Chapter Zero End
on January 19, 2017 at 7:14 pmAnd that’s Chapter Zero!
Thank you for joining us on this journey. It took about twice as long as we’d hoped, but we hope you enjoyed seeing a different side of some of the characters, and the dynamics between them.
Over the next few months, I’ll be gradually revisiting this chapter to make some coloring and even drawing tweaks, and then we’ll be putting it all together as a PDF for people to read all at once (and share with your friends!), possibly removing it from the main stream of the comic online. And where it goes from there – print, maybe? – remains to be seen. We’ll keep you updated! The important thing is that it serves its purpose as an introduction to our world and our rather lengthy main tale.
We may be taking a brief hiatus while we iron out exactly what’s going to happen next, but fear not! We’ll be back soon! And so will Lorelei, Davis, and the bard!
-Courtney
Ahh, this was so great! I loved it! I certainly hope you’ll get to print this one day; I’d absolutely buy one.
Can’t wait to see Lorelei, Davis, and whatever his name was the bard!
I’m happy to hear it!
I’m sure Skärva can’t wait for Cyril to be back too… (His smile and optimism: gone)
I already said all I had on Twitter but 1. I’d definitely at least consider buying a print. 2. It’s crazy how I remember this starting when we were catching up first. Crazy how time flies; I just realized it’s been two years since we started talking again!
Keep rocking.
Time flies indeed! I’m not happy that it took so long to finish this arc, but Victor and I had a lot of other stuff going on in life so I’m not going to be too hard on us either. At any rate, we didn’t give up (even though the limits imposed by this arc were greatly frustrating sometimes) and it feels really good to have completed a story that could stand completely on its own.
Prequel stories aren’t easy to write and be consistent with, especially when the original story is in place. Your readers and fellow artists are happy, so it’s good that you’re not being too hard on yourself!
Now that the prequel is in place, I’m sure the rest of the story will roll in.
…
Now I want to see the tale of when Skarva got a magic wand!
Finally, the Hogwarts AU can be a reality!
Gryffindor
Hufflepuff
Ravenclaw
Slytherin
An excellent chapter, from start to finish.
I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for reading, as always!
Well, I mean his dad’s staff was pretty awesome. It let him hold out against heroes for his entire term in office.
But the merchandise! Whyyyyyyyy
The Third pops in “Son did you need a magic wand? You can use mine-” “GO AWAY”
…This actually makes me consider something I hadn’t before; is the staff that the Third carries around real or just a spectral recreation of the original, which must still exist somewhere? He’s flown through a wall with it before, so I’m gonna go with not-real.
That was really great. I certainly feel like I understand Skarva better after this. When I was reading the comic initially, I would always go back and forth on what kind of person he was. Like, does he really care about Lorelei or does he just stay on her good side because she’s useful to him, for example. Seeing him next to a truly evil person like Bladud and seeing the lines he won’t cross has made me realize that he’s a better person than I thought and a better person than he probably wants to admit. It’ll be interesting to reread the rest of the comic in light of it. My friend is about to start reading too now that Chapter Zero is done and I’ll be curious to get his take seeing this side of Skarva from the beginning.
I’m really glad to hear all this! Especially that your friend is going to start reading – thanks for putting in a word for us, and tell him to feel free to leave comments anywhere if he wants because they’re always appreciated :3
I don’t think I could live with myself making a comic about someone who was a truly cruel person. That said, while he has mercy when it comes down to it, Skärva still has a lot to learn! If it was up to me, he’d be way more of a softie. Victor keeps us on track with making him more of a jerk, especially with some of the dismissive things he says to the people closest to him. Which is right. He’s got a long way to go in learning how to bring and keep his better parts to the surface, and he’s never going to be a saint anyway.
Question: Does Skarva have any feelings towards the princess or does he just kidnap her to piss off Blank?
He kidnaps her as a way to draw Blank to him; but he finds her tolerable, even enjoyable, to be around, which is more than he can say for the vast majority of people. Anything beyond that, we’ll leave up to you.
Veronika x Skärva best OTP 2017
I dunno. Bad things have happened when things were left up to me…
And so begins a new quest, to maybe defy the gods. Or is it a return to the old…new…? quest??? Flashbacks are weird, man.
If you ever did a kick starter for a book i for one would be willing to donate
This was a good ending to this prequel! Good job both of you! I look forward to the rest!
And so Skarva’s epic quest begins…
Again…
-RU =)
i’ll be honest, i’m a bit irritated at skarva. i’m not sure why except how much he is … sort of lying to himself?
i mean, i’m not saying he should pull what his father did, but… he can still be a good guy.
as zangief said in wreck it ralph, “just because i am bad guy, does not make me ‘bad’ guy.”
and i feel like that is skarva. he’s a villain, but… he’s not an asshole. he isn’t like those villains that make you WANT to hate them, he just… he’s been told that his family is cursed by the gods, that his lot in life is to be a villain, and it’s all he has ever known.
“be evil, for the world has placed this burden upon us, thus we must lash out in anger” his father took it as an opportunity to do good in the world, by being a necessary evil, but i feel his way was all about theatrics.
why not be a villain, in a good way? for what is a villain but someone with goals opposite of our own? but right and wrong is dictated by the majority. so the obvious answer is, he needs to align his goals with the will of the people. truly if his goal is to be a villain who wins, he needs to make the people be on his side.
people can ask questions, doubt him, but that is where charisma and planning come through. why kidnap the princess? as one of royal lineage, something something magic seal make the world a greater place for world peace. or something. i’m sure he can get his minions to go out and do a demographic survey of what the various people want to see from the future of their world.
i mean hey, why be a villain when you can make the world follow you as if you were the hero?
i feel like i think about world domination too much. this comic just allows me to apply my poor evil choices outside my own life. XD
First off- I love this comment! Getting a comment this long makes my week
There is a small problem, though- Skärva IS an asshole. Not deep down, and there are people he cares about (though he doesn’t often express it), but he’s a bit of a jerk, to say the least… y’know? He’s selfish, and not nearly as civic-minded as his father. He wants to win because of his own power; he treats his minions well, but he doesn’t want to achieve victory because of them, or a groundswell of support behind him, but purely on his own merits. (You could argue that inspiring people is an even greater sign of one’s own merit than individual achievement, but he doesn’t see it that way.) I guess the best way to put it is he wants to be feared, not loved.
Of course, he’s a complex guy and much of the rest of the story will be about him coming to terms with who he is and what he really wants.
i can see that, but i just feel like his pride isn’t something that is a total bringdown of his character. his pride made him humble as well. because he is proud to be a villain, his doing nice things is downplayed as much as possible. being nice to the princess, setting the people free from the floating castle, keeping his minions alive? he downplays all of it.
i feel like he is a tsundere when it comes to stuff like that.
“it’s not like i like my minions or anything, BAKA MINIONS!” lol
and he does do mean things, sometimes downright petty, but it’s not SADIST, you know? like hell, some people meander a fine line between evil and trying to be hated and decapitated. for example, the evil businessman in sao tortured in a metaphysical realm two people with psychological torture and figurative pain, and threatened one with sexual abuse in front of the other.
that kind of shit made him such a hated villain that people wanted him dead. but skarva? its like he’s sitting on a weight scale with his deeds being weighed on either side. he refuses to acknowledge his good deeds, but everyone else can often see the whole scale. his scale is mostly weighted towards the evil yes, but that is because skarva is basically sitting on that side, swimming like scrooge mcduck in evil pennies. they are minor evil, enough to give him a bad name backed up by enough power to make him dangerous to most standard level folks as far as game skill levels go, but he hasn’t destroyed anything in a heinous act or anything. his minions may have done moderate property destruction however… but i dunno if that would be entirely pinned on skarva even though he did give the order, it just states the whole barrel is bad because one apple told the rest to rot and they decided to listen.
but yes, skarva is very complex, and i am very muchly so enjoying seeing this development.
i just sat down to read through this comic the last few days and i am having a delightful time. i love skarva, he’s such an asshole lol. that conversation with his dad was incredible for illuminating what he wants and why he wants it- like, wow this guy has friends around him and he’s got tunnel vision on defeating this hero, this obstacle that by design he’s never going to overcome. his dad actually has an extremely valid point and it’s more important to play the game than to win it.
i love subtleties like that, that come out through just one conversation. the whole chapter is solid, really does a good job of fleshing out the major characters and how they play off each other. i’m really looking forward to reading more.