FF6 Comic: Nice art!

[Oracle_Hunter]

The Final Fantasy 6 Comic (http://ff6comic.comicgenesis.com/)

Now, I don't make this or anything, but I stumbled upon it months ago and I must say I'm impressed.

This is not a fanfic comic - it is exactly what it says on the tin. The artist (J.E. Simon) aims to take the entirety of FF6 and convert it into comic form. Much of the dialog comes from the game exactly, and it plans to follow the game chronology.

So why read it? The art. I think it's quite good, and definitely of a style I haven't seen on the Internet before.

Since this it is sitting at #238 of the TWC rankings, I figured I'd throw up a post here to see if it hooked anyone else. It updates about once every week, though if Simon is having art problems ey usually posts up eirs "work in progress" until the page is done.

[averagejoe]

Looks neat. Will read. (Though the art is merely adequate.)

[Friv]

I was reading it for a little while, but...

The art is certainly nice. The story is FF6, so all good there, and there's beefed-up dialogue and actions that are decently entertaining.

The pacing, on the other hand... well. It's been running for over a year, and they're just now at the point where they meet Edgar. That's really, really slow for a comic where I have no suspense to keep me coming back.

Basically, a weekly-updated comic has to be pretty phenomenal to hold my interest consistantly.

[Lissou]

The art isn't great, but isn't terrible either. And it's a good concept (to be honest, I've been wanting to do the same with FF9).
Is it legal though? (That's what has been stopping me, actually).

[Oracle_Hunter]

The art isn't great, but isn't terrible either. And it's a good concept (to be honest, I've been wanting to do the same with FF9).
Is it legal though? (That's what has been stopping me, actually).

Well... it's actually not legal I guess. It's a derivative work and certainly not one that qualifies for the Fair Use Exception. Still, Japanese companies seem to be fairly lenient when it comes to fan-works, so I doubt you'd be sued for it. Just don't try to make any money off of it :smalltongue:

I guess I should qualify my statements about the art:

I know it's not Dresden Codak (http://www.dresdencodak.com/) quality artwork, but it has some things going for it. First of all, it is competently done, which already puts it ahead of a lot of stuff on the internet. Secondly, Simon has shown improvement over the course of its run. This is promising because it shows that Simon is interested in improving eirs art - always a good sign. Lastly, it has a distinctive style to it. Now, I like stick-figure webcomics as much as the next guy, but it's nice to see someone trying to invent and develop their own, distinctive style.

So, while the art may not be fabulous now, it is improving, and it has a very solid base to work from.

[averagejoe]

Hehe. I like the portrayal of Locke.

Also, I disagree about the pacing problems. It scans fine as a story. Or maybe you were referring to a slow update schedule, which I haven't been exposed to yet?

Edit: The melee action is, thusfar, kinda lame, though. Too flashy.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Hehe. I like the portrayal of Locke.

Also, I disagree about the pacing problems. It scans fine as a story. Or maybe you were referring to a slow update schedule, which I haven't been exposed to yet?

That is certainly the case.

When I say it updates roughly once a week, I mean that lately that's how often it's been updating. Occasionally there are longer gaps, but it doesn't look like it's because Simon is being lazy.

Personally, I don't worry about the "pacing" (which is very Dresden-Codak like :smalltongue:) because we know what the story is going to be. I don't know about everyone else, but I know the story of FF6 backwards and front. Of course, if you're not familiar with the story, then I suppose the pacing would be very slow.

[averagejoe]

That is certainly the case.

When I say it updates roughly once a week, I mean that lately that's how often it's been updating. Occasionally there are longer gaps, but it doesn't look like it's because Simon is being lazy.

Personally, I don't worry about the "pacing" (which is very Dresden-Codak like :smalltongue:) because we know what the story is going to be. I don't know about everyone else, but I know the story of FF6 backwards and front. Of course, if you're not familiar with the story, then I suppose the pacing would be very slow.

Well, I was trying to differentiate pacing and schedule. Pacing is intrinsic to the story, no matter how long it takes the story to actually be displayed.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Hey, don't pick on OH's taste in art style. His taste has been permanently damage by incessant study (not going to say "reading", as that would imply he did it for enjoyment) of the comic he took his name from.

Will read this, but not gonna archive-binge it.

[averagejoe]

Doesn't take long to binge. I finished a few minutes ago.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Yeah, I guess it won't take too long. Short updates, not a lot of them so far.

Couple of observations:

1) The dialog flows a lot better when he's making it up rather than quoting the game (even though I do love Woolsey's translation, there's no need to be slave to it) (except for Kefka).
2) The artist is much, much better at landscapes than people.
3) I never realized how silly Terra wearing a miniskirt and halter to Narshe was until I saw it in the comic.
4) Locke is awesome, and Moogles are freaking hardcore.

The first two points seem to improve a fair bit as the comic goes on; more original content, and less blocky-looking portraits. Looking forward to Kefka's non-flashback intro in a few comics.

[lord_khaine]

i have been following it allmost from the start, and though the slow rate of updates is a bit annoying, then i also thing the art is improving, so im really looking forward to see how the rest of the cast will turn out (even though it would take several years at the current rate :) )

[Friv]

Well, I was trying to differentiate pacing and schedule. Pacing is intrinsic to the story, no matter how long it takes the story to actually be displayed.

Fair enough. I meant a little of both. The slow rate of comic posting is a problem.

The second problem is that it takes an awful long time for a lot of sequences to get through. It's sort of the same problem that Goblins has with its battle sequences. For reference's sake, the script to FF6 runs at 64 pages on my word processor, including headers. To date, the comic has covered... two and a half of those pages. 860 words of the game's text in seventy-five pages of comics. The introduction is particularly tricky - there are a lot of places where single lines were granted massive panels in order to do various close-ups. I could have cut two or three of the first ten pages and improved the pacing easily (specifically, the June 8th and 9th updates could be rolled together and be nicer, and the same thing could be done to the 10th, 14th, and 19th, collapsing them into two updates instead of three with improved pacing. The title screen and Chapter 1 seem like a bit of a cop-out when you're updating slowly.

Now, I don't know if it improves much, but given how far it hasn't gotten, I feel like it hasn't.

[Enlong]

I've read a little bit of it, and I second one of the problems: I rather feel like it'd be more interesting to read if the author did the scenes in his own words, rather than using the script, so it flows better. The art is nice though, and I've been waiting for someone to do a FFVI comic... But if it really is as slow as people are saying...

[Khanderas]

It is a good read, that I have read for a while (infact I stumbled upon it when it had around 3 pages). I love FF6, and this guy does it well. Especially admire the fact he isnt making a pixel comic but draws it in a clear style.

The only downside is the updating feels slow, so you come back to it once a month or so and read the two pages and is done, or so it feel anyway.
Now I dont draw, so any drawings as advanced (to me they are) as this may take alot more time then I think. On the other hand, he already has a script made :smallbiggrin:

[Gez]

The art isn't great, but isn't terrible either. And it's a good concept (to be honest, I've been wanting to do the same with FF9).
Is it legal though? (That's what has been stopping me, actually).

Basically it's plagiarism. Characters, story and writing do not belong to the author. So, no, it's not.

[Nerd-o-rama]

But it's fanfiction, so no one cares. Japanese companies, especially, don't care.