Artist's Update - 9 / 01 / 02

[OnlyOne]

Man, this art thing is hard. Once again, I have massive dialogue with way too little space to put it in. Anyway, Beri and Alex are headed for a scrap. Who do you guys think will win? After all, Beri is a quick and nimble fighter, skilled in Praying Mantis Kung Fu,
http://onlyonecomic.com/d/20020513.html
but Alex cut through a frickin' car. Skilled in the use of large, sharpened pieces of metal.
http://onlyonecomic.com/d/20010819.html
Hell, I don't know. You think I plan that far ahead?

[Morgan.]

Well, it may seem obvious now, but my money's been on Beri from the beginning. That said, a temporary reversal wouldn't surprise me. What I'd really like to know is what brought this on in the first place... pre-wedding jitters making Alex grouchy and stupid, or what?

*stares at 9/15's strip awhile*

Okay. Is it me, or does the motion-arc of Alex's sword cut through Beri? *stares...* In front of right arm, not visibly in front of head, certainly not in front of left arm...

Hmmm.


Well, since this is my first post, I suppose I should say: Only One is near the top of my list of really cool and strangely underappreciated comics. Good art, interesting characters, not-quite-gratuitous fight scenes, and we-don't-need-no-stinkin'-exposition writing. The whole mysterious anti-superhero-but-obviously-super-powered thing is really quite clever.

So where are all the fans, to make wild speculations on what exactly our heros are, grumble about the irregular updates, draw fan-art that ranges from stupendous to painfully bad, and place their bets on Alex v. Beri? That's what I don't get.

[OnlyOne]

Finally, someone replies! This messageboard's been sitting idle for weeks...let's see what I can do.
On 9/15, Alex is making a horizontal swing with the flat of his sword - hitting Beri in the ribs while his arms were still closed. There's a few frames missing that I'll be sure to put on the DVD. Not that Alex isn't strong enough to cut through Beri! It'd just make the story terribly short.
Taking a look at that again, I think I'll make the motion-arc more clear. That's the wonder of the internet, I can fix things. Check on it tomorrow.

As far as the whole Alex vs. Beri thing, Sotalia says it pretty well on September 2nd. They both believe the other is doing something wrong. Without giving too much away, Alex and Beri were once extremely skilled in their respective fighting styles, until something made them give it up. Alex (and Talyana) worry that Beri is slacking off. (March 17 2002) Beri thinks that Alex often goes too far, and worries that the 'something' will come/happen/leave again. (August 27-29 2001) Alex thinks Beri should heat up, Beri thinks Alex should cool down. All of this you should have been able to glean in bits and pieces across the story arcs, so it's not really spoilers per se.

I really appreciate that you're enjoying Only One, though! I don't hear from many people, so every positive word makes it all worthwhile.

And what else...
A. My fans? All lazy. Oh well, I'm sure someone will soon do some incredibly detailed fanart for me that makes me want to say 'okay, why don't you do the comic?'
B. Irregular updates? Get ready for more! Just kidding, but there may be a slight delay until a few marker refills come in. I'm hoping I can just squeeze out one more day of brown from these. Although Beri is cute with straight white hair.

[Skittles]

All your fans are probably dealing with their significant others since it is getting near the holiday season. I'm sure once Christmas is over, and they've exhausted themselves on other things, they'll come tottling back and realize, "Dude, we don't do squat. Let's show our fandom for O1!"

As for me, I suck at art, so all everyone would ever get is really bad fanfic. I don't think I should degrade Only One with that.