Road
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Science Fiction, Action/Adventure
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Felix is a 'Pilgrim of the Road'. In this world there is one road grander than all others and it runs possibly forever in length. No one knows if the Earth is no longer a sphere, or if it has just increased massively in size. All that is known is that there is a road with populated cities and settlements along it that you can travel down your whole life and it will never end or repeat. Once there was no road like this and the world was a nice manageable place. The Pilgrims of the Road are a group devoted to finding the Source or Terminus of the Road, and they travel down the Road for their entire lives. When they die, each Pilgrim passes the task on to one of their sons or daughters and then they travel the Road. Chosen Pilgrim families have the knowledge of their ancestors stored in an AI implanted into their skulls. These are ancient artifacts passed through the generations, designed to accumulate knowledge of the Road and aid the current Pilgrim's progress by supplying information from past experiences. We join Felix as he's readying to leave a city to join the Road again, but this time he's cutting all ties with the Pilgrims. He is one of the Chosen with an AI in his forehead. The Pilgrims are unlikely to let him leave freely without his obedience to their cause assured. Felix is on the run from his fellow Pilgrims and assorted city low-lives while trying to get out of the city and further down the Road.
Oh wow, the new lettering really does make a world of difference. Well done!
And congrats on the pending marriedness!
Thats a clever car!
Thanks guys. Your feedback really helps keep us motivated to do our best!
ptimony, Yeah, we're a few months ahead, which is good, as I know I've got to take a few weeks break from drawing over the summer as I'm getting married, and doing pages on your honeymoon just doesn't fly with the Mrs!
nice update guys!
Nice update! I know how frustrating one-page-a-week updates can be. Especially if you're ahead of schedule! You have all these pages banked and it's gonna be weeks, MONTHS before anyone sees them! Then, on update day, you're constantly checking the site waiting to see your new screen. Just keep up the good work, and have patience!
Peter
Does the Road lead to 60 more pages? It totally does, doesn't it?
totally cool...its a must read! great thing is you can keep going back to it...its layered, you see different things the second or even third time...its made like that.
Love it.
Glad to see this taking off. Look forward to seeing where the Road the leads.
once a week is good enough for me...Wicked stuff! I agree with Ron, the text is better and EDDIE is one cool mother for the overhaul. Detail is insane, zooming into the artwork is a pleasure...cant wait to further explore this new dystopic world. Roll on next week.
I kind of agree with Albatross here. I think Road may work better with two new pages every two weeks. One page at a time for this kind of story might get a little frustrating for readers.
Yep, I think the new lettering's an improvement too. Thanks for shouting about it.
Hope you enjoy the story of Road as it unfolds each week, Jam and I have spent quite some time scooping it out of our brains and nailing it down on Zuda screens!
oh dear... only one new page? ummmm... i guess that's okay... still diggin' it though! glad it's weekly!
Thank god you fixed the lettering.
Indeed he did. That Eddie is a man of his word - when he said a "lettering overhaul" he meant it through and through.
Looks like you fixed the lettering on the first 8 too.
Great lettering makes a huge difference - bravo!
Ok, this one has "movie version" all written over it. This is gooood. Really good. Congratulations. ;)
A lettering overhaul, you could give P for D a run for most improved comic!!!! ;)
Seriously though, i thought you guys would go with the High Moon model of a 4 screen update every two weeks???
It's a interesting story/genre for the 1 a week update, and how that effects the way you tell the story, a cliff-hanger every screen???
I'm really happy to see you guys talking more, good, good good!
Thanks Bob, glad you're digging it so far.
Road should be continuing very soon now, a page a week for 52 unbroken weeks! (I hope that statement doesn't come back to haunt me.)
And there's been a lettering overhaul. You speak, we listen!
(o:
Congrats on the win! There's some really beautiful line work here. Some of the layout (on screen 3) was a tad hard to follow, but the character design and the textures of the world are just terrific!
Hey RKB, things are going fine, Jammy and I have been continuing with ROAD and are trying to get far enough ahead with pages and story done, that when ROAD kicks off, it has a nice unbroken high quality run. Not sure yet on the exact day that ROAD will resume, but I'm sure Kwanza or I'll let you know. (o:
So folks hows things going on getting Road up and running?
Congratulations. Not really my cup o' tea, but I'm anxious to see where the road leads.
Well however long it takes, your approach is great and I hope my own style is as well-received as yours whenever I finally get my submission done.
.
––Jernell
The answer would be 'too long'.
I'm not sure on exact timings as I do it here and there on evenings and weekends when I have free moments. But it's a long time no doubt.
Jammy and I are getting our plans sorted out so I've got as long as possible to actually draw the pages. But the plotting stage is the most important to get right as it all flows from there.
It's probably not the wisest way to draw comics, but wise people can be very boring to know. (o;
That should be, how long does it take you to ink a page?
Sharam,
How does it take you to ink a page?
Thanks guys, we'll do our best to make Road a comic that rocks.
cujr112002:Hey man,I don't do anything that unordinary, well, not unordinary to me, I pencil the page, ink the darkest areas and use washes of dilute grey acrylic to get the inbetweens. Then I fix mistakes and do touch-ups in photoshop.
congratson the win, guys!
Hey Sharam,
Is it safe to reveal your art techniques now? I really just want to know did you pencil everything first and then ink it (which seemed like it'd take forever) or did you somehow darken it in Photoshop? I'm just wondering because I'm working on my own Zuda submission and trying figure out the best way to go about it.
.
––Jernell
Again, congrats guys! From the beginning, Road was really close to receiving my vote. In the end, it was probably my second choice. (The biggest thing that nudged it out was probably the lettering.)
____
Another thing, I admire you guys for just letting the work speak for itself while the competition was going on. I personally prefer being able to interact with the creators, to get a better idea of the big picture behind the entry, but it definitely took some guts to just step back, and let the chips fall where they may.
____
Anyway, I'm really exited to see the rest of Road. Congratulations again!
I first want to say congratulations. I am a fan of zudacomics.com and what is going on here. The movement to capture more talent, ideas and fan base really excited me. I am a fan of the competition in that it showcases people who would normally struggle in artist row at the comic cons. I don’t think this comic should have won, based upon a lack of developed story line, characters and the art content in the panels is inconsistent and too busy. I think your next task after winning the vote count and competition is to actually win people over to become fans; which looks like you have your work cut out for you. I await the next stretch of ROAD.
-C
Yeah, the competition is surprisingly draining.
Wow! Woo hoo! I have a huge grin on my face right now (o:
What a rollercoaster month! It was far more nerve-wracking than I imagined it would be, massive thanks to all who voted to see more of Road, and I can at last stop pestering all my friends and friend-of-friends to check if they voted yet. Thanks for all the emails I've been sent wishing us well with it too.
We've read all the comments posted and found much of what was said food for thought about how Road continues and evolves. I have a bit more finished than was shown here so far and much more plotted. I'll hook up with Jammy over the weekend and see what's he thinking.
A couple of people have mentioned a Heavy Metal Magazine connection, and yep, I've done comic work in there before. Check out the May 2007 issue, in which I co-created, drew and painted the lead 12 page comic story. They are great people running that mag.
I don't know if you've seen it but there's some more of my work on my website www.eddiesharam.co.uk
I can't wait to get cracking on turning ROAD into the best possible comic it can be, everything can be improved and myself and Jam will try like crazy to create something that entertains you.
But for now, its Friday night, the week is dead, long live the weekend, its time to go out for dinner, beer and mind-recovering conversation.
See you!
Congrats guys!
See the partial return of an old comment:
#1 From the brother's comments at the end (your dead anyway) I can only guess Felix must be alive for them to get the information AI, otherwise they just could have shot him, right??? Hence the sisters tearing up his car, so they can catch him alive, get the AI, and punish/kill him later. The reasoning of the ending got a little fuzzy for me, and i did read the synopsis first.
Next: #2 why did you go with black and white over color? My guess was you wanted a more dirty/noir look to it, but with all the tattoo's and whatnot i think color could have added a lot to the story, and road was lacking because of it.
Lastly, (for now) #3 Are you going to change the font please?
Congrats on the win, guys, and welcome to the Zuda team!
Peter
Congrats on the win. I look forward to seeing more of Road.
This one also reminds me of some Heavy Metal stories...thats a good thing. :)
I'm with RKB.
I'm with Whitted on his comments. It looks like a good comic book but needs less confusion;It's all spread out. Readers would like to make sense of what they read it will only confuse them. Though it has potential.
I'm kind of looking forward to the contest being over (one way or another) just so you guys will talk!;)
As a work of art, this is amazing. Intricate doesn't even cover it. The details are stunning in places. (big emphasis on 'in places'; not terribly consistent)
As a comic? Not so much. The story seems convoluted; in eight panels I have seen a lot of cool moments but I can't tell you what happened. The story is almost messy compared to the artwork.
If they could find a story to match the art this would blow my mind. Alas.
This is what I like and what so few web comics have, namely well drawn artwork. I'm into what has been started here.
good. but for me, it seems to be lacking something to want more. to read more of it. decently drawn. i don't mind the comic sans font.it would neither bring out the story more or improve the aesthetics of the comic.
This just doesn't do it for me. The story leaves me confused with no desire to find out more. The artwork is decently detailed in places and then rough and unfinished in others. Overall I feel this piece is just a little incoherant.
I appreciate the effort and the attempt at realism here in this comic. However am I alone in seeing that most of the panels seem cluttered without giving me a direction. I feel that a good comic leads the reader from one panel to another. I found my eyes struggling (even in a full view on a 22 inch monitor at 1600 X 1200 resolution). I don't want to be too critical, but I just think that even with the great effort and with a great idea this comic just doesn't quite grab me fast enough to keep me interested. I believe the two comics that are trailing right now should be ahead of Road.
It’s hard to choose this month, but I do like this one a lot.
I like this entry a lot - it has a bit of a Blade Runner feel to it in my opinion. I do feel, however, that the story could use a little work. In your synopsis, you mentioned a road that never ends and never repeats and pilgrims who travel this road their entire lives - but when I read the actual pages, none of that really comes across, and without a coherent story, I think it's going to be hard to keep people reading.
I'm enjoying the artwork. There's a bit of realism to it and it looks like it takes ages to draw. Overall, I think it's nice and the effort is definitely there. Good job!