I try to stay positive in comments, but honestly was that sequence worth six weeks/pages? I guess it gave us a chance to meet the Archmage, but I still don't have a great grip on his personality or anything. I suppose he's younger-appearing than I expected... no grey in that hair?
It just... doesn't seem like it led anywhere. Colleen played mail delivery person and we saw the archmage and his office. Maybe it'll be important in the future that she met him?
Marblegates got great pacing and careful set up and intrigue. really it's pretty fast paced if you read through it all at once. But one page a week of course it's going to seem slower or even meandering when it's not. my two cents. i think you must be used to more content per "upload" ala netflix for example.
I believe it would be, in a movie, called an 'establishing shot'...
It would take about 30 seconds on screen but here we can appreciate it for a lot longer...
It gives you time to take everything in instead of blinking and missing something that might be important later...
That and nobody spends hours of time drawing this much detail in these many pages for no reason...
I'm happy to admire what we were given and watch as it gets to where it's going...when it gets there.
Hi there! This sequence here is setting up something something for later in the chapter. I'm very aware that the pace seems slow if you're reading week by week. This is just the unfortunately reality of only having time to release 1 page a week. I would love to release 2 pages a week, unfortunately I simply cannot afford to invest that much work time into the comic if I want to pay my rent.
However, I'm writing this story in such a way that it will have good pacing from start to finish when read as a whole, once completed. This means that the chapters will trudge a little slowly, but to me it will be worth it to have a complete story as intended.
I suppose I could re-write the entire story so that every few pages are exciting and deliver payoff, and that would certainly make weekly reading more interesting in the short term, however the story would suffer-long term as a result.
At the end of the day, I want to have a completed work that I can look back on and be proud of, rather than something that's exciting in the moment by ages poorly.
Thank you very much for your critique! I do read everything that people post here, and I take it all into consideration for future scripting.
Of course it was. It established the Archmage as a careful, yet kind planner-type with either a sense of justice or order. It established a secondary faction (feyfolk) who may or may not be antagonistic to the adventurers. (we know they're alien at the least) There's quite a bit of information here.
I liked the "one second panic" face the wizard did.
There's two major types of alchemists, the athletic and the intellectual. A good alchemist of the first sort was someone who could leap over the bench and be on the far side of a safely thick wall in three seconds, and a good alchemist of the second sort was someone who knew exactly when to do this.
And love the details on the rock wall in the last panel. So we are getting a tavern pages next time? That's great! It's always a great occasion to show off great characters in the background and expand the universe with little details.
Recently a thought occurred to me concerning Colleen's magic- and pain-resistance:
When she just started using divine power, even healing a pinprick had her in terrible pain and injured 100x worse than the wound she had just healed.
So shouldn't she have built up quite some resistance to both pain and magic when she learned to channel the latter properly through her body to do the least damage?
My thoughts were that as she practiced magic the number of spells she could cast increased. So instead of being injured less when she casts spells, she could cast more spells before being injured. Does that make sense?
You know, one hopes to never hear the word "lungrot", let alone in conjunction with "poison". Ditto for "screaming" and "mist". Just not a good look all around.
I really like this character. There's something about his calm demeanor, his casual demonstration of vast knowledge throughout this interaction, and his blunt but still genial dialog that gives him a lot of charm. At least, in my opinion it does.
Lungrot poison and screaming mist? This man is really serious about his coffee.
Also he's gonna have to use a spell to shave away his glorious beard and mustache so as to put on the gas mask, and he didn't want Colleen to see him like this.
(Don't worry, he'll use a spell to grow them back once the air is cleared.)
This visit was quite enlightening I think. Especially what we learned about Aldos. The contrast between the stern, deterring facade and the kind, absent minded wizard behind it is somewhat classic.
Especially after this page I wonder what wizards and alchemists in this world would give for some proper protective equipment, like good gasmasks, hazmat suits or a good fume hood. I can also imagine that they would love some proper testing tubes, flasks, retorts, condensers, burners and other lab equipment. And not to forget some quality chemicals like pure acids.
That aside it is always interesting to see the difference between an Alchemist's lab and a modern chemical lab. In one you see the different arcane devices, books and symbols littering the tables and shelves, in the other we have the intricate instruments, books and formulas neatly lining the tables, walls and chalk boards.
It just... doesn't seem like it led anywhere. Colleen played mail delivery person and we saw the archmage and his office. Maybe it'll be important in the future that she met him?
It would take about 30 seconds on screen but here we can appreciate it for a lot longer...
It gives you time to take everything in instead of blinking and missing something that might be important later...
That and nobody spends hours of time drawing this much detail in these many pages for no reason...
I'm happy to admire what we were given and watch as it gets to where it's going...when it gets there.
Voting for this comic on the sites that it's hosted on helps promote it and get it the exposure it needs!
Voting for this comic on the sites that it's hosted on helps promote it and get it the exposure it needs!
Voting for this comic on the sites that it's hosted on helps promote it and get it the exposure it needs!
Also, I just checked, and it turns out he's merely ~40$ away from that sweet sweet 2 page away mark!!
However, I'm writing this story in such a way that it will have good pacing from start to finish when read as a whole, once completed. This means that the chapters will trudge a little slowly, but to me it will be worth it to have a complete story as intended.
I suppose I could re-write the entire story so that every few pages are exciting and deliver payoff, and that would certainly make weekly reading more interesting in the short term, however the story would suffer-long term as a result.
At the end of the day, I want to have a completed work that I can look back on and be proud of, rather than something that's exciting in the moment by ages poorly.
Thank you very much for your critique! I do read everything that people post here, and I take it all into consideration for future scripting.
There's two major types of alchemists, the athletic and the intellectual. A good alchemist of the first sort was someone who could leap over the bench and be on the far side of a safely thick wall in three seconds, and a good alchemist of the second sort was someone who knew exactly when to do this.
And gas mask are a premium.
When she just started using divine power, even healing a pinprick had her in terrible pain and injured 100x worse than the wound she had just healed.
So shouldn't she have built up quite some resistance to both pain and magic when she learned to channel the latter properly through her body to do the least damage?
Also he's gonna have to use a spell to shave away his glorious beard and mustache so as to put on the gas mask, and he didn't want Colleen to see him like this.
(Don't worry, he'll use a spell to grow them back once the air is cleared.)
https://gfycat.com/ifr/SpecificPalatableKawala
Lipa and Rocktopus, would it make sense to add this to both the Fan Art section as well as to the main comic comment for page 250, crediting Lipa?
If it's ok with you, posted this video on the Marble Gate subreddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MarbleGate/comments/g0mben/amazing_animation_made_by_lipa_in_the_comment/
I am catching up with some work.
Saw your comment, no need to credit me.
Especially after this page I wonder what wizards and alchemists in this world would give for some proper protective equipment, like good gasmasks, hazmat suits or a good fume hood. I can also imagine that they would love some proper testing tubes, flasks, retorts, condensers, burners and other lab equipment. And not to forget some quality chemicals like pure acids.
That aside it is always interesting to see the difference between an Alchemist's lab and a modern chemical lab. In one you see the different arcane devices, books and symbols littering the tables and shelves, in the other we have the intricate instruments, books and formulas neatly lining the tables, walls and chalk boards.
...sounds very current...! :-(