Unsounded, quite possibly the (2nd) best webcomic I have seen.

[Caesar]

Obviously it cant be better than OOTS. Obviously. But Unsounded is easily the best looking webcomic I have seen in ages.

The art is fan-f-ing-tastic, and just gets better and better when the artist does her special pages. The world is very very DnD-esque, yet has its own special flavor and style, like a magic-based steampunk thing, but dont take my description of it, read it for yourself! The writing is good enough (slips up imho from place to place, other times it is very well done) and certainly amusing, and the plot so far is absolutely a story worth telling.

So check it out, its on the webcomic list, but I dont see many people talking about this one, which is for some reason down the list on the voting site she uses.

Oh, and did I mention, she updates multiple times a week? I dont even know how.. Still cant get over the fact that its free.

Anybody else following this one?

[Jimorian]

Yes, it's on my must read list. Page 59 of chapter 1 is one of the most hauntingly poignant moments I have seen in any medium ever.

And going on right now is an epic magician fight, so it's well worth the archive binge to get the background on the characters involved!

[leakingpen]

hmm, dig the art, and I'm pushing because I want to know more about this undead magician, but Sette is REALLY ruining it for me.

[Jimorian]

Just realize it's all bluster to hide deeper things. What those things are, as well as clues to Duane's background, are some of the really nice reveals throughout the comic.

[lord_khaine]

Yes, i have been following this comic for a while, and its has quickly become one of my favorites.

The art is especaly breathtaking, and i dont remember seing it surpased in anything else worth reading, though Gunnerkrieg court does come very close once in a while.

[Lagren]

... Looks like I have another comic to add to my Mon-Wed-Fri schedule.

[Gez]

As far as unsurpassed art goes, I think that'd go to Lackadaisy Cats because it's just completely insane. For example, when drawing a street view, she won't just draw the facades and the passers by and stuff, no! She'll also draw the other, unseen facades as faintly reflected by the shop windows.

[Saph]

The art is beautiful. Pity about the story and characters.

I got through about 15 pages, but the main character was grating on me more and more and it didn't look like it was getting better, so I gave up.

[leakingpen]

Got caught up on it, tagged in my rss feed now.

Saph, was agreed, but it DOES get better, right about the time you quit (i was about to quit there as well). And there becomes a LOT of good story.

I really think the first 10 pages need a bit of a rewrite, tone down Sette just a tad, but this is an excellent comic! looking forward to more.

[Jimorian]

Like I said, page 59 of the first chapter is probably one of the most powerful moments you'll ever see in a comic, so you owe it to yourself to at least get that far before making a final decision.

[Gez]

You mean second chapter, right? "It'll only taste like smoke a little while."

First chapter has only 32 pages.

[Jimorian]

Doh! You are correct. Ch2, page 59. And the following pages show Sette in quite a different light as well, which may make her antics easier to take in the long run.

[Lagren]

Keep in mind that Sette is actively trying to be annoying most of the time.
Both because she finds it fun and for other, deeper reasons the comic will get into later.
Sette is good at lying, despite or perhaps because she's a kid.

[Jimorian]

Keep in mind that Sette is actively trying to be annoying most of the time.
Both because she finds it fun and for other, deeper reasons the comic will get into later.
Sette is good at lying, despite or perhaps because she's a kid.

Particularly to herself.

[the humanity]

that was great, love Duane sooo much.

[MammonAzrael]

Saph, was agreed, but it DOES get better, right about the time you quit (i was about to quit there as well). And there becomes a LOT of good story.

I just finished the first chapter (so 32 pages) and I'm really not interested in continuing. I sincerely with the mage had simply let Sette be eaten and continue on his way, and from what I've read I see no reason why he shouldn't. If Sette remains even close to the same in the following chapters I don't think I'll be a reader.

Good art though, particularly those flashback panels.

[Lagren]

Duane needs Sette as his foil, and to get him into trouble.

And Sette herself becomes less annoying as time goes on. Generally as she gets chances to prove that no, she's not stupid, and no, she's not all bluster... Usually. She has Duane to protect her for a reason.

[Arrghus]

Yeah, I really like this. As a pathologically honest person, I am intensely fascinated by the nature of lies and deception.

The world-building thing is really cool too, the differing opinions and propaganda makes the whole thing feel alive and vibrant in a rare way (while also expounding on the previous theme).

Oh, and I absolutely adore changelings (as in actual Scandinavian myth style changelings, not the admittedly also cool White Wolf thingies), so that's a plus too.

Still, I can see why people are annoyed by Sette, even if I'm not.

[Reverent-One]

Having read through the entire run of the comic this evening, I'll throw in my two cents. It really took till the third chapter to get me hooked, the art mostly kept me around till then. At that point though, there's more characters, the plot gets going, and Sette's antics are a bit more subdued, if for no other reason than it's not simply the Sette Show, with Duane playing the straight man, anymore. I really do like the world, lots of interesting things in it from a magic and tech perspective. And the way they play with the page format/design to fit the scene is something you don't see often.

I was sad when the next button took me to the main screen instead of the another comic. I would not have felt that way if it had been the in the first chapter, which I think is entirely skippable. There isn't even any real information that isn't covered in the beginning of chapter 2. So yeah, my advice to anyone reading this is go straight to chapter 2, at least until you decide on how you feel about the comic.

[random_guy]

I just started reading the comic and I finished the archives. I'll have to agree that Chapter 2 is a good place to start if you're not a fan of obnoxious main characters. Chapter 1 is more of an introduction that establishes the main characters' personalities and explains why they are travelling together. You can pick up that information throughout the rest of the story.

I have to agree that the world building is incredible. The multiple perspectives on the different countries makes things interesting. It somehow draws me into the setting and makes me want to know more about what's going in within the story's world.

[Jimorian]

"With love and affection, I dedicate this page to everyone who hates Sette Frummagem." -- Ashley Cope

[Killer Angel]

hmm, dig the art, and I'm pushing because I want to know more about this undead magician, but Sette is REALLY ruining it for me.

This sums it up for me.
So much as I'm intrigued and interested in Duane's character, so much I despise Sette. Nevertheless, I'm gonna crawl the entire comic.

[Gez]

Really, the first chapter is superfluous. People should start with the second. And maybe read the first afterwards if they want to, and consider it a bonus prequel or something.

[Killer Angel]

During the last weekend i rode through all the archives. In the end, i sensed the same feelings when i did the same with goblins (at those times, goblins was in the brassmoon arc):
Arghh, I want more, and now I must wait!

BTW: Sette is still (at best) annoying.

[the humanity]

Spoiler

Show

OWWWWW! Bit on the infected looking wound? Gah. He deserves it for being a total ass all the time but that just looks painful.

[Imgran]

Nice artwork. Tolerable writing. Plot flows almost as fast as FreeFall.

I guess my issue with the comic is that it continues the habit of many of these kinds of comics where you combine made-up languages with the fact that a picture is very definitely not worth 1000 words. You could condense the entire plot thus far into the first 40 pages so of a decent 500+ page novel. How long has this thing been here and we're STILL setting scene? A dozen comics to introduce a couple sort of interesting semi-relevant quarternary characters? Seriously people. There comes a time when less is more.

That duel should have been over 15 pages ago too. I know beam spam sucks, but combine each attack needing its own flashy lovingly-detailed splash page and half a dozen levels of badass that were pulled straight from whatsername's tailed backside, and I find myself missing Mookie's ability to resolve a battle with couple quick hadoken's to the chops and move on. In short, someone DESPERATELY needs a script editor that is not themselves.

Not to mention that this glorious exercise in artistic masturbation happened in the middle of ANOTHER fight that was just getting interesting. I hate duelceptions.

There's promise here. This could be a comic I'd like. But what it is now is a comic that's out of balance. The artsy side is getting too much attention at the expense of the literary staples -- and a really great comic needs to be at least competent at both. Call me nuts, but I'd say XKCD is a better webcomic. At least it knows what it wants to be when it grows up.

Give me clean writing and a coherent plot, or in the absence of plot, at least a sense of vision and some semblance of direction, that establishes itself quickly and lets you know who you're going to wind up rooting for. And you can keep the overly detailed artwork-driven comics that move at a snail's pace because the artist sacrifices those things in exchange for a driving need that everything looks pretty. I hope you enjoy them.

[Curious]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Unsounded. Strangely, I don't find Sette very annoying at all, unlike nearly everyone else it seems. I'll agree that the plot could bear to move a bit faster, but it's still surprisingly well done considering the author is working on her own at a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule.

[Jimorian]

Give me clean writing and a coherent plot, or in the absence of plot, at least a sense of vision and some semblance of direction, that establishes itself quickly and lets you know who you're going to wind up rooting for. And you can keep the overly detailed artwork-driven comics that move at a snail's pace because the artist sacrifices those things in exchange for a driving need that everything looks pretty. I hope you enjoy them.

I'll tell George R.R. Martin he's been doing it wrong.

[Imgran]

I'll tell George R.R. Martin he's been doing it wrong.

While you're doing that, I'll go work on figuring out where I said everyone should agree with me.

[Jimorian]

While you're doing that, I'll go work on figuring out where I said everyone should agree with me.

You didn't, and I didn't say you did. What you ARE doing is saying the author should write a different story using different words. Ambiguity of the characters and motivations are what Unsounded is about, so saying it shouldn't do that thing is exactly like telling George R.R. Martin that he should clearly delineate between the good guys and the bad guys, and also get rid of all those extra characters that bog things down so he could have easily wrapped up the whole story in one book instead of 6.

Not that there aren't criticisms to be leveled at Ashley for various things, it's clear she's learning on the job, which is a danger that MOST webcomic creators face. Because unlike novelists, they put their work out to the public before completion and thus never have a chance to look at the whole thing in retrospect and say to themselves "oh yeah, I should tighten up the beginning."

But Unsounded has hit the ground running better than just about any webcomic I've ever seen, including standards like OOTS or Girl Genius.