Page 1436…
Yes, you’re seeing some re-used characters here.
Pretty much IMPOSSIBLE for me to create all new character sets for single panel flashbacks.
So the “Sarasins” from the King Arthur story are the Vikings in the second panel.
And the Centaurs (waist up, of course) are the Native Americans from the 3rd Panel.
In the FOURTH panel..I REALLY wanted a topless Merlin (who doesn’t…right?).
But, again, it just wasn’t prudent to spend the extra $500 to have that made….sigh.
Maybe if I’d have written more topless scenes for Merlin…it WOULD have been worth it!
Darn my lack of foresight!
I honestly expected the Centaurs to look like Native Americans since they were the ones that they communicated with the most in the real world.
Awesome work! Love the little details, like the water droplets and reflections.
Don’t beat yourself up over it, Scott, you can always do it later. 😀
I’m truly enjoying how this is developing. It would have been nice for Merlin to be topless for the underwater scene, but I think it serves the story even better with him swimming fully clothed hand-in-hand with Niviene.
I agree with Tink that it serves the story better. Especially because, as a powerful wizard, he is likely to have all sorts of magic items in his robe, and thus would probably never leave without it. I’m a bit surprised that he doesn’t seem to have his staff, but perhaps he just has it hidden in an extra-dimensional fold of his robe.
(and for the record, I’m quite fine without seeing him topless, as it just seems wrong for Merlin not to be fully clothed at all times. I’m already slightly thrown off by his hair having color, as I would almost expect for him to have been born with white hair and a full, long beard.)
Actually, since Merlin is the equivalent of a Middle Ages nerd, he’s just being considerate. He doesn’t want to blind anyone with the sight of his amazingly white-skinned chest! 🙂
Merlin’s hair underwater could use being a bit more wavy 😉
alltogether a beautiful page, but oh why do the vikings have horned helmets? All of them?
In the dreamworld horned vikings would have made sense perfectly (would have “explained” why so many contemporary people perceive vikings to be horn-helmeted) but the real ones hardly never decorated theirs with animal horns.
A great deal of that misconception comes from the raided people’s -and their religious leaders’- fear that these monstrous attackers were actually some sort of devils. To accentuate this information to the illiterate folk, there were quite a number of illustrations depicting raiding vikings with horns and tails.
(sorry for the lecture, worked on a viking folk-museum and got myself ‘put straight’ with a lot of common concepts)
Merlin as a Merman wow…yes seeing a topless Merlin would have been awesome but it is not a big issue. ^_^ But to be deadly honest I am desperately jealous of Niviene right now!
anyone unused to seeing merlin with his original hair color might want to avoid the BBC’s insanely wonderful series entitled Merlin. but i can’t even imagine someone who enjoys the world of camelot not wanting to see that show, considering the main cast and production values are unreal! best version of merlin’s story EVER on television. truly that good. and you can watch it streaming online – or just go visit the BBC website.
anyway, i was going to say that i hadn’t noticed that you’d re-purposed characters from earlier incarnations…so well done!
Hmm… And Merlin told Arthur he knew “nothing of Dreamland”.
Plus there is always fan art. I bet some people will just jump at the idea of a topless Merlin swimming together with his mermaid love. 🙂
How did he find a way to be together with her in Dreamland though? Through the vision quests?
he’s a daper wizard so “watch the hair!”
Maybe back during that conversation with Arthur, he was just implying he knew nothing of Dreamland’s politics? That could be a concept
Is it possible Merlin had memories of dreamland from when he was a child? Could that be what led him to magic?
I just got my Book 5 with the limited edition cover.
I must say, I LOVE IT!
Thanks for all the hard work in bringing this world to life.
No wonder Niviene was in such a rush to get in a kiss with Merlin. She only had a few minutes and didn’t want to waste a second of it!
So…Merlin discovered the American continent with a little help from the Vikings!
Also Merlin ALREADY knew about Dreamland and lied to Arthur, or he wanted to protect him from what he saw?
Or protect Dreamland from possible harm?
Or protect his world from what he learned about the Nighmare Realm and the Wraiths? (I remember that he actually “see” or “sense” the Wraiths when they tried to kill Arthur)
I like the numerous possibilities opening from the story of this page!
This really opens up a can of worms for Nicole…
The horned helmets, while not historically accurate, are good shorthand for “vikings.” Most people aren’t aware that vikings didn’t normally wear horned helmets. It’s a concession many authors & artists have to make.
yeah, i’m sure it would be great donation bait 😉
AHHAHAHAHA!
Great trick with re-using the centaurs, Scott! I would never have guessed it if you hadn’t told us!
Or maybe at the end of this, he loses all memories of dreamland as a result of too many “vision quests” lol.
you go merlin!
wait….. if she knows about all merlins reserch mabe he tot her some of it.
$500??? But…but…it’s just graphical enhancements…….how?
That is hilarious. Never Never have I heard Merlin called a nerd before 😀
Not enhancements, topless mer-Merlin would be a toatl new sprite. So $500 is not of place for a fully articulate sprite. I am guess Scott uses “boned” models as the characters have good consistent movement.
I too agree… if for no other reason than it would make me question why are none of the other characters topless when they change into mer-people
I had no idea that one new sprite could cost so much. No wonder this art style is so rare in comics.
yes! I love the BBC Merlin. Adorkability at it’s finest! Of course, don’t think I don’t like *this* Merlin too. I love him. I love this whole strip!
maybe he didn’t know it was called Dreamland? or maybe he was just trying to keep whatever he had with his sweetheart secret. I mean, would you tell your friend your girlfriend is a mermaid?
He’d have to be designed, modelled, rigged (put bones in him), and facial morphs (so I can add expressions).
That’s 3 different artists working on it for about a week.
$500 is cheap, all things considered.
Oh, if I were a rich man…
It’s the same guy multiplied (that you’re seeing with the horns), but there’s actually 2 other guys multiplied (who DON’T have horns).
It’s not all guys with horns. They just stand out.
Clearly, Merlin just REALLY likes that robe. I mean, he’s been wearing it for YEARS by the time the last panel shows up. Being with his underwater lady-love in a dream vision isn’t going to get between the man and his sartorial obsession–he’s a wizard, after all.
Hahah. Ah well. Maybe some day ^^
Yep, I agree with the need for a topless Merlin, Hahaha! Not to mention that robe must be a PAIN to compensate for while swimming. But I suppose so would Alex’s armor too. 🙁 However, I would have thought the two of them would look a little older by then? Perhaps it wasn’t as much time passing as I had been thinking….
Wait, wait, whaaaat?! And suddenly, Merlin was able to join her in Dreamland. What an understatement… so quick! I’m excited to see what this means for our present-day people!!
Actually, in the third panel, he’s only a little paler than the natives and a lot more tan than Niviene. Still hilarious though. Merlin is totally a medieval nerd.
lol yeah, i would of loved to see topless merlin too.
Now the question is: did he enter via dreaming like children and the King, or did he transfer bodily like the bag or the sword?
I certainly appreciate the fan-service intention, Scott.
I’m wondering that too. Maybe Scott will eventually tell us or explain it in the comic. Because I am extremely curious and a little confused about that.
Scott please do us all a favor and don’t break into Fiddler on the Roof song. Even if it is fitting for this discussion. LOL
In page 1429 Niviene tells Merlin that she lives in a place called Dreamland
If $500 is all that’s keeping you from having some other, ‘specific’ characters topless, just let me know and I can write a check 😉
I know this is three years behind, but it occurs to me that Merlin told a bald-faced lie to Arthur in an earlier chapter. Something along the lines of knowing nothing of Dreamland?