4komatose

I have to apologize to Scott about this latest issue. I had warned him ahead of time that I might have to cut back a little on some of the things he scripted due to constraints on my schedule, but I also said that I would try to keep the changes to visual alterations. Unfortunately, I had to cut back on artwork to a point that the dialogue he wrote wouldn’t make a lot of sense, so I had to rearrange some of that too.

I’ve tried to keep the changes fairly minimal, however — what you readers are missing out on is mainly a much larger number of swimsuit-clad women pawing at Ariake in the first three panels of the issue.

Which brings up an interesting point: this comic, as the copyright infers, is a collaborative project. However, while some scripts are purely collaborative, Scott and I tend to trade off script-writing duties rather that write them together. While I was working on the art for this current issue, I came up with a little test that can help you readers know who wrote the script for a particular issue (or at least who generated the idea). Unfortunately, I don’t have time to share that at the moment, as I need to leave for school in about 45 seconds. I’ll be back later today to post the test idea, though, so make sure to check back with us in about six hours or so.

– Edit: The Test –

This is a test in two parts. Each part consists of five yes/no questions. In this first part, each “yes” answer counts for one point, and each “no” answer counts as zero points.

1. Are there a significant number of female characters in the issue, or are the female characters an obvious focal point?
2. Are the female characters (if present) in the issue wearing tight and/or revealing clothing?
3. Are significant portions of dialogue comprised of euphemisms for gender, body parts, or sexually-oriented activities?
4. Is the story primarily about Ariake’s activities?
5. Is Ariake physically assaulted in the issue or is the issue’s “punchline” primarily a physical event?

For the second portion of the test, each “no” answer will count for one point, while each “yes” answer will be worth zero points.

6. Does the issue contain references (in text or images) to religion, mythology, history, classical poetry, or classical art?
7. Are the female characters (if present) in the issue dressed modestly?
8. Are significant portions of dialogue contained in caption boxes or thought balloons?
9. Is Kyushu present in a majority of the issue’s panels?
10. Is the issue’s “punchline” largely dependent on a line of dialogue?

Add up your results. Generally speaking, a script written by me will rarely score over a 3, while Scott’s scripts will rarely score under a 7. Scripts that score 4, 5 or 6 are most likely an equal collaboration or a script that was written by one of us, but significantly rewritten by the other. It’s not 100% accurate, but does a fair job revealing authorship — give it a try and find out.

As anyone who’s ever written a comic page/issue would know, sometimes what you envision doesn’t make it into the finished art. And, in some cases, when time becomes a factor, parts of the script will get chucked. And, in rare cases, such as the current issue, the panels and lines get switched around to make the best out of a bad situation.

We plan on opening a section up very soon on the site that will allow you to see the original script. We will have “Creator Notes” to go along with the issue, which we hope will give you some insight as to what we were thinking when we wrote it. And it will also tell you why some things had to be changed. For instance, you will get to read the missing panel from this issue, #19. We’ll make an announcement when it opens up.

If you have any suggestions as to how we can make this site better, please e-mail us at mail@4komatose.com.

Much of the site has been updated, though it may not be immediately obvious. The most obvious update is to the thumbnail archive. Want to check out an old issue, but don’t remember the name? Goto the thumbnail archive and browse the thumbnails to find it.

Another update is that you now have access to every issue to date through the dropdown menu.

Don’t faint from the shock, ya’ll!

School so far has been an absolute breeze. In fact, I usually end up either writing code, new issues, or continue working on my book. My java class has been way too easy thus far. We’re essentially learning programming from the beginning again. The funny thing about that is that Visual Basic .NET is a prerequisite for the class! Seeing as how I’ve been programming in 3rd and 4th level languages for over a decade, this class is a snoozer. In fact, I’m writing this text in my java class! Ha Ha!!!

My java class is the one I’m most disappointed in, but it’s nice to have an entire day (twice a week) in which I don’t have anything to do. And don’t get me started on my Science Through Science Fiction class.