A Comic for New Players

Great job, GG. I enjoyed your comic a lot; reminded me of when I first started playing this game many moons ago.

Looks great, love the artwork.

I'm still working on making a pdf that isn't too fuzzy, but also not too big to upload.

But in the meantime, I came up with a quick cover and title yesterday - neither of which are really very spectacular, but both of them give an idea of what the comic might be about - I hope

http://goldengirlcoh.deviantart.com/...18208#/d3bf8ha

I liked this comic a lot. There were some great lines and references in there, not just to CoH etc. There was great attention to detail and I wish the Atlas Park Skyline in game looked a little more like the one in the comic.

I meant to post about this earlier while it was still fresh but got side tracked, so I can't remember all the lines I love, but as a GI Joe fan, I loved the "and knowing is half the battle" bit.

Nice job GG, fun comic to read!

Enjoyed it very much, great work

Ok, I finally got a bit of time to answer most of the questions in this thread - so, in no particular order:

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Originally Posted by Captain-Electric I'm not sure how you've drawn your comic, is it a mash-up of pencils, Photoshop, and 3D-generated graphics?

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Originally Posted by Todogut You had mentioned before that you use Poser and Photoshop software to create your comics. But, can you tell more about your method? For the Paragon City backgrounds, did you take screen captures in CoH and import them into Poser or Photoshop? Or did you entirely draw the backgrounds? For figures (particularly, faces), do you use photo references?

I'm not sure if it's a real style or not, but I call it "drawn digital" - a sort of combination of a comicbook look, as that's the soruce of the game, and 3D models, as that's what the actual game-world is made of - so I'm using 3D models with quite a lot of postwork to create the look I want.
Everything in each panel is fully modelled - I don't use screenshots or background pictures, as these look flat, and don't blend with the actual character models, especially with the lighting and texturing.
Plus, using screenshots would not only be very hard to line up to get the perspective right, but I'd also needs loads of them to cover every angle I might need - it's simply easier in the long run, and looks better, to use fully modelled environments.

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Originally Posted by Todogut Interesting forced depth perception in the last panel of page 33, where the war wall can be seen behind Atlas' statue. (Kind of like a scene from the Stanley Kubrick movie "Barry Lyndon", where the title character is running ahead of an oncoming army.) Intentional? Or just a happy accident?

An accident - I've never seen that movie

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Originally Posted by Todogut The depiction of Ms. Liberty. Her facial features resembled photos I'd seen of the real-life model who played the role of Ms. Liberty at several CoH promotional functions. Did you use photo references of her?

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Originally Posted by Todogut Did you use a celebrity model as the basis for Flash-Man? His facial features reminded me of Wil Wheaton in some panels.

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Originally Posted by Todogut GG looks a bit like Scarlet Johansson in some images. Did you use ScarJo as a photo reference for GG?

I did base Ms. Liberty on the RL model from Hero Con and other promotional appearances, but I also tried to add a bit of the in-game look, plus a bit of her look from the official CoH comics.

Flash-Man is based on a friend from high school - although he doesn't know I've put him in a comic - yet

The reference for me is me

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Originally Posted by Muon_Neutrino And I have to ask what shirt Golden Girl is wearing - I figured out what almost all the rest of those costume pieces are, but the shirt is eluding me (does it actually exist in game?)

It's how I'd like my in-game outfit to look - but it's simply not possible, as the game has a weird way of showing our busts, so to get that look I'm going to have to wait until they give us a more relaistic look
My RL hair shown in the comic is also not available in the game yet - it's like a cross between the Shy and Shag styles - but more animated

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The full-page image on page 2 shows GG in a confident stance with a facial expression that conveys--what? Beauty? Sophistication? Savviness? Sex appeal? The inset image shows Flash-Man's rather flabbergasted reaction. Is it meant to be funny that he looks so surprised to meet her because she's so beautiful and glamorous (wearing a costume with a short skirt and a rather healthy expanse of cleavage)?

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Originally Posted by Todogut On page 6, Flash-Man asks, "And what way do you fight? Like do you have any weapons?" GG answers, "Just my body," in a panel showing a straight-on, head-to-toe view, in which she is looking forward while Flash-Man's head is turned to look at her. In the next panel, she explains, "Unarmed combat's my thing," and Flash-Man comments, "Oh," as if maybe he misunderstood her initial statement? Am I reading too much into the exchange? Or is the dialog supposed to be funny because of a possible double meaning?

I like to leave these kinds of things up to the reader to interpret for themselves - but generally, if something in the comic seems humorous, it's a pretty good guess that it was intentional

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Originally Posted by Daemodand And I'm guessing Golden Girl is an alien?

I don't actually RP, or even have a bio - when I first started playing the game, I just made my avatar as me, but with super powers - the way I act in the comic is the way I'd act if I really was in Paragon City - and if I was unaware that I was in a game

Ms. Liberty: Knowing is half the battle.
Flash-Man: What's the other half?
Golden Girl: Punching villains in the face.


Dammit GG! You nearly owed me a new monitor!

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

That is a really fun read, and quality work too. Great job!

Add me to the chorus of folks who had fun reading it. Good job GG!

So many subtle details! Its great when you can go back and look at the panels again and again and think: "Wow didn't see that before. Oh wait . . . theres more!"

I Liked it a lot. Very well done.

Thumbs up GG!! Great work and a good read.

I like it!

Excellent. I presume the pictured Golden Girl has the [Distract.Cleavage] power.

I'm disappointed GG didn't manage to fit in the line

"Eyes up here"

Good comic. Although I'll echo some comments re: GG's cleavage. I mean, sheesh lady, talk about the Uncanney Valley.

GG, thanks for answering questions. It's even more amazing to learn that you recreated all the familiar in-game locales as 3D models.

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Originally Posted by Golden Girl The reference for me is me

Will you be appearing in full GG costume at the next real-life CoH promotional event?

Keep on creating great 3D digital artwork, GG!