Trying it out

Filip finally found a way to try it out in secret ๏◡๏ And who would have thought, he actually failed. Seems his path to becoming a magic user won’t be all that easy~ Patreon patrons can already see his next move!

As you can see it’s pretty early for a page but since I need to go to work on Monday mornings I can’t update the comic then. So I’ll be updating Sunday evening instead (Japan time). Yay for pages being early! I’m too lazy to change the badge on the slider and all the ads so let’s pretend this still updates on Mondays. Hey, at least I’ll most likely never be late.

What else, I hope you enjoyed the next First Steps episode, next one will be posted on Wednesday. I’m not sure If I’ll manage to draw another episode for next week but we’ll see! For now, I’m doing pretty good and managed to paint the next page within the first week of my new job so I’m happy! I’m not sure what I’ll do when I fly to US (since they want to send me there for a week or two), we’ll see but I hope to avoid even such small hiatus. Life’s good, I finally have a Japanese phone and bank account, I feel like a proper citizen! It’s fantastic (‘∀’●)♡ And since my boyfriend doesn’t go to work just yet (he’s still waiting for the formal offers even though 3 companies already told him that they want him so he’s pretty much done with his job-search) he cooks dinner and makes tea right after I get back from work. Very nice, very nice… ♡

And! A friend of mine started posting her new webcomic on Webtoons. I don’t like that portal but meh, at least it’s a free hosting. Give it a read, I help her with the plot and dialogues (always good to have someone to brainstorm with) and without her, I’d probably never work out the courage to start drawing Replay. I’ve learned a lot from her about making comic. Please go, check it out, and let her know what you think (or even post comments here, I’ll pass them along!). Here it is: Black Vertebra.

47 comments on “Trying it out”

  1. NiWo21k Reply

    Looks like our mathemagician is still not ready to make magic – yet…. But at least his send of out of the tend was a high note that morning XD

    And a day earlier or not, does it really matter – at least i see it this way: a day earlier is better, so i dont have the problem to choose with what i start reading monday – even if its always Replay 😀 — But joke aside i wouldnt think to much about it and about the part with the trip to the US – I think you deserve a small break (i know how much you like drawing our loveable survivors), but we all (you and your readers) will survive a some time with out seeing them – at least i hope XD

    • NotImportant Reply

      Haha I certainly hope you won’t stop reading the comic after a week or two of hiatus xD For now I’m still sorting out the visa so I don’t know how long the trip will really take and if I’ll have the time to draw during my stay in US. I’ll keep you guys posted.

      • NiWo21k Reply

        Oh even if you go on hiatus for some weeks i have my weekly Replay fix – i still have a lot of pages for my reading videos XD

        Wish you luck, but i think after the last weeks/months you are already a professional in visa fetching XD

        • NotImportant Reply

          Took me 2.5 hour to fill all the US visa forms, pay the payment and what not, wth… XD They have a really tedious visa process!

      • NiWo21k Reply

        Yeah i have heard a lot about them.
        Just curious, because you hear a lot about this in some news – Are there really parts where you have to fill in your social media accounts?

      • NiWo21k Reply

        Ok, thanks – really was curious because there was a media frenzy some time ago about this but i havent heard anything about it since then. But looks like it depends from where you come or that this was just something they couldnt get through because its silly 😉

        • JW Reply

          It looks like those social media questions are part of an additional form that’s used only for visa applicants that have been flagged for additional review. And the questions are also “optional”.
          Besides, if they’re really curious, they can just copy the contents of your phone when you cross the border.

  2. Refugnic Reply

    Yeah well, Filip…not really a big surprise there.
    Don’t you know that you have yet to be touched by the Goddess before you can begin to draw on the forces of Mana?
    Wait, what? That’s not how it works? Aww, shoot.

    Looks like Rob’s ready to take a hike with Ada.
    While it’s definitely good that she isn’t going alone, I ‘m not sure it’s a good idea for BOTH blade wielders to leave the camp.
    After all, as has been said before, you never know how long this circle will hold.

    But then again, they’ve got a replacement magician on standby now, so Laura can jump straight in if the magic should fade.
    I believe in you, little lady. You can do this!
    Oh and please don’t mind the blood-curling screams, all you need to do is draw a perfect circle without any tools (honestly, I can’t draw even a remotely good circle or even just a straight line without using a lineal, yet it seems like everyone in the comic has absolutely no problem with it! :D)

    Now, as for you NI…I’m glad to hear that you’re doing fine in your new surroundings.
    I for one know I’d feel so out of place there, it’s not even funny any more.
    Glad to hear your fiance is doing well too…but then again, I never had a doubt that you’d make it. 😉

    If you should need to take a break, I’m sure the rest of the readership will understand as well.
    After all, it’s not like your sole purpose in life was drawing comics.
    You take good care of yourself and we’ll be seeing you whenever your schedule permits you to.

    Don’t worry.
    We’ll be waiting.
    In the trees.
    In the shadows.
    For you to step outside the binding light…

    Shoot, wrong role. 😛

    No really, have a pleasant Sunday.

    Ah yeah, that reminds me, voting’s closed.
    I should probably check the current numbers to see how big of a lead Merkel has this time.

    • JW Reply

      Don’t you know that you have yet to be touched by the Goddess before you can begin to draw on the forces of Mana?

      Hey, his goddess did a lot more than just touch him last night 😉

      • Refugnic Reply

        His is an entirely different kind of goddess I’m afraid.

        But yeah, he’d better hold on to his current faith, lest she turns into a wrathful goddess.
        He most definitely wouldn’t like that. 😀

    • NotImportant Reply

      Posting this page was actually the last thing I did on Sunday xD Ah, the time-difference…
      And believe me, right now I feel really out of place, confused, unproductive and generally a waste of space and money haha but it’s a huuuge company, there is a lot to learn, it will probably be a while before I really settle in.

      And yeah, they are all pretty skilled with their circles hahaha, that’s the base requirement for being a mage in Replay!

  4. bitflipper Camp dweller Reply

    I wonder how much of a role belief and acceptance play in magic in Ada’s universe? Could Filip not be getting results because he doesn’t believe the world works that way? Could Laura’s results be due to her having seen the magic work and being willing to accept that as the way things are? Could Ada have mastered her few spells by convincing herself that all of her hard work and dedication since her high school years have earned her that ability? Guess I’ll just have to watch how the campers develop their skills and see if I can figure it out along with them.

    Let me add a resounding endorsement for Black Vertebra, here! Replay will always be special for its story and its lovable characters, and NI’s mastery of light and shadow in her art is still utterly jaw-dropping and only getting better with every new page, but RudeOwl’s Black Vertebra is up there, too. Her artwork is gripping and thrilling, and her main character Alex will send chills up the readers’ spines on a regular basis. One gets a very strong post-apocalyptic feeling from the story as it is developing. I’m not sure if it’s going to develop as a horror thriller or as something similar — RudeOwl calls it a “romance + adventure story in cyberpunk” — but it has a wonderfully eerie, slightly creepy feel already very well established in the first eight pages. RudeOwl has also published character studies for Black Vertebra on her DeviantArt page, and they are beautiful! Exquisitely detailed, colored, and shaded, they pay testament to RudeOwl’s attention to detail and anatomy; they are truly works of Art in their own right. Readers of Replay will likely find Black Vertebra to be very rewarding, too!

    • bitflipper Camp dweller Reply

      Okay, very creepy, not “slightly” creepy. But it really works with the story, Alex’s character, and the spooky, art. Black Vertebra is like Edgar Allen Poe and Harlan Ellison for the eyes!

      • NotImportant Reply

        Beautiful endorsement!!! I pushed it along to RudeOwl, I bet she’ll be delighted that you liked her work~!

      • bitflipper Camp dweller Reply

        I think she knows, already; I’ve been fanboy-gushing about Black Vertebra on her pages on Webtoons since you introduced us to it on your Facebook page. I don’t remember, though, whether I can post there under my preferred screen nick as “bitflipper” or whether it’s tied to my Facebook or Google account and therefore under my name as Shawn Bean.

      • NotImportant Reply

        Ha, seriously? That’s great! It’s really awesome to hear that you liked it, yay! 😀

    • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

      I’d say the main reason why it wouldn’t work for Filip this time is that he did not pronounce and write the “spell” around the circle. He might have been sitting too far away to get it all from Ada’s previous lessons.

    • antrik Reply

      Wait, RudeOwl? I think I know that alias… Maybe I read some other work of hers before?

      I can’t comment on Black Vertebra, since that site doesn’t work for me at all. Probably something to do with cookie blocking or Ghostery or my outdated browser… And frankly, I can’t be arsed to find out. Fuck idiots building super-fragile sites on the assumption that everyone is using the web the same way they do.

      Also, from what I can see, the interface seems really really horrible even if it worked. Seriously, there are so much better (also free) comic hosting sites out there…

      Though to be honest, the way @bitflipper describes it, it’s probably not the kind of story I’d enjoy anyway…

        • antrik Reply

          Ironically, I stumbled over Webtoon several more times through different paths at various times after writing the above — and at one point I actually became a regular user…

          Turns out the interface works after all. Not sure whether they fixed the code to work with my browser, or whether I simply missed that weird auto-hiding navigation bar the first time around?…

          Either way, I’m still not exactly happy with the interface; and seriously dislike various other aspects of the site. (Most notably the entirely useless comment section; and the super annoying scrolling-heavy layout most works there use.) However, there are some pretty decent stories there (even a few very good ones…) — and the “featured” ones at least somehow manage to put out fairly substantial (and decent looking) episodes almost every week: making it less frustrating to follow these than most other web comics…

          Black Vertebra appears to be dead, though? So I guess I haven’t really missed anything by not reading it before…

  5. ety Reply

    ooh, neat, can’t wait to see how stuff with Filip works out.

    Ah, US, any idea where generally in the US you’ll be?

    Is there any particular reason you don’t like Webtoons?

    • NotImportant Reply

      I’ll be in New York and then in Seattle. And if everything works out as planned I’ll be at comic con although just to see how it looks like~

      I don’t like webtoons because it seems hard to navigate for me and urls to comics are super complicated and you can’t really post them anywhere. Like, Replay is https://replaycomic.com – super easy to remember, but for Black Vertebra on webtoon it’s http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/black-vertebra-comic/list?title_no=102826 and without that number on the end it won’t really work even though the comic title is there. And there are no next / prev buttons (or I don’t see them at a glance) and I need to select episodes on the bottom which is weird? I can’t easily go to the first one either… I feel like there are usability issues there, or maybe that they have different principles for browsing comics. That site was generally made for mobile and I always browse on desktop so maybe that’s the reason, I’m not sure.

      • JW Reply

        And there are no next / prev buttons (or I don’t see them at a glance)

        They’re at the top (when you move your mouse there)

        My only pet peeve, really, is that I can’t seem to find a “last episode” url. But the index page works well enough (the link to the latest episode is at the top, and I can see whether it’s new).

      • bitflipper Camp dweller Reply

        I’ve got to agree; the Webtoons engine isn’t the friendliest interface I’ve ever dealt with. It’s even worse on mobile devices. But, it’s usable, with a little effort, and it’s not the reason I’m reading stuff published on Webtoons, anyway.

      • ety Reply

        Oh, cool!

        Ah, yeah, okay, the interface definitely isn’t ideal… the link thing is… a valid point and certainly worth considering from a user experience point of view, but it’s also probably a non-issue for a lot of people.

        • NotImportant Reply

          Yeah, if you only count on people inside webtoon and don’t really plan to advertise your url then it’s probably fine. Although I still believe they could have done it better, it’s not like it’s hard.

      • JW Reply

        Also, if someone want to advertise with a nicer url, there’s nothing stopping them from just registering a domain and redirecting the page to their webtoon url.

        • NotImportant Reply

          Yeah but it’s not a high-effort thing for a site that provides hosting for comic and it seems to be one of the basic features, right? At least that’s how I see it.

      • NiWo21k Reply

        Never underestimate small people – they might not be strong, but they fight even harder and arent that easy to hit 😉
        And we know from the one (flashback?) vision she had in the prologue how flexible and quick she is.

      • JW Reply

        Never underestimate small people – they might not be strong, but they fight even harder and arent that easy to hit

        And they’re closer to where it really hurts. When I was younger and smaller I made my older siblings’ friends regret making that mistake.

    • JW Reply

      I believe it’s still the leading theory that explains magic: The smaller they are, the sooner in the story they develop magic ability. It can’t be just a coincidence 😉
      I think I can confidently predict that, due to their size, Robert and Kasper will never develop magic.

    • Dragon Master Reply

      Yeah it looks like she’s even shorter than Laura, if so that’s really funny. I’m surprised she doesn’t have a complex about it. A lot of short people I know are sensitive about their height and that’s a trigger for them.

    • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

      I havent’ paid much attention this week, and I totally agree. This view is very well made.

  7. antrik Reply

    Why are they building a stockade? Should the circle fail, I don’t think it would provide any protection against the demons — only obstruct vision and escape chances…

    (I guess it would help against wild animals — but that seems a very minor threat by comparison…)

    • NotImportant Reply

      There are many reasons!
      1. Wild animals.
      2. Drunk/stupid/blind/sleepwalking people accidentally going out of the circle (also: kids).
      3. At least they have something to do.
      4. It makes people feel better (since an invisible barrier is kind of hard on the brain).
      5. There’s probably more…

  8. antrik Reply

    I’m still wondering why Filip is so sneaky about this. He is not shy *talking* about the magic — so why is he shy about trying it?…

  9. Refugnic Reply

    See that spell? Now draw it out,
    the circle, round like moon.
    Redraw the glyphs, no place for doubt,
    your answer you’ll have soon.

    Alas, my boy, no big surprise,
    the spell does not light up.
    No shiny light, no words, so wise,
    no mana for your cup.

    But hark! Behold! There’s voices there!
    Familiar they are too.
    ‘I still have doubts…’, ‘Oh please, be fair!’
    And let us now pass through.

    At palisades, there now are four,
    what’s this one all about?
    Do they wish to pass death’s door?
    Is that even allowed?

    Wait, if they leave, then does that mean—!
    The ritual! It worked!
    But just who could, who could’ve been…
    His ears stand up, all perked.

    No this won’t do, I need to know,
    the source! The path! The means!
    Must know who made the magic flow,
    a ritual? Or genes?!

    So many questions for the witch,
    must hurry, or they’re gone!
    The path to go, I must know which,
    to make work what I’ve drawn!

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