Road
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Felix is a 'Pilgrim of the Road'. In this world there is one road grander than all others and it runs possibly forever in length. No one knows if the Earth is no longer a sphere, or if it has just increased massively in size. All that is known is that there is a road with populated cities and settlements along it that you can travel down your whole life and it will never end or repeat. Once there was no road like this and the world was a nice manageable place. The Pilgrims of the Road are a group devoted to finding the Source or Terminus of the Road, and they travel down the Road for their entire lives. When they die, each Pilgrim passes the task on to one of their sons or daughters and then they travel the Road. Chosen Pilgrim families have the knowledge of their ancestors stored in an AI implanted into their skulls. These are ancient artifacts passed through the generations, designed to accumulate knowledge of the Road and aid the current Pilgrim's progress by supplying information from past experiences. We join Felix as he's readying to leave a city to join the Road again, but this time he's cutting all ties with the Pilgrims. He is one of the Chosen with an AI in his forehead. The Pilgrims are unlikely to let him leave freely without his obedience to their cause assured. Felix is on the run from his fellow Pilgrims and assorted city low-lives while trying to get out of the city and further down the Road.
This month's competitor Sci-Fi Drive-by makes some bold predictions about the near future. Including (if you look at the bookcart behind the alien in the Library scene) a print edition of Road!
Its been a while since I last checked up on Road, and it's still kickin'. Kyde is the still the greatest villian this century, and Page 89 is perhaps the best page in the first 100 pages of this dystopic epic! Go pilgrims!
I don't know if someone pointed this out before, but do you use the magic wand tool to create the highlights? Btw, the comic strip is great. Love it :)
This is the greatest comic print or otherwise please publish this for all the world to see. This is dynamite and you need to make this more accessible to the public!!!
ministerfortson: Sorry dude, I'm going steady with ROAD and we promised to be faithful to one another. Unless you need me to finish up Blackest Night or Siege. (o;
icelander27: Yeah, life's tough isn't it? Hmmm, the high resolution, 'fullscreen' (zoomed in) version of this page isn't loading up.....Zuda gods, can you fix this pleeeeeze?
Nyxll: Me too.
HDJ: Thanks!
We need an artist for an upcoming comic book project. Please contact me and let me know if you'd be interested in taking on something new. admin@ministerfortson.com Thanks.
Mmmmmm...Yes....the pilgrims need your organs too!!!!! *evil cackle* As if giving his eye to the failed and corrupt leader was enough.
Man... page 99 is as disturbing as the scene where the child is blinded in Slumdog Millionaire. It created an ugly knot in my stomach.
lots of chaos, lots of characters, very cool. I liked Skeleton Kyde the best
ROAD poster/cover/thing I did in color, of a bunch of the main characters!
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj30/ESharam/Road_Zuda_promo.jpg
quasilucid : Thanks man.
thraco : Glad you liked something (o;
drc : You'll have to wait on some of those questions to play out in the comic. No spoilers! As to the killers, it's like Monk says.
Monk: Thanks for the catch (o:
Martinzz: Good to hear from you. Yeah, they thieved me title, those pesky hollywood types.
Nyxll: We'll try and continue the upswing, and quit before the downward plummet!
Bagelman: Kyde? Single? I don't know, I'll have to check his Facebook status.
michaeljasper: Thanks for the kind words. But it is in color. The colors are black with a little touch of white.
I love the vision of this comic -- everything has been thought out carefully, and it has its own look and feel. The last dozen or so pages of "flashbacks" (if that's really what they are -- hallucinations, maybe? shared/distorted memories?) have been a great ride. Lovely art, though I do kinda wish for a splash of color now and then... :)
drc, if i may be so bold- they went up against a guy who had his entire body removed until he was a black skeleton. he rubbed them out before he acid dropped to the car roof. probably without even blinking, which of course, he can't. being that he removed all his flesh and is now a skull and bones. pretty much one of the sickest characters ever.
How come Galen had normal arms in #90 and then shortly thereafter (AFAICT) he has prosthetic arms? And what happened to the killers the mother superior sicced on Felix in #85? That was left hanging in the air.
Hey lookit! Kyde has his skin on. But honestly, I'm not sure which look is sexier for him. meh... I'm going to go with skinless. Yup. I like present-day Kyde. Is he by any chance single?
Just when I think you guys have crested at a new point of brilliance, you shatter it and go higher. Light and Dark arms... so awesome.
Road...brilliant. Saw the McCarthy The Road aswell recently...dystopic, cinematically beautiful, with a great lead. But no skeleton, so this one gets my vote!!!
It's good to see the bitch superior get her comeuppance. At the same time I hope she lives on and grows from her defeat: she isn't quite Kyde but she's a very satisfying character, too; it would be a pity to lose her.
I'm having a really difficult time not seeing William Gibson's Neuromancer all over this story. Lead character is a hacker who "jacks" directly into networks, his sidekick is a technologically enhanced trained killer whose eyes might *just* be a little mirror-like. Mix in a bit of the "optimum" quest and hostile tribes from Christopher Priest's Inverted World and you've got yourself "The Road."
Nevertheless, I've found this an enjoyable read, and Kyde is a truly fabulous character.
Very cool stuff on brokenfrontier. Nice insights into Road.
In case you missed it Broken Frontier has a 3 part'inside look' feature on Road:
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/lowdown/p/detail/inside-look-road-part-1
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/lowdown/p/detail/inside-look-road-part-2
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/lowdown/p/detail/inside-look-road-part-3
And my Twitter I do sometimes:
http://twitter.com/eddiesharam
bluescale: Thanks man, good to hear from a long time reader, we'll try and always evolve and improve to bring you the best comic we can do. I liked page 86 and 89 too.
Bagelman: Awesome never gets old to these ears!
Imperiused: She's obviously double jointed. (o;
drc: Glad you're liking Road so far. I'd like to think all the characters stabilise their looks (somewhat) over time as I get used to drawing them. Felix is more consistent than he was, although he's not often done in profile, and I rarely check back to see what people looked like when they appeared before. I try and rely on my mental image of the character, and I think Felix may have changed a bit over time as my perception of what a main character should be has changed over time. My other excuse is I'm a rubbish artist.
JackDiden: The chapterhouse was the main 'body' of the Pilgrims, to be protected at all costs and moved slowly down the Road. Pilgrims went out from there to 'prepare the way', sometimes years in advance of when the chapterhouse would arrive there. So a very large area around the chapterhouse is known to the Pilgrims.That way there were fewer unexpected suprises. The Orphans are a traveller faction, like the Pilgrims, but one who had not moved in a long time, instead controlling the city Kaiden's Rift.
Nyxll: You honour us sir! Your prediction has some truth, but ultimately no cigar.
This is possibly my favorite comic here, the art is fantastic and Felix is most sexy! I do have a complaint, though: Felix is IMO quite inconsistently drawn and sometimes seems to morph from panel to panel, esp. when seen in profile. I wonder where this comes from, as the other characters are more consistent. Since he is the main character, maybe you just put too much work into him and, you know, "overdraw" him, with counterproductive results? just a supposition.
Ooooooo! Miah is pissed! :P
Oh, on page 89, the riot girl's hand on Felix's head seems to come out of nowhere. Where is her arm? Her shoulder seems to low for her arm not to appear in the gap.
And may I join Bagelman and cheer for Kyde? Woowhooo Kyde!
*stands in the bleachers with a "Go Kyde!" pennant* Yeah... that's what I need. A pennant. If I say that this is awesome again, would it be redundant?
I've read Road faithfully from the beginning and loved it throughout, BUT...you are absolutely tearing it up with recent screens. The evolution of the layouts, art style and story is simply astounding. Screens 86 and 89, in particular, showcase this work at its pinnacle. The dichotomous symmetry of the events and images depicted on Screen 89 are expertly crafted. Some of the best work on Zuda. Keep it up.
Wow, this is by far my favorite comic of all time and I read way too many comics.
My prediction is that Kyde stabs her, then rips off her arm and keeps it as a trinket.
Sharam, loving this so far but I don't understand something: if the road is infinite and never repeats itself, how can there be any reference points for the pilgrims except the moving chapterhouse? I mean, going down the road they have to leave cities behind and they cannot know the cities they will find, so how can any city be known to them as a reference point? if they go on endlessly in one direction, there is no way they can maintain ties to previously seen cities/governments and they always have to create new ties with new cities/governments found along the way...
A review of Road is up on Broken Frontier, here:
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/reviews/p/detail/road
Phew! They like it.
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Bagelman: Hmmm, I'm not sure a bike like that would be road legal, but I'm sure with some old pram wheels and a few cardboard boxes and tape, you could whip one together yourself (o;
twotimingpete: Thanks man, you make me blush!
PiLS:Thanks. Not sure what you mean about physics and stuff.
fallendream: Glad you're liking it, and do not have any electronic problems.
Gnar Duce: Wow, thanks for the comparison, I too loved that stuff.
ptimony: Yeah, the page count creeps up on you.
Imperiused: I liked your idea that Kyde could be female....I hadn't even considered it til you mentioned it....but no, male he is!
MajorcaDoll: Thanks for registering and the comments. 85 pages in one go, now down to one new page a week....sorry. Hope you stick with it!
donk: Long may your unconsciousness continue (o;
Amazing power in your artwork. Rain like bullets and Kyde's black presence dominating the screen. Each Monday it knocks me out.
Registered just to comment on this comic - love how you have so many strong women. It's one of the reasons I clicked and read through all 85 pages in one go. Kyde is also an extremely interesting character.
So, Kyde has finally been determined to be male.
heh, looks like I did have a crazy man crush. xp my bad.
Good comic, one of my favs. keep it up!
84 pages already. I'm liking the flashback. Kyde is one of the most interesting bad-asses on Zuda.
I love you guys.
Some of the best comics in the silver age were the more expensive B&W's w/the great artists. These were my personal favorites. Your great work is reminiscent of those great works. THX! & Congrats on a job Well Done!
I love the art presented here. The story is getting more fun with every page too.... I suppose I could comment on "physics and electronics" but.... ummm, I tend to assume fiction means...ummm, fiction? Could just be I'm an idiot though.
Nice work. Some problems (notably with physics, electronics and co.) But that's OK. I wanted to post more details (just to help) but it won't fit in 1000 characters (8000+ whatever I do).
Still, keep it up, good stuff overall.
wow. I really love this more and more. this has got to be in my top 3 zuda comics, maybe #1.
*Drools* Girls on motorcycles. Hot, sexy girls on hot, sexy motorcycles. Nothing on this planet quite like it. P.S. where can I order that bike?
AdakeJogune:I'm glad you think Road is coming out quickly (o: Although I wish it could be faster. A page a week seems to be my limit at the moment, as I work a day job and do Road in the evenings and weekends.
zsabreuser: It ain't over til its over.
donk:Thanks man.
twotimingpete: You're too kind mate.There are plenty of flaws in there too. The big hair was better? You into green haired gals? (o;
Esoteric: Monday is magical page update day. It just happens....by magic!
Gunslinger1983: We'll try!
skythorn: It's full of good B&W vitamins and minerals, designed to satisfy even the hungriest comics devourer.
dark yux: Apparently.
George Zygouris:He's not done yet!
fernvil: 'Where is this going?' -You sound just like Kwanza! (o;
martinzz: We'll try and keep it coming. Both Jammy and I are still fit and able bodied, so a graphic novel in-the-making sounds like a good plan to aim for. 'Excruciating' sounds painful though, and I'd like to avoid any pain....ever.
Charred Skeleton Guy Fish Fry, I smell franchise!
Yo...its been a while since checking on the Road pages. Season 2 continues Sharam's beautiful, yet excruciating attention to detail. This graphic novel in-the-making has an almost neo-noir feel, reminiscent of the recent french Renaissance 2054. Sharam keeps it coming!!!
Oh boy, oh boy. Awesome. The artwork and the plot-line take us places we ain't been before. Where is this going? Impossible to second-guess.
He's back and beautiful as ever. I just love that wicked bundle of black bones.
amazing work. I love the character design for the mother.
I missed the Black Skeleton
"A Geek and a Riot Girl..."
I really do enjoy this comix - even though just B&W, its very satisfying ... :)
sweet stuff. I liked her better with the big hair though. :)
Oh snap, exploding helicopters!
Art, storyline, dialogue, everything continues NOT to disappoint me. Keep it up!