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Thank you for the support! You guys are awesome!

Now that Arianna has gotten past her "knife hucking reaction phase," she's had time to stew in the staff saferoom and really concentrate on freaking out over how really super close she came to losing all of her skin and muscle and bones to a jerk with fire powers. Dr. Frost may have a new patient.

I'm enamored with the idea that Goon Squad comes from a large family of siblings and they all have weird variations on duplication powers. I already joked that he had a brother named Brute Squad who can make far fewer dupes than Goon, but they're much bigger and stronger. Maybe there's a sister named... I dunno, Fruit Squad? Or Fruit Ninja. They don't all have to be Squads necessarily.

You may notice this page has slightly simpler coloring than usual. I mean, maybe some of you wouldn't right away, I personally can get pretty engrossed when reading and can miss dramatic shifts in art style sometimes. Anyway, I'm out of town for a few days because I'm going to go see Rammstein in concert. The wife got tickets for a 2020 show, but as you might guess, it got pushed back, twice. Normally taking a few days off wouldn't affect the comic because I do have a tiny buffer, but at the last minute, I decided the page that I'd originally intended to go here would be better if I put it off for a few pages, because otherwise it'd look like Maxima's trip home took like 6 hours or something, which it definitely didn't. So I find myself in the odd position of "finishing" a page then almost immediately posting it. I'd like to say I'll come back to this page and finish the coloring work, but I kind of don't hate the way it looks? Hiro's block of a head is a little plain looking, but maybe a quick highlight pass would help. Doing the shading like this took like, and hour? For this page and the next one. And some of that time was trying to keep myself from going in with the blur tool and really smoothing out those hard cell shade lines. Normally it takes all day to do all the foreground coloring. I don't want to make a bunch of sudden changes to how I do the art though, because that's jarring to read. Although, if I started a new storyline and signified that with a chapter splash page then I could justify experimenting with the art a little easier. It's still be jarring, but it would be encapsulated.

Files

Comments

Jonathan Grant

Something about the colours seems wrong.

Tickolas

Hm. You're definitely on to something with the new style here. It's definitely less shiny and whatnot, but I actually think I like it better this way.

Alex Peake

Enjoy the Rammstein concert they are absolutely amazing live if you haven't seen them before!

Fogel

Leaving the fate of Zephan in the dark for a bit more are we?

Thisguy

I have a feeling Maxima will be giving out a few medals for the team for their actions over the last 24 hours.

Kizik Ucalegon

The colour actually.. makes it seem more like a comic book? Like what I'd expect to see from an actual paper version of like The Amazing Spiderman or whatever. It's hard to describe, I'm not great at visual details. I kinda like it though.

James C

So, the family as a whole are known as the "Moot Squad"? And when *they* fall apart, it dissolves into an argument?

Whoriar

I like this simpler style of drawing. It leaves you the option to go all out when needed. I assume it is a balanced act of time conservation and pushing your skills. But I wouldn't object if you used this frequently so not to fall behind

Aaron Mauthe

Brother or sister character idea for goon squad. “Battle Buddy” creates single duplicates of allied forces. The more allies they have, the more duplicates they can create. Duplicates have all skills and knowledge of their originals, though this isn’t shared telepathically, so the effectiveness of each battle buddy duplicate is predicated on the skill level of their respective originals. Undecided on whether or not they can replicate superpowers.

Leo Once3333

My first thought was: Is there a new colorist on the comic?

James Stephens

Honestly, the only criticism I could make with this coloring style is that Maxima looks more yellow than gold with it. It looks great overall, but a new reader might get confused.

codesurfer

I like the abrupt change in art style? the lack of shading gives a sense of grounding, like its most noticeable on Max and it shows how she's in the dark about what happened. You really could have sold it as a stylistic choice for this page. Though all said I do prefer your usual polish and hope you enjoy your concert and don't get con-flu from it.

Otoger

Max is the only one really poking out with that art style, for the others its still fitting

Jeff Oberg

I prefer this art style. More comic book, less not comic book I guess? I came over here to suggest you make this the style for the comic and save adventures in foreground shading stress for Patreon

akrasia

Everything but the cheesecake extra stuff would be just fine with this style. I appreciate the extra work you normally put in, but honestly this is closer to your original style and I still love that.

Adam C.

I like the cleaner style. It doesn't look overworked, and seems comic-bookier? Max's face looks a lot better in this style.

Martin Drkoš

There is off course Cheer Squad. The sibling who's clones have no combat ability but they have stat boosting effects.

Philip Brown

I like the color!! Has a very "classic comic" vibe instead of "new shiney cgi comic" vibe.

Thed Preston

Abbreviation of "communications" is usually spelled "comms", not "coms". "Com" tends to be the abbreviation for "commission" or "command", as in "noncoms" = non-commissioned officer; "SOCOM" = Special Operations Command.

Richard Riley

I'm not at all a fan of the switch to comic-booky art, as I really enjoy the full artsy style, and not enough people push for it IMHO - but I'm also invested in the story at this point and would certainly keep reading and supporting if your time and sanity called for a switch to comic-booky art.

Eric Loken

I noticed the art change by about half way through, and I too didn't hate it.

Stephen Davidson

I did notice the difference in coloration immediately; it's different, but not jarring like you said. I am 100% for anything that makes life easier on the artist while still moving the story along.

Wyrmhand

A flashback to earlier comic looks.

Jacob Barboza

I would say you can tell that it took less time, but it is still good art, and if it makes it easier for you I'm all for it. I'm here because I like your story, not because I expect the greatest art on every page. I would say if you can find a middleground between this and your normal, that would be great, but I don't know where the line is for "looks-of-page>/

Anton Schleef

Maybe what you could do for Goon Squad's family is instead of just two siblings you could do more? Or maybe through in a couple of cousins with duplication powers, as sort of a Family Line trait that gets weird other effects if the second parent also has a power? Also, I liked the Cheer Squad and Fruit Troup suggestions above.

eddi_TBH

To me it has a SatAM cartoon vibe.

AlpineBob

I like this style. And I like this look for Maxima. The only issue is that Maxima isn't shiny (I've never been a fan of her shininess, but it is an established part of her character design). You might get around that a couple ways: - say she's still shiny, but you aren't showing it due to time limitations. Hey, if you can up your schedule, or build a buffer, or take a vacation with the extra time, go for it. - say she's de-buffing (most metal isn't shiny without a lot of buffing, and she's decided not to do that anymore). - add a single crosshatch highlight to her forehead in close-ups to denote she's still shiny, kind of like an anime shorthand sweatdrop. - something else.

AlpineBob

I'm not sure what Gushers are. But... So the sister is Fruit Looper. She can send a single (or up to three, if you want shenanigans along these lines [link to Clock Blockers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBawCe6du3w ]) duplicate(s) back in time to a minute ago. Only one at a time, 15 seconds minimum to recharge. These dissolve into apple goo if disrupted, desire to stop existing, or one minute after creation at the latest. Each apple dupe may creates a single minute ago dupe, which is banana flavored. Which also dissolve after a minute. If a banana dupe creates a minute ago dupe, it dissolves . The dupe created is cherry flavored. Cherries cannot create another dupe. But that's three layers of dupes, each of which can attempt to change the outcome of something within the last minute. Or if they chain, up to three minutes. Most useful in a group with other supers, as early warning. (Apple: "In 55 seconds we are attacked thru the skylight by two supers with Flame powers!" Banana: "10 seconds later two with cold powers burst through that door!") I read a web-comic called Magellan, with one character in the current storyline (http://magellanverse.com/comic/parargdox/)who can go back a minute, but just mentally. So no hordes, but early warning is basically what she does.