... Fuck it. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, so I'll post a few chapters and see if there's any interest.
A perfectly logical conclusion, Annie.
If only you knew someone who did have knowledge about robots.
Indeed.
>>153588786We hate gunnershit fail here. You probably won't even get enough interest to get to the part people love
Huh. Eh, I'm sure that weird bird isn't important.
>>153588786I kind of miss the original aesthetic for the comic, it's so incredibly 2000s gothic. Can't wait for people to talk about how bad they want Annie to fuck herself when you get to that part.
Well that was neat.
Tea! It Tea. ... The houses thing mattered not one bit, huh?
>>153589040There's a certain charm to it.
The early art is jank as fuck though, goddamn.
Oh who's this cute gremlin?
Aw, friends! I'm sure both of them will be very normal about it.
>>153589004I kinda just wanted to revisit the comic and remind everyone why we liked it in the first place.
Every now and again, I like to think about what this dropped plot with the painting was going to be about.
>>153588876Yes I see...
>>153589075I kind of get the vibe Tom was trying to appeal to the Harry Potter crowd at first before ditching a lot of that. I don't think anyone even remembers that there were houses now.
A nice bonding moment, and honestly well done for such early days in an amateur comic.
>>153589004>we hate the comic so much we have threads for every new pageActually that's typical tsundere anon behavior.
Real talk, Annie and Kat's friendship has always been the best part of the comic. That still hasn't changed.
>>153589040>Can't wait for people to talk about how bad they want Annie to fuck herself when you get to that part.I'm sorry I've never actually read this comic before and figured this thread would be a good way to get started. What?
>>153589057Pretty interesting so far.
>that handHeh.>>153589242Yeah, and honestly best that element was dropped pretty early. Lets the work stand on its own without being too derivative.
>>153588786NeatBest of luck to ya anon. I know this is a long one.
>>153589275Don't worry about it. What anon is referring to is a loooooong way off.
>No sir, I didn't like it. Kind of a shame Basil never became a regular character. I like this guy.
>>1535890571 chapter down101 to go
>last panelThese early chapters feel like the school stuff was supposed to be way more prominent initially.
>>153589275You will see. Oh yes, you WILL see.
>>153589349Yeah.
>>153589075It would be interesting to get like a author commentary for series that have been going as long as this.Have comments about what some ideas that they had at one point but dropped/pivotted after rethinking things 5 years later.
Annie knows kung-fu. Whoa.
Oh hey, it's this guy. >>153589403As a matter of fact, Tom does have author commentary videos on his Youtube channel.
>>153589367Again probably Harry Potter influence, but yeah the school stuff becomes more and more background noise. By the time of the Jeanne arc it's basically just window dressing, never mind Loup.
>>153588924>>153588942I like this fellow's gumption
God, Kat's huge crush on Eglamore is hilarious in hindsight.
>>153589464That middle panel was 100% taken from that one smug grin Samurai Jack does. I'm not gonna post it because it's rude to do that during a story time, but you know the one.
I love bobblehead Janet here. Oh, the jank early artwork. I'm kinda bummed that the Dark Horse edition redoes the art, cause I like watching the progression.
>>153589178>>153589202>>153589220I like that even when the faces and anatomy were... well, this, he still had a good grasp on scene composition. There's such a nice sense of scale here
>>153589516I know exactly which one you mean, yes.
Now who is THIS guy? >>153589555Agreed. Composition has always been one of his strengths.
>>153589202was a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peanut_Butter_Solution>(French title: Opération beurre de pinottes) is a 1985 Canadian children's fantasy film directed by Michael Rubbo. The second installment in the Tales for All (Contes Pour Tous) series of films by Les Productions La Fête, the film stars Mathew Mackay, Siluck Saysanasy, Alison Darcy, and Michael Hogan....>Michael successfully makes the formula but ignores their instructions and wakes up the next morning to find that his new hair has begun to grow super fast....>When Michael reveals his concoction, Connie decides to apply some to his pubic area in an attempt to create the illusion that he is going through puberty.
Some good foreshadowing here.
>>153589631Huh. Neat!
>>153589294>>153589367Hey, hands are tricky to draw.And yeah, it's just as well all that not-Hogwarts stuff got quietly shunted away
>>153589655>>153589668>>153589705Wow, she hurt her head so badly she stopped looking like a character from a 00s Canadian cartoon!
>Yeah, I'm gonna go take a look at that monster thing, because I wanna. Annie is a strikingly consistent character.
>>153589722Football Annie a cute. CUTE!
The narration is another thing that was eventually phased out. I think, like, Microsat 5 was the last time it showed up?
I just want to remind everyone that Tom has stated that Rey does have a French accent. So enjoy that.
>I need... your body!Context!
>>153589763Again, that's probably just as well... it's getting a bit pretentious desu
>>153589558These pages reminded me of old German Expressionist art, like The Bridge (Die Brücke) or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, with distorted perspectives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionism#In_Germany_and_Austria
>>15358904000s goth is such an aesthetic you can tell how the author dressed just by looking at their drawings.
>Farewell, old friend. ...
Ominous!
They're not dragons. Totally not dragons.
I don't know why this series attracts the most insufferable elitist posters here.
Spooky time!
>>153589978Dedicated fandom can easily turn toxic.
It's dat boi!
>criticizing a ghost's poor attempt to scare youThis is a very 'sensible chuckle' kind of joke.
>>153589444>As a matter of fact, Tom does have author commentary videos on his Youtube channel.But he stopped 4 years ago so he wouldn't have to discuss The Mind Cage.
It Paz! She's so cute! >>153590073Yeah. That tracks.
What a fucked up day this is. Girl's just minding her own business, when suddenly the hallway turns into a demented circus and a clown asks if he can have her yes. Poor Paz.
>>153590010Sad, but true
>>153590176Do you think Tom decided to make her gay at this time or did he invent that later?
>>153589978Long-running series with threads that have gone on for years tend to have posters like that. Just a rule of the internet.
>this was Annie's ideaY'know, in hindsight, I wonder if a certain subplot was actually motivated by Paz finding out about that.
Janet don't give a fuck. >>153590187Possibly. We know that Tom planned a lot of the plot out ahead of time... and infamously refused to change course in at least one case, so it's not unlikely that this was always the plan of the character.
>>153589538>I'm kinda bummed that the Dark Horse edition redoes the art, cause I like watching the progression.Same here. And I actually love the early art as well, it's charming and goes well with what the story was at that point.I pretty much always feel that way for every piece of media though. I remember when David Willis re-ran all his Walkyverse! stuff but uploaded a lot of reworked comics (that even changed/added stuff). Why wouldn't you want the originals when not just his art/story evolution is so interesting, but he himself talks about how it reflected his wacko upbringing and personal shit and a radical change in himself? Sorry for a bit off-topic during the storytime.
>holding handsLewd!
>>153590196Somewhat hot take: I'm sick of "scary clowns", and I don't hold with the idea that clowns are inherently scary. We shouldn't be treating a subsection of children's entertainers like they're ten-foot tarantulas.
So here's the very first instance of Kat being an ultra brain genius. >>153590227>Sorry for a bit off-topic during the storytime.Not at all. For me, the entire point of a storytime is to have discussion. And yeah, I don't really understand why an artist would be embarrassed by their very early stuff. People love that shit.
>invents anti-gravity device>upset that nobody cares about the crystals>>153590250Honestly. Ed Gein ruined clowns forever, man.
Ah yes, everyone's favorite weirdo lesbians!
Tom's anime inspirations are really obvious in hindsight, since the early chapters were very explicitly setting up Zimmy and Gamma as the rivals and counterparts to our main heroines.
>>153590272Back when Gunnerkrigg was really blowing up the early art was often used as a point of detraction, maybe it got under Tom's skin. I think it's pretty clearly intended to be a style though, his backgrounds were strong even at the beginning, it's just the people that look wonky but I find it charming. Back in the late 00s there was like an arms race for art quality in webcomics though so it was the first thing a lot of people attacked.
I always forget that Annie's a polyglot, it hasn't really been brought up in a long time.
>last panelInsert AM speech here, damn. >>153590352The art IS jank, but yes, it's stylized enough that it doesn't look bad. And that criticism has definitely faded over time. I've seen some folks say they outright prefer the old art. >backgroundsGod, I feel like we don't give enough credit to the backgrounds. Especially since mainstream comics have been practically allergic to them for like a decade now.
I always liked this page. Again, very 'sensible chuckle' kind of humor. >>153590410We joke so much about Annie being a doofus that we forget she actually does have skills.
This really is a Saturday morning cartoon kind of plot.
Also, you just HAVE a bunch of motion detectors, Kat? Okay.
Looking a little gangly in that first panel, Rey.
>your gypsy friendSpeaking of things that got dropped. That's a little racist, Rey.
>post 113
I'm gonna end it today on what remains my favorite chapter of the entire comic.
>>153590644Oh... yeah, I remember this one, too.
>>153590759Yeah... this is the part I remember.
>>153590759>>153590771God, it was honestly so heart-breaking reading this for the first time. Annie had spent the whole webcomic being this amusingly unflappable young lady and here she just... breaks down.Fuck, this is such good writing.
>that panel
And that's where I'm gonna leave off for now. If you want to keep doing this, let me know, and we can start up again tomorrow at around 7:00 EST.
>>153590759;~;
>>153588792>I have a giant fucking clam for a head!
Sorry, that's 7:00 PM EST. >>153590797Right? The character development is so rock solid, even at this very early point in the story. This is why A Handful of Dirt is my favorite chapter, because this is where I was properly sold on this comic.
>>153588846>I had gone 4 pages without anything even remotely yuri happening and as you can see I was emotionally distraught
>>153590827I enjoyed this anon, it's nice reminiscing on the older comic.
>>153589214No, I... understand.
>>153588969Annie would later be severely punished for stealing Kat's reason for existing.
>>153589178>why we liked it in the first placetalking lesbian soap bars
>>153589367>YOU CAN TELL I'M THE MAIN CHARACTER BECAUSE I HAVE IRISES
>>153590227InCase did this with Alfie which was irritating because the art was fine, the writing was shit
>>153591349I remember that was something people used to sort of make fun of. Annie's absurdly detailed eyes.
>>153589004The phrase "still better than gunnershit fail" lives forever in the back of my mind. Why did hate for this get pushed so much?
>>153591425Y'know, that's a good question. Even with some of the stuff that happens later, the hate campaign started way earlier. Maybe we can figure it out through these threads.
>>153591425It was one guy that spammed it and it actually briefly caught on as a site-wide meme and very briefly even started to leak out into the broader internet. I remember seeing "still better than Gunnershit Fail" on a bad youtube video in like 2009. The guy himself ended up admitting he was taking the piss by buying two artbooks of the series, one that he wrote the phrase in and the other that he kept pristine. So it wasn't really hatred so much as one guy dicking around and it turning into an actual meme for a while.
>>153590350>Stupid…>Yer a right cunt, Gamma
>>153590585Questionable Gunnerkrigg
>>153590735OH CHRIST ANNIE'S SHOWING EMOTIONS
>>153590797>and here she just... breaks downfor no fucking reason
>>153591462>shitposting so hard people start taking it seriouslyThis happens far too often. >>153591557Y'know, it's easy to forget that she was so icy before spending that summer in the forest. We're so used to her being a goofball.
>>153589965This kind of stuff reminds me of Hellboy and the BPRD.
>>153591587No need to be charitable, Tom wasn't a very good writer by this point. Obv he improved later on.
>>153591570It's the cherries, bruh. That's that good kush that lets you open up emotionally.
>>153591425Part of it was this one guy >>153591462 shitposting. But there was also a relatively common feeling of frustration amongst readers because of Tom's writing habits later on.
>>153591706What's strange is that those complaints started well before Ch 51. At least at that point, I get it.
>>153591706>But there was also a relatively common feeling of frustration amongst readers because of Tom's writing habits later on.it's the musical refrain we also hear in QuestionableContent and Dumbing of Age threads, just worded differently: "if nothing's going to happen why won't the creator fucking end it already"
>>153590298>biology interest this earlyneat
>>153589040Reminds me of the show Growing up Creepy.
>>153588792ENTER
>>153588792I wish Tom would just draw all the first-years like that and they only progress in the same way
>>153591706>But there was also a relatively common feeling of frustration amongst readers because of Tom's writing habits later on.That didn't happen until yeaaaars after Gunnershit Fail was actually a meme and people just started to repost it out of frustration. Gunnershit Fail actually fell out of fashion around the time the comic's story started to really pick up and the football head Annie design was completely gone.
>>153591570Grief hits in weird ways, you idiot
>>153591623ok kiddo
>>153591623Annie being cold and distant was a major part of her character that she was shown struggling with for like the entire first half of the comic, stemming from the trauma of watching her mom slowly die while knowing it was basically because of her.. That's not a symptom of bad writing at all, it's basic characterization. Saying that Annie used to be icy and later warmed up isn't a "charitable" reading, it's literally what happens.
>>153591623pseud
