Goblins

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Oh, yeah! A thorough smackdown is about to begin!

[Castel]

Damn Ettin keeps disappearing and appearing.

The scene is pretty awesome, but its kind of hard for the artist to keep it consistent.

[averagejoe]

Damn Ettin keeps disappearing and appearing.

The scene is pretty awesome, but its kind of hard for the artist to keep it consistent.

He's behind the ogre in the first panel, but you can only see his arm; compare the coloration from the previous page. You can also see a little ettin colored blob in the fourth.

I don't know what you mean by "keeps." There's, like, two panels where you could have expected to see him clearly.

[Gez]

Ah, a dramatic portcullis. Instead of being lowered slowly, it's let to fall down abruptly, but in chunks!

[SpaceCowboy]

When I was listening to Thunt on the live feed he said apparently there will be an animated version of goblins that won't be made for quite a while though. Still pretty awesome!

[Castel]

He's behind the ogre in the first panel, but you can only see his arm; compare the coloration from the previous page. You can also see a little ettin colored blob in the fourth.

I don't know what you mean by "keeps." There's, like, two panels where you could have expected to see him clearly.

Well, it partially disappears in that panel where you can only see its arm, and then in the third panel it completely disappears, and reappears in panel 4 as that little blob you saw.


(...took me a while to see there was actually a response to my pointless nitpicking)

[Occasional Sage]

No update this week: insert lots of foul comments here. I'm really excited about the direction Goblins has taken in the last few updates and want more!

Also, faster and on a more-reliable time-table, but I'll admit that Thunt has been reasonably good since the schedule transition. I'm frustrated that it's not more predictable, but I'd be more frustrated if a grander promise were missed. As it is, once a week is being maintained and it's supporting my habit. I'm glad that this is working out!

[Lissou]

No update this week: insert lots of foul comments here. I'm really excited about the direction Goblins has taken in the last few updates and want more!

Also, faster and on a more-reliable time-table, but I'll admit that Thunt has been reasonably good since the schedule transition. I'm frustrated that it's not more predictable, but I'd be more frustrated if a grander promise were missed. As it is, once a week is being maintained and it's supporting my habit. I'm glad that this is working out!

I am not sure exactly how long before this update is done, but you should know that Thunt is sick. As in his-wife-is-gonna-beat-him-up-for-working-anyways sick. He IS still drawing, but can't pull off 10-12 hours as usual.
So, he's still drawing. The update isn't inked and even less coloured.

Just so you guys know not to expect it too soon.

If you read this, Thunt, get better soon.
avistew hugs thunt.

[Sholos]

For a while, I was really getting hopeful. Now it's been half a month and all we've seen is monsters charging the camera. Absolutely nothing of any importance. Three strips of camera charging is fine if it's three days worth of comics. When it's half a month's worth, not so much.

[tomaO2]

Also, faster and on a more-reliable time-table, but I'll admit that Thunt has been reasonably good since the schedule transition.

As it is, once a week is being maintained and it's supporting my habit. I'm glad that this is working out!

Is it working out? He quit his JOB to work for this and frankly, I don't see a big improvement. Not one that compensates the major loss of income from what he gave up.

He made his big announcement on September 20th, 2008. That's when he quit. He then was all busy with the transition and nothing really changed for awhile update wise.

The new area of Goblins was scheduled for November 15th. Supposedly.

Since then he has missed two updates and used an uncolored, bonus comic to cover up a missing third update. We are talking about twelve weeks or so here, that's not a great start.

Yes, he had a Christmas vacation but he has done the Christmas update before, when he still had a job even. Besides, Christmas is one day. He had a week to make just a single page update. It's not unreasonable for a man who has made Goblins his "job" to do something like that.

Yes, doing a bonus comic takes extra time so I can understand the desire to use that work to offset the regular comic but, when you get that sort of mentality, then why not put up the other two pages as well? A bonus comic is just that, a bonus. It's extra work. You have to be able to deal.

Yes, he got sick but if he had bothered to save his "bonus comic" for when he might actually need it, then he could have used that for the week instead. Now, I have just said previously that you should not use the bonus comic like that but if you WERE going to use it, this would be a great time. Any author that wants consistency in his updating should have a few pages in reserve for just this sort of emergency and a bonus update can do in a pinch.

Furthermore, his updates are small, inbetween one and two pages. He's never managed a three page update yet. Sure, it's probably better then before but only marginally so. I'm not sure I really feel the impovement yet.

Also, the man can't even update reliably. Despite his doing only a single page half the time, he's still unable to reliably update during the weekend, let alone be able to update on a specific day, such as Saturday. Let alone a specific time, like Midnight, Eastern time. It must be embarrassing for him to not be able to manage this since all the bragging he did when he still had his job. You have no idea. None. About how often he promised in his forum that he would always be on time with his updates if he made this his full time "job". *tisks*

The worst part is I look at his forums and the readers... they defend this. They get excited by one whole page that is posted only two days late or so. They don't remember how it used to be, before the famous double update fiasco that marked true decline in his updating professionalism. The expectations they hold are so low now compared where they used to be that it's just... well sad.

Now, it's good that he's somewhat more reliable on his updating but I'm not sure the total output has increased by much. I'm glad he has finally realized the sense in putting his update schedule ahead of making a big update but that also means it's harder to judge the output of his work. Where, before, he would have skipped an update to make a two page update the next week, now he divides it so it's one page a week.

By the way, this method is something I told him he should do many times but he thought it would interfere with his "artistic vision". I take a large measure of satisfaction that he finally realized that I had the right of the matter.

On the other hand, he still refuses to create a buffer (something else I said he should do many times) and until he does it seems pretty clear by this point that he just will never manage to get timely updates in a consistent manner.

Of course, the Giant doesn't bother with either of these things and does great (although in fairness, even without timely updates, the sheer volume of his work puts most other webcomic writers in his dust) but still, all things equal, applying both measures really do add to the reader's enjoyment.

Anyway, we are about a week away from the three month anniversary of his November 15th debut and I look at everything and all I can wonder is if he has not made a huge mistake. I just don't see anything that is making up for the loss of him quitting his job as a casino card dealer. Maybe it's time he decided that Goblins is not a good idea as a job and permanently relegate it as a hobby. He hasn't even made a Tempt's Fate update since the last run ended in August. How is he able to manage with such a drastic decrease in his income?

Don't get me wrong. The comic itself is great. I've never had any huge complaints there. I'm willing to let him tell his story.

That said, it really look like something will have to change because I don't see how this new system can possibly work, although if you guys disagree I'd love to hear why.

[Tempest Fennac]

I was wondering the same thing if I'm honest (he must have been ill to have missed an update if it is his sole income source, though). Does anyone else think the Bugbear was named after Nale from OotS? It will be interresting to see what he does if he was named after Elan's twin (I suppose he may turn out as an opposite). I don't know what's more amusing out of Goblinslayer's lack of tactics or the fact that Thaco sees Chief as their best Goblin (not that he could have said anything else in the circumstances). Now that I think about it, could the freed monsters have gained class levels just by stating they had like the GAP did?

[Stillthunt]

snip

Toma, it's been 3 years of this crap and you have yet to get anything right in your long, drawn out Thunt-bashing sessions.

I wish you'd stop making up "facts" about me and shouting about them to anyone who'd listen. You're like a guy who's seen the trailer of a movie and guesses at the ending and then complains loudly about that ending. So many of the details in your rants are not even close to the truth. I've explained this to you repeatedly, but you refuse to listen.

I wish you'd stop screaming about how Goblins has failed and is basically dead or dying. You said this when Goblins was a year old and continued to say it all through the comic's second and third year. Take off that sandwich board that says "The end is nigh" because after this long, I don't think anyone is listening anymore.

I wish you'd change the song. You've been singing this exact tune for years and you never change a beat.

I wish you'd get your own webcomic or hobby or at least realize that you hold no stock in Goblins and if I do go down in a ball of flaming fail, nothing bad will happen to you as a result. I don't know you, will never meet you and have no connections to you, so you don't need to bounce around the internet waving your arms and panicking and ranting about me for many loud, obnoxious years.

I wish you'd stop pretending that every correct move that I have made in my life was your idea. You've made this claim at least twenty to thirty times and honestly, it just makes you look dumb.

Now, even though I wish these things, this is the internet and you are welcome to continue your little soapbox dances as much as you like. Hell, go have a professionally made, custom build, golden soapbox with "Thunt is a failure and I told him so" carved onto the front of it if you like. It still won't make me the lazy failure that you want so badly for me to be and it won't stop me from drawing 8 to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week and making all of these wishes about you. But above all else, I wish that you'd stop reading my comic.

~Thunt
(PS - 90% of my drawing is done live on webcam to dispell the "I don't think you actually draw that much" crowd)

[averagejoe]

I know he doesn't get a lot of love, but I do like Chief. Maybe he does get scared and not do anything, but he keeps trying, keeps on going back to face that horror again and again. That's courage. It is rather easy to seem brave if one doesn't have fear. Plus Chief has sense, in some ways more than Thaco. He's not the most useful combatant, but I could see him being called their best goblin.

I should also say that this continues to be one of my favorite comics. I abhor the update schedule, but that's only because any schedule slower than all of it right the hell now would be too slow. The thing that makes it stand out for me is the thoughtfulness with which the problems in the story are treated. The scene in the tall grass, culminating in their decision to become adventurers, was the point at which I said, "Okay, this is something special." There were long bits of text, but not in a bad way; one was really made to understand why Complains' decision to use the items wasn't a trivial one, and the gravity of his situation. I mean, it wasn't all talk, and the scene was also hilarious (something which a lot of "serious" writers fail to do.) There are a lot of criticisms I could make, and sometimes do, but overall it's still one of the best comics out there.

[Tempest Fennac]

Those are good points about Chief. I just remembered Thaco explaining Chief's situation to Complains after the zombie incident.

[Gez]

Does anyone else think the Bugbear was named after Nale from OotS?

About as much as I think he was named so in honor to Trent Reznor's band. (Since he's taller than nine inch, that's a "no". HTH.)

[Winterwind]

Just wanted to say that averagejoe's opinion (also with regards to Chief, but particularly with regards to the comic) is quite exactly the same as mine. I would say more, but averagejoe already said everything there was to say, and far more eloquently than I could hope to, too.

[Castel]

Was it just my imagination, or did the bugbears name change from "Nale" to "Nail" overnight? Was he always named "Nail" and I just read it as "Nale" by mistake?

[Tempest Fennac]

It was definitly changed (it was Nale when I read it this morning).

[tomaO2]

Hi Thunt. Rather suprised to see you posting to me. It's kind of pointless though. Especially since you are just giving a rant. This just leads to further arguing. Back and forth until one person just gives up and breaks it off.

It's funny. We've got legions of people insulting Dominic Degan but you think *I* go to far? You can't even sit down and watch 2 minutes of that Vader scene before going off in a rant. I'm not even complaining about the story itself. But if you want to sit down and discuss how badly I am treating you, sure, we can do that.

Toma, it's been 3 years of this crap and you have yet to get anything right in your long, drawn out Thunt-bashing sessions.

Well, that is your ungenerous way of looking at it. I feel I offer valid criticism. I give said criticism because I like the comic to begin with. I read it. It's good. Heck, I have even donated to it AND I bought the PDF file for the second book (not the first though, that was kindly given to me by a fellow forum goer).

Note that despite donating, I have never once asked for a "refund" of my money. That is an act of someone just being a jerk to the sake of annoying you. I'm also not coming online and constantly filling your forums with my complaints. I could. But I haven't. I'm also not logging onto your webcam thing and tossing insults at you there (although I have watched you on it).

Contrary to this fantasy of yours, Thunt. I don't really want to give you a bunch of "crap". I have and will probably continue to have nice things to say about Goblins, inbetween my criticisms anyway. I'll admit, I tend to post when I dislike something rather then lavish praise, but I hardly feel I am "Thunt bashing". After reading the Dominic Deagen forum threads, can you really accuse me of bashing? Read it again. That is the kind of thing that is pure venom. They don't even take it seriously anymore. It's just done for fun.

Besides, it's not like you are something special. I complain about everyone. I have done so about OOTS and Erfworld, plus numerous other webcomics where I found something I disagreed with. It's just the kind of person I am. *shrugs*

I wish you'd stop making up "facts" about me (emphasis mine) and shouting about them to anyone who'd listen. You're like a guy who's seen the trailer of a movie and guesses at the ending and then complains loudly about that ending. So many of the details in your rants are not even close to the truth. I've explained this to you repeatedly, but you refuse to listen.

Don't insult me. I speculate a bit, even state my speculation with more assurance then some might think is warrented but I don't "make up facts". I take what I know and draw what seems to be the most reasonable interpretation and I don't ever try to smear ANYONE for the sake of giving out "crap". Also, if I am wrong, I can admit it.

However, I don't think your problem with me has anything to do with making anything up. In fact. I recall you talking on your webcam one time about how some poster keeps insulting you and making things up and how you found it funny (I never did bother find out who it was). If I was genuinely making things up, then you would probably treat me like you did him. Heck, if I was actually spreading falsehoods, you would be able to give all these examples of me lying because my posts seem to be so memorable to you and yet, you don't.

No, you get mad at me because I do the exact opposite and it HURTS. I bring up things that you would rather people didn't mention. It's embarrising to you. It makes you angry. You can't treat me like a little kid calling you a booger face, which is ineffective and allows you to rise above it all. I don't go for cheap tricks like that to get a reaction. This is why you made the mistake of posting a reply.

This is also why you generally do what you are doing now. You tell me that I am wrong. You dismiss everything I have to say and you claim that you have all the answers, even though you really don't explain yourself. I've always felt you have given me a lot of short thrift. I also know that you have given detailed rebuttals to people that were totally off base. You really have nailed them for their ignorance. I have no doubt you'd do the same to me, if you could.

When you DO explain yourself, which happens, I take what you say under consideration. Sometimes I agree, sometimes not. Even when I disagree though, I still present a detailed arguement. I present that because I am not a person to simply say that "you suck". That's just bashing and I don't do that. Well, I try very hard not to anyway. Sometimes I go to far but I am willing to apoligize for that, as I did just before I permantly stopped logging on to your forum.

You should further note that I have not said one word. Not a single word until one week shy of 3 months since the "official" new age of Goblins has begun. A basher would would NEVER have been able to keep quiet so long Thunt. I did not because I have no vested interest in having you fail. I promised myself not to say anything until I had given you 3 months to try this out. I have done so and from every angle I am able to see. This is not working out.

It could be I am wrong but instead of explaining you just jump on me and say I don't understand. Well, I freely asked at the end of my post that if anyone could see anything in another way to please say so and why. You are allowed, nay, encouraged to tell me how I am wrong Thunt. Please feel free to.

As a final note on this section, sometimes, I agree and then you end up not living up to what you say you are going to do. That bugs me too.

I wish you'd stop screaming about how Goblins has failed and is basically dead or dying. You said this when Goblins was a year old and continued to say it all through the comic's second and third year. Take off that sandwich board that says "The end is nigh" because after this long, I don't think anyone is listening anymore.

I wish you'd change the song. You've been singing this exact tune for years and you never change a beat.

Well, you are listening to me Thunt and, unlike when I posted at your forums, I don't get a bunch of regulars jumping doen my throat when I say something negative. I understand that there is not a bunch of people read this thread but that's fine. I don't actually need to go out and make a name for myself as your arch-critic.

Anyway, this is a gross exaggeration. I don't scream, for starters. In addition, this is actually the first time I have said Goblins is failing as a buisness. How could it fail? Up until three months ago, it was a hobby. I've said other things. Examples like, you charge for much for Tempts Fate, you don't update enough, lack professionalism, not treating your readers right... I've certanly waffled on how well you could do in making this your sole source of income (which is different then saying that you you go bankrupt for sure, if you try doing so). Sometimes I think yes, sometimes no, but saying your comic is on the verge of death? No. I firmly believe that the comic will continue in some form or other. I've honestly never thought otherwise.

Sometimes, I have even said the exact opposite. That it was doing so well that you didn't need your job. That Tempt's Fate is a huge money maker (I genuinely thought before that you charged too much but I see the results). I've also now realize that, contrary to your putting less and less work, that you obiviously put way too much work into your pages. So much that you can barely get anything done.

As for my unchanging "beat", well, that will change when I understand what I am saying is wrong or you realize that I am right. I can change my opinions but I also need a reason to do so. You simply have not provided me with one.

I wish you'd get your own webcomic or hobby or at least realize that you hold no stock in Goblins and if I do go down in a ball of flaming fail, nothing bad will happen to you as a result. I don't know you, will never meet you and have no connections to you, so you don't need to bounce around the internet waving your arms and panicking and ranting about me for many loud, obnoxious years.

You really have to stop exagerating. True, I did post quite a lot on your forum, much of it negative. But I stopped quite awhile ago. The reason I stopped is because I actually did stop caring. Look, I only got worked up before because I thought better of you. Had higher expectations. That's gone.

Other then that, this is the only other place I post about you. I don't go around badmouthing you. In fact, I have reccomended you to some people I know who have an interest in D&D. I would again. It's a good comic.

Also, while nothing bad will happen to me if you fail, the things you have done irritates me. Even though I don't really care about how well you do anymore, I find numerous actions you have made to be annoying. Nowadays, the occasional post I make about Goblins here is just my way of feeling better about what bothers me about your comic (or rather, the way you run your website as I don't really have any complaints on the story itself). Just like trying to cut me down is your way of feeling better when someone appears to be "giving you crap".

I'm sure that my talking about it is inconvenient to you. You would like your numerous missteps to be swept under the rug but... you can't. Sorry.

I wish you'd stop pretending that every correct move that I have made in my life was your idea. You've made this claim at least twenty to thirty times and honestly, it just makes you look (edit).

Oh please, Tempt's Fate was genius. Pure gold. That was all you. The idea never even occured to me. I also never would have risked jumping the donations up to the level you did but you were right and I was wrong. Also, the Cave of Wonders game you came up with? Magnificant! I made a whole new thread right here just to praise it. When that game finally gets rolling, I have no doubt you will make every dollar and beyond what you posted as your original goal.

However, I most certainly did tell you to make a buffer. I have and continue to say that you currently put too much detail into your work, reducing your output by a large amount for negligable gains in detail (I can't really tell any big ones from as far back as first half of book two to where you are now). Furthermore, I have suggested that you do one page updates. Which is an idea you have reisisted strongly.

I even go futher. I want you to have nothing BUT one page updates. Build a buffer. Make the comic a bi-weekly. This helps with bringing in readers. Getting more clicks. Don't take my word for it. Many successful webomic authors have also said so. It's the same sort of principle as your decision to break up the archives. Break them up and the reader has to do more clicks to read it all. This is another move I didn't think of myself but strongly agree with.

And finally, if you find yourself with extra time, do what the Giant does with his origin stories and make an entire BOOK that available for purchase only. You always said you wanted to make a comic on the "Invasion of Brassmoon City". Why not do that that in your spare time? It certainly would not be done any time soon but it would be a great addition when done. Do I look "dumb" to suggest these things? I don't think so and I'm not going to take your word for it.

Now, even though I wish these things, this is the internet and you are welcome to continue your little soapbox dances as much as you like. Hell, go have a professionally made, custom build, golden soapbox with "Thunt is a failure and I told him so" carved onto the front of it if you like. It still won't make me the lazy failure that you want so badly for me to be and it won't stop me from drawing 8 to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week and making all of these wishes about you. But above all else, I wish that you'd stop reading my comic.

~Thunt

Oh come now Thunt. Do you have any idea how many people LIVE to badmouth something they hate? It's really hard to make something that SOMONE isn't going to dislike. That's not even me, I don't hate your comic. Never have. I don't hate you either BUT I do dislike many of the things you have done. The broken promises. The way you'd say things would get better when they don't. You made mistakes. Wanting me to stop telling people does not erase them. I could to the opposite direction but, again, I really don't hate you, so I don't feel the need to bother.

(PS - 90% of my drawing is done live on webcam to dispell the "I don't think you actually draw that much" crowd)

I agree. You certainly do draw a lot. I didn't believe it before but I was wrong. I can say I was wrong. I will even apologize for not believing you when you told me that you were working harder and longer.

Now, can you say you were wrong about your insistance that making long updates is better then making sure you reliably update?

PS. Why are you using a new user name to write this? If I didn't recognize you by the way you are talking to me, then I would think you were someone posting at Thunt.

Honestly. You already have an account.

[Occasional Sage]

Just read the new update. Interestingly, that fellow seems to already know THAC0. Probably not surprising given his age, but still what are the odds?

So where do ya'll think he's leading GS? The obvious guess is, "anywhere away from the fight," but I think that's too simplistic. I'm open to ideas though.

[Tempest Fennac]

I was wondering if the others Thaco mentioned were setting up an ambush, but Thaco doesn't seem to want anyone else involved with his plan. It could just involve a wild goosechase to keep GS out of the way.

[Lissou]

Note that despite donating, I have never once asked for a "refund" of my money.

And I have never killed anyone. Clearly, I'm not a jerk either.
...wait... Does bragging about not doing something so despicable make sense?
What point are you trying to make? "Hey, I'm not the worst person ever!" Well, honestly, I think it's kind of a weak argument.

After reading the Dominic Deagen forum threads, can you really accuse me of bashing? Read it again. That is the kind of thing that is pure venom. They don't even take it seriously anymore. It's just done for fun. Besides, it's not like you are something special. I complain about everyone. I have done so about OOTS and Erfworld, plus numerous other webcomics where I found something I disagreed with. It's just the kind of person I am. *shrugs*

"Some people are rapists. But, I only mugged you! I didn't rape you! How can you say it's aggressive when other people do worse? Besides, why do you complain? I've mugged lots of other people. It's just the kind of person I am."

Yeah, my point is, your argument isn't very strong. Saying other people do worse or that you do the same to other people doesn't make one any less justified to feel bad about what you did to them and resent you for it.

No, you get mad at me because I do the exact opposite and it HURTS. I bring up things that you would rather people didn't mention. It's embarrising to you. It makes you angry. You can't treat me like a little kid calling you a booger face, which is ineffective and allows you to rise above it all. I don't go for cheap tricks like that to get a reaction. This is why you made the mistake of posting a reply.

So, let me get this straight. You are telling my friend that you are hurting him, that you know you are hurting him, and that you want to keep doing it? And you don't see a problem with that? Well I do.
Being frustrated about the schedule, wishing Thunt would listen to you and do things your way... I can relate to that. I can understand that. You're stubborn, and so is he. He's going to do things his way no matter what, and what you say or do won't change anything.
But you think you're hurting him, and rather than apologising, you're trying to make it worse? How? Why? What's wrong with you?
How can you say publicly that you WANT to hurt someone you say you don't hate? Why is it so important for you to be "right", to get things your way?
How can it be important enough to hurt somebody on purpose? Please, explain your reasoning to me.

I would also like to know why you stated earlier that you though the only thing that could happen was back and forth posts, and yet you made that lengthy post? Obviously you're not even expecting to convince him or anything. I don't get that.

You should further note that I have not said one word. Not a single word until one week shy of 3 months since the "official" new age of Goblins has begun.

You keep doing that. Please, stop congratulating yourself for not being worse than you are. It makes you look arrogant at best.

As a final note on this section, sometimes, I agree and then you end up not living up to what you say you are going to do. That bugs me too.

Yeah. I hate it too when he sets unrealistic goals for himself. Then he doesn't meet them, and he feels like crap, and he's got like a horde of angry fans yelling at him. What can I say, he cares too much.
If he didn't care about the fans, if he didn't want to be fair to them, he would just update whenever he wants, take his time, have no set update. He wouldn't stress out has much as he does now. Maybe he would work less and sleep more.
That's not going to happen, you know. Seriously. He wants to make everybody happy, and that's just not possible. So yeah, I'd say when he reads your post, it probably hurts. (I know it hurt me a lot). And if he didn't care about his fans, it wouldn't.

I'm sure that my talking about it is inconvenient to you. You would like your numerous missteps to be swept under the rug but... you can't. Sorry.

You're commenting out of love for the comic, was it? Or are you just boosting your ego? Posing as a comic Supervillain? "I know you one weakness, Tarolman! I'll get you someday!"
It's quotes like this that make you truly aggressive and hurtful. You are being mean and petty. Please try making your arguments without doing that. It makes even your valid points lose any weight they could have had. You're being the guy people look at thinking "oh man, why did that guy have to agree with me?"
I am sure you are able to make your point in a clear, polite manner. I would appreciate if you would do so.

Furthermore, I have suggested that you do one page updates. Which is an idea you have reisisted strongly.

Hey, welcome to the club. Do you know how many people have suggested that? I'm one of them, I should know. Yes, he resisted it strongly. He still does. What on Earth made you say "Ah! He's doing one page updates now!"? I mean, the latest update is two pages, for starters. The one before was one page, but the one before that also had two pages.
Thunt is still against doing only one pagers. He still wants to do whatever he thinks will work best for his story. He still wants to do two pages late rather than one page on time.
I have no idea what you're talking about, and why you think he changed his mind. More importantly, I don't know why you would think that you influenced him personally when so many people have been saying the exact same thing as you.

Thunt is an artist. A foolish goofy stubborn artist, and I love him for that. He's not going to change his story for the fans. He's not going to post one page at a time if two pages make for a better cut.
What he's going to do is decide to squish more work in less time by working more than should be legal.
He kept working while he was sick, by the way. Everybody seems to assume that because he missed an update he must have slept the whole time. He didn't. The man worked every single freaking day. Yes, he was sick. Yes, he needed to take more breaks, to rest more, and didn't go as fast. But he did not take a single day off. He didn't, when any sane person would have.

I forgot to quote your "spare time" idea.
Now that's funny. What spare time? He spends more time drawing than I am awake. Give me a break, if he had even a second of spare time a week, he would add it to his update workload. Whatever bonus project he does would either mean a break from the main comic or that the main comic is over already.
Plus, I don't think he would sell a print only book. He would still post it online to make sure people don't have to buy it and risk not like it. He's the worst businessman in the world.

[Gez]

TomaO2, you should ditch Goblins and follow some other comic. I recommend Dresden Codak.

[Johnny Blade]

I recommend Dresden Codak.

I never thought I would do this, but to tomaO2, I'd recommend this one as well.

[High-Chancellor]

I love you guys.

[Sholos]

Seems like some people have never heard of tough love. Give Toma a break, guys. To me, it's obvious that s/he really does enjoy Goblins, but is frustrated with some of the things Thunt does. It's also obvious that Toma is not the kind of person to sit there and quietly take it.

[Johnny Blade]

I love you guys.

Who doesn't? Thanks.
But, you know, I can only guess about Gez' intentions, but despite the little smilie I put behind my post, I'm not sure how serious I was there myself.

I mean, since tomaO2 has stated himself that he doesn't hate Thunt and also doesn't really think his long-winded posts will have any effect, he must derive some sort of fun from this, so I believe Dresden Codak might fit his preferences even better.

Right now, I could write something bashing both him and Dresden Codak, which would mainly focus on inflated egos, but, well...

[Gez]

Aaron Diaz, the author of Dresden Codak, has quit his job back in 1987* in order to be a full-time webcartoonist. Since then, he has updated only three* times. But nevertheless, for all its flaws, DC still has awesome art.


(* Values exaggerated for hyperbolic humor because I'm too lazy to hunt down the actual date and count the actual number of updates. Suffice to say that even without exaggeration, the comparison to Diaz makes Tarol Hunt's update speed and reliability look like Howard Tayler's own.)

[Winterwind]

Gone with the Blastwave would be another example for these. Very nice art, very funny (if one likes pitch-black humour, anyway), but an update "schedule" from the lowest recesses of hell.


Though I must say, toma02 didn't seem to me as if s/he was enjoying ripping on poor update schedules. Rather, s/he seemed to be genuinely concerned about the viability of Thunt's business model. Thunt (and Lissou, apparently) are the only ones who can tell how valid these concerns are, and the tone could definitely have been chosen better, but dismissing toma02 as someone who is merely looking for some opportunity to complain or troll is completely missing what s/he is saying. Or so it would appear to me.

[High-Chancellor]

Gone with the Blastwave is an awesome comic. As is Dresden Codak.


Regarding Toma drama, I used to like toma, years ago before his rants got increasingly negative old and tired. Not that I dislike him now, but it gets old after a while, and it is INCREDIBLY negatively and arrogantly spun outside the grain of humility.

(I'm reminded of another comic I used to read, Dragon Mango, where some characters keep talking bad about a third party who's also part of the conversation, and keep saying "No Offense" after everything. The third party comments "You know, it's hard to not take offense when you KEEP TALKING BAD ALL THE TIME." I paraphrase, but it seems similar.)

Really, it's the same stuff over and over again for years now, with large amounts of a "If you don't do it like I tell you to, you're a loser idiot" vibe.

I'm fairly convinced by now that he just does it for the attention.


As it is this time around, I disagree with most all of his points. Thunt has been more reliable since the New Age began, we're noticeably moving much faster these days than we were for a while, much closer to what things used to be like. This is a fairly impressive feat given that he's getting more and more detailed, and he's doing fairly labor intensive action scenes mostly at the moment.

And as I understand it, the main reason for the downtime at the start of the new age was because he was moving to a new lower cost locale, so that he'd be more likely to maintain his family on Goblins. Which seems to be working fairly well for now.

And I think he'll only be getting better as he gets more used to how he has to pace things, and after he gets Book II out to the printers and all.