13

Feb 2014

Chapter 3: Page 4 - The Only Way

Posted by / in Comic / 46 comments

I absolutely love how well Seba conveyed the power/emotions in this sequence (including previous and next couple pages), especially with Viktor and Tenzin’s relationship.

1000 Minerva credits to whoever can figure out what my transliterated Russian is supposed to say :D

Also, I feel like our dear reader Delta-v has got the pleading for votes thing down, so just see his comments on why we would love you to support us on TWC.

EDIT: Updated with more correct Russian thanks to our favorite Russian reader, Amberlight.

  • Jason Clayton

    For my brethren?

    • Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner! Do you speak Russian or did you find some transliteration app like I did?

      * Minerva credits are not real currency and cannot be redeemed for anything other than TDA street cred.

      • Jason Clayton

        2 ways,

        1) Google translate didn’t like the spelling and changed “RADI BRAT’YEV MOIKH” into “РАДИ БРАТЬЕВ МОИХ” which translates to “For my brethren”

        2) It seams to fit the current situation.

        p.s. where’s my street card ;P

        • Well good job. 1) is because I didn’t want to put it in the Cyrillic alphabet, so I transliterated it to Roman characters.

          And street cred it all maintained digitally here. If you get 1,000,000 I’ll make you a little card you can download and print ;)

  • Delta-v

    I hope Viktor’s facing the right direction. Nothing spoils a dramatic entrance quicker than messing that part up. :)

    • Sebasp

      the other direction would be to the hills across the bombarded vehicles.. escaping.

      that would make an interesting comic though :P

      • Delta-v

        That thing bounces around more than a four-year-old with a stomach full of sugar. At this point, I wouldn’t rule anything out.

        Although, whatever happens will be beautifully rendered, right? :)

        • What thing bounces like a hyperglycemic child? The deathbot? If so, maybe they should wait for the sugar crash.

          • Delta-v

            Yeah, it. And I was extrapolating from the opening page of Ch. 2 with bullets and darts flying in all directions, and Jane’s assessment of “fast and agile”. I had this nephew…

            And I’m afraid the deathbot’s power plant might be a little longer lasting. :P

    • Yeah, that would kind of ruin the effect. See that a lot in comic stories though. “Um Viktor, the deathbot is that-a-way.”

      PS Love the new avatar. Good timing to get some use out of it while Viktor is being awesome ;)

      • Delta-v

        Yeah, it was a race to figure out how Disqus does things before Viktor got his yagoditsy shot off. I’m pretty happy that I finally got it done after only a week or so of trying. :P
        Also, thanks for the mention, but apparently an awful lot of people don’t read the comments, so my impassioned begging doesn’t fall on any ears at all. Have you ever thought of changing the name of the comic to “The Demon Archives Please Vote For Us”?

        • Don’t want to sound too desperate ;P

          Also, isn’t google translate fun?

          • Delta-v

            Yeah, it’s like having a secret decoder ring that your younger siblings can’t steal, and your Mom won’t accidentally throw away. :)

          • Jason Clayton

            My brother and I used to translate messages into Archaic Latin, then spell the translation with Greek characters, it made for some interesting translations being that there are only 24 Greek characters and 26 Archaic Latin characters.

      • Demetri Ermak

        -Urrrraaaaaaaaa!!! *shoots a wide ark*
        *Deathbot awkwardly shifts weight from one leg to another, sitting on a roof a good 90 degrees to the left, not sure who is this man fighting with right now*

        • Hehe. Poor confused Deathbot. He just wants to be friends.

          • Demetri Ermak

            He just tries to reach out and touch someone. Feel connected. (if he later will get some kind of tazer the “feel connected” part will get even funnier in the dark way))

  • Amberlight

    I’m russian and I wanted to say that I’m plesantly surprised that Viktor’s russian words are used perfectly correctly. What especially pleases me is that he calls Tenzin “Droogan” (“buddy”), rather than stereotypical (and wery much annoying for russians) “comrade”. So thanks for being smart!

    • That is so awesome to hear! I tried my best to google appropriate sayings, and not just be stereotypical. There is another fun one I worked on a lot in a couple of pages. Hopefully it is good too :)

      • Amberlight

        So Viktor isn’t going to die yet? That’s good to hear!
        Feel free to ask me for an advice. I’m rather good with Russian:P

        • I can only confirm that there will be pages in the future on which Viktor will speak some Russian phrases. He could be alive, he could be in flashbacks, he could be a ghost haunting Tenzin, spewing Russian insults at him.

          But yeah, Viktor is one of my favorite characters. But so was Jorge…

          • Ydo Ucare

            You’re like the George R R Martin of comics.

          • Jason Clayton

            “One can only walk a fence for so long until the trip will come to an end”
            ~Confucius
            …or not

  • Delta-v

    Well, we’re down to rank #95. Are you still hard-core against the name change idea? Just checking. :)

    • It can be really hard to compete for votes with all of the fanservice offers above us. We are also against stooping to that level. Especially because it would go completely against their characters. Well, maybe Viktor would do one ;)

      • Delta-v

        I think you’re just remembering the ones you liked. Quite a few of them have no vote bait at all, and others have cutsy stuff like Grrl Power has. To be soberly honest, I don;t know why so many voters stopped voting, because I’m not all that sure why they started in the first place. My last impassioned plea produced only a small blip, quickly extinguished, so if I had any influence on any of the new voters before, I have it no longer. I really wish that someone who had been voting, but stopped, would comment and tell me why. I may simply have become irritating instead of encouraging.

        • No, I’m remembering the ones that I didn’t like because they just looked like anthro soft-core :P

          And yeah they aren’t all fanservice, but their cover picture and rating make it look like they might have it, and I assume a lot of internet peoples will vote on them just on the off chance they might see something nice. Also I emailed you directly one idea/thing.

          • Delta-v

            Originally, there was a smiley after the first sentence, but I accidentally edited it out when I rewrote the second `sentence. I was trying to tease you, not slap you. Sorry. :(

            And, of course, today’s bait from Grrl Power is the cheescakiest picture of a one-legged sniper I’ve ever seen. I just can’t win.

            I did get your email, and it makes sense. I guess I’l just have to be more creative, since I’m not going to give up.

      • Amberlight

        Making some dynamic vote incentives would be helpfull. I know I push the button to see a fun picture.
        And you don’t have to spend a lot of time to do them. Use what you already have. Like http://postimg.org/image/jy9w2zm0d/
        Now figure out what he’s saying in this little wall-breaking parody:P

        • Hehe. That is a pretty nifty idea. Assuming google-fu is correct, that means “Vote readers to deduce/understand me” ? We have vote incentives up right now actually. Maybe we could make a side bar and put that vote plea in it with the latest snapshot of the incentive, but we like having a non-cluttered reading experience.

          • Amberlight

            GoogleTranslate is stupid:P it says “Readers’ votes shall protect me!”
            And I think a small “Vote” button will fit nicely in the interface on the same line with all those sharing options under the comic page. It doesn’t have to be big and bright, it just have to be reasonably noticeable.

          • Oh. Yeah, would you mind if I email you some of the upcoming Russian lines just to see if they are close to making sense? They don’t have to be perfect (since it is 100 years in the future, post-apocalypse), but it would be nice if they were close :)

            And great idea on the vote button. I’ll have to see if Nick can make it work.

          • Amberlight

            Sure. Just remember that I live in +6GMT timezone and will probably be sleeping at your work hours.

          • Noted. I won’t ever expect a quick reply. It is good to have an actual Russian speaker to check it with instead of just the internet :)

            Message sent. And if other people are jealous, make yourself indispensable/useful somehow and I might discuss upcoming story elements with you too ;)

  • There actually is one. You just have to scroll down a little bit.

    • Amberlight

      See? That’s the point. I genuinely looked for it but didn’t find it, so it’s as good as non-existant.

      • Yeah, I better improve its visibility somehow…

  • Delta-v

    Hi, folks! Demon Archives needs your help. If you haven’t voted lately, please vote now. If you have voted recently, please vote again. If you can’t remember, vote anyway. TWC keeps track, and there’s no penalty for being wrong. :)

  • Neil Kapit

    “Droogan”? Everyone knows that Russians say tovarisch for friend. And exclaim “Bohze Moi” when surprised. And can their own bodies into metal and throw their smaller, more Canadian friends at their enemies….at least that’s what year’s of reading X-Men has taught me about Russia.

    • I like how google translates “Bozhe moi” as “Crikey!” Viktor is definitely not the type of guy who says “Crikey.”

      And I have it on good authority (namely @disqus_8XKHAw4roh:disqus in this thread) that REAL Russians say Droogan ;P

  • SwedenShower

    I just want to know ,do you use translator or you know Russian?

    • I use to use google translate, but now I have some awesome Russian readers like @disqus_8XKHAw4roh:disqus who I can email ahead of time and ask for a good translation :)

  • Aww man. So many losses alreadt. Rough situation to say the least!

  • Gadoguz

    For my brothers! Right?

  • Henrik Svantesson

    Before I read the next page, I’m gonna go ahead and guesstimate that it’s just as intelligent as Jane, knows it’s bait, doesn’t take it, shoots Tenzin in the back instead.