AKOTAS 5/22/09

[scarfman]

Here are cartoons from Arthur, King of Time and Space since last Friday. Fanfiction cartoons in a separate post.

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If you want to know why the last of this week's AKOTAS looks like triangle fanfiction, please see the Arthur, King of Time and Space v. 2.0 FAQ.

Thanks for reading.

Comments

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Now, the thing is, I was expecting there to be some warning that Merlin was about to take a powder- Nimue showing up in the medieval and space arcs, for instance. (Or how about a Logopolis-like Watcher-Nimue for the space arc?)

Nope- instead we're whacked in the temple with the two-by-four of sudden, un-foreshadowed death.

And then the two-by-four comes back around for the other temple, with the announcement that with Merlin's death we're going to skip over the two years immediately following his death for what amounts to two years of alt-universe space arc.

Don't know how I feel about all that yet- the tweety birds are still circling my metaphorical head- but it was quite definitely sudden.

[scarfman]

Merlin has been prophesying his death since July 2004, and at least once has noted off-frame that in most retellings it comes much earlier in the order of events. If this was a "sudden, un-foreshadowed death" then I must have achieved my goal of talking it up for a couple of years and then trying to allow the audience to forget about it for a couple of years.

But originally, before I conceived the possibility and desirability of taking a sabbatical, I planned for Merlin to last in all arcs till Nimue was fourteen (of age in the fairy tale and space arcs) - to lead off with this strip and go directly to the scripted strips for Merlin's loss in the baseline, space and western arcs. There'd've been no more "foreshadowing" than there has been this way, because this is the effect I was going for. If only to see whether I could pull it off; if only to see whether I'm experiencing any success in bringing the characters to the world's day-to-day life (or at least the lives of such of the world as comprises my readership) as Captain Kirk, Little Nell and Snoopy have been brought.

[zeeth_kyrah]

Although it makes sense for all continuities to carry the same general plot, I'm holding out for exceptions, as illustrated by the new timeline; Lancelot's bipolar disorder is the obvious example (untreated and thus a terrifying and dehumanizing thing in medieval/base time, wholly understood and alleviated in the primary space timeline, and the various ranges in-between), but also Mordred's history and the internal balance of the story's primary love triangle are notable to me as different among the various timelines.

In other words, I'd miss Merlin if he vanished entirely from the comic, even apart from the emotional hit of his loss as such. Plus, it allows for more play in the mental stagger as the cast jumps between timelines -- [Arthur at his desk considering a treaty or something, in a Merlin-imprisoned-later timeline: "So Merlin, what do you recommend?" ~~~ jumps to: Arthur at his desk in a Merlin-dead-now timeline, head in his hands, staring at a mess of papers: "I miss him so much."]

[scarfman]

Anything I could respond to that speculation would be a spoiler. Though that too has been foreshadowed, once.

Thanks for reading.

[blinovitch.livejournal.com]

You magnificent son of a bitch. Even with the MASH analogue preceding it, that single frame of modern Merlin in his chair stopped my scrolling dead.

[scarfman]

Thanks for reading.