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Artifice Page 88

Artifice Page 88 published on 546 Comments on Artifice Page 88

THE END. 🙂

OK, before we get into the usual general notes, let me just direct new readers to two very important things:

– If you’ve enjoyed this webcomic, there’s now a beautiful print version and you can buy a your own signed, jumbo-sized Artifice book from me directly at my store or order a copy right now at amazon.com!

– And if you’ve enjoyed this webcomic, I’ve got another one! It’s a multi-chapter superhero story called The Young Protectors: Engaging the Enemy. Please check it out! We’ve developed a wonderful community on this site and I’d love to have you join us there!

OK. That said, moving on! I wanted to answer a few questions here that I anticipate some of you might have. Let’s get started!

Is this some kind of cliffhanger ending?

It’s certainly not intended to be. 🙂 When I wrote the script, I got to this point and was faced with the question of whether to write another scene after this one. But when I thought about what it would be—Deacon kicking ass with lots of violence and smarts leading to them getting out of the Noneco Campus to share yet another kiss with Jeff at the end—it just felt like more of the same. We’ve established that Deacon can kick serious ass and also that Deacon is smarter than Noneco anticipated. Perhaps I was wrong about this, but I felt tension could be achieved only if I created some new jeopardy for our heroes which would mean essentially beginning Artifice 2. Something that definitely has an appeal to me, but not exactly any more of an “ending”.

The arc I set out to achieve between protagonist and antagonist—Deacon and Maven—has been resolved. Deacon won. The “artifice” of the title has revealed itself. Artifice was always intended to be a shorter story and a single arc. And that arc has reached its conclusion. Kick the door down and exit stage right!

So, do they get out alive?

Yes. Word of God, they escape from the Noneco campus. There might be fun details to explore later, like how Deacon would get his hands on a ship. But in my opinion, those are just details. Fun for geeky guys like myself, but we know Deacon is the kind of guy who would have already figured it out. Deacon and Jeff had weeks to plan their escape and Deacon’s a very good solider. 😉

Could Deacon really defeat all the security of Noneco’s main campus?

A whole army of Roys and Bobs? Yes. Absolutely.

How do you feel now about the choice to end it here?

The main arc is fully resolved and this scene has reached its natural conclusion so I still feel this is a fine place to end the story. But if I had to write it all over again—especially incorporating what I’ve now learned about writing for webcomics—I’d include a happy ending denouement. We’ve formed quite a community here and I think after our journey, it would be nice to see a scene of our heroes happy and together and well clear of Noneco, if not forever, then at least for a time. I would have written a coda. So, I’m excited that the Kickstarter campaign will help me afford to do that. (And that it has also made it possible for me to commission a canon “Happy Ending” pin-up.)

And for The Young Protectors, I am incorporating what I’ve learned here and I am telling a much longer story, so there will definitely be a much fuller resolution. I’m looking forward to that.

Does Maven die?

Maven is too cool to die.

Can I get a printed copy of Artifice?

(EDIT: YES, YOU CAN! You can get one here.)

Not yet, but soon! I had a very successful Kickstarter project to raise money for printing Artifice, so there will definitely be a trade paperback! Once printing is complete, I’ll need to ship out books to Kickstarter backers first (and then probably take a little break—I’ll be sending out 850 books!), but once that is done, I’ll be making the books available for sale here on this site. Look for them at the end of this year/early 2013. 🙂

Will there be an Artifice 2?

Boy, I’d love there to be! I even have a fairly good idea what story I’d want to tell. Maven would be in it, of course. There would be some fun exploration of what a human/android relationship would really be like. And it would be about Deacon trying to free himself and Jeff from Noneco’s attentions for all time.

But no script has been written. Winona, as you can imagine, is a very busy, very in-demand artist so she might not be available and I really wouldn’t want to do it without her. As for me? This year will be spent getting Artifice printed and fulfilling Kickstarter backer rewards (and putting out The Young Protectors, of course). But next year… well, we’ll see what Winona and I are up to then. 🙂

(A request, though: if you’d like to see Artifice 2, by all means let me know. 🙂 But please don’t ask “When will Artifice 2 come out?” When a reader asks me a question, I feel compelled to answer it and the answer will be the same every time. “There are currently no plans to make Artifice 2 but when there are, I promise I’ll make tons of noise about it! 😀 “)

What’s next for you two?

For me, it’s The Young Protectors, a multi-chapter superhero webcomic. For Winona, well, she’s working and drawing a comic of her own! Cassiopeia (which you must check out).

All right! So hopefully that answers some of your questions! Let’s jump onto the standard Artifice notes—one last time!

First off, we have awesome new Fan Art by Mitchell R. and Lance! Mitchell has created some beautiful close up portraits of Deacon and Jeff while Lance stuns us again with gorgeous 3D art entitled “Moral of the Story”. You absolutely should check them out!

Special thanks go out to long-time supporters Alicia H., Nina D. & Thomas M. (all three making their 2nd donation to Artifice) and a warm welcome and grateful bow go out to new supporters Samantha S., Neil M., James N. & Beth K. for their generous donations over the last week!

Big hugs go out to new friend of Artifice Cynthia W. for their super-generous $25 donation!

And extra huge hugs go out to new superfriend of Artifice Jennifer M. for their amazingly generous $50 donation!

And finally, very warm, grateful, heartfelt, humbled, android-strength hugs go out to all of you. I started this webcomic as an experiment a year ago, not really expecting to get much of a response. And through it I’ve met the most wonderful, thoughtful, brilliant, kind and all-around most awesome readers in the world. There is a certain satisfaction as a writer in getting a chance to share a story that matters to you, but what has meant the most to me has been the honor of sharing it with you. Winona and I couldn’t have dreamt of a better community to share our work with. And it’s very much my hope that you will stick with both of us as we move on to what’s next.

You are what has really made this journey awesome. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you. You really do rock. 🙂

The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy—Page 5

The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy—Page 5 published on 80 Comments on The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy—Page 5

Hmmm. Something tells me this might not be a fair fight…

Oh, look! We have new Fan Art by geekypnai! It’s called “Power Within” and features our fiery-hero-who-has-yet-to-say-his-name. Do check it out!

And please allow me to remind you about my Kickstarter Project. If you’d like a printed copy of Artifice, making a pledge to that is the best way to get one (and other cool stuff like art prints, etc.). 🙂

And new page! With more interaction between our hero and the supervillain! Even though I’ve been swamped with the day job and comics stuff, I’ve been loving reading all your awesome comments. Please let me, Adam and Veronica know what you think of the new page! 😀

Artifice Page 87

Artifice Page 87 published on 446 Comments on Artifice Page 87

And then they kissed.

We have two new works of Fan Art this time! Our two heroes posing together by artist Christy and another portrait by BayouKun, this time of Jeff. You totally should check them out!

In other news, I posted a blooper video of my outtakes from my Kickstarter video. My friends say it shows “the real Alex”. Hmmmmm. You can watch the original video here (and also order yourself a printed copy of Artifice and Artifice art prints, etc. by backing my Kickstarter project.)

There was a new page of The Young Protectors posted up on Monday. If you haven’t checked that out, you should. 🙂

And, oh! The next page is the last page! (Wow, it’s been a YEAR already?! Holy cow!) And we are now at $90 towards posting up that last page as a bonus page on Wednesday!

Special thanks go out to long time supporter Alicia H. and a warm welcome and a grateful bow go out to new supporter Janine B. for their generous donations on Friday!

And big hugs go out to long-time friend of Artifice gordon g. for their super-generous $25 donation (gordon’s 3rd donation to Artifice!)

Thank you all so much! 😀

So… looks like we’re coming in for a landing here… I hope y’all have enjoyed the ride. And I hope to see you at least one last time for the next and final page! 😀

Artifice Page 86

Artifice Page 86 published on 179 Comments on Artifice Page 86

Special hat-tip to my very good friend Bill here: he reminded me while I wrote the script of the over-used (and implausible) trope of the android “calculating the odds” on the fly to the millionth decimal place. 🙂

News!

We have new Fan Art by long-time friend of Artifice, Aikka. She riffed off my Black Butler quip from last time and reimagined the Artifice characters as characters from Kuroshitsuji. You totally need to check it out. (Maven is my favorite.)

We’re now at page 4 of my next webcomic, the superhero yaoi The Young Protectors. Please be sure to check that out too! (Commenters seem to think there’s something sexy about the close encounter on this new page. Are they right? You make the call!)

There’s still 18 days left in the Artifice Graphic Novel Print Drive campaign. And at $19,283 we’re super close to the next “bonus goal” target (at $20,000) where I release a video of my “bloopers” from making the Kickstarter video. (A blooper video my friends say shows “the real Alex”. Hmmmmmm.) Also, I’ve added a couple new rewards that make all four of the art prints available. If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy of the printed book yet and would like to get the art prints (or just laugh along with me during my bloopers), now would be a great time to pledge to the Kickstarter project.

And…

***THIS IS A BONUS PAGE!***

And we’re now $45 towards the next bonus page!

Special thanks go out to long-time supporters Mordecai L. (who makes their 3rd donation to Artifice!) & Bernard S. (who makes their fifth donation to Artifice!) and a warm welcome and grateful bow go out to new supporters Nina D. & Molly G. for their generous donations over the last few days!

Big hugs go out to new friends of Artifice Natalia S. & Heidi C. and also to long-time friend of Artifice Tanya A. (who makes their tenth super-generous donation!) for their super generous $25 donations!

Thank you all so much! 😀

So, we’re coming into the finish line here. Just a couple more pages. (Gosh!) As always, I really appreciate all your kind words and thoughtful insight in the comments. I’ve been buried under work for the past couple weeks and it’s always a huge bright spot to check in here to see what you have to say. I love y’all. Very much. 😀

The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy—Page 4

The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy—Page 4 published on 100 Comments on The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy—Page 4

Hmmm. Seems like some supervillain has himself some super-speed….

And we have our very first work of Fan Art for this comic! It’s by long-time friend of Yaoi 911 Webcomics Aikka and it’s a very cute portrait of Kyle. You should definitely check it out! Thanks, Aikka!

And thank you all for your wonderful and kind comments on the first few pages of The Young Protectors. I know three pages isn’t a lot to go on, but it was a lot of fun to read your reaction to the “silver fox”. 😀 (And to my little theater marquee in-joke. Couldn’t resist there…)

Please keep letting me know what you think. I know it’ll take a little while to learn who these characters are and what’s at stake, but your comments and encouragement are a huge morale booster for me, Adam and Veronica. 🙂

And I’ll post Page 5 up next Monday! Hope to see you then!

Artifice Page 85

Artifice Page 85 published on 224 Comments on Artifice Page 85

“Just a very good soldier… and one hell of a butler.”

OK! So, I officially launched the Artifice Graphic Novel Print Drive Kickstarter Project last Friday at 10:00 P.M. hoping for $7,000 to cover most of the printing costs. It been almost exactly one week and thanks to your super-generous support the backing is now over $16,000! WOO HOO! Thank you all so much!

So, this means not only will Artifice get printed, but that I can start to afford to do other things I always wanted to do, such commission Winona to create a special Artifice Happy Ending pin-up with Deacon and Jeff kissing in front of a beautiful sunset… and the smoking remains of the Noneco Corporate Campus. It’s something I will send out to ALL backers as a high-res desktop wallpaper they can use (and for those backing at a higher level, I’ll be able to send them a really nice 13″ x 19″ print of it!) And if things keep going like this, I might even be able to commission some additional short comics in the world of Artifice, including maybe even another scene of flashback romance between Jeff and Deacon on Da Vinci Four. It’s very exciting.

Now I’ve gotten a few questions about how Kickstarter works in the comments, so let me address those here. Yes, if you live outside the U.S. you can absolutely pre-order a copy of Artifice to be sent to you (you’ll just need to put in a little bit more to cover the extra shipping.) Yep, you should still pledge now even if you don’t know where you will live in October when the books ship (because I’ll ask everyone for their shipping address in an email survey right before I ship.) And yes! 🙂 even $5 helps me out a lot (and will make sure you get any extras I create, like the “Happy Ending” wallpaper and PDFs of any additional short Artifice comics I commission). And if you don’t have a credit card, yes the pre-paid ones work just fine (just be sure it’s charged up with at least $3 more than you pledge so the “automatic hold” credit card companies use doesn’t mess things up.)

And as I mentioned might happen last time, all the $30 pledge level books (which will be signed by BOTH me and Winona) are now “sold out”. But not to worry—there are still plenty of books signed by both of us at slightly higher pledge levels (and at those levels you get other extras like cool Artifice bookmarks and art posters and such.) And if don’t need both our signatures, you can get a book sent to you with just my signature at the $25 level. 🙂 So, if you think you might want to have one of these books when they are printed, please

Pre-order a printed copy of Artifice through my Kickstarter project

In other news, I launched my new webcomic on Wednesday! Woo hoo! It’s a multi-chapter superhero yaoi comic called The Young Protectors: “Engaging The Enemy” with art by DC/Marvel penciler Adam DeKraker and 2011 Harvey Award Nominee colorist Veronica Gandini. I still need to make adjustments to the About/FAQ and other pages on this site to take into account the new comic (right now they only mention Artifice) but there are three pages of The Young Protectors already up and Page 4 will be posted this Monday. If you haven’t yet, please

Check out The Young Protectors

and let me know what you think! 😀

In still more news, we have some truly delectable new Fan Art by BayouKun! It’s a sexy, shirtless Deacon and you simply must go see it because it’s awesome.

Finally, even with all the focus on the Kickstarter campaign, I’m excited (and amazed) to say that we are now at $199 towards the next bonus page! Y’all are UNSTOPPABLE! 😀

Special thanks, a warm welcome and a grateful bow go out to new supporters Robin K., John S. & amanda l. for their generous donations over the last few days!

Big hugs go out to long-time friends of Artifice Larry B. (who has just made their second super-generous donation of $25!) and Larisa V. (who has just made their eleventh super-generous $25 donation—and their fourth (!!) such donation in two weeks! You are a rock star, Larisa!)

And finally, very grateful, android-strength hugs go out to longtime Artifice superfriend Safiya M. who, with their amazingly generous $50 donation, makes their third amazingly generous donation to this comic!

Thank you all so, so much—for the Kickstarter backing, the bonus page donations and also for the very kind words you’ve written both on the pages of this comic and the pages of The Young Protectors! Between managing and promoting a Kickstarter campaign, prepping three pages a week, responding to comments and emails, taking interviews (!) and working with artists on future pages, I’ll admit—my brain is feeling a bit like mush. (God help me when I’m working 10 hour days on the day-job next week!) But through it all, your generosity and kindness makes it totally worth it.

You are awesome and wonderful and I am so very grateful to all of you. 😀

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! Edit 3/18 12:25 PM: Good news! At 5:41 AM this morning, we hit the bonus page donation target! That means that in addition to the regular Saturday update, there will be a bonus update this Wednesday, 3/21—Page 86! Thank you all so much! Hope to see you there! 😀

The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy—Page 3

The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy—Page 3 published on 170 Comments on The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy—Page 3

Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce “the most dangerous supervillain in the world”—The Annihilator.

And yay! It might be 2 in the morning, but finally got these pages up! We’re off to a little bit of a bumpy start technically—I’m sure there will be things that I will be polishing over the next few days. But I couldn’t wait to share this with you and at least you can get a taste for how this comic begins!

I’m working with two new, fantastic artists on this: DC/Marvel penciler Adam DeKraker and 2011 Harvey Award Nominee, colorist Veronica Gandini! Let’s please give them a hearty Yaoi 911 Webcomics welcome! 😀

Page 4 will be up on Monday, March 19th! Hope to see you there!

And please let me know what you think! 😀

The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy Title and Credits

The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy Title and Credits published on 86 Comments on The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy Title and Credits

“Engaging The Enemy” is a multi-chapter arc in the superhero comic The Young Protectors written and published by me, Alex Woolfson. Pencils are by Adam DeKraker and colors are by Veronica Gandini.

I very much hope you enjoy it!

(The Young Protectors created by Woolfson, DeKraker, and Gandini. Copyright Alex Woolfson. All Rights Reserved.)

Some navigation tips:

At the bottom of each comic, there is a navigation menu giving you the choice to go to the First, Previous, Next and Last pages. (You can even use the Bookmark link to save your place!) You can also click on the comic page itself to go directly to the next page (that’s what I like to do). And you can use the following keyboard commands:

  • Left Arrow: Previous Page
  • Right Arrow: Next Page
  • Shift + Left Arrow: First Page
  • Shift + Right Arrow: Last Page
  • Shift + Down Arrow: Random Page

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