At the ICAF conference in 2005, Mike and I started drawing our first branching (or "choose your own") comic. The second of these, begun a year later at the same conference, was called "The Graveyard of Forking Paths" and eventually appeared in Satisfactory #7.
The first branching comic, "The Knight of the Dopey Countenance," appeared alongside "Graveyard" in an issue of Palimpsest, but we've never put it in one of our own comics. There hasn't really been a place for it, and I liked "Graveyard" better because I thought I'd made a mistake by beginning "Dopey" in the middle of the first row.
Now we have, I hope, fixed that small bit of disorientation. Click, enlarge, and navigate, so you can see all the different endings that our thick-headed knight manages to reach. Follow the green arrows, but don't cross the thick panel borders.
As always, props go to Jason Shiga, whose Nickelodeon strip "April Fooled" was our direct inspiration. (You can find it on his website under "strips" and then "Nickelodeon.")
I have some notebook pages pertaining to this project that I might post later this month, as a sort of "director's commentary" or something, if you're interested.
Love it! Thanks for posting--and clarifying--this comic, Isaac. I think the cartooning is probably sharper in the Graveyard comic, but given my Arthurian leanings I must admit that this one is probably closer to my heart.
ReplyDeletePlus, you know my fondness for dopey characters (Unofficial motto for SatCom #3: "Each character dumber than the last"). The protagonist of the Graveyard comic actually exhibits a little guile. This knight, though--he's hopeless!
I love it! It's been a long time since I saw the word "ensorcelment" in any of my reading material.
ReplyDeleteI think "I shall seek it in the mere!" is my favorite moment in this comic. Yes, a chalice is some sort of shellfish.
ReplyDeleteWhich of us wrote that panel, Mike? Do you remember?
Sure, I remember, but it's typically complicated by our collaborative methods. You wrote the preceding panel, about chalice = shellfish, and then I wrote & drew the original version of the panel in question, which had the Dopey Knight saying "Then I shall seek it in the lake!" (thinking of the Lady of the Lake, naturally) and the hermit figure saying "But I know where it lies..."; *you* then edited it to read "mere" instead of "lake," so you got your hand in, there (plus with the inking & the lettering and all that).
ReplyDeletePS Were you thinking of any marine life in particular when you had the KofDC think "chalice = shellfish," or was that just a bit of goofery?
ReplyDeleteFun! I enjoyed "Graveyard" & would love to see this in print as well (a possibly more compact option to get people to the first panel might be the title full-width with an arrow under it pointing to the start). Would love to see the notes, too. I have a multi-path comic in print (only a fragment online, alas) & hope to do more at some point.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that when I wrote the "chalice is a kind of shellfish" joke, I had chelicerates in mind. But I didn't intend for the "pun" to be part of the joke. I just think it's a funny-stupid mistake for our dopey knight to make.
ReplyDeleteHey, Colin--thanks for the comment. I'm curious about Isaac's alleged notes, too. So, Kaiser, if you get a chance...have at 'em!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Colin, I followed the link to your blog and was startled to see how much "Cupid's Mission" part 1 (of 3) resembled the most disturbed Valentine's Day card I ever dared to send to a real person. Thankfully, she seemed not to notice much at the time, since we're about to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary...