Page 1404…
Happy Tuesday!
Sorry for the slight delay in today’s page.
The “wild expanse” took a bit longer to render than I had expected.
🙂
Happy Tuesday!
Sorry for the slight delay in today’s page.
The “wild expanse” took a bit longer to render than I had expected.
🙂
Just when did she draw the bow? and what for? :/
Just now…and for light.
hahaha! great answer!
awesome page!
I really like the idea of them revisiting familiar places and finding deeper mysteries to them. It reminds me of those video games where you can look at the paths to different places, but you can’t access them until you’ve leveled up or found the right weapons.
I love the concept. As well as all the Arthurian legend that’s interwoven in here. I’ve been reading for a couple years now and I’ve always been impressed with the renderings and details of places.
If I may make a suggestion about this new place: the sudden and abrupt absence of coral in the Wild Expanse doesn’t fit for me. It makes coral seem . . . domesticated, like a flower. Coral is anything but. I understand that there is a reason to try and visually separate the two places. I see that the Wild Expanse (anyone else feel like it’s proper noun worthy?) seems to be at a greater depth so my suggestion is different, less colorful (non-sun dependent) varieties of coral be added. I, for one, think that would make it look a lot creepier. Spiney, colorless coral reaching out to grab you? Better than an evil forest in a Disney cartoon!
But, that’s just a suggestion. Like I said, I enjoy details and I know–from reading your comic–you do, too. The absence of coral just threw me off and I thought you might like the feedback. I cannot wait to see where they go, coral or no. Viviene, Nimue, Nivene, Elain, Nineve, Evianne or whatever she wants to be called has so much legend shrouding here, I ADORE seeing new takes on her! 😀
wish you could “like” a comment. So I’m going to “like” this comment. 🙂
Well, I see your point, BUT I’d like to point out that the Wild Expanse is dark. Hince the need to draw the bow for more light. Maybe there is coral and we just can’t see it?
Dreamland’s version of a flare gun?
Funny you should mention this.
I saw a special on deep sea creatures and coral, apparently needs light (like any plant would). SO…the deeper you go…less coral.
Now…I’m saying this as an artist/writer who saw ONE show…ha ha. So if any experts are out there…I’m totally open to learning more.
🙂
Keep in mind that it’s quite possible that the people of Naroobi HAVE domesticated coral. It’s not like you can plant flowers and trees all over the place to beautify your city if you live underwater, but coral is a readily available and native species. And Naroobi has been around for a long time, so you’d expect there to be a lot of domesticated species of underwater flora and fauna. I, for one, am surprised we haven’t run into someone’s pet manatee or something.
If this weren’t high fantasy, I’d expect the king’s warning to have as much truth as “Here be dragons” on old maps.
The lack of coral is a good observation, and like another reply said, coral needs light. If you were ever to go diving and you come to a ridge like they are talking on you will notice that the coral does just kinda stop at the edge, add that into the water getting darker and not being able to see the ocean floor cause it gets too dark and frankly (when your already 100 feet under water) it gets a little freaky….
Speaking as a marine biologist, there are several factors that could be at play here:
1) Yeah, it’s darker there.
2) We don’t know if that’s the kind of hard surface most corals prefer to grow upon, or silt.
3) There may be a thermocline here.
Any one of those could result in what we scientists refer to as a condition of “coral no likey”.
And speaking as a fan of the comic, there’s actually just as much coral at the crest here as on previous pages. There is, however, less kelp (and kelp would be affected by the same factors as above.)
Perhaps I’m misjudging just how deep the Wild Expanse is. It doesn’t look quite so deep to me as to be devoid of coral. Especially since Naroobi seems to still have plenty of the shallower water corals.
So that’s why I mentioned it! As for deep sea corals: there are more than a few species of coral that evolved to survive in the lightless environment. There’s even some that can survive at a depth of 3,000 m. These tend to be colorless or in the longer color wavelengths (especially reds). Lots of them are tree shaped, hence my suggestion. I’m truly just trying to suggest, not say you haven’t done your research.
Wikipedia has a decent article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_water_coral
Whoops, reply landed in the wrong place. Sorry. This is a reply to Joie above, of course!
I love you guys!
A real marine biologist?
How cool is that?
Dreamland’s UNDERWATER version of a flare gun.
“As we scientists say” …then I read the next few words.
Allow me to say that, to my currently sick self, that was abso-bloody-lutely hilarious.
I just want to say, on my own, that reading the comments above has been very enlightening about deep-sea life. But…I do have to say this: it’s okay for them to fly and grow mermaid/merman tails, but not for coral to be out of place? Hee hee hee.
+1 XD
It’s like a big dark green squishy cloud with sea unicorns! 🙂
I like it. Very dark and forboding. Sounds like there’s way bigger and badder things down here than even ol’ Nic. Two edged sword, though, holding forth a light in a dark place like that.
Scott, one minor quibble. While many corals can appear plant-like, they’re all animals. Actually, one coral formation consists of thousands or millions of tiny coral animals living in a colony.
Silly David. That’s not a sword. It’s an arrow.
Such poor attention to detail. It’s sad, really… ;o)
It is nice to see there are still dark and scary places in Dreamland. I get the impression that the Wild Expanse is the no man land between Dreamland and the Nightmare Realm. Should be a wild an wolly ride the gang. Even ‘tasha is going to be out of her depth.
Heh, indeed, those are some mean arrows Nastajia’s packing. Awesome page by the way Scott, worth waiting for as usual. ^_^
I’m kind of scared (for the characters) yet excited to see the leviathan!!! O_O
I would have been sooooo tempted to add “Here be drgons” at some point.
“Coral no likey”? You just became one of my favorite people. 🙂 Scientists FTW!
Ooky spooky! 🙂 I’m getting really excited about this little “side-quest”!! …. Though admittedly I scare easily, so I’m also dreading this. 😛
Well that actually makes sense ty
Time for an underwater dungeon-bash!
i think it’s a little confusing, scott. in your first panel, you’ve got a lot of sunlight streaming through the water, illuminating them from the back, but in the third, it’s pitch-black. it’s hard to judge where we are.
Hello, I thought I would share some of my knowledge on the subject from a class I am currently taking.
While corals do tend to stop when the light disappears, other invertebrates, like sponges, do not. Some sponges can be as colorful as corals, but are filter feeders, so they do not need the sunlight. Some (like Rhabdocalyptus dawsonii) also tend to like cliff faces as the currents from the depths give them lots of nutrients. These invertebrates mix in with the corals at the lower levels of the corals. There are actually sponge reefs in the depths, they just aren’t heard very much about and are quite endangered due to destruction. There are several reefs in the Hecate strait off the coast of Vancouver, BC in Canada. I hope that this helps.
Scientists, and clergy, often have a wacky sense of humor. Especially when nobody expects it!
Hey all!
Looks like another re-render tonight.
Will post the page in the morning.
King Proteus: “Look, Alex. Everything the light touches is our kingdom.”
Alex: “Wow!”
KP: “A king’s time as ruler rises and falls like the sun. One day, Alex, the sun will set on my time here and will rise with you as the new king.”
Alex: “And this’ll all be mine?”
KP: “Everything.”
Alex: “Everything the light touches… What about that shadowy place?”
KP: “That’s beyond our borders. You must never go there, Alex.”
Alex: “But I thought a king can do whatever he wants!”
*Staj smacks him with her tail*
“…out of her depth” HAHAHA… please tell me that was intended!?!
Alex: Im gonna be a mighty king, like no king was before.
I’m brushing up by reading books on Arthurian Lore!
Staj: Thus far a rather uninspiring thing!
Alex: Oh I just cant WAIT to be King!
Assorted Merfolk: Wait, I thought he WAS the King?
Did he forget already?
Stupid Humans…
It’s like her version of sting, or maybe the Phial of Galadriel… awesome… 🙂
I have to mention that the Hydra was not sea dwelling creature in greek mythology but a serpent-like water-dweller beast that lived near a lake, or a swamp, or a deep cave.
It is interesting that beneath the waters of that cave was the entrance to the Underworld.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lernaean_Hydra)
Is that means that we heve to prepare ourselves to watch an epic journey to the unknown parts of Dreamland?
Well, in that case, they really should look for the Lady of the Lake there! 😀
Don’t know when, but she’s using the bow for light since it’s dark down there.
True enough but REAL hydra are aquatic, though freshwater and only millimeters long.
Flares burn underwater. 😉
Pull the Oxygen right off H2O.
Sounds like fun! Come on Nat, let’s go poke a hornet’s nest!
Big sea-monsters?
Maybe he could hunt a few Green Plesioth, get some Plesi Z armour and not have to worry about being kissed by mermen any more.
… Yeah, I’ve been playing way too much MH3U lately.