Brave Ulysses
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Science Fiction, Action/Adventure
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Throughout the trillions of miles of space holding a wide-strewn interplanetary civilization, law and order is maintained by the men and women of the IEA: the Interplanetary Enforcement Agencies. A young man by the name of Ulysses Q. Halifax proudly counts himself among the members of the IEA's Administration and Transport Authority, the agency responsible for maintaining smooth operation of all IEA business across the vast expanse of the galaxy. Halifax's life, though, is tedious; he's a station-cop, an administrator, and the most excitement he's bound to see in a day is a heated argument over filing procedure; but he's possessed of an adventurer's heart, and for years has followed with excitement the exploits of his heroes in the IEA's Marshals Service. In Brave Ulysses, we tell the tale of Mr. Halifax; how opportunity knocked, how Ulysses answered, and how his humdrum life was forever set on its ear after he stepped aboard the space-cruiser, Briarea.
I like Brave Ulysses for its title, its well-written and well thought out story, and wonderful artwork. Hope you do well.
Finishing near the top of the bottom, I'm happy to say I ended up in fine, fine company; TEACHERS, UNTRUE TALES, RENO, all comics I enjoy and admire very much. I want to express my sincere thanks to the supporters of the comic -- your thoughtful comments are very much appreciated, RKB, infernalbbg, J.W., et al. Additional thanks to mpd57 for the great review (I knew you'd be converted!) and Liz Steiner for the interview opportunity.
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BRAVE ULYSSES will continue, and when it does, I'll let it be known here at Zuda comics, both through this comments page and through the message boards; also, on my deviantART page (http://laemeur.deviantart.com) and personal website (http://www.apocalyptek.com).
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And finally, I want to thank DC/Zuda for committing the resources to provide a real opportunity for comics unknowns such as myself to gain both exposure and pecuniary benefits from our otherwise unseen, unpaid, and unappreciated labours of love.
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Long live Zuda.
Brave Ulysses is one of my faves. Please keep it up and let us know how to see more of it. Best of luck to you.
--Gabe
I agree with many others that this second installment was an improvement. Hopefully we can see this elsewhere should it come to that.
the popularity/ networking contest edge of the zuda competition is rough to me, but i sure do love getting to look at the screens of comics like this one that we do get... guess there's really no way to even the odds for the less-marketed (though equally or more talented work)... :\ ?
I couldn't have said it better myself, J.W.
Laemeur, you're the Alex Raymond of Zuda. I mentioned the first time out that yours was the best drawn strip on the site since Crooked Man, and seeing you go head-to-head this month has been exciting. Writing is tight on these new screens. You've really taken advantage of the format, telling 8 screen vignettes that build on the larger story. Hope I get a chance to see more down the road.
I agree with infernal here, this story shows you CAN do something with Zuda's format besides breakneck pacing and minimalist dialogue. I like the substance of the narrative as well as the engaging visuals. Keep it up.
there are still a lot of words in the story but it's dialogue not text box thought balloons. Character interaction= big improvement.
The fact that so many people seem surprised at how engaging the new 8 pages are is indicative to me of Zuda's format, where stories that attempt something other than a frenetic movie trailer-esk start just don't capture people's imagination. For me, the quality of the dialogue and the depth of incidental background elements in the original 8 pages meant that I was already expecting the next set to expand upon the first as it focused more on what was labeled as the main character. Happily Laemeur didn't disappoint there.
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It's a valuable lesson to consider though, how best to reconcile the pace of an non-superficial story with the space limitations of Zuda's format. I wonder how Zuda would feel about upping the page limit for a competition if all involved agreed upon it? 12 pages? The whole 16? I reckon some different stories might just start to shine.
I'm not surprised to see you back it seemed like you had some fairly die-hard fans of the strip. The biggest problems I and some others had with the first 8 screens were: 1. too many text box thought balloons/ captions. 2. where is the title lead at in these 8 screens. 3. A little more action maybe... 4. the lettering = arrgh! Except for the lettering you have pretty much took care of all the problems i had with the comic.
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I know you have said in the first 8 you were going with the set-up to the story, and a golden age homage, I got that I just didn't like it that much -it was okay. In the new 8 it's mostly about the character that is it's namesake good call. The best tie in/ character development was seeing this mental image of a great hero, then in the new 8 seeing said hero worn down out of shape, and wanting to get back to being what he was. The en garde en garde scenes showed some action and also set up what was going on in BU's head without the text box thought balloons, thanks for that, and you pulled it off very well.
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You ending these 8 on a classic serial tune in next time spot so i think it fits Zuda very well pacing-wise.
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Getting rid of all the damn captions really helped out the writing with me, colors are still very good, and good actions scenes nice art.
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Of the comics that came back and really changed things you have by far the most improved comic you didn't reinvent the strip you just dealt with some of the problems people had with it and made it far better. All in all you get an extra star out of it from me.
great work,Laemeur, you get my vote! i like sci-fi very much!
Some great drawings here!
Wow. Almost 20 days since someone commented in here? Wake up everyone!!!
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!
Reviewed and approved at:
http://www.mpd57.blogspot.com
To quote Mr. Laemeur
"I have a dream that my sixteen little screens will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the effectiveness of their advertising but by the content of their character."
I feel you brotha, and that ain't no jive.
Second impression:
I think that this (along with two or three other entries which I shall not name here) is about as close as I can imagine to getting an instant win without actually winning one.
Even the first 8 pages which wasn't as well liked, it was really brilliant stuff. I'd like to compare it to a well produced documentary. You may not like the style but you shouldn't let that distract you from the awesomeness of the execution.
And with the following 8 pages...
Oh man...
You can tell that Mr. Moore knows what's up. He's made EXACTLY the tweaks that were necessary to bring it into the tastes of mainstream Zuda. He's not just playing on instinct, although I'd say that his creative instincts seem to be pretty fantastic as well.
Five stars, favorite, vote.
And curse my bad luck if he doesn't win.
This took me sooo long to get into. And not because I thought it sucked or anything. It's because the first 8 pages were texty, AND on top of that, small with the scratchy font. I don't mind text-filled comics at all, but coupled with that font and me having to resize every page just bogged me down on its first showing. I felt that you could have put some of that dead space at the top (where the lexicons were) to better use and open up space for the panels. And then have description/definitions in-panel. I haven't really gone thru the tread so forgive me for rehashing if this was commented before, which it prob was since I see that you did exactly that for the 2nd eight page submission. And I have to say it read so much better even with the same font style and me having to resize it on a couple of pages. From its pacing get the feeling that it would be about the 4th or 5th episode before the real meat of the story is served. Unfortunately you will only be judged on the first two episodes. So I give you props on telling the story the way you wanting it to be told. And it is a good read- 4/5 stars. G'Job and G'Luck M' Brother!
Rob: I'm not doing any outside marketing. Not really, anyway. I've informed my friends of the competition and asked them to pass the word along, and I'm a regular at one internet message board (hello, ASMB), and I made a post there because a number of users are friends, or at least friendly. That's about it. Oh, and I wrote a journal entry and put up a pic on my deviantART page.
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I know that this is essentially forfeiture of the competition. It probably seems the pinnacle of idiocy to get involved in a Zuda comp and not do everything in my power to win, but fuck it. To expropriate a phrase by Martin Luther King, Jr.; I have a dream that my sixteen little screens will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the effectiveness of their advertising but by the content of their character.
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
I REALLY like your expressive faces...it brings your story to life. I also think your thumbnail was a good choice.
infernalbbg: I was asked at the beginning of the competition if I wanted a different thumbnail, but I really didn't know what other shot from the comic to use. I don't think there are any panels in the comic that are particularly representative of the whole thing, so... maybe I shot myself in the foot there.
My apologies. I was definitely too critical. This has some of some great art. I appreciate the detailed thought that went into creating this universe. The plot just doesn't move me. The talent of the creators is obvious and I look forward to their future work. I'm with BlueMaxx...it is not one of my top two...it is rated too low in the competition...I would not be disappointed if it wins...I give it three chibattas out of five.
Haha! Passive, I think I've found my soul mate. I would have your twisted albino babies were I but biologically capable of doing so. Bravo.
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Oh, except for not voting for this comic, of course. THAT'S gonna earn you an extra decade in purgatory, but I hear they have pingpong there now.
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Also, grasping at straws here: Laemeur, I always thought that the thumbnail for this isn't the strongest shot that could have been chosen. I was surprised at the quality of art after I'd finally decided to check it out. But hey, feedback is like opinions which are like ars*holes, right?
Why isn't this in the top three? I think the ranking system must be broken. Somebody call the computer-fix-it guy!
infernalbbg, NeutronCrush, quasilucid, Galen Shephard, et al: thanks for the support, folks. I appreciate it.
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robberry237: I'm continually surprised that the wide format of Zuda comics remains a talking point. It's a sequence of pictures inside a rectangle; tall rectangle, short rectangle, perfect square -- I honestly couldn't care less. The only people who make a real stink about this are people who are upset that they can't rip-off layouts from their favorite comic-book artists. The solution, obviously, is to rip-off layouts from your favorite adventure strip artists instead :)
I really like the detail you have put into the story. Good job!
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? BU really seems to fit the graphic novel form well, was it originally conceived in different format?
-Rob
This is another tough month.
I voted for Brave Ulysses last time it was in the Zuda competition.
I am still weighing my vote, but I might be compelled to vote for it again.
Infernal, I will be the first to admit that you are right to question my tastes as I am often in disagreement with friends about movies and/or cartoons I find entertaining. I think my best friend is voting for this comic. I also dislike pork chops, Grandpa Joe in Willie Wonka (who I believe to be one of the greatest villians in cinema), the Transformer movie, fake breasts, text messsaging, fireworks, the Tim Burton Batman movies, Sandra Bullock, and bananas in fruit salad because they are too arrogant. I am afraid of chalkboards. I like Jessica Alba (not when she is trying to act), garden tomatoes, Firefly (and Serenity), Fight Club, Unforgiven, Kill Bill I and II, Goodfellas, Pan's Labyrinth, Roger in the Lord of the Flies, Christian Bale, the steak chibatta from Jack in the Box, and pouring alcohol on my own open wounds. I also like to scrape off insect bites because the burn is preferable to the itch.
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I will read this again later today and get back to you but in the meantime...lets hope the future of humanity is not dependent on me.
Hey Laemeur, this is excellent! Glad to see you back for the invitational!
Man, people that don't immediately swoon over this comic make me doubt for the future of humanity, there's just no accounting for some tastes.
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A guess it's par for the course that in an 8 page teaser format a lot of what does well are essentially punchlines that would fall over if given the space to do so, as have several of the entries here I was excited about before I saw their next 8 pages. This on the other hand, seems to be the beginning to a REAL story, one with promise of an interesting plot, solid dialogue and characters that are more than just a visual pun. The downside seems to be that it doesn't tick enough action boxes for the ADHD crowd. But hey, f##k 'em.
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Keep channeling the Dan Dare spirit (although this is smarter and better) and I'll keep voting for ya. Again, nice work bro.
robberry237: I'd love to have a full week to work on each screen, but simply posting one screen per week wouldn't really serve the reader in my opinion. Rather than "chapters", the unit of pacing I seem to be going with is more like "scenes"; the fencing match is a scene, the conversation after it is a scene, the conversation with Capt. Patel is a scene, and so-on. All the scenes in this most recent update happened to be two screens long, but that wouldn't always be the case. So, for an update schedule, I'd prefer to post complete scenes at irregular intervals. If I recall, the contest agreements mandate an update schedule of no less than one screen per week, so a three-screen scene would arrive in no greater than three weeks, two screens in no greater than two weeks, etc..
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Did I make that muddy enough for you? ;)
I like your colors. The lettering does not work for me and I found myself altogether bored by the plot.
Laemeur's ideas age like a fine wine. :)
Give the guy time and he'll build something epic.
That's how he works and even if it seems slow to start, it's only because the first bit of a roller coaster are climbing up only to be thrust down at the mind bending acceleration of gravity... :) Speaking of gravity.
I love how you worked out implying the various strengths in your pages. You didn't need any words to let me know what was going on in most of the panels. You told the story much better through picture this time around.
Even if I'm a fan of words. ;)
I drink copious amounts Coffee with Laemuer on a pretty regular basis, and I have no idea what's coming next. The rat bastid!
He did a damn good job of keep tight lipped about this 8.
The hook sold me!
The fencing was awesome!
Eminem, lol.
lolz @ contributor. Eminem had to do another comic appearance since the movie version of Wanted didn't "want" him, he decided to stay with the medium...
...joking aside, i really do dig the art that's lush and detailed, and the storytelling and dialogue are involving. i really have no idea how this month's competition's gonna turn out but this is one of the several i wouldn't mind reading as a winner. g'luck
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;
Laemeur, "space-opera" story-lines like this often develop in irregular page counts that are chapter-based (probably based upon the irregular page count of anthology pulp magazines) or in very regular intervals (like in the old Republic serials). I can see this going either way and you've done a great job with pacing each episode to the eight page arc of a Zuda submission. If you win a contract this month, what kind of update schedule do you see BU having? How many pages per month and at what kind of intervals?
-Rob
Too bad it ended just when it was starting to get good. But anyway, good to see that Eminem has found work.
An excellent improvement on the first eight panels.
Damn. And people said last month was a tough competition!
It kinda got better...not that it was bad...I like the art, and the flow of the story is almost right (for me, anyway.). The only real problem (hardly a problem) is the lettering...its all chicken-scratchy...which isn't a big deal. I like Vasquez's J.T.H.M.'s lettering, but it fit with it's incredibly dark-humor. You may not be my fave, but I wouldn't be disappointed to see win. Good Luck, you deserve it.
Maybe because it's "nonexistant" ;)
This is excellent,Laemeur. You've got a cool way of telling a story, and it keeps building, and building. Excellent, I want to read more...Good luck!
Thanks, everybody. I'm glad these newer pages are going over well.
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Famished: "Boubts"... How embarrassing. Well, I'm maintaining my average of one spelling error per eight pages. But nobody has managed to call me on the first one yet ;)
This just blows me away. Gorgeous art and really sharp writing. The wide shot of the ship is just dazzling and I love the fencing scene too. I think you're gonna be the guy that gives The Crooked Man a run for the money. Good luck!
Congrats on getting another chance, man. Hope you win this time, you've already got my vote.
extraordinaire new pages. it´s good to finally see halifax really starring this comic.
however, i did miss the title bar that appeared on all pages.
Congrats! This is an excellent strip. I enjoyed the new pages even more than the first eight. Good Luck! It's nice competing with you.
Gabriel Hardman