SOLDIERS Zero, Part 3 is Released!
As two friends have a conversation in medical, we start to learn the true nature of the SOLDIERS.
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6 Responses to “SOLDIERS Zero, Part 3 is Released!”Speak Your Mind
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Rob, Looks great. I will post it on FB, my martial arts community will enjoy it!!
Intriguing premise but I think some of your writing basics are lacking. There are several typos in episode 3, grammar is limited and the amount of words you’re cramming into a single balloon is ott. I’m enjoying it and obviously it’s free so really shouldn’t grumble, but I think if you sharpen it up it could be very good. Congratulations any way
Thanks, Kim!
Owen,
Thanks for reading SOLDIERS and for posting a comment.
The amount of words per balloon is something we’re working on. Ideally, I’d love to spread everything out and have Martin draw tons and tons of panels to make every scene a lot more cinematic. Unfortunately, there are a number of restraints and compromises have to be made. We wanted to pack in a lot of story into this first episode, so some scenes are pretty dense. I can say that the next episode is a lot more art and a lot less talking. For Zero, I think we kept it about 50/50 in density — half heavy dialogue, half light dialogue.
As for typos — well, even the best editors get overwhelmed. One typo made it to the final cut — and it was in this episode. The little bugger just sneaked by us, I guess. I write like people talk — and not everyone speaks perfectly. Run on sentences, hesitations, poor word choices — it’s all a part of life. Also, there are a lot of acronyms in the services — many of which don’t make a lot of sense. We wrestled with the idea of writing them all out or having little explanations everywhere — but decided against it. Why? Because even after 15 years in the service, I’ve been in a few conversations where I didn’t know what the other person was talking about because of the acronyms they used. I thought that I would preserve that feeling in the book. A bit of a controversial decision, but, hey, that’s life — we’ll see how it goes.
I’m glad you’re reading SOLDIERS and I’m glad you’re liking it. The team and I plan on bringing you a lot more stories, so keep tuning in.
Rob
Thank you for taking the time to respond Rob. If I may on the acronyms issue – you ever think about putting up a list on this website as ‘background’ so people can cross-reference as they read. Maybe even make it interactive so those ones you don’t know possibly your readers can add to through a comments section? What about documents on the experiments done on the soldiers? A whos who? Information about Kabul and Afghanistan in general? I like the comic and the advice section is pretty unique
but I think you’re missing a trick in not adding material around the comic to get that click-through experience of readers spending time on your site becoming immersed in the story.
Consider me tuned in, all the best to you and the team.
Owen,
I did think of putting up an acronyms page, as well as pages for each character. Just haven’t gotten to it, I suppose — but after your reminder I did so tonight! You can look it up under the “About” tab. Thanks for keeping me honest and on top of it!
The Character bios I’ll start putting in — but so much of SOLDIERS takes place after Zero, I almost felt like if I even put a little up it would give it away. The interesting part about this is that Zero, and the next issue “Media is Message” are really preludes to the larger series. They are important parts, but a majority of the series takes place a year or so after the events in this issue. I’ll be putting up character bios shortly, but they will be added to over time. I don’t want to give up too many details this early, it will seriously spoil later issues.
Background info on Iraq and Afghanistan is something I didn’t think about, but that’s actually a pretty good idea. It actually gives me some other ideas… Give me a little time, I think I can come up with something pretty good for that.
Glad to have you tuned in, we appreciate your readership. Please, recommend us to your friends…;)
Rob
Count on it and I like the idea of this being a kinda issue 00, I’ve always thought them effective.
Best
Owen