Golden
Genre:
Historical Period, Action/Adventure
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Annually in Japan on Boy’s Day the spirit of Kintaro, the Golden Boy is celebrated. The Japanese version of Tom Sawyer, Daniel Boone and Paul Bunyon rolled into one person. A real life figure, his exploits have grown to legendary proportions over the centuries. After his father is murdered as a child, Kintaro and his mother take refuge in the forest around Mt. Kintoki. Kintaro flourishes in this environment and makes friends with all of the animals in the forests. His amazing childhood adventures shape his adult life and make him known to many outsiders who would like to use his skills to their advantage. Master Yorimitsu is the Samurai Warlord who ultimately tames Kintaro and brings him in from the forest. As the First of Master Yorimitsu's Four Warriors, Kintaro is tasked with hunting down outlaws and monsters that have escaped capture. In this task he is better than any other. He is handsomely rewarded by his master and gains great notoriety throughout the country. But unknown to his master or anyone is his true goal, vengeance for his father’s murder. He will have his revenge and restore his family’s honor, or die trying.
OH CRAP...I just laid a Golden Egg! I guess I'll vote for you then GOLDEN!
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Oh yea, by the way Almostgotta zoo must REALLY like you cause they sent me over here too!
Almostgottazoo sent over the Heavy Hottie to vote for you baby!
A Golden Boy
A golden boy was growing up
Kintaro was his name,
His friends were furry critters,
But they loved him just the same.
The sky was filled with clouds,
The land was cold & grey.
He could not find his mother,
Why had she gone away?
You got my vote guys! Almostgottazoo sent me over :)
Golden should be #1! You got my vote & my 5 starts too.
Almostgottazoo sent me too!
LOL! "Peace out is right" It does look like that. It is amazing how close people really look at all the details & art
BTW - ALMOSTGOTTAZOO SENT ME!
YOU GOT MY VOTE!!
My favorite frame is where the mom is giving the dad the "peace out" sign as he goes to his death.
Thanks Blue. I appreciate it. Tell your friends.
Don't really care for these kind of stories but I liked thise one...the narrative kept me into it. 4 outta 5!
You mean I didn't have your votes before? Hmmmm. Looks like Almostgottazoo is doing the right thing.
I voted for GOLDEN!
AlmostGottaZoo sent me.
Hiro out!
Almostgottazoo is very persuasive! She sent me to vote for your comic & I can see why. Are you sure this ranking isn't backwards because Golden is the best!
ALMOSTGOTTAZOO sent me to vote on your comic!
Plus I gave you 5 stars & added you to ny favorites!
Hey! ALMOSTGOTTAZOO SENT ME!
You got my vote!
Thanks DJ. I appreciate the comments! Now go tell everyone you know!
man, how did I miss this the other day? Great art here-- good luck troy!
Never surrender! Being here is already a victory.
Wow. A step back. Well, we keep on fighting!!!
9th place? You've got to be kidding! Golden has tons of potential & should without a doubt be published.
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Some of you sugar pimps with the negative reviews need to get some arm pit hair plucked out with a pair of dull tweezers!
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YOU GO TROY & SCOTT!!
frequentcontributor says:
Better than Action, Ohio, but still not great. And what's with the Down Syndrome kid?
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frequentcontributor, YOU ARE AN IGNORANT SLUG! MAKING FUN OF HANDICAPPED CHILDREN IS NOT COOL!
OK. Who did I anger that took back their favorite? Come on...what can I do to sway you back? Surely you still love our comic. Come on. Admit it!!!
Oh, and RKB, I am never satisfied with just placing. In everything I have done in my life I have never lost. I have always found a way to come out on top. But comics, and especially these with voting or judges involved, has been a different story for me. So I guess honestly it might be a little bit of a sore spot but I am not giving up and this story will continue one way or another. I just hope things move up. I have posted and begged and pushed nearly everywhere. Going to the next level now to see if I can't give this a kick in the pants.
Hey thanks for takeing the time to put your thoughts down about our strip RKB and mpd57. I love this kind of direct feed back about our webstrip. Often times when working on a story, its in isolation, and we don't often get the opportunity to hear directly from the reader about their reaction to a story.
RKB, yes this is the first project Troy and I have worked together on. I think we are a good team and I fully expect we will finish this story regardless of the outcome of this competition :]
As far as the blood goes...honestly i wasnt shooting for any rateing really. It just didnt seem relevent to the story at the time. I look at blood as something that can be used to convey intense action, but really its just a flourish to convey strong emotion, speed or impact. I'm not opposed to its use....even in large quantities. But for this story, and for how we are building this character it is secondary to Kintaro's character development.
Personally I think there is so much flash and special effects in the stories we read and movies we watch, it sort of takes away from the real drama that actually stays with us when we care about what happens to the characters.
I appreciate your comments on the panel layouts and the readability of the text in the captions. I will definately take that to heart in future strips. Same with the coloring, I'm still working out what works best for the look of the story actually so I do really appreciate your thoughts on this.
Mpd57, I hear what your saying that the art feels stylistcally inconsistent. I will say that I'm never 100% happy with my own work, so I'm appreciative of anyone helping me to see were I can improve my artwork. So many thanks for takeing the time to look at, and write down your reactions to Golden. Your comments will be taken as fuel to refine the look of the story as it develops further :]
MPD and RKB...both very well thought out critiques. Thank you both so much. I won't respond to the comments on Scott's artistic style other than to say I personally love the way things look. When Scott and I have talked about things he has said based on comments that if we continued he might try and make things look less cute and cuddly, kind of like in the sketch he did that is up in the Wizard review. Like I said, I love the art and I think it captures the story, but Scott will have to speak to some of the technical comments and questions. Thanks again to both of you, you have given us some very good food for thought!
Oi! Que jumper! I think RKB got in before me with some similar observations, but I won't let that stop me ;-) I didn't think I was going like this strip very much and I guess I didn't, but for different reasons than I first thought. I guessed dull historical epic. Maybe some violence to liven it up. But you made some intelligent attempts to flesh out a character and a reasonably interesting backstory. The narrative, although throwing up one or two clichés, was fairly solid and the writing style didn't seem strained or false. I think you concentrated on getting everything you needed to get in and making it work within the eight screens. Perhaps not enough of a cliffhanger or tease at the end, but still pretty good work. I think it's in the art where it all falls down. Most of the bum notes for me were in the artistic style which seemed to shift slightly from screen to screen. The shift of style from the first screen to the second is disturbing to say the least and then it seems to shift from panel to panel as well. What is going on in panel three? What are those lines around the monsters head? Surprise? I'm not terribly well versed in manga styles, but I thought we went straight from feudal Japan to Riverdale High! The same thing happens on the other screens, but to a much lesser extent. I don't mind anything that actually happens, it's just the way it's being presented to me that seems so disjointed. The colouring seems consistent but lacks any real punch so it tends to look flat overall. The layouts were OK, but again, seemed to shift in style from one screen to another, the word balloons were ugly and the text a little weak. So overall I'd say the writing is good but the art and production just needs to step up a gear and iron out that wandering style!
MPD might spare your arse, but I won't -I'm trying to be less wildly enthusiastic ;). I'm kidding but seriously though, you have been coming off as a bit of a defender kind of reminding me of some of pen-gwen's posts when i read that. No shame in 9th you got in the contest, and if the WB's check didn't bounce you got paid, that's a win there even if you don't get the big prize. Nice that you welcome the comments hope you think I'm spot on by the time you get done reading this.
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I'm not into manga so I know nothing about the golden boy until I read your very well written synopsis. You gave us a very nice cliff hanger with what happened to his mom in the last panel. If she's dead you gave us some very nice foreshadowing when K found that broken comb in the monster's cave. You had text boxes which I hate, and I couldn't really read the font, but the inner thoughts of K, and all the dialogue from the characters just sounded right very good job on that. In 8 screens you gave us an intro, K's backstory/his mission, and told us where more or less this story was heading. 3 stars for you and maybe more later.
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How many times have you read a comic and liked the story better than the art??? Well this time it happened to me. No the art isn't bad, I just think it could be a lot better -like Pray for Death version 2.0 better. Scott the first screen had a western to me panel layout then you went the manga route. You know they have had manga batman, I would have liked to have seen this story told with a more western comic book layout panel-wise i think it would have been a nice contrast and added to the story. You have the same problem Fool King (a comic I still really like) does -NOT ENOUGH BLOOD. Come on I get your not going for R rated and I don't know if you did this story marvel style or full script but for the action scenes more blood would sell the story and add to the drama/terror of a what happened to mom cliff hanger.
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The colors either were not bright enough, or not dull enough depending on what kind of mood you were going for.
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For the most part I really like your character drawings of K and the rest even the animals, nice facial expressions on them. I just think the panel lay-out hurt and since this is a samurai story you need to bring the bloodshed more than what you have here to sell this story better.
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I think you both covered a lot of ground in 8 screens but it hasn't grabbed me yet, that might change after a few re-readings though. I think the story is fine just not my go-to subject matter for a genre, and more blood in the art. The fight scene looks like something you would find on a saturday morning cartoon, not in a comic with a revenge theme.
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Is this the first time you two have worked together, you did a good job on this lack of blood aside.
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After i see what else is around in May, the story might hold more weight with me, but your synopsis makes it look damn promising.
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*beating a dead cave troll here* Did I mention not enough blood.....
Nope. I would love a critique. I really would. All of the critiques I have read by you seem to be spot on so I would love to know what you think. I didn't mean anything by my comment. I just really didn't understand what you meant. Perhaps it is a British-American translation thing. I do apologize if it came across terse. I just really didn't understand. Go ahead...step back up and give me that critique.
Blimey mate calm down! I meant. Ooooh. Big hole over here for Mr Frequent Contributor to jump into!!! Jeez! I was holding up for you. I was just about to type up a critique of your comic, but I think you might be feeling a bit sensitive right now, so maybe I'll leave this one and back slowly away!
I don't even know what that means mpd. You might have to spell that out. Are you saying we are in 9th place? Yes. We do understand that. Trying to get folks over here. Thanks for your comments though.
Ooooh. Big hole needed over here! Careful with that guys!!
Not Down Syndrome. Just a big kid. Your comment could be taken as offensive. Especially since I have a child that is mentally handicapped. But I can understand comments like that I guess. Kintaro was just a very large child who wrestled and played with animals since he didn't have human friends.
Better than Action, Ohio, but still not great. And what's with the Down Syndrome kid?
not a huge fan of the (unoriginal) tactics being used so far as posting on everyone's wall/boards/whatevers... we've seen it already with action, ohio... i'm aware of Golden's presence here, no offense... nor am i a huge fan of thread-posters bashing creators for (inoffensively) speaking their minds.
i'm not voting for Action, Ohio either but i think Neil can defend his point kindly without a wall poster calilng him a "jerk" who should stick to his own thread... ridiculous.
still, though, Golden could be good stuff and i wish y'all luck.
Tell everyone you know to come visit the page and tell me that Almostgottazoo sent them. If they add up you win!
NEIL KLEID - WHAT A JERK - STAY ON YOUR OWN PAGE!!!
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That sketch is the shiznit!! How do I win it??
Sure. And I have. Reminder to everyone to get everyone over here!
Who said i was gloating? Just in the spirit of friendly competition, man. Feel free to come by my thread and do the same. Didn't mean to make you angry...
I have to get his post off the top of my page. Makes me angry every time I look at it. I hate people that gloat. Anyway, if you are here and reading these comments please vote for us and tell all of your friends, neighbors and associates. Remember, no matter what the contest is still on. Get them to drop your name for a chance at the amazing sketch by Scott!
Hey, honorable ronin warriors -
After the first ranking, ACTION, OHIO is in first place! But this contest isn't over and we're going to have to fight to stay there... so please register, favorite and vote for us all throughout May.
To promote the comic, I'm taking ACTION, OHIO on the road - I'll be appearing as a guest of the Comic Book Club, New York's only improvised comic book talk show, this Tuesday night at 8pm! Please come and celebrate with me, Alex Zalben, Justin Tyler and Pete LePage as we talk comics, Zuda and the wonder that is beer. Oh, we'll go get beer after. Yes, we will:
http://www.popcultureshock.com/cbclub/
Also, 'dig' us at Digg, friend us at MySpace and watch this space for upcoming interviews, contests and ACTION EXCITEMENT!
Wow. Yeah. I am kind of stunned. All I can say is start spreading the word. I am pushing it everywhere. Get the word out!!!!
Second to last!?! No way. This comic should be dueling for the top spot.
It's a good read! and I dig the artwork as well. Nice job.
For those interested here is the sketch you can win for sending people to read Golden.
http://www.lostdoggrafix.com/zuda/kintaro-collage-small.jpg
Enjoy! This is a taste of things to come.
Troy
Thanks Alina. I appreciate the comments. Hopefully we will be able to continue this story.
I'm not a good comic critic, but I do love to read. (especially sci-fi lately..."let's be about it"...if you've read that series, you know) But I'm hooked and was looking for page 9, so I can't wait to read more. Also, I loved the "large child" box - especially with him having his hands in the air. Weeeee! And I know how the poor mother feels....had a fairly large toddler myself. Great work! Can't wait to see more.
OK. I will be posting this on the message boards as well. I am starting a little incentive contest. Here is the deal. The person who gets the most people to the Golden pages will receive a one of a kind sketch of Kintaro signed by Scott and me. Starting today get all of your friends, loved ones and associates to stop by here and take a look at Golden. If they leave a message stating that you sent them over here I will keep track and the person with the most referrals by May 23rd will receive the signed Kintaro sketch as well as a signed copy of the script. Sound fun? If you have any questions about it drop me a note here or over in the Zuda message boards. Don't waste any time. Start getting those folks over here!
its just that you asked for blurbs on the message boards, and i respect anybody who is willing to ask. So i answered!
I said i would, but you probably thought i was kidding. nope! Plus, your artist left a very good awesome comment on my comment bar. You guys scratched my back in full two days ago. i'm just scratching back, that's all.
Too funny Rudy. You trying to help me win or what?
In old school Japan,a feral cave boy who lives in a cave with bunnies, bears, and his sweet mother, comes down from the mountain, blood thirsty with revenge for his father's murder.
Yeah. Maybe a bit too much gold in there! Keep thinking. I will post my thoughts in the morning. They want our comments back before Friday. What pressure!!!
How bout, "A golden tale of a Golden boy on a quest to avenge his more than golden father." Too much gold? I'll try to think of more anyway.