Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Ding! Fries are Done

Hey guys,
Its 2:45pm and the PVP strip isn't up and since my boss decided to make a visit to my clinic today, I likely won't be able to check again until I get home around 7-8.

However to tide you over here is the first of the Ding! strips where Scott solicited for stories:

"free falling"

The first thing I noticed is that the illustration, more specifically, the coloring is different from Scott's first run.

13 comments:

Setitie said...

I prefer Kissybear stories myself.

Hourglass Keeper said...

I'm really disappointed with the new Ding! comic. As of today, I'm done with both of Kurtz's comic strips.

You guys take care. I won't need to come back.

Anonymous said...

I kinda like it. The true WOW stories are a nice distraction, and it seemed Scott's problem was coming up with stories, not drawing them, so maybe they will finally be up more often now.

The PVP reference is lost on me, not having seen Doctor Who, but I still smile at them, except for Jade's eyes in yesterdays panel, they just seemed anxious instead of happy, if that makes sense.

Unknown said...

The only thing is how terribly the story is told. It's not funny at all. He needs to take the stories and tell them via the comic, not someone's account of them.

Like, show us what happened, but happening in the comic, instead of just illustrating someone's account of it.

Just some constructive criticism if you're reading, Scott. There's some more of it oer on the Halforum forums if you want it.

I like the concept, Scott, it just needs to be told differently.

Sko said...

Aye, if this is an example of what is to come I suggest he finish all future strips with the character saying "Well, you had to be there." as this one just isn't funny.

The whole thing just looks rushed too. The line work is sloppy looking and the Photoshop-filtered in-game screens are amateurish (he should at least turn the NPCs names off when he takes the screenshot).

R.W.McGee said...

Oh man, I'm so glad I didn't swear off of Ding! when I gave up PvP.

I LOVE it. He isn't using the people's stories to craft a Ding series...he's just illustrating their e-mail and adding text bubbles!

Ding! Has achieved the 'so bad it's hilarious' plateau formerly only found by taking a CAD strip and holding your hand over the middle panel/s

Bravo sir, BRAVO.

Jai said...

Is Fylth holding a sword in the first panel, or does his nameless buddy have a huge ring on? I feel positive that it's supposed to be a sword (Because you can see a small white shaft coming out of Fylth's fist), but there really is nothing about it that looks like a sword. Nor is it angled properly if it's a gaudy Blood Elf ring.

The filtered NPC (Maybe PC) names in the background are dumb, but I like how those backgrounds look (Simple Photoshop filter though they may be... probably with a little free-handing for that blue outline). Unfortunately, I do not not like seeing it meshed with the plain older-Ding!-styled characters. It looks extremely lazy; their heads are detailed but everything else looks like someone took Easy Street to get to their destination.

And the narration? Not great. SK couldn't figure out a way to turn it into a "normal" Ding! strip (Not a "here's what happened" narrative but a "Hey, I've gotta go AFK a sec to drain the little Orc" "Ok, cool. Hmm. What to do, what to do... bored bored bored... alright, Light Feather time" playing out of events)? Is that what happened? Or is this just the way he WANTS to do these strips - just slap down the story exactly as it's told to him?

hnm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hnm said...

Jai, he's trying to be like Phables, Brad Guigar's tertiary comic endeavor. Guigar always illustrates somebody's Philly tale verbatim, with speech bubbles of the story exactly as it's told to him. This new Ding! strip is the exact same literary style, wholesale. Unfortunately, Phables is pretty much NEVER funny, at least not in the way Kurtz used to try for with Ding! Not a good format for this kinda strip.

jsiebels said...

Hourglass, in looking at the page stats you are not alone. Several have chosen to abandon PvP some due to the stagnate nature of the strip others due to his treatment of his fan base. After he shut down his third forum several members took it upon themselves to convince people to stop reading the strip. I was contacted myself but I'll keep reading. I personally think he's running a little dry but hopefully he can turn it around. If not he might have to enter the working sector and I don't know how far "I draw pictures" will resonate in corporate America. Not sure what his plan B is if it all falls apart. He's said himself he makes his money off merchandise and it'll be interesting how many fans will continue to shell out money as the economy falls apart.

The Trouble said...

Yeah the "Watercolor" filter background are yuck,just... yuck.

...and did Buckly draw the orc?

jsiebels said...

The art does look like something Buckley would do. He's getting into cutting and pasting and reusing art. That's one way to kill creativity.
Scott has a way of bouncing back, though, and I've no doubt he will this go around. Maybe he could start some more drama with another creator to pump up traffic.

jsiebels said...

And why does he say "To his . . uh . . death." Is a pause really necessary? Does it sound better than "To his death." Not sure what he's trying to get out of that. Regarding the art in the first panel I agree the backgrounds scream laziness and it doesn't mesh with the characters. In the first panel Flyfh looks like he's floating in the background. Please get Paul back. His art was fantastic and really gave life to the characters.

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