Page 1349…
The back stroke seemed the most “commonly” known swimming stroke.
Though obviously not the one most used.
I don’t know any more. I’m just making this stuff up as I go.
🙂
The back stroke seemed the most “commonly” known swimming stroke.
Though obviously not the one most used.
I don’t know any more. I’m just making this stuff up as I go.
🙂
The backstroke, while not the most used swimming stroke, is probably the one used most as a punchline, so I think you’re doing okay.
(The stroke most used in real life is probably the one known as “freestyle” or “front crawl”, but that doesn’t make a very good punchline)
Ay.. Do pirates even know how to swim through the air? As I recall, the ship was a flying pirate-ship….. :b
They were over water though…
If they don’t, they’d better learn fast. There’s Paddington on final approach.
Free stroke is used only when you know how to swim. So I guess they will have to doggy puddle.
As a competitive swimmer for over 12 years as well as a swimming teacher, I’d say the most commonly known stroke is without a doubt…doggy paddling. ;D
Also Lazerwulf, if you’re going with official swimming you’re off, backstroke is the 2nd most swum stroke. I believe butterfly is the least used/swum due to it’s difficulty levels.
As a former competitive swimmer for 10 years, I have to agree on the most used strokes…but honestly, I think the backstroke works best for this situation… Plus, it makes the pirates’ look of horror/appalled-ness all the better!
Even winging it, Scott, you do a great job!
Scott, the faces in the last panel are killing me!!!!
*tries to breathe through the laughter*
Especially the little blue guy, his face has that ‘OMG SHE MEANS IT’ expression all over it.
Ah, how I love Felicity, those ‘pirates’ just got taken! 😛
And another page of perfect dialogue it has to be said. 🙂
Personally, I’d have gone with breaststroke as the most commonly used punchline… though probably in a more ribald series of jokes, maybe. And you’ve nailed the facial expressions in the past couple of comics – Felicities evil grin, and the Pirates when told they’re going to have to swim… love it.
I think this may be the first time I’ve ever seen the pirate exclamation “YAR” used as an interrogative. 😛
Really loving what you’re doing with Felicity’s face in the last couple of comics! The expressiveness of her expressions is just stunning. My applause to yourself and the modelers!
You know, this particular captain doesn’t have the same evil vibe as previous pirate captain. I wonder if the King of Dreamland and the Queen of the Elves need a royal yachtsmaster to go with their new royal yacht? I could stand to see him stay on, and perhaps the eye-patched creature on the right take the message back along with whatever crew wanted to return to piracy. He seems like he could develop into an interesting character, given opportunity.
I like the one in the last panel that looks like a cat. Cats hate swimming
Man, that’s cold. Felicity is really showing her mean streets attitude. I do wonder though if we’ll see some “good cop, bad cop” action here, with Alex perhaps giving them the option of serving as crew under “new management”.
And yeah, loving Felicity’s eyes and facial expressions.
I agree. He does seem to be more moderate than the last pirate captain. He strikes me more like a tough old salt than a cut-throat.
You both have a point…and because of how he comes across, it makes Felicity seem fairly cruel (which is an odd flip for the Dreamlander to be cruel and the Nightmare Realm guy to be interesting and not evil).
You know, given how everyone here is so quick to make Princess Bride references relating to this comic, I’m surprised that no one has popped up with the [Inigo]”I don’t swim.” [Fezzik]”I only dog paddle.” set of lines. 😀 Maybe tomorrow…
There’s another who looks like a tiger. But tigers don’t mind swimming, except perhaps long distances.
From what I learned, the backstroke actually is the best choice for endurance swimming.
Argh, Dem’ Der Be Fighten Werds Lassie. Seriously I feel a fight scene coming 😉
If you want to get BACK to the Nightmare Realm, the BACK stroke is the obvious choice, right? 😉
Lovin’ this sequence… you go Felicity!!!
“Doggy puddle” is what you have to clean up when you forget to take Fido for a walk. I believe you mean “doggy paddle”. 🙂
I hate to be critical here, I’m loving this whole sequence, but the shadows cast by Nastaja and Felicity on the pirate captain look very unlike them. Nastaja’s shadow fails to include her cape, shoulder-pads and bow, while Felicity’s shadow looks more like a men’s-room sign with some odd spike sticking out of one shoulder.
backstroke is good for taking low level swimming tests when you just can’t figure out how to breathe properly and teacher says you can do it in “any style you want”… Doggy paddle would work too I guess, but a bit less elegant therefore more suspicious… Breast stroke also allows you to keep your head above water, but it’s not conventional and VERY slow, so you’ll be super tired by the end and highly suspicious… no one will think twice about a noob swimmer doing back stroke w/ no water ever touching the face =3
Upon closer inspection I realize what I took as Nastaja’s shadow was in fact Felicity’s, and what I took for Felicity’s shadow must therefore belong to someone else entirely, someone not otherwise visible in the scene.
Or perhaps someTHING else. I just realized that’s the shadow of the post at the point where the railing along the side stops, and the “spike” is the tip of the purple guy’s sword.
Just keep on making it up….you are doing a GREAT JOB !!!
Actually, breast stroke (done properly) does NOT keep your head above water. Rather, it has a breath built in to each stroke (that can’t be skipped, as it can in other strokes such as butterfly and crawl). Also, because the motions of breast stroke do not take any part of the body above the surface except for the head (and maybe a little of the shoulders), it is a very energy efficient stroke that can be used for a long time without tiring the muscles too badly. Sidestroke is similarly efficient, but is rarely used competitively.
Sorry, couldn’t help but chime in on this one, as a former competitive swimmer, lifeguard, water safety and swimming instructor, and competitive swimming coach. (How I got from that to Computer Science is a long and winding road … )
yeah, i like back stroke for the punchline, as it’s what you might wish on your worst enemy – high chance of drowning. no question the most commonly known swimming technique is the doggy paddle. sure, freestyle or crawl is the most basic stroke once you’ve taken swimming lessons, but most of the world has not – and besides, that would be a poor choice for a long swim, bc it’s too energy intensive – it’s like sprinting during a cross-country race. for long distance swimming, like they’ll have to do to survive, i’d do the sidestroke the whole way, because it’s the best way to stay alive until you reach the distant shore – least energy for the yield. backstroke is more energy intensive, like the crawl, but also exposes the body and face to the harsh sun, so even the elementary backstroke would never work for a long distance like this – you’d be horribly sunburned by the time you surely drowned. sidestroke is preferable to breast stroke even, for the long haul. nonetheless, these dudes do not strike me as expert swimmers, as they sail through sky, not water. i bet they’ll be doggy paddling.
“Waiter, what is this fly doing in my soup?”
“It looks like the backstroke, sir.”
I agree on the comments about various strokes–and add that, for heading back to the nightmare realm, the “back” stroke seems particularly appropriate.
That reminded me of a nice bit of dialogue from the Belgariad:
Silk: Guess who I just ran into? Our old friend, Brill.
Belgarath: What was he doing here?
Silk: Learning to fly, last time I saw him.
Belgarath: Oh. Was he having any luck with it?
(there is a muffled ‘thump’ from far below, a brief pause, and then another)
Silk: Does bouncing count?
Many pirates (and other sailors) historically didn’t know how to swim.
After all, on a deep-sea ship, what’s the point? Most of the time you are pretty far from land, and swimming more than a couple of miles is not that realistic. Unless you have something floating to hang onto or get onto, and then you don’t really need to swim anyway.
I would have just removed the third panel entirely, replaced it with the one showing the pirate’s expressions, and have the fourth panel a view of them getting thrown off the ship. Sometimes the best punchline is a visual one.
Tek- there’s nothing wrong with that. Some of my favorite computer “nerds” were either athletes in high school. They just loved computers even more. Remember- athletes might rule in high school and maybe even in college, but nerds rule the world (Gates and Jobs are cases in point lol).
Oh, I totally thought it- just hadn’t gotten to the bottom of the comments before you mentioned it to post myself. lol
Maybe they should give ALL the crew the option of switching sides. Just the four of them were able to fly a pirate ship before, but that was short distance; doing a long search might take more manpower to keep everything shipshape, so to speak. And it would be a chance to delve into what makes Nightmare Realmers tick…
Well, if the pirates aren’t awful horrible bad guys, perhaps in exchange for not drowning, they could stay aboard- cause you need more than 4 people to sail a ship, and everyone probably needs to know what they’re doing. And rounding up a crew is just a big old pain in the butt when you’re in a hurry.
Friday’s last panel is still rendering.
Going to go to sleep and grab it in the morning to finish the page.
Sorry for the delay.
okay, I’m a bit slow in mentioning this. LOVE Felicity’s look of piracy on page 1348. That last panel just screamed at me to steal a ship for myself. I’d totally make that last panel a background for my pc for a month or three.
Works. Both ways.
Thing is, I first considered the back stroke to be a synonym for rowing a small boat. Since you often sit with the back towards the target to get more powerful strokes.
So, I assumed you meant the pirates to step out of the boat into a smaller side boat, or landing boat, rescue boat or similar and row back to the nightmare realm.
Swimming….. Hmm. they are not going to make it, and it would be unwise to let them do that. Along their way home they will reach coast and continue walking. Along their walking path towards “home”, they will pillage any village they encounter.
Yeah, whatever. We’ll see.
+1
🙂
‘Tis not a problem Scott! We all know your rendering cannot be hurried if we want to have as beautiful of pages as you put out to us. Keep up the dream.
By the way, I have a friend who just wrote a rap called “This is my dream land” and I told him he should get in touch with you. Maybe you could put his song in the movie if it ever comes about.
I love how this pirate guy looks 😀
What’s up with Nastajia’s bow on the second panel? Looks kind of like it’s standing on its own there, rather than on her back…
Maybe it’s just me.
Must be attached by the string. Rather unusual, since this can easily render the bow unusable. So, I see it too. But since this artwork is sooooo detailed anywhere and soooo much effort put into it, I generally tend to not see such things, except in very expensive works (i.e. I paid LOTS for it, not the symbolic ad-click or comic now-and-then).
This comic has a far more professional touch to it than I would expect from a free-for-all webcomic.
Sorry, dat’s what i meant by “unconventional.” Ie. The way i described is not “the proper way”
Of course, the equivalent here being knowing how to fly–I suspect even fewer know that.
Oh, darn!
Win.