School Turf

[Zyflair]

I enjoyed reading it very much (if I didn't, I wouldn't have spent half of the whole afternoon doing so); the plot lines were great and each event went along smoothly. What I also loved was how the characters represented something in the real society (such as the president being a figurehead for most of the comic), and the whole thing was done in an environment I didn't expect (I'm living a rather boring school life... not that I mind). Definitely something that many should read.

Oh, and 140+ pages in less than two years? Do you have twenty-six hours a day or are you uncannily fast?

 

[Ophie]

Yeah, the ending was quite good, 'though it got a bit hard to follow because of it being almost a year since the last post...

But all in all it was a nice read, complex enough to be enjoyable, but not too complex to follow. Great job!

Thanks. I've been working on it continually, though intermittently. The reason there's a year-long gap is because I haven't been here for a year; that's basically it.

Hoo boy, this blows my stuff outta the water. Everything's really simple artwise, but the main point is that you can still read all the text and really get the story. This has everything that a good comic should, and I'm glad that you were able to finish this. Looking on my comic...ho man, it'll be hard trying to even think about getting this far into a project. So you totally have my respect here.

I will admit, it was a good bit difficult to click page-to-page. Have you thought about hosting this up on a site like Smackjeeves? The automatic navigation they include in their (free) webcomic services would definitely help to get rid of the whole 'click-and-go-back' problem. I think the SJ community would really like this story too. :3

Anyways, I'm keepin' an eye on you. I can't wait to see any more crazy stories you come up with. ;D

The reason why I don't host these things on SmackJeeves, Keenspot, or anything of the sort is because most of these sites are designed for single-page updates to be made on a regular basis, and the comics I make are neither. The ones I make are continuous stories in a graphic novel format rather than a comic strip format, and each 10-page update occurs irregularly. I might put "School Turf" up on some of these places, now that I've finished the story and I CAN make regular updates.

What kind of stuff do you do? I'd be interested in seeing it.

Read up to page ten, reading more now.

(Is that a South Park reference on there (the "What did you say?!"))

EDIT: Another South Park reference on Page 94. ;D

There are a lot of references to all sorts of things, and I had planned to insert in more if it weren't for how overreliance of them would disrupt the narrative flow. Yes, the exchange between Connor and Tiny on Page 10 is a reference to the school bus driver in South Park. And yes, Benny's death was too. The latter is a running gag; I always put it into my stories, especially now because Trey Parker and Matt Stone no longer kill off Kenny in every episode. I make sure to find ways that haven't been done in South Park.

I enjoyed reading it very much (if I didn't, I wouldn't have spent half of the whole afternoon doing so); the plot lines were great and each event went along smoothly. What I also loved was how the characters represented something in the real society (such as the president being a figurehead for most of the comic), and the whole thing was done in an environment I didn't expect (I'm living a rather boring school life... not that I mind). Definitely something that many should read.

Oh, and 140+ pages in less than two years? Do you have twenty-six hours a day or are you uncannily fast?

Well, it takes me 2 hours per page, unless it's a very simple one or it contains oversize panels, in which case it takes me less than 2 hours.

This story is based on my experiences in elementary school and, in my later years (post-graduation), my observations with the decisions made in my school district. Shortly before high school graduation, my district DID put up a candy ban and enforced it, out of a threat of a lawsuit from some angry mother. Sure enough, black markets much like Herschel's popped up all over the elementary schools under the parents' noses. So it would make sense if the characters here reflected how people in real life behave, as they're based on actual events.

A lot of people have told me that their school lives were a lot quieter than the one portrayed here. I must have come from a rough school district, as I am only exaggerating the threat just a little bit. It kind of lends itself to this sort of societal decay when the largest portion of the boys in the middle school and the high school I attended want to become cop-killing thugs in the future. (You know Riley Freeman from The Boondocks? Imagine schools filled with him.)