Exposition 1a
In an attempt to get as much exposition out as quickly as possible, I am over-filling pages with dialogue. I can’t post two a day, so please tune in tomorrow for the second portion of today’s page. ~STH
Exiern
Swords, Sorcery, And Then Some!
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Swords, Sorcery, And Then Some!
Howdy, New Readers! Thanks for reading Exiern!
Written by Scott T. Hicken with art by Antipus, the comic updates Mondays.
Please check out the Archive to enjoy the earlier adventures of Typh and Peonie!
Exiern contains mature themes and is best for readers 18+.
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And in that last, grayed out frame, Theresa looks quite playful. I hope there really is affection between her and the Urtica.
My gosh, but that orb really did bring her right back up.
“the Urtica”. Sheesh. Edited “the King”.
No, I think you said it right the first time.
The last frames confused me, lol
@TJgalon: Regarding those 2 grayed out frames, my first guess is that they’re supposed to be someone’s scrying spell.
OH f!!k off! I don’t even follow what the hell is going on because you NEVER EXPLAIN ANYTHING. I’m getting sick of this whole ‘let’s start explaining but then throw in some BS to get in the way for a bit and get back to the plot eventually, rinse and repeat at nausea’ please man just explain what’s going on already. You’ve been doing this for months and honestly I’m sick of it.
I know this is kind of harsh but honestly man this is just pissing me off, it’s just really bad writing when you can’t get the plot across. And you’ve been using this same thing over and over again. Please just let them explain things because this has gotten old. And the whole greyed out stuff makes no sense and seems to leave a few people confused.
The greyed out panels will have their dialogue posted tomorrow. I am trying to burn through the exposition as fast as possible in pages that did not have the space to do so. I accept that the intrigue has worn off and will get us through this as quickly as possible.
As noted by others above, I’m betting the grey panels are a scrying spell that her humming is interfering with…
Agent-G: most times, when a writer has to resort to dialogue exposition, it’s because idiots can’t figure out what is going one from reading slash viewing what has happened
Yes, there times when they have to do that anyway, but that is still mostly because idiots are too stupid or impatient and insist on things being spelt out for them in giant crayon
Thank you ScottHicken for explaining about the greyed out last panels, but figured, as you said, there was too much ‘talky-talky’ in the other panels to fit them in (the second last panel looks like Terry just told Princess P-cups something that had her wanting to scrub her brain pan clean in the last panel, and daddy King doesn’t look happy about it either :D)
Church of Rem violently enforcing its laws? Oh. That can’t be good. Just ask Typhan- Knee!
I appreciate the exposition, given the transition to a new artist, and to a new arc. This is all background stuff that sets up our main characters for their parts in the story.
And I appreciate the grayed out frame technique, which essentially gives us two strips in one week with the same art, following two actual strips in one week.
Gah.
“Transition to a new WRITER”
Hey there! I don’t comment here often – or at all, really. Still, I’ve followed Exien from it’s earliest versions and gladly still follow it. I don’t know what credentials Agent-G has, but as a Professor of English Literature I will give my approval of the writing here, as it does not suck in my humble opinion. Honestly, if someone doesn’t like the comic and/or writing, they shouldn’t be commenting on how terrible it is, as you’re only souring the atmosphere for those who DO enjoy the comic. If you don’t like it, go read something you do like. It’s a very simple concept. My apologies if I come off as rude, but I could not let such a comment go and let the staff here think ‘the writing sucks’ is a common opinion of your work. It’s not. I would say write as you will, tell the story you want to tell, and the fans will be behind you every step of the way. I know I will.
@Agent-G & @Vicky I agree with vicky that this is well written, however I understand Agent-G’s problem of wanting the answers already, as given how seldom we are getting updates having to wait for an explanation can be bothersome. HOWEVER, I feel that the story as a whole would suffer if it was rushed, what a story needs is a balance between taking its time and not jerking its readers around, wich I personally feel exiern is dong well, DESPITE my OWN impatience.
Many thanks for the kind words. I am pleased to say that this “scene” – this moment in the room with Peonie and the others – was always meant to be when all would be revealed. Nothing about its timing in the story has changed, despite even my own impatience.
However, sometimes Shipeng underestimates how much room I need for dialogue, and so I’d rather share all his wonderful art and still move things along. The moment I saw panel 3 on this page I knew I’d have to make some sort of arrangement to fit in what needs to be told of Coriander. Generally I’m a Show-Don’t-Tell sort of guy and commissioning more pages of “tell” didn’t sit right with me, if I could get told what needed to be told in a more timely manner.
I am an avid reader of all sorts of comics and such. There have been several comics in the past, including Conan, that would need to have as much as two pages of exposition to help the story move along and for the reader to stay current.
I have enjoyed the story and will continue to follow it because if you go back and actually count pages, it hasn’t been that long since this all started, excluding the pages for the new sub plot.
Posting one page a week makes anything without action drag along. Best to take a break for a month from reading if you are getting frustrated and come back when you can read 3-4 pages at a time would be my suggestion.
Methinks that, given the new information on current church overzealousness, either of two possibilities emerge for statue Isabel:
1) The other Remmites stoned her as a warning to others to respect their authority/dignity, and Teresa can’t unstone her until the current unstable power vacuum within the church of REM has been resolved to the crown’s satisfaction.
2) Teresa herself stoned Isabel to PROTECT her from worse reprisal by the other Remmites, and can’t unstone her until the current unstable power vacuum within the church of REM has been resolved to the crown’s satisfaction.
My assumption that Isabel can, in fact, be unstoned stems from the nonchalance of the maids with regards to the idea of P-cups being stoned. If stoning was actually lethal/irreversible, their reaction should have been much more extreme, and everyone in the palace save Urtica should openly and powerfully fear Teresa, which hasn’t been the case. If I’ve missed something which would undermine this train of thought, please enlighten me.
I find the plot twists realistic, frankly. The population we see in recent scenes, and in the majority of the comic, are Homo Sapiens Sapiens, a species of large obstreperously violent primates. When you get plots over who will be at the top of any single hierarchy in such a population, then any hierarchy interacting with that hierarchy *will* be under threat, and often *should* react as Urtica is doing.
The complaints over a lack of simplicity in the story’s plot may be valid from a purely emotional entertainment perspective. However, from a realism viewpoint, that it engages the intellect as much or more than the simple emotional reactions to a single plot line, …this keeps things interesting. This sort of thing must be paid attention to when going to fight alongside a tribe in the jungles of SE Asia, just as much as it was in the Blachernae Palace in Constantinople of the 7th century, or the rooms of the NATO Council in Brussels today.
BTW, the sort of militant church group that is so good at plotting as to remove the Grand Vicar “before his time” seldom has enough attention left to stay militarily competent themselves, no matter that this “Coriander” is former military, apparently. If his ascension inside the Church of Rem *does* threaten to take control of the Alliance, then Urtica, his daughter, and his Queen, have every reason to be concerned for the survival of the Alliance, as much as their own.
i’m disappointed that they are not bringing down the hole strucutre religious institutions especially those with any kind of power or authority have to be broken entirely. Of course you have to be an absolute moron to allow any religion to have a military arm to enforce policies such is a huge mistake military might should only be in the hands of civilian authorities not religious institutions.
Tiffanyhm, hole structures are usually very unstable, being, you know, more hole than structure, and improper hole collapse operations can have serious repercussions throughout the continuum. Particularly because so many contractors, as it says in the Holey Book, book of Holes, Chapter 1, “know not their a!s from a hole in the ground”. Properly trained lacuna contraction contractors take a more holistic approach, carefully modelling the whole matrix. And while laypersons talk casually about breaking power lines or other utilities running through the surrounding substrate, in fact surveys must be taken to see that they are properly re-routed, terminated, or capped.
@Tiffanyhm Do you realise that not only is what you suggest unlikjely to work, but would would in fact more likely just drive things underground not only making the militant wing harder to track, but also increaseing support for it by people who feel that Urtica has oversteped his athourity? I think you should read a certain quote about “he who fights monsters” cause you are starting to come of a little fasicst yourself.
I turned the last grayed out frame upside down, and Theresa’s expression is charming.
However, her dress makes her look like a wanton caterpillar.
50srefugee: you make that sound like a bad thing 😛
Hmm, a caterpilltaur: half caterpillar half woman, all cute 😀