot as alex pushes off a rock or a piece of wall to come back in for the punch or a bit of a wider angle on the kick so we can see him hovering next to nics head as he delivers it.
Im leaning towards the rebound simply because in that first panel it really looks to me like alex kicked him with both feet then bounced off and even if you can fly it would seem easier to rebound off something rather than just stopping dead then zipping back in, although that does give a pretty cool looking mental image now that I think about it .
Sorry if thats seems excessively nitpicky, critiquing someone whos art makes mine look like a three year olds crayon scrawl kinda makes me feel a bit bad.
In kind with that – the “core” of this kind of horn is a lot of blood vessels -if it got broken off that low down it’d be literally spewing blood(I’ve seen a goat w/ a broken horn before, and I’m not joking 🙁 )
On the other hand, that’d be a major problem for Nick an the blood squirts all over and int his eyes(icky!)
WOOOOOOOOOO GO ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! freakin awesome!!!
I thought those were the tickets to that thing you love?
oooh what does F5 do?
Awe come on folks Nic could just use Duct tape to fix the horn…
I agree that using Dan as something to throw Alex off his game ain’t gonna happen. Dan has taken into account what has happened and probably drilled it into Alex’s head that Dan is happy in the Mortal realm and Alex is happiest in Dreamland where he can take a licking and keep on kickin. So Nic it looks like has a few small problems on his hands now… If I remember right if Alex can do these things can’t Natasha, and crew do it as well? It was said in the early pages if a dreamer could do it so could his friends. So if Alex is strong enough to punch off Nic’s horn couldn’t Natasha be able to bench press Nic?
Nick REALY doesn’t understand humans. All his taunting has exactly the opposite effect to what he wants. There is no person more dedicated than one who is fighting for others, and Nick is just giving Alex reminders of all those he’s fighting for!
Well he used the falcon punch…
i thought that only applied to flying tho i could be wrong.
Panel 2: where’s the sword cut on Nic?
Oh. Good catch. I forgot to paint it in for this page and 2 pages ago.
Just uploaded newer versions.
Thanks.
A good constructive criticism is always welcomed by an artist humble enough to take it at face value. It doesn’t really matter how good of an artist you are in practice, just that you’ve got an opinion of how things should or could look. Scott doesn’t strike me as the type to ignore good commentary… heck, he often asks for our opinion on things. For the record, while the action flows and make long-term logical sense an extra panel or two would probably go a long way to making it more immediately recognizable what exactly is happening.
Something as simple as re-rendering the first panel from a viewpoint about 5-10 feet further back would make the kick – which I had to think about for a moment – more obvious. It definitely works as is, but a slight tweak wouldn’t go astray.
He… he… punched Nic’s horn off. O_____o wooow…
Now THAT is how you throw a punch.
Holy Badassity, Batman!
No.. it’s just the difference between blunt force and using a blade.. He might break the horn off where it attaches to Nic’s head or something, but a clean break in the middle?
I’m a Uni-Horn!
Alex: “You wouldn’t let him log in, you haxxor!”
Nicodemus: “And what are you going to do about it?”
DREAMLAND.SERVER (Astoria): >>THE ADMINISTRATOR HAS BEEN NOTIFIED.<<
Nicodemus: "You didn't…"
(Scott’s email) Ping.
If Dan had been king and allowed to come here would Alex ever come?
I wonder if the jedi lightsaber forms might apply here. One of them involves just using the force to wield the saber. Or could he at least summon the sword back to his hand, maybe? Please?
Yay! He broke the horn!
Alex is well on his way to crafting his new set of Nicodemus X blademaster armour.
My exact thought.