Adventures of the Links: Season 2

Okay, so after Adventures of the Links, I took a long-needed break from the comic (insert joke about how long my breaks were DURING the comic). I did a lot of thinking, and finally decided to create a sequel.

Why? Because it works, and I can't imagine making a different comic without the Links.

As such, this first post will be for the links (HAR!) to the comics that appear. I'll update it whenever there's a new one, but there will also be a post with the comics.

Episode -1: The Pre-Pre-Comic (created by Phaeon for LM’s 23rd birthday)
Episode 000: The Pre-Comic Lecture
-CHAPTER 1: THE DESERT PALACE-
Episode 001: A Likely Story
Episode 002: Hidden Messages
Episode 003: Generation Gap
Episode 004: Expected, But Not Prepared For
Episode 005: Today’s Music
Episode 006: Hip to be Square (with guests Mr. Fish and Penguin)
Episode 007: NOT IT!
Episode 008: More Magic Words
Episode 009: Hot Dog
Episode 010: Blazing Spaceballs
Episode 011: We Made Brownies
Episode 012: Real Names
Episode 013: Ashes to Ashes
Episode 014: It Had to Happen
EXCLUSIVE: Political Rally
EXCLUSIVE: Voting Results
Episode 015: JAVAJAVAJAVAJAVAJAVA
Episode 016: Nothing is Safe
EXCLUSIVE Holiday Comic 2008

So here... is the episode that Phaeon made for my birthday this year.



And here is the very first episode of Adventures of the Links: Season 2!



If you have not read Season 1, go here. Really. Go. Now. Read.

2 things. 1- the megaman thing was funny. That was really really good, and I was hoping you were serious. Also your pre-comic warm up was funny, too, I liked the banner we found in a dumpster part. 2- That dream bubble on panel 7 was very good! Really, very very good! I gotta hand it to ya for that one.

Count me impressed.

Well, heh - the first comic was made by my brother (he's the little ninja dude) for my birthday. I can't really take credit for that, but since it's a gift, I use it in my series (if you read the first season, there are 3 more that he made for my 20th, 21st, and 22nd birthdays). This particular one makes more sense if you've read the first season, as there's a lot of poking fun at MegaMan there.

Glad you liked the second one (which I actually did make) - the rest will hopefully be good as well. I've never liked the idea of sequels, just because of how badly they usually do, but I think this one will do well. Thanks for your kind words!

Also, for anybody who has read this and liked it (or whatever), I've created an Adventures of the Links Fanclub, where you can post your thoughts of the series without fear of it being deleted. I'm not upset about the deleted posts - after all, it's the rules that the posts should have content, and I agree, being an ex-Mod of the Zelda Central forums - but I love to see comments, and at the Fanclub, you'll be able to just say "Love the latest installment! Keep it up!" without worrying about it getting flushed. The link to the Fanclub is in my sig. There may also be contests, polls, and other things that will happen at the Fanclub. ...I guess the group isn't really so much of a "I think my comic's awesome, so I made my own fanclub", but more of a hangout for anything having to do with the comic.

You forgot to Link to your fanclub, Linky, that's the most important part!

So here it is for everyone's reference: Zelda Universe Forums - Adventures of the Links Fanclub

So as you can see, I already joined. :3 I like your comic. Can't say that I agree with the visuals, but I think it's clear you're already comfortable with how the comic looks, so I won't waste my time. But for the style you are taking, you make sure it's very clean and readable. Good job.

"Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency." ~ Foghorn Leghorn

In other words, I post this on two other sites, and copy the links to the comics in a Word document. So this was easy to repost after the hack (does that happen regularly on this site, or...?).

Here's the actual first episode of the journey! This should've been here earlier, but certain problems prevented it from being posted sooner. With any luck, the next one will be up before a week has gone by.

And a reminder about the Fanclub - apparently the hack kicked out a couple of members, so check to make sure that you're in it to post your feelings about the comics.



Notice the Dr. McNinja quote at the end.

lol funny as always, where do you come up with the ideas?

The only thing I can comment about is the speech bubbles. =x

I know a great, easy-to-use trick to make great looking:

action bubbles,
speech bubbles,
thought bubbles
and action squares

using a program almost everyone has!

Wanna know how? Join my graphics class perhaps?

TW - Mostly either just making it up as I go or planning it out. Often times, I really don't know. I've spent a lot of my life listening to Weird Al and Bob Rivers, watching Monty Python and Family Guy, and reading Dave Barry and The Far Side. The key to creating a good, gripping comic, in my opinion, is knowing how to be creative - I have done this using Legos since I was 4, and even through High School. Creativity is something that, sadly, a lot of today's people lack (not meant as a shot to anybody), and many people learned everything from television and video games, and haven't spent a lot of time creating their own fun.

In short, I base my "success" on Legos.

Will - I appreciate your offer, and it's likely something I would do for the Colab Comic or if I was working on a comic other than this series. However, this series thrives (humorously) on bad graphics, art, effects, and the reasons behind them. I think I even know which program you're talking about (and either way, I have PhotoShop, which I could easily learn to use and utilize if this were a different comic). I realize that most comics don't need to look as bad as this, but AotL does, simply for the spirit of the comic in general. Again, thanks, though - I may look into your class anyway, but don't expect better speech bubble for AotL.

...

I was hoping to see some vast improvements.

That's the thing I've noticed with the people here - too few people focus on the nature of the comic itself.

Everyone's focus is "O LUK TEH GRAFIX R C00L". That's not what AotL is about. If it was, I would make something that actually looks artistically respectable (believe me, I'm capable).

This comic's nature is one of bad art. If you read the entire first season (which I doubt many of you have, especially if you're expecting "vast improvements" from April until now), you'll see what I'm talking about. If this comic had good art and production, it wouldn't be the same comic, and in that sense, I might as well have created a different comic entirely.

But that's not what I wanted to do. I wanted to continue this story, with the nature that made it so popular in the first place - plot, humor, and bad quality. If you had read the first season, you would know this, because you would see most of the bosses either die in one shot or be skipped altogether due to production problems.

Consider this a test to every single one of you who are so caught up in the look of your comic that your plot or your jokes suffer. I've read a lot of the comics here, and while you have pretty graphics and speech bubbles and such, it doesn't make the comic good. It makes it pretty. Comics in the paper aren't always drawn well, but they can still be good and funny. I don't see why Sprite Comics should be different.

I'd rather have a comic like my games - with a solid plot (or at least jokes covering the holes), character development, and possibly humor. Graphics don't really matter that much.

Don't believe me? ACTUALLY READ THE FIRST SEASON. Then continue with this one and see what happens.

Also, if any of you are wondering what my sig banner says in Hylian, it says my philosophy on art and comics: "Art is useless without a story behind it".

So test yourself. See if you can enjoy a comic without the prettiness of graphics. Maybe you'll learn something.

Once you understand what this comic is about and what it needs, then feel free to criticize it.

...

Who said anything about graphics?

It is possible to have a good-looking comic with a good story and character development. I do it all the time.

Also, that's a sad excuse for having crappy balloons and unnecessary colored text.

I understand it's possible to have both. I believe I even said that in my rant. But this isn't a comic that does. Either way, when you say "vast improvements", you should elaborate, because being vague isn't going to help somebody understand what you're talking about.

This isn't supposed to be an improved AotL. This is a continuation of AotL. That's why nothing looks different (as said in the pre-comic lecture, by the way).

I don't think it's unnecessary to have colored text. If I'm correct, you have colored text even though you only have four characters. In this last comic, I had four characters, each with their own color. So what's the problem?

Text Blocks as opposed to bubbles give me more freedom concerning spacing the text around while keeping the same format. Circles would be better for a comic with larger panels, but as stated before, this is a continuation, not an improvement.

I understand that a lot of people have issues with my presentation. However, I'm comfortable with it. If I wasn't, I would have asked for a lot of help from you, Will, Mr. Fish, and GoldStud before even creating the first comic.

Sorry about the blowing-up-ness, but you could present yourself in a more helpful/cheerful light as opposed to starting every post with "...", y'know? It's easy for somebody to get defensive or misinterpret you if you do that.

Either way, when you say "vast improvements", you should elaborate, because being vague isn't going to help somebody understand what you're talking about.

My bad. I thought I was stating the obvious. I'll go into more detail down below...

I don't think it's unnecessary to have colored text. If I'm correct, you have colored text even though you only have four characters. In this last comic, I had four characters, each with their own color. So what's the problem?

Colored text should be used sparingly, and not in word balloons when it's obvious (the balloons show) who's talking. Therefore, colored text is very much unnecessary in word balloons, and proves to be more of an eyesore than anything.


Sorry, but I expected to see improvements. I am willing to sit through what you have already previously done, but I shouldn't have to do so with the dullness of this new comic. It's been how many years since you started the older one? I can have patience for newbies, but your comic should be leaps and bounds ahead, and ignoring even the most basic improvements turns me off from this comic. I'm not trying to offend, but yeah...

What I'm mostly going on about are the word balloons and panel presentation. I've already mentioned the colored text. But always having a little line instead of a tail looks extremely newbish. Even if you're using Paint, you can make tails and more interesting word balloons. GoldStud was kind enough to make a tutorial about it. If you're interested, send him a PM.

What I'm saying is that your comic has potential for greatness, but it feels very...dull...to me. As a sprite comic artist, you should always challenge yourself and raise the bar to try and do better next time instead of lazily settling for mediocrity like colored text in crappy word balloons.


Sorry if I came out harsh, which wasn't my intention. It's just that I was expecting much more since you are supposedly an experienced sprite comic artist. This new series left me extremely disappointed. What's the point in bothering with your story if you do a poor job of presenting even that? You need to make sure your text is easier to read and more digestible instead throwing so much into a single balloon.

I just used colored text for every time somebody talks. That way people don't get confused when somebody has colored text in one panel, but not the next.

You do know that the last episodes of AotL1 were made in April, right? Like, 4 months ago? It still doesn't feel like a long time to me.

You don't have to put up with the "dullness" of this new comic if you don't want to - just don't read it. But if you know that this comic was meant to entertain via humor and plot, you wouldn't find it dull. In fact, you can't even call this comic dull right now - we're only in the beginning stages. It's like saying that "The Dark Knight" was dull because the first 3 minutes were boring. Again I say to you, this comic's entertainment comes from humor and plot. If you find those dull after the first chapter, then I can see you calling the comic dull (though I would prefer you to judge it as a whole).

I guess, in short, if you found the first season dull, you'll find this one dull as well, though I can't imagine why if you look at the comic through the eyes of purely wishing to get cheap laughs and tell a story. This is more just a side hobby than anything else, as I'm a full-time college student with a lot of stuff to do (...well, during the school year, anyway), and just feel like having fun with this.

Maybe I'm missing something, but... was that supposed to be "I'm NOT trying to offend"?

(I edited my above post about a thousand times)

I know how you feel. You should have seen how I reacted to GoldStud's and Lurrrre!'s criticism back in the day.

Anyways, there's my two cents. If you want to be lazy and not improve, that's your choice. I can't make your decisions for you. This comic has the potential to be so much more, so please excuse me for expressing my disappointment.

Nah, it's fine - I've just never had any criticism about it before. On ZC and KG, people have just laughed at the comic and expressed their desire for more, not even worrying about how it was presented. They just liked the story. (Also, I DID see how you reacted - I checked out the old thread when I read through Zeldish. )

I actually had tails before, and I switched to lines. The tails looked even worse than the lines, and I feel that the lines give me more freedom without covering up any more of the "art" than the blocks already do.

It could be laziness, or it could just be the desire to finish this while I still have time (before I graduate and have to get a real job, as I'll probably end up leaving online forums completely once I do). I'm not sure which one - it could be both. Either way, I have a year to finish this, and I kind of just want to have fun before I have to start a "real life". (I'm old...)

I really wish I had more time - if I did, I would completely redo the series, with lots of improvements that I've learned via PhotoShop and speech bubbles and close-ups and pretty lights and bunnies, but (1) I am running out of time to put everything down on "paper" before I graduate (as stated above), and (2) the production quality is one of the running gags of the comic, and it just wouldn't be the same without them.

It probably would've helped if I had finished the first season earlier (like, say, in 2005, when it began, or at least in 2006), but writer's block and schoolwork prevented it from being completed until this past April (which is really, really, really sad, if you look at the quality, which I agree is terrible (arguably that's its charm, though that's complete opinion)).

Maybe if I find that my future job, teaching high school band, isn't as hectic as I had anticipated (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA), I will make a comic worthy of praise and such. For now, though, I just want to have fun with the time I have remaining while I'm still "young" (aka 23). I hope that you can bear with it, but if you can't, I understand - Zeldish is a lot more impressive graphically, as are other online comics such as 8-Bit Theater, Order of the Stick, and Dr. McNinja (though those three people do it for a living).

Alright, that's understandable.

But..the colored text could at least be improved upon?

Do you mean with having it colored only sometimes, or something else?

I'm just curious, as the colors were originally enforced due to ZC (first forum), which at the time consisted of a lot of young people who didn't know who was talking when, even with the lines/tails.

Well, colored should be used for special occasions. They're totally unnecessary in word balloons. When you come across a time that you decide not to use a balloon (and, say, the character is offpanel), then color is good to help show who it was that spoke.

Otherwise, using colored text all the time takes away from the simplicity from reading the dialogue.

Right, but if the character is off-panel, wouldn't it be nice to know who it was by having the text color permanent? For example, if four people are talking offpanel, and they happen to be Red, Mario, Sonic, and Blue, there's almost no way to know who is who unless you know their colors beforehand (as Blue and Mario have lighter text than Sonic and Red, respectively).

I dunno - I see and understand your point, but I guess I still don't see how it takes away from the comic, really. Just seems kinda trivial to me to worry about it.