Paulie Blade
Paulie
[Author note] If a character was not a participant of the scene, then how can he describe it? Did he hear it from someone else? If that is the case, then the narration stops being a recounting of events in which the narrator took part, and becomes essentially a collection of stories, as if they were told around the campfire to some sort of audience.
Paulie
[Author note] That's how I ended up with the "storyteller" type of narrator, i.e. a first person narrator that is not necessarily a participant of every scene. See, I am badly anal about this stuff where constructs like these are not logical.
Paulie
[Author note] Therefore I wanted to go with a first person narrator, i.e. one of the characters. In this case, the act of relaying the story becomes almost like a diary. But here comes another issue: I don't want a single protagonist that is the center of the entire story. I want to be able to tell other people’s stories just as well. But the first person narrator “wasn’t there!” So what do I do?
Paulie
[Author note] The pickle was, if I choose a third person, all-knowing narrator, then the narrator needs to be cold and objective. Needs to have zero emotion. Can't throw in any quips, because if he does, then who is this guy? Are we supposed to know him? But we don’t know him. And I hated not being able to throw in quips!
Paulie
[Author note] I remember when I was a teenager (roughly twenty years ago) and I was attempting to write a book, I had a certain pet peeve. From the very beginning it was the choice of narration. I was actually quite anal about the disadvantages of both the third person and the first person narrator. I had to come up with something in-between…
Paulie
[Author note] Throughout these episode descriptions I am going to explain some of my creative choices. Since certain mirrors I upload the comic at give rather harsh restrictions on the size of these posts (i.e. 400 characters), I’m going to cut the explanations in question into pieces. So, next time I will start relaying why I chose the “Rifky memoir” kind of narration. See you in a week.
Paulie
[Author note] Another episode, another introduction. I trust it is not too overwhelming. Nadja Ravenstein will be a big part of this story. Further episodes will feature even more new faces. I suppose that is the nature of a comic focused on a world or society rather than a single protagonist. Anyway. To give credit where the credit is due - the “kill yourself” bit is strongly inspired by a similar Louis C.K. line. I hope he wouldn’t mind. Nadja is a fan of strong comebacks and good comedy.
Paulie
[Author note] A new episode or: how I learned I love drawing ducks and chickens.
Paulie
[Author note] And so ends the first chapter. Consider it the prologue. Next time we start the proper story.
Paulie
[Author note] Part two of the first chapter. I'm planning to do weekly updates for the next couple of months, then we'll turn it into monthly, once we're up to speed with what I'm currently drawing. Come back next Friday for the conclusion of chapter 1.
Paulie
[Author note] Hello friends. This is my second ever digital comic and my first ever "vertical scroll" comic. I will be writing episode descriptions here in comments as well (as the proper "episode descriptions" seem rather hidden in the Global Comix ecosystem). Feel free to share your thoughts.
SickSick6
Great story and characters! Got a no BS straightman type and a nihilist poet. The art is a nice dark and gritty style throughout too. Also, I like what you did with the whole page being the first frame, then each individual comic frame following. Might try that out with mine.
Paulie 2 weeks ago
[Author note] That is how the "audio memoirs" of Rifky were born: a collection of stories told to an unspecified person by a guy that happens to know these stories. So yeah, the idea was born twenty years ago, now I'm finally doing it.