Mini Epics 29–30

Today makes five years since my first Airbury Academy comic premiered online (on a site called ComicSpace, which is now defunct). I didn't wait until today to make this post, I just noticed that I haven't uploaded any more Mini Epics for a while now. Anyway, you'll notice that there are only two strips in this post, instead of the usual four. That's because strips 31–34 are sequential and need to be read together. Well, enough talk; read comics.

Yyyyyyyyyyeeaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

10,000 Views

On Monday, November 26th, this blog's view count hit 10,000! Thanks to all those who contributed to that figure. This blog has been going since April 2010, so it's taken a while to get to this point, but the blog is getting more views than I imagined. My very first website, back in 2000, struggled to get to 200 pageviews, but then only 65 people were using the internet at that time.

It's pleasing as a blogger to know that people out there are actually reading this stuff. That's why I won't be updating my deviantArt page any more. You'll notice I posted on this blog more infrequently in 2012 than in the first two years, but it's all about quality than quantity here, I'd like to think.

Sonic 2: 20 Years On

I did a similar post two years ago which was much more detailed, and oddly enough, it is the most viewed entry on this entire blog by a LONG shot. I suggest you go read that first. I'll wait.

Good. Now you know that today is the 20th anniversary of the release of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Megadrive. (Or "Genesis", if you will.) As this landmark game reaches the double-decade, let's dust off our ROM emulator and take another retrospective look.




Sonic 2 introduced several elements to the series. A new character, Tails the fox, or Miles, as his creator Yasushi Yamaguchi wanted him to be called. A new move, the Spin Dash, for taking off at speed from a stationary position. The ability to become the gold, invincible and permanently sped-up Super Sonic after collecting all the Chaos Emeralds (collecting them all in Sonic 1 did nothing apart from a slightly different animation in the ending sequence). And finally, a split n' squished-screen two-player mode, with three playable levels plus the Special Stage.

The excellent British gaming magazine Mean Machines Sega rated Sonic 2 at 96%, their third-highest rating for a Megadrive game, right behind Ecco The Dolphin (97%) and Street Fighter II (98%). According to Sonic Retro, Sonic 2 has been re-released 25 times so far, on such platforms as Saturn, Gamecube, PS2/3, Xbox/360, Wii, iPhone and more. Yes, the Nintendo Gamecube. If you'd told me in 1992 that Sega's flagship character would one day appear on Nintendo, I'd have told you to cut back on the LSD. But enough about that –

"Watch me, Sonic!" Tails didn't come into his own until 1994's Sonic 3, with his ability to swim, tail attack and airlift Sonic, but the little fella is still useful to have during normal play. When controlled by the CPU he can still get the occasional hit on the bosses...

...but during the Special Stage, get someone to control him as the ring tally requirements are ridiculously tight. (These pseudo-3D stages are crazy, by the way. I'm still no better at them than I was when I was 14.)

I received this game for Christmas in 1992 along with several million others (you know who you are), and the cartridge (left) was used at length. Especially as the game was very long, with 11 levels. So, how does the game measure up in 2012?

Well, it's still challenging. Thanks to the magic of emulation software, I've been able to keep playing it long after my actual console went kaput, so my Sonic skills haven't gone to ruin. In fact, a couple of years ago I was still able to whip some cocky kid at it in the ACMI's Games Lab, thanks to extended sections of this game – the terrain and enemy placement – being permanently ingrained in my memory. I'm sure the same is true for most gamers (with whatever game).




Even now I find some levels quite tough. The Casino Night Zone boss is still frustrating beyond belief, and two decades have not made that seahorse enemy in Oil Ocean Zone any less of a pain in the ass. Ditto the crab that punches you. I hate that thing. And it's even harder controlling it with a battered Mac keyboard instead of a joypad.

I always found Sonic 2 the most difficult of the original Megadrive 'trilogy'. I couldn't even get Super Sonic without a cheat. After 20 years I still struggle to get past some parts. In a way, I guess that qualifies the game's continued success.

All artwork in the screenshots © SEGA/Sonic team, but the cart photo is mine!

Mini Epics 25–28

I'm back! In a metaphorical sense. I've been here the whole time, actually. Anyway, has it really been two months since the last four Mini Epics? Well, wait no more. #26 and #27 are my personal favourites.

Palace Club, Delta Episode: "The Merger"

Paid work has to take preference over personal projects like making comics, as all freelancers know, but during a brief week of downtime with work, I was somehow able to churn out 17 pages of the fourth and final Palace Club episode, "The Merger", and finally complete it! I started writing it back in May 2008, so this comic has been sitting in my 'To Do' files for a very long time.

This is my first comic ever to be entirely pencilled and inked digitally. I no longer have to draw the lineart on A4 paper, scan it, and then colourize/shade it in Photoshop. Now the entire artwork is produced in Photoshop and then the dialogue added using Comic Life. For someone who used to spend hours getting just one page done, this has really sped up production! I could have never produced 17 pages in five days using my old methods.

Anyway, enough about the vagaries of life on the comic circuit. Here are a couple of sample panels from "The Merger". Drawing it with a graphics tablet really makes an improvement to the artwork; you get much cleaner lines. Scanning lineart and then adjusting the contrast creates 'noise' around the lines – speckly coloured pixels that then affect colourization.

You'll notice I said this was the fourth and final episode of the series. I'm not retiring it for good though! It will make a comeback some day I'm sure, because I really like the series and characters (and, let's face it, making fun of the media and the internet). So I guess it's the final episode just for now. There are plenty more projects in my comics pile that are crying out for more attention! Next comic will probably be Rebirth, the opening story of Airbury Academy Volume IV, which will be in black and white from now on and will also be released in instalments for those of you who want to follow it.

The whole Palace Club series has been compiled into a 176-page omnibus edition, containing all four episodes, and it's called Alpha Beta Gamma Delta. It's got a new colour cover page as you can see on the right here. There is more info on the Palace Club page. At the moment it's in PDF format, perfect for reading on a computer screen, which is what we all do all day anyway, isn't it?