Araknid Kid
Genre:
Super-Hero, Action/Adventure
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Welcome to Obie City, a town where the corrupt and villainous rise to plague the good citizens of the deepest West. All across Hattahtak territory, the oppressed cry out for a savior. To answer that call, a mysterious stranger appears, thwarting evil wherever it should happen. Letting actions speak louder than words, he swings to the rescue of one and all and disappears soundlessly. Ill doers mutter his name; the honest shout it as an anthem; Araknid Kid!
Old West clashes with modern inventions in this boomtown located in California's most Western territory. Araknid Kid follows the same named hero in his adventures as he protects the citizens of Obie City from the villains that would do them harm. As mysterious as he is quiet, the Kid speaks through a series of pictographs. Still, with his handy web-shooting trapeze bars and ability to stick to walls like a spider, the Kid is well equipped to deal with anything that comes his way. Few remember the tales of this brave hero as the whole Hattahtak Territory broke away from California long ago and fell into the ocean. These are the recovered lost tales.
Thanks for the words C. Edward Sellner! Definitely check it out SugarySerials.com (Daring Dodo is currently the comic updating there with more Araknid Kid coming next month)
It is always nice to see Zuda's stuff going away from the mainstream and into the quirky, which is what I often find best about original webcomics elsewhere as well. AK is definitely that! Great sense of offbeat humor, with little nods to Adams' Hitchhikers series and Mystery Men, not to mention the mish-mashing of comic stuff, ranging from Spider-Man to that old Superman foe, the cowboy that rode the hi-tech horse? Anyway, it may draw inspiration, but is definitely all-original. I will have to check it out in its new home!
Quick update: Part 2 has been updating at Sugary Serials! Catch the new pages at www.araknidkid.sugaryserials.com
That's a wrap! Just wanted to thank everyone for their support and votes! It was an honor to be included in the Invitational... but this isn't the end!
You can catch the rest of this episode starting next month at SugarySerials.com (along with more great comics)
The first 8 pages will be published during August (what you've seen here in standard comic format, plus an extra page not included) followed by the second batch of 8 pages in September and the final 8 in October! Hope to see you there!
As always you can find news and other Araknid info at www.joshalves.com/araknidkid
Thanks!
Excellent! Thanks for the votes mainemom, arnskill & DoctorVolt!
You just got my vote! Rock on Josh!
You've got my vote, Joshie! :)
You've got my vote!
Thanks kidgloves! Every bit helps!
i've told some friends they should swing by here and vote for you, josh. don't know if that'll make a difference. But hey, who knows?-
Thanks Artixclash!
Glad you stopped in fanboy d! Zuda sends out monthly emails, are they ending up in a junk mail folder?
Glad you dig it J.W.!
If you haven't been by the extras site lately, You can check out Araknid Kid art, some commentaries about the pages, and a mock commercial for an Araknid Kid video game www.joshalves.com/araknidkid
This is a wild strip, Josh! New screens are just as fun as the original 8, and it was interesting to see Araknid Kid's reality fleshed out a bit. If it didn't mention it before, I dig your device for Kid's speech balloons.
haven't been on zuda in AGES (we should really be e-mailed updates to keep us interested), then when i DO come back i see ARAKNID KID back for more!!!
Nice job
Thanks czaros!
Thanks for the interview lrsteiner (you can check out the questions and answers here: zudafan.blogspot.com/2008/07/creator-interview-josh-alves.html )
Dear Zuda Competitors/Creators,
I recently started a Zuda fan blog, and I would love to interview all of this month’s creators. If you would be willing to answer 5-10 questions, to be posted on the Zudafan blog, please contact me at: zudafan@gmail.com (if you haven’t already) .
Feel free to check out the blog: zudafan.blogspot.com
Thanks!
Araknid Kid Goes West! Great stuff, Josh! I keep digging the Kid...
Thanks for checking it out Avrom! Glad to hear that Bryy_Miller! ;)
I have voted!
wow I felt like i was watching cartoon network!
Thanks Stephenmakesart and SPICYJesus ;) I appreciate the comments guys!
Love Araknid Kid! I wish you the best in this competition!
Great comic
Thanks kalstrai!
Question 3:
I do think marketing definitely plays a role. The way I see it, if people don't know it's there, they can't check it out (and vote) and that's what I've been trying to do. I don't know the exact amount, but a majority of free time has been spent in letting folks know what is going on.
I am marketing it a bit differently (more) this time out as I have a bit more free time (back in December I was working 2 jobs and my 2nd daughter had just been born... add in the holidays....).
Having a month's heads up was interesting. While preparing the pages I used the time to put together various marketing and promotional materials. Some can be seen at www.joshalves.com/araknidkid
Okay, now that we're past the first ranking, it's time for the next question.
3) Marketing;
There seems to be a general agreement here at Zuda of the importance of outside marketing to boost a comic's ranking. I've also spoken with a number of creators who, for different and equally valid reasons, don't really feel that's something they want to do themselves. I realize that successful marketing can be an edge in the competition and as such some creators don't want to say too much about they're own methods while the contest is running, but could you discuss your own approach to outside marketing? How much time have you devoted to it in this first week of the contest? Has your approach to it changed since your first time in a competition here at Zuda? Are you marketing the comic more, less or differently than you did the first time around?
-Rob
annnnd ROUND TWO!!! Haha man I love that little wall crawling, trapeeze guy! Great job on getting in on teh second round, good luck buddy!!
THANKS Passive *crosses fingers the Kid holds up against the other half*
Question 2:
Working in the format was a bit challenging for me at first, but I've grown to like it.
Araknid Kid was initially created for Zuda, the new pages however had been layed out for the standard comic page size (I had been preparing it as a comic book). So reworking them into the horizontal format was interesting. I found alot of inspiration in Celadore's panel work. I really dug the way Canaan used the 4:3 workspace and had that in mind as I reworked the pages for the Invitational. I didn't come close to packing as much in, but that's what was on my mind (rather than taking the full pages and cutting them in half for Zuda).
Okay, next question;
2)Format
Zuda's "monitor-friendly" 4X3 format is something new to most of us since it premiered last year. It does create some unique differences in how the page is composed and i think artists and readers alike don't really fully appreciate that until they experiment with it a bit. Contestants this month have been working with that format for awhile longer and had some time to reconsider it since their first eight page submission. Can you talk about some of the challenges of the format? Was AK originally conceived for any other format and then altered to fit Zuda?
-Rob
I have read half of this month's submissions and as of today you have my vote!! RH is right...it is a fun comic to look at and read.
I really appreciate that BlueMaxx.
Thanks again for the review mpd57
I had fun with it bongotezz.
Thanks passive, I tried to follow a classic cartoon format (as I see it anyway) with this story. Introduce the main villains (in a "before they were" origin-esque manner), cut to hero dispatching sub-villains, introduce main conflict, bring in main villains... etc. The main story is foreshadowed in the Jack Pack scenes. I could've (and some may say should've) paced it faster for the new 8.....
Good thought RiverHelix! ("puddles" was referencing the conversation between the Jacks... giving the Kid the idea for the water trough take-down)
I likes! A very fun comic to read! I'm a sucker for deciphering the Kid's communique. And to piggy-back off of Passive, while I like to check the crib notes to make sure I got it right (I would have never gotten something like 'puddles'- is that some sort colloquialism for damn?) , I do think that you could have excluded them from the story and used them as chat-fodder to become more engaged with the posters on your thread. Just a thought.
G'Job & G'Luck m' Brother!
Some good stuff here. Friendly art and Araknakid's communication is fun...I prefer not to have your upside down cheat sheets. Give the reader some credit and take advantage of your differentiation. The flea scene pulled me out of the comic. In general I like the art and freshness of the idea but the plot (journey) is wanting for me.
i finally had time to check out your video. that was cool. thanks for making it.
Nobody asked me to and some people would rather I didn't, but I just can't help myself. Please feel free to pander to my gigantic ego by allowing me to entertain you with my thoughts on this strip and a few other things of general interest to fans of Zuda and webcomics in general over at http://www.mpd57.blogspot.com and remember it's a two way thang - you are allowed to comment, but you can lurk too if that's all you want. Now I'm off to rank this comic with the help of a few stars and a mouse.
When I first read it, I didn't see the potential, but now I do. The modest parodies and the way Araknid Kid speaks is fun. Good Luck.
Glad you like it JFx!
Sound good Rob
What I'd anticpate right now is a 2 screens/week schedule. Each "Episode" is 30 screens and is split into 3 10-screen parts. That would mean 2 "episodes" for for this contract (60 total screens...) That's the idea anyway...
So last month's general Q&A seemed to work pretty well for opening a dialogue about each creator's plans for their comics and I thought I'd try it again this month. I'm going to try to ask five general questions for each competitor first and see where those answers take us.
1)Update and production schedule;
Josh, AK is a solo project and it's page rhythm per episode seems to work really well in these groups of eight. A comic like this, so obviously structured along the lines of Saturday morning cartoons, kind of implies a regular and page count and pattern to it's pacing. If you win a contract this month, what sort of an update schedule do you see AK having? How many pages per month and in what kind of intervals?
-Rob
Nice done Ash, I love the action with funnie touches of your comic :)
Thanks mr cow
Perhaps Jakea109 ;)
Thanks for the encouragement Margeson
Appreciate that Dan!
Thanks for taking the time to comment frequentcontributor! The story has been set in the old west... the first 8 alluded to it with the robo-cowboys and I wanted to make sure it was established in this first adventure (originally I had thought the synopsis would come into play but observing the competitions over the past few months, and my own reading habits... I've learned it rarely does). It's interesting to me how the "cheats" are coming across. I thought it'd be a beneficial addition. I figured rather than frustrate readers who might get stuck and stop reading, that I'd include the translations as a back-up. Would better placement (size and location) be a better solution?
So this series takes place in the old west, now? The pictures in place of Arak's dialogue were the best part of the first 8 pages; now they feel forced and incomprehensible, and having the translations off to the side (and upside down?) is an annoying cheat. Also, though I'm sure the pages with the man and his flea come back into play later, I thought that it felt wasted in your second plea for a series.
Love it, this is just so much fun to look at and read. You have something very tangible here Josh. Keep pushing it forward and success is on the way! Cheers
Man, it's like an episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle; chock full o' cliffhangers! Great stuff, keep it up.
Love the new screens Josh - Araknid Kid cereal, saturday morning cartoon, what's next a video game?
new pages look great, josh! love the western feel. :)
I think you're on to something nachoman.
famished- Yup, all except the malicious mistress of marbles... Maggie (my wife voiced that one)
Thanks alot Splatted!
Glad to hear that Albatross. Thanks for giving the Kid another look!
i really like the new screens! i think it much improves and adds to the original. i confess i wasn't a big fan of the kid the first time around, but i dig! good luck!
Fun read, Josh! Nice new pages. Nice quick pace and I like how we get a complete short story, and yet it still ended with a cliffhanger. Good luck, this month.
The ad is pretty sweet. Did you do all the voices?
OK. Wow. I like it even more after reading it.
I think that's the way people should approach this work. You really need to read it to appreciate it.
Great job, Josh.
Thanks John, bornieo, obriantallent, Gabriel (ditto), Nick, Chad, Sam (good luck to you too), bcayer9 & Dan (means alot)!!!
nachoman: Cereal's coming soon ;) It'll come with or without marshmellow translations ;)
Appreciate that Bongotezz! For fun over the last couple weeks (mostly last weekend) I put together a "What if" mock Saturday Morning Cartoon commercial. I posted it at the extras site ( www.joshalves.com/araknidkid ) today!