Ta ta ta ta ta

I am about as terrible with titles as I am with surnames, bleh.

You guys don’t give Kasper enough credit! He has already survived one fight with those things, close combat too. Guns might not bother them much but given enough wit… I guess the only better thing would be a 3 meters deep pit and cement mixer but those are harder to find around the corner on a military base.

From other news: new month has started, so it’s a chance for you to show your love and vote for Replay on topwebcomics. I am curious what will be the final position for this month… All in your hands!

And I’ve updated the cast once again, because we need to know some people before I can brutally kill them, right? So say hello to those 3 new shadows I’ve added and amuse me with some wild guesses. I will replace them with actual characters in… 2 weeks, if I count right.

And hey, Fanart section has been updated too, but I am still waiting for your drawings! If you have any sketches of Ada in embarrassing outfits I want to see them too! ‎(ノಥ益ಥ)ノ ┻━┻

Edit: Fixed the mask, added missing earphones cable. Thanks!

40 comments on “Ta ta ta ta ta”

  1. Refugnic Reply

    Well, when I did say ‘they need help’, I meant with ultimately killing that thing.

    But distracting it while you run away works fine just the same. 🙂
    I’m guessing that will give it quite a bad cough.

    A little proverb to go with this: He who’s wise and runs away, may live to fight another day.

    Though I do wonder how well they will do with outrunning that one. (Because I assume it’ll be pissed) From the stature one assumes that it can’t go that fast, but if there’s one thing movies and stuff has taught us, is is that you should never judge the agility of someone by their stature, am I right?

    I have a question: Are those headphones around Laura’s neck? If so, where did they go in the final panel?

    Other than that, Laura’s being really cute in panel 2.
    Though I guess her question is a bit…obsolete. After all she of all people should know that bullets can’t harm them.
    Which leads me to the question why Kasper is using his rifle in the first place. To piss it off even more?

    • JW Reply

      Looking at the amount of blood that wasn’t on his arm before, bullets do harm a demon.
      Just not enough.

  2. xthorgoldx Reply

    Given that he’s perfectly fine in chucking that gas canister at a close target without any CBRN gear of his own, that’s gonna be CS gas. And balls does that stuff sting when it gets into your eyes; demon or not, that’s gonna be a decent delay. Granted, it’s gonna be the same kind of delay as is closing a door on a velociraptor, but an extra 10 seconds is an extra 10 seconds you didn’t have before.

    Though, for nitpicking’s sake, NotImportant, a military grade gas mask will always cover the full face (ref: Civilian and military models); any mask that only covers the nose/mouth is a respirator and is really only good for blocking out dust/asbestos/spray paints. Given that a military mask is designed to be used against, well, chemical weapons and gasses, the bare minimum coverage (mask only, no suit) still has to protect the eyes – a blind soldier isn’t all that combat effective.

    • NotImportant Reply

      You are of course right and I am sitting here, wondering why the hell I went for the mouth-nose mask in the end, even though I read about the CS gas and everything. The best excuse I can think about is: it was probably a full mask on the sketch but I didn’t notice it while inking xD I will need to fix this… Thanks a lot for pointing it out!

  3. Killimanjoro Reply

    have they tried grenade down the throat yet? I have a feeling that might do some serious complications. Maybe not death Just a awkward sort of blown in two confusion moment. “Is it dead?” Top half begins moving “NOPE!”. Just a thought…

    • Refugnic Reply

      I do like your way of thinking, however those guys have good reflexes. They would just catch the grenade (like that one just there did).
      However if they really are as impervious as it appears, they would get a dislocated maw at best. It would never reach their stomach.

      Though I do have a bit of a hard time believing that explosives have absolutely no effect either. Heh…there’s really only one way to find out, isn’t there. I don’t think you wanna be the one to stick your arm into the maw of one of those to make sure the grenade makes it to the inside of the creature, do you? 😉

      Another question if I may though…it does look like the demon is bleeding from the gunfire. I thought the bullets are just dropping off its skin, or did I get that wrong?

      • NotImportant Reply

        Those pages (and the ones that will follow) are meant to introduce new characters and also show why they are struggling so much with those things. You were fed some rumors first, now you are able to witness how it really looks like to fight them. After Kasper and Laura there will be one more scene, I believe the most important one, when it comes to the rules-of-demon-killing.

        • Refugnic Reply

          ‘Rumors’? I thought the ‘bullets aren’t working’ was an established fact. I mean, Kasper just emptied an entire clip on one at close range and that thing didn’t even really seem to bother. In fact it only seems like it made it more empty.

          All I’m saying is, that the only thing the gunfire did was alert everyone (both the survivors as well as other demons) of their location.

          However, if we assume that their skin isn’t impenetrable, my next guess is extreme recovery abilities. Meaning that they do get hurt, but the instance they get hurt, the wound is already halfway closed. Damn hard to kill something like that…but not impossible. If you can stop their regenerative abilities (which might just be what the swords are doing), they drop dead as soon as you hurt a vital organ like for example the heart or something…which would actually be very close to my own brand of demons, whose entire immortality gig is based on feasting on a specific kind of energy, which allows them from recovering from any wound, as long as the energy is available.

          Well, we’ll learn the full truth soon enough, am I right? 🙂

        • Killimanjoro Reply

          Good solid cold iron given some sort of spell or binding that makes demonic regeneration strength and speed useless? Or is it that only certain weapons work on them like our special swords? What about holy artifacts? Do those do anything? Or my biggest question, WTF HAPPENED TO THE BLOODY MINIGUNS THAT WOULD OBVIOUSLY TURN THE DEMONS TO PASTE!? It just kills me to think that with this interesting new found ideas is that it’s forcing the story into a “why did this not work?” Mentality? Though i will say the next page will be interesting to find out the big rule of demon death and explain a large amount of what made the world fuck up on everything.

          • NotImportant

            I guess I’ll join in before you guys start shouting ‘this couldn’t have happened and makes no sense’ 😀 A friendly reminder – right now they are trying to figure out what the hell is going on and what are those things, timeline wise we are not very far from the initial attack. We are mostly on the civilian side too, so we have no idea what military is really doing. And I don’t see tanks maneuvering among civilian tents, same goes for grenades and heavier artillery.
            Next page won’t give many answers (sorry!) but next scene should. I will basically show what military is trying to do and why it doesn’t work throughout this whole chapter. So please have patience with me 😀
            And thanks for reading!

          • Refugnic

            Hmm…that does sound intriguing. Judging from the world you painted up to now, the military got screwed up good before they even got to realize what’s really happening. (After all, people had to leave their homes in a hurry and are living in tent towns with only minimal protection by the military)

            This implies, that the military, or what’s left of it, is trying their best to do their job (which is to protect the people, despite what many a warmonger may say), but isn’t very successful at doing so.

            If you’re now saying that ‘the military’ as a whole whole still exists and are abandoning their citizens on purpose in order to pursue some grand scheme in order to get rid of the demons…they’re doing a very poor job at what they’re supposed to do.
            Or in other words, they have lost the war before they even began their counterstrike.

            Because, after all, what good does ‘saving the world from demons’ do…when there is no people left to populate that world, because the demons ate them all?

            Regarding the ‘this doesn’t make sense’-debate…you invited this, when you developed a species, which could not be killed by conventional weaponry but instead only by some strange enchanted blades, which just happen to be in the hands of two civilians, who had, according to their bios, no previous relation to the arcane. (They were in Marketing when the world went to shit for crying out loud! XD)

            Of course, this by itself would’ve been easy to accept. However what really got the rumor mill going was this page…where you made a demon bleed from bullet wounds…which, according to established opinion, don’t do jack, because they are not said enchanted blades.

            Naturally people would wonder why that is and start devising strategies on how mankind could fight against the demons without having to rely on something as unreliable as ‘magic’.

            So yeah, your fault right there. 😛

            Other than that, I’m pretty sure that there is a fairly likely explanation for all the strange that’s been happening up to now…

            Just to recount, the things I thought ‘strange’:
            The blades Ada and Robert are wielding. What are they and how did they get them?
            The diary in Ada’s handwriting containing detailed information about the use of magic – That by itself wouldn’t be so strange, however Ada seems to have no recollection of ever having written any of this. In fact, she seems to know next to nothing about magic.
            These visions – Where do they come from and why do they only seem to plague Ada and Robert?

            I probably missed a number of ‘strange things’ in this list, which is just from the top of my head, but you’ve most certainly got some explaining to do in the long run. 😉
            Actually I have a hunch about all three of them, even wrote my theory down in my fanfic ‘Replay’ (yes, I know, self-advertising, sue me), but whether any of what I thought up right there is true only NI can tell me…and I have a feeling it’ll be a looooong time before we get there. 😀

            Other things I’m expecting an answer for (don’t worry, I don’t expect them tomorrow :P)
            Faust’s agenda – What the hell was/is that guy thinking anyway? What is it he wants?
            The demon’s nature – Where did they come from and why do they appear to be invulnerable?
            The demon’s master – We already know that there’s some master demon pulling the strings. But who is he? And why did he need Faust to plunge the world into darkness?
            The celestials – Quite honestly, if there are demons roaming the land and all that shit…where the hell are the angels, which are supposed to watch over the mortals and keep the forces of hell at bay? But then again, if the heavenly host would descend upon the world of mortals and wage war against the demons…just what would happen to the (demi-)humans? Would this war maybe turn the land into the red desert we saw in the beginning?

            In regard of my last question, a new theory comes to mind…what if, and that’s just if, the blades are the angel’s way of saying ‘Your kind caused this mess, you get to clean it up. And if you fail, we’ll clean it up…and you along with it.’

            That would explain a number of things…the origin of the blade (Faust is clearly fond of Ada, which puts her into a prime position of taking up the fight with him…Robert is clearly attached to Ada, which is why he’s in this fight all the same).
            Ada could’ve seen the things written in her diary in these visions, which are also sponsored by the celestials as a means to help them out without interfering directly.
            And, just like it is with dreams, she jotted those symbols and texts down right after awakening before she would forget them again.

            So many questions to be answered…and all I can do is wait.
            Ah well, I’m still young. I can still wait. (Where did I put those blueprints for the time machine again…? :P)

            Keep it up, NI. 🙂

          • JW

            If you’re now saying that ‘the military’ as a whole whole still exists and are abandoning their citizens on purpose in order to pursue some grand scheme in order to get rid of the demons…they’re doing a very poor job at what they’re supposed to do.
            Or in other words, they have lost the war before they even began their counterstrike.

            The highest percentage of soldiers to civilians in the world is 6%, US seems to be about 0.5%.
            Which is to say, if the enemy materializes out of thin air among your population (which I think happened), the military can do diddly squat in first instance. One soldier simply can’t defend 200 free-range civilians. You need to establish save areas, evacuate the civilians to to those areas, and put up a defensive lines so you can protect the maximum number of civilians with the minimum number of soldiers (because you have so very few).
            And of course, before the military even realizes that they’re needed and can leave their bases, the demons will already have had time to decimate the population. So basically it comes down to finding groups of survivors and bringing them somewhere safe. Which seems to be what they’re doing.

          • Refugnic

            @JW
            Yes, I am aware of that there are way too little soldiers/armed forces to protect the entire population.
            What I was aiming at is, that NI said, that ‘the military’ (which would be the majority of the armed forces, just from a semantic point of view) are busy with some sort of organized counterstrike and that whatever personnel is helping the civilians by rounding them up (ironically giving the demons are far better target to strike against) is just what was left behind/wasn’t important enough to take part in this counteroffensive.

            However I will admit that I may have been too harsh with the armed forces of whatever country this is…the demon attack likely happened like an organize terror act…suddenly appearing in the cities all over the country, setting off their bombs, doing maximum damage before any sort of countermeasure could’ve been taken.

            What really got me going is this talk of ‘a big counterattack’, which doesn’t seem to involve ‘saving people’ at all.
            I’m also still a bit under the illusion that the majority of the armed forces died in the initial attack…simply because it takes time to organize any sort of resistance. And I’m pretty sure that they didn’t have that time…they simply didn’t see it coming. And they paid the price.

            I think on that we can agree, am I right?

          • NotImportant

            “NI said, that ‘the military’ (which would be the majority of the armed forces, just from a semantic point of view) are busy with some sort of organized counterstrike and that whatever personnel is helping the civilians by rounding them up (ironically giving the demons are far better target to strike against) is just what was left behind/wasn’t important enough to take part in this counteroffensive.”

            When and where did I say that, exactly?.. 😀

          • JW

            @ Refugnic

            What I was aiming at is, that NI said, that ‘the military’ [..] are busy with some sort of organized counterstrike and that whatever personnel is helping the civilians by rounding them up [..] is just what was left behind/wasn’t important enough to take part in this counteroffensive.

            Actually, I don’t see NI say that anywhere. Or was it somewhere other than on this webpage?

            I’m also still a bit under the illusion that the majority of the armed forces died in the initial attack

            I don’t know. I wouldn’t expect so, unless the demons are more organized than they seem. If demons randomly appeared throughout the country, I’d expect only a few to land by chance in/near military bases. And while that would cost some lives I’d bet the soldiers pretty soon would opt to try heavier and heavier weaponry until something had an effect — and retreat if what they had in their hands didn’t work.

            Oh, well, it’s all just speculation anyway. We just don’t have enough information for anything yet. If Faust made a deal with a demon (as suggested by one of the earlier visions), then at least some demons must be smarter than they seem. Maybe the demon lord (or whatever) has control over where the demon grunts appear, in which case trying to set up a safe area with a perimeter is like creating a very large barrel of fish.

          • Refugnic

            …I really need to stop interpreting stuff that’s said, I’m terrible at subtext to begin with and my imagination seems to like making connections to dots only I can see.

            What I was referring to was: ‘We have no idea what the military is really doing’.
            That implies that what the soldiers shown up to now aren’t ‘the military’ or aren’t acting on the behest of ‘the military’, but much rather just a few remainders. Again, this is just the impression I’m having, I have no proof whatsoever to back this up.
            The dots my imagination has painted from this is, that the military isn’t trying to save as many people as they can, but much rather seek to launch countermeasures to retaliate against the initial attack.

            Actually I do think that the demon attack was organized instead of random, based on that lovely little vision (btw, there’s a ‘the’ missing in one of the Speech bubbles, ‘Fine. This is what demon wanted’ was the text I believe, though I’d need to go look to check, sorry for bringing it up only now :P)
            Anyway, yes. Faust made a deal with ‘a’ demon (‘the’ or not, ‘demon’ is singular), which implies the existence of some sort of demon lord, who commands a legion of doom. And if that guy is smart enough to strike a deal, to get someone from this world to ally with him in order to achieve a currently unknown goal (the red desert may be a symptom, but I don’t think it’s the actual ‘goal’), then he would also be smart enough to take down whatever could pose a threat to his plan first.

            And if the demon isn’t, Faust is.

            I imagine, that the initial attack was focused on locations of the armed forces to cripple or preferably, destroy any sort of resistance before it can start forming.
            And now, that the world is in complete disarray and the barracks and stuff lay in ruins (again, just conjecture here ;)), they establish a reign of terror by hunting down whatever armed force survived the initial attack and spreading fear and despair among the civilian population while they’re at it.

            Once the forces of man (that reminds me, do your demis have a specific race name or are they ‘human’?) have been defeated entirely and the remaining survivors are at the complete mercy of the invaders, the demon lord may at long last make his appearance and demand absolute obedience and worship as their new God.
            And the people, bereft of all hope and chance to fight back, would need to obey, lest they be torn apart by the legions of the demon lord.

            So yeah, barrel of fish sounds really good. However, as I said, I don’t think it’s the human flesh they’re after per se, but much rather the destruction of resistance…and those blades, which I’m almost sure the demon lord knows about, are the biggest threat to his ambitions.

            And, as per the list of the evil overlord, a threat must be eliminated before it becomes a real threat.
            Now if only the grunts were smart enough to act on that, he might even actually have a chance with that. 😀

          • Gonnhirrin

            It seems to me these are National Guard/ Reservists without much if anything in the way of heavy weapon ammo, not certain of this since CBR units don’t carry much in the way of heavy weeapons. Their small arms (rifles) share ammo with civilian arms so they’ve stocked up. The swords may contain a toxic metal, a stainless wallhanger contains Chrome Copper Nickel also molybdenum if 317. Arsenic is used in some alloys for its white color and easier forming. Toxic metals Beryllium Cadmium Lead Mercury Nickel Silver Thallium Tin and others in some compounds. Copper probably isn’t particularly useful against these demons or copper jacket ammo would be known to work better. Military bases may be bottled up by heavier demons or not near this area.

      • JW Reply

        I don’t think you wanna be the one to stick your arm into the maw of one of those to make sure the grenade makes it to the inside of the creature, do you? 😉

        I dunno, is it gonna eat me anyway? Cause, then I might as well.

        • Refugnic Reply

          Hmm…prime a grenade, run up to a demon to shove it down its throat, probably getting your arm stuck in its maw and either getting gobbled up on the spot or blown to pieces from the explosion or distract it with said explosive from a distance and run away and live another day…I think most people would rather stay away from close combat with these. Me included, btw.

          Now if there was no getting away anyway, because the demon somehow managed to sneak up on me (these guys aren’t exactly the quiet types, so I don’t really see that happening) and I still have a ready to go grenade in hand, I guess I’d try it too, simply because I am gonna die either way…but at times like these, grenades in hand are damn hard to come by. 😛

          But hats off for your valor! 😀

          • JW

            Yes, I am very brave sitting behind my computer imagining fighting demons. 😛

            Actually, I usually fantasize about being a hive-mind, so I could spare a drone or two.

          • KillimanjoroI

            I was thinking more of what happened with the gas grenade except instead of gas heavy explosive. Then shove another grenade in its gut and run like hell. You know the strategy of overkill. Though thinking about it a good solid claymore could do some damage (not the explosive of the same name). Though close combat would be a bitch against a demon. Though it makes me wonder what happened to the tanks? I’m sorry but twenty tons at 35mph is bound to do damage.

    • Refugnic Reply

      It’s probably primarily a matter of ‘But where the hell do I get a bunker buster to kill it with?’ right now right there.

    • xthorgoldx Reply

      Demons have Regeneration 20 (Supernatural Weapons). Unless you’ve cancelled the regeneration using a weapon dealing supernatural damage, knocking them under 0HP will only render them unconscious.

      See, this is why you always, always, always keep cold iron weapons handy. Or just get a Cleric with a few slots dedicated to Smite Evil.

    • Refugnic Reply

      Sorry to break it to you, but it only updates once a week. Coming back is still worthwhile to join in the discussions in the comment section. Lots of fun and good people here. 🙂

    • NotImportant Reply

      Sorry, one page per week is all I can do without mental breakdowns hiatuses.

  4. Jellyfish Reply

    so… why aren’t you reading this? I onky started reading yesterday but it has a whole lotta potential and deserves all the attention it gets. keep up the amazing work!

    • Refugnic Reply

      I beg your pardon, but whom are you talking to when you say ‘Why aren’t you reading this’? Because anyone who would read this question is reading the comic as well, so I kinda fail to see the point of it. 🙂

      Other than that, I can only agree. It also deserves all the support it can get, so casting a vote every now and then to promote it on TWC.

      Oh and in case you’re wondering, I’m not affiliated with the comic or the comic maker. I only started a little bit before you do and decided to become a little bit more involved than I’d usually do. 🙂

  5. Cheddar Reply

    I must compliment you on your amazing art. As an semi-regular visitor of TWC (See, those votes ARE helping) it’s always interesting seeing new things near the top. You caught my eye with the banner and and I must say I am impressed. Some of the images you have put out are just plain bad ass. Thank goodness it’s only a weekly update, I have too many comics to keep up with as it is.

    • NotImportant Reply

      Haha I hope you’ll find time for Replay too 😀 Glad you like it and welcome aboard!

  6. Rick Reply

    I caught up with your web comic today and i have to say that it is fantastic! I love your art style and unique templates for various pages! I look forward to reading more of your story and watching as the plot develops 🙂

  7. ChuckTheProphet Reply

    Just read the cast page for the first time in a while. “Kasper… Weapon of choice: Knife”. That’s an oddly gun-shaped knife he has there.

    • SirTrojan Reply

      Well, he’s obviously gonna be using a knife in future fighting, it’s not like the pictures in the cast section say anything about their weapon of choice anyway, Robert isn’t posing with his either.
      The gun in his picture simply emphasizes on the fact that he’s a soldier.

  8. Refugnic Reply

    I just checked the FB page. Yay, we lead an interesting discussion. 😀
    I also checked the vote incentive (which kinda counts as an update for me :P)…these two have way too much fun with the current situation, honestly. 😀
    What irks me a little though…they are covered in blood, but their hair is completely clean. I think with the amount of blood that was spilled they’d have some blood in their hair as well. I may of course be mistaken, but I figured I’d let you know. 🙂

    • NotImportant Reply

      I just can’t figure out how to make it look good so I don’t ‘dirty’ it 😀 That’s the only reason, honestly.

      • Refugnic Reply

        Yeah, I was just wondering why the two of them looked like they were wearing bath caps while going around, slaying demons, that’s all. 😀

        It still is a very nice picture. 🙂

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