Beauty and the beast

Hey everyone, did you have a nice Christmas? I hope you did! Mine was tasty, thank you, thank you~

New Years ahead so time to make some nice wishes and resolutions, I didn’t like 2015 too much, may 2016 be a tad better.

And yes, we are back to where Ada and Rob are, this is where we will start to learn more about demons and what has happened so far. As you can see they’ve got some secret admirers / worshipers.  Next week we will finally see the mentioned commander, the man in charge! Exciting times~

Not sure when will the sketches return, probably somewhere in the middle on January. I hope those few people who follower me on Twitter or Facebook are not terribly disappointed. Talk to you next year guys!

 

48 comments on “Beauty and the beast”

  2. greatbasincoyote Reply

    Excellent work on the camo pattern. Did you design the pattern yourself? For now, the Doctor is my favorite character since the page he used a shotgun to blow the head of a demon, and answered, not in exact quotes, “a safe bet to shoot them in the head”. Don’t those lazy ‘guards’ have better things to do, such as patrolling the perimeter?

    • JW Reply

      Well, they wouldn’t be much use patrolling. At best Ada and Robert would get an early warning from the screaming of the guards getting eaten by demons. And let’s be fair, with that prospect, wouldn’t you rather just not go out patrolling?

    • NotImportant Reply

      Thanks! About the camo pattern – I needed something I could draw quickly, we’ve got many soldiers after all. But yeah, it’s a random design, my personal invention.
      And as Filip said a moment ago – those are mostly civilians with guns, military is trying to create an illusion of peace and order to prevent panic. Most of our military guys here have little sense of duty.

  4. Refugnic Reply

    Good morning, NI. You forgot to update your Twitter again. 😛

    Now as for the page…her boyfriend would kick their sorry butts? Really? I think they’d do well to do some research on their ‘queen’…interesting phrasing, btw. I wonder if these soldiers are into SM or something, if they want to be ‘ruled’. 😛

    Also, nice job of the good doctor to break up that drooling bunch. I’ll have to agree, so far he’s the most interesting and fun character with quite a margin. 🙂

    Besides, her being a killing machine, why would she stop killing to ‘kiss someone goodbye’? At least the soldiers are smart enough to tell that most of what they’ve heard is complete bullshit.

    How a killing orgy makes them fall for Ada is interesting though…really makes you wonder about their taste in women. 😀

    • NotImportant Reply

      Not everyone wants a princess, there are plenty of crying and scared girls in the camp, she is refreshing being fearless and covered in demon blood haha~
      Yeah, I was too sleepy to add a notice everywhere yesterday. Holiday laziness!

      • Refugnic Reply

        I want neither a princess, whom I’d have to pamper, nor do I want a queen, who rules over everything I do. I want a partner in life, not a stereotype.
        And partnership means an equal standing, not ‘one rules, one obeys’.

        Though yeah, I guess if all they wanted was ‘some’, there are more than enough girls in the camp right now happy to sell themselves for whatever fake sense of security they might promise them.

        Sounds harsh, but that’s a reality of war.

        Haha, don’t sweat it, I just meant to alert you, because I figured you forgot. 🙂

        • JW Reply

          I think they’d do well to do some research on their ‘queen’…interesting phrasing, btw. I wonder if these soldiers are into SM or something, if they want to be ‘ruled’.

          Honestly, I really have to wonder where you get your notion of ‘queen’ from. Same place you get your idea of meatballs 😛 ?
          As someone from a country that actually has a queen (and princesses), I can vouch for it that she neither rules nor tramples or whips her (husband’s) subjects.

          I’m pretty sure “she’s my queen” means very little beyond “she’s my hero” on this page.
          She just saved their bacon, and she’s awesome and pretty. All hail queen Ada, may she lead us to victory in fight against demons! Hurrah! I’m behind her 100%, way, way behind, where there’s no demons left alive.

          How a killing orgy makes them fall for Ada is interesting though…really makes you wonder about their taste in women.

          She makes the bad things go away. What is there not to love about that?

          Not everyone wants a princess

          If anime and Disney, and Xena, have taught me anything, it’s that princesses can kick serious ass; they’re not (all) whiny pampered crybabies. (I mean, you may need a few to make the heroine princesses look good in comparison, but who remembers them?)

          I want neither a princess, whom I’d have to pamper, nor do I want a queen, who rules over everything I do. I want a partner in life, not a stereotype.
          And partnership means an equal standing, not ‘one rules, one obeys’.

          I don’t see why one would have to exclude the other. Everyone fulfills multiple roles in live – student, son/daughter, father/mother, employee, husband/wife – and none of them all of the time. Princess and queen are just roles (whether actual or stereotypical). Sure, equal partnership. But that doesn’t mean that some of the time one person can’t get pampered, and other times the other (and most the time neither, because there’s work to be done).
          I want a partner that’s everything to me. In as far as that’s practical and attainable.

          • Refugnic

            No, of course she doesn’t trample or whip on her subjects. She has servants for that!

            Okay, jokes to the side for a moment, it’s not so much the physical abuse I was aiming at, it’s the aspect of ‘getting ruled/dominated by another’. And, at least in the medieval sense of royalty, that’s exactly what a king/queen did. Rule over the people, tell them how they had to live their lives etc.

            There were a few very good ones, whose rule made their respective countries prosper and people were really happy that they had their royalty watching over them. A prime example of that would be Queen Victoria of England, who lead her country into a golden age.

            A very good counter-example are the late French Kings, who used their position of power to bleed out the land, just to sustain their decadent lifestyle (I think we all know how that ended).

            However, to get back to the point, the only difference between a Royal and a Dictator is the ‘legitimation’. Whereas a royal receives his right to rule ‘by God’s graces’, a dictator uses brute force to enforce his position and his will. That is NOT to say that all Royals are tyrants mind you. There’s another rather large difference, now that I think of it and that is, that a royal is, usually at least, brought up to inherit the throne one day from the day they are born. As such, they are (or should be) taught to treat their people well and protect them, instead of ruling them with fear, like for example the son of a dictator would be taught.

            *Ahem*, to get back on how I got from ‘Queen’ to ‘Domina’, just in case it wasn’t apparent from my small essay on royalty: Both living under a queen (again, in the medieval sense of the word, today’s royalty has parliaments they have to listen to and, as such, don’t have the absolute power they used to have) as well as subjecting themselves to a Domina means giving up your ‘freedom of choice’. The queen/domina makes the decisions for you. And whereas the Domina stops at the end of the session, the queen’s rule lasts until one of the two expires.

            I hope this clears up how I came from ‘She’s my queen now’ to SM. I believe I have now killed the joke quite sufficiently. 😀

            Loved the ‘way behind her’ though. I wouldn’t want to be in the fallout zone of the demon splatter either. 😀
            But one still needs to be careful to not be behind her too far. After all, there may be demons coming from the side at any given moment. 🙂

            Makes the bad things go away…well, so do Morphine and other drugs. But that still doesn’t mean that they are good for you.
            Besides, right now Ada and Robert are heroes…but I dread the day when things are peaceful again. What will they be then?
            Would they still be adored? Or much rather feared? I wonder, could they ever hope to live a normal life ever again?

            The stereotype of the princess is that of a pampered crybaby, who can’t do anything by themselves and always needs their knight in shining armor to save them from one peril or another. I will agree, that not all who carry the title of ‘princess’ are like that, just like not all who carry the title of ‘programmer’ are caffeine junkies with weight problems, who are still living with their mom. Stereotypes are just that. Biased prejudices about a particular group of people, often founded on completely antiquated concepts.

            And now you’ve got Meredith Brooks ‘Bitch’ playing in my head. I’m glad you didn’t even try to disprove me, but much rather just elaborated further on my point.
            A partner isn’t ‘just’ one thing (in this case: Ruler, whose every word I’ll follow), but a partnership is a living thing that changes constantly, just like the people and the world are changing constantly. That makes a partnership hard work, work at which we may well fail, but at the same time must never give up on.
            Because giving up and simply succumbing to ‘I’ll do whatever the other says, because it’s easier that way’ only guarantees one thing…and that is unhappiness.

          • JW

            And, at least in the medieval sense of royalty, that’s exactly what a king/queen did. Rule over the people, tell them how they had to live their lives etc.

            I don’t think many of them could really be bothered to tell their people how to live. For starters, people had the Church for that. And as long as the peasants paid their taxes, I doubt the nobility/royalty gave them a second thought.
            Come to think of it, it’s probably the nobility that bore the brunt of royal whims and tyranny.

            Whereas a royal receives his right to rule ‘by God’s graces’, a dictator uses brute force to enforce his position and his will.

            Fun fact, originally, dictators where chosen, and only in office for a limited time.
            But giving someone absolute power for a “limited” period has it’s problems.

            There’s another rather large difference, now that I think of it and that is, that a royal is, usually at least, brought up to inherit the throne one day from the day they are born.

            Yeah. Practically, I think this is one of the advantages of a constitutional monarchy. Republicans in our country complain it’s unfair and ridiculous that someone should inherit the position of head of state. And they’re right, ideologically speaking. BUT, the alternative isn’t better; the alternative is the likes of Donald Trump.
            And we can always abolish the monarchy if there are no good heirs.

            Makes the bad things go away…well, so do Morphine and other drugs. But that still doesn’t mean that they are good for you.

            Nah, narcotics just make you think that bad things have gone away. (While I’ll concede that there is a philosophical position that might argue there’s no difference, as a realist I hold a different position.)
            Of course we know too little about these demons and Robert and Ada to say authoritatively that Ada and Roberts might not be attracting the demons. Who knows what the magic tooth-paste circle did.

            Besides, right now Ada and Robert are heroes…but I dread the day when things are peaceful again. What will they be then?
            Would they still be adored? Or much rather feared? I wonder, could they ever hope to live a normal life ever again?

            Magic sword beats demon, demon beats gun, gun beats magic sword.
            At least, I have seen no evidence that Robert’s sword protects him against bullets; pizza-guy managed to hit him just fine. So I don’t see any reason to fear these sword-toting heroes.

          • Dæmon

            “*Ahem*, to get back on how I got from ‘Queen’ to ‘Domina’, just in case it wasn’t apparent from my small essay on royalty: Both living under a queen (again, in the medieval sense of the word, today’s royalty has parliaments they have to listen to and, as such, don’t have the absolute power they used to have) as well as subjecting themselves to a Domina means giving up your ‘freedom of choice’. The queen/domina makes the decisions for you. And whereas the Domina stops at the end of the session, the queen’s rule lasts until one of the two expires.”
            Isn’t that a hive mind, or is this in a different sense?

            “Makes the bad things go away…well, so do Morphine and other drugs. But that still doesn’t mean that they are good for you.
            Besides, right now Ada and Robert are heroes…but I dread the day when things are peaceful again. What will they be then?
            Would they still be adored? Or much rather feared? I wonder, could they ever hope to live a normal life ever again?”
            Yeah, can’t argue with the drug point. However, to quote Fallout 4, “War… War never changes.” In the context of this story, this could refer to the daily struggle to servive (which I would imagine we are still losing, and possibly are today in the real world, at least as far as science reports my mom mentioned go. They said we are on the verge of a mass extinction, and this could be shown by the world being covered in red sand, and perhaps it was symbolically blood soaked, much as I saw it. Anyway), or it could be the “war” with the demons, which we would be currently losing, and would appear to lose more and more ground every day, as the first few pages can attest to.

            “And now you’ve got Meredith Brooks ‘Bitch’ playing in my head.”
            Is that a good song? I like to try new music, particularly heavy music, rap, rock, metal (sometimes), and the occasional viral music video now and again. Techno is good too.

            “I don’t think many of them could really be bothered to tell their people how to live. For starters, people had the Church for that. And as long as the peasants paid their taxes, I doubt the nobility/royalty gave them a second thought.
            Come to think of it, it’s probably the nobility that bore the brunt of royal whims and tyranny.”
            Yes, but from my understanding, didn’t the nobility then force this upon the serfs and peasant classes? And, fun fact: in Edo Era Japan, the nobles were smart enough to see the serf class equivalent as a huge part of the country, and the merchant class somehow, was lower then the serfs socially, even though they were richer, or at least that’s my understanding.

            [Ctrl+Alt+Del] I’m out! Got nothin’ left right now, so I w-
            (Crap, I’m logged out now…)

          • Lukkai

            Well, it’s not exactly a new song. It’s from 97 to be exact.
            And it’s not a bad song. Not that much to my liking, but that’s because it played sooo often on radio and music tv that I got totally oversated of it.

            As for
            “Yes, but from my understanding, didn’t the nobility then force this upon the serfs and peasant classes? “
            Taxes yes. The rest, usually not so much. Depends on the time and country, of course. But the lower classes quite often were amazingly well protected by the law. In theory at least. Never mind that “bearing the brunt of royal whims and tyranny” would often include the removal of the noble families in question from power, lessening of that power, or outright removal of head from body.
            That doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen a lot over the centuries though. The middle ages especially are not even close to being all black and white. And many things you take for granted about them and are certain they were “that way practically all the way through” weren’t really.

  5. Zenanii Reply

    Hm, if this follows typical stereotype every girl in the camp should be throwing themselves at Rob off-panel at the moment. I would be curious to see how he handles a hoard of admirers (as for Ada, I’m pretty sure she’ll just be giving the cold shoulder).

    • Refugnic Reply

      Cold shoulder as warning, kick in the butt if they insist.

      As for Rob’s fanclub…well, if we follow the stereotype, Ada will skip the ‘warning phase’ with those and dish out butt kickings from the get go each time she sees some girl flirting with Robert.

      But then again, these soldiers portray the situation pretty well. Ada and Robert are currently perceived as an Item, so even if they fawned over Robert, they would, most likely, not have the nerve to walk up to him to tell him. Not, as long as a certain ‘crazy redheaded chick with a big sword is running around’.

      Wouldn’t you agree? 😉

      That said, ‘off-panel’…don’t you think that Robert is right next to Ada in the last panel? I believe Stefen suggested something like that.

      On that note, I do wonder if the commander of that camp will try to get his hands on the blades Robert and Ada used. I mean, they are clearly capable of dealing lethal damage to the demons and as such could well be the key to turning the tide in this war.
      As such, they’d need to be analyzed or at least be in the hands of someone who is easier to control than our two wildcards.

  7. Lukkai Reply

    My christmas was alright. And tasty it was!

    As for the comic: I do have to wonder here: Did Ada at least put some pants on in the meantime?

    • NotImportant Reply

      Hey she had pants all the time! Short ones, but still pants! Only Nina was running around in her underwear.

  8. Dæmon Reply

    Why does the the one guy with the red squiggly line (what’s that called again? I’ve forgotten that simple detail’s name, and not for the first time) remind me of Allen Walker from D Gray Man? It’s the hair, isn’t it?

    • Dæmon Reply

      That, and perhaps the priceless expression on his face. Makes me laugh every damn time.

        • NotImportant Reply

          While calling her a beast doesn’t seem too far fetched, calling Robert a beauty is a bit…. ugh, nope.

          • Dæmon

            “*Ahem*, to get back on how I got from ‘Queen’ to ‘Domina’, just in case it wasn’t apparent from my small essay on royalty: Both living under a queen (again, in the medieval sense of the word, today’s royalty has parliaments they have to listen to and, as such, don’t have the absolute power they used to have) as well as subjecting themselves to a Domina means giving up your ‘freedom of choice’. The queen/domina makes the decisions for you. And whereas the Domina stops at the end of the session, the queen’s rule lasts until one of the two expires.”
            Isn’t that a hive mind, or is this in a different sense?

            “Makes the bad things go away…well, so do Morphine and other drugs. But that still doesn’t mean that they are good for you.
            Besides, right now Ada and Robert are heroes…but I dread the day when things are peaceful again. What will they be then?
            Would they still be adored? Or much rather feared? I wonder, could they ever hope to live a normal life ever again?”
            Yeah, can’t argue with the drug point. However, to quote Fallout 4, “War… War never changes.” In the context of this story, this could refer to the daily struggle to servive (which I would imagine we are still losing, and possibly are today in the real world, at least as far as science reports my mom mentioned go. They said we are on the verge of a mass extinction, and this could be shown by the world being covered in red sand, and perhaps it was symbolically blood soaked, much as I saw it. Anyway), or it could be the “war” with the demons, which we would be currently losing, and would appear to lose more and more ground every day, as the first few pages can attest to.

            “And now you’ve got Meredith Brooks ‘Bitch’ playing in my head.”
            Is that a good song? I like to try new music, particularly heavy music, rap, rock, metal (sometimes), and the occasional viral music video now and again. Techno is good too.

            “I don’t think many of them could really be bothered to tell their people how to live. For starters, people had the Church for that. And as long as the peasants paid their taxes, I doubt the nobility/royalty gave them a second thought.
            Come to think of it, it’s probably the nobility that bore the brunt of royal whims and tyranny.”
            Yes, but from my understanding, didn’t the nobility then force this upon the serfs and peasant classes? And, fun fact: in Edo Era Japan, the nobles were smart enough to see the serf class equivalent as a huge part of the country, and the merchant class somehow, was lower then the serfs socially, even though they were richer, or at least that’s my understanding.

            [Ctrl+Alt+Del] I’m out! Got nothin’ left right now, so I w-
            (Crap, I’m logged out now…)

          • Dæmon

            ****! That should go to JW and Refugnic’s discussion thread! What did I do?!

          • Lukkai

            Hit the wrong button, maybe. Wouldn’t be the first time someone does that, happened to me before as well. I answered to the comment up above in the original thread.

      • Dæmon Reply

        Is that what it’s called? I had completely for gotten that. Not the first time either, which is kinda funny, since I have almost no capacity for remembering anything not geeky, acedemic, or generally relevant to my personal interests. That, and sometimes I wonder if I am really a cat, make that a kitten, inside, because I am both a child, and a cat in my personality and demeanor. I say, “screw you, I can do want I want, so leave me alone” (I also will say, “Up yours” to your face and insult you if I despise you), I hate socializing, and I generally work better with animals, data, or food than I do with people (People mostly annoy me, if not downright frustrate and anger me) and I seem to be good with specific directions and say, ” screw it all, I am GONE” when not given specific enough directions. Add some anger issues, and you have a mix of templates good enough for an angry spellblade weilding Hellfire, and an angel (Kind heart, but black soul) on top of that. Wait, did I just compare reality to a geek thing again? I did, didn’t I…? Well, at least I know where I belong. Losing SAN points and my grip on reality is kinda fun, now that I think about it…

        • Dæmon Reply

          I… Just… Can’t… Win… The Geek is truly strong in me, isn’t it? So, does this mean I am in God’s Development Hell, or is this true Hell? I can’t tell anymore.

  9. Refugnic Reply

    Happy new year to all of you and congratulations for Replay on making a solid 2nd place at TWC in December 😀 (Unless I’m mistaken?)

  10. Wojszach Reply

    Hello,you’re making very good comic, if everything went good I will translate it with my friend into polish 🙂

    • JW Reply

      Couldn’t NI do that better herself? Though I suppose time might be an issue.

      Might be fun to have some speech-bubble free versions of every comic so people can easily make fan-translations (since verbosity often varies between languages and phrases, the same size speech-bubble often doesn’t work well).
      Or, you know, we can make up entirely new text 😛

      • NotImportant Reply

        I need to draw a really silly page one day and let you guys play like that haha. Anyway, I could translate it, but I didn’t feel the need to do that, most people in my age in Poland know English well enough to read the comic and I am not interested in very your audience due to amount of blood and violence. Felt like a wasted time.
        I’d love a translation to Japanese though ლ(o◡oლ)

    • NotImportant Reply

      There is no need, as I am from Poland 😉 But right now I am not sure if I want / need a translation. I will need to think about it.

      • Wojszach Reply

        I have a lot expierience with translating comix and there are peapole who can’t speak english and want to read it,by the way reading in home language is better,you can understand it easier,and you can do it even very tierd

        • NotImportant Reply

          Replay already has a Russian translation somewhere so I don’t mind as long as it links to the original and author is clearly stated. After thinking about it – I probably won’t have the time to translate it and to make two versions each and every time. I am tempted but… I am behind the schedule as is so it’s probably simply impossible. Good luck then and let me know if you need any help! Thanks for helping Replay reach everyone 🙂

          • Wojszach

            about translation,my friend with who I mede translations,don’t want to help me in this,and I need someone to paste text,on the pages,I;m not good in this 🙁

          • NotImportant

            Hah, then maybe another time. For me pasting the texts and saving everything over again is most tedious and that’s why I decided against doing the translation.

    • NotImportant Reply

      Your comments…. x’D

      Sorry, I’m not very good at catering to everyone’s fetishes hahahaha

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