Pulse Returns

[Lightfoot]

At least to some degree.  If you didn't know, I'm starting over the series and attempting something a little more moderated.  It'll still update on Thursdays but it's black and white.

http://pulse.comicdish.com/

It'll also be posted on my DA page for at least the first year or so.  I'm trying to point the pages at webcomiclist and onlinecomics.net to the new page, but they've gotten so slow over the years.  It takes ages for each page to load.

I took down the SOA site just a few minutes ago.  I couldn't completely delete the forum, and ended up sort of breaking it accidently.  It now says "forbidden" when trying to visit the forum directory (not what I planned exactly).

I am posting about this first update here, but unlike the old comics, I doubt it's appropriate to post about every update here.  I will post about this here again at the point where Annie grows physically in the comic (it happens all at once, but it's a fair way into the comic from here).

[Shara]

yay 

[MaxBigfoot]

Bookmarked!   

[Lightfoot]

It's finally to the point where Annie grows, after 28 pages.

Unlike my original plan, I have warn you that there isn't a scene showing the process of her growth.  It happens while she's asleep.  I sort of went with the surprise method, although I'm not sure there's anyone reading it that didn't already read the original.

[Q_BE]

This is a cool comic. I assume there is a purpose to her "changes"?

And will we ever figure out why "IT" came?

Q-"Hooked"-BE

[Lightfoot]

Thanks for your readership.

I don't know if there is a purpose for her changes, but I intend to have a explanation eventually about why she changed.  I did have a reason in mind, but I'm reconsidering due to some recent comments.  ...Some of the options would sort of give a purpose I guess.  Maybe even just that her body didn't have enough mass to contain the new charge, so it grew, and out was easier than up.  Tabitha is much larger overall, so it wasn't a problem for her.

I believe I've decided on the backstory for "IT", but it'll take a while, possibly even something that'll wait until I'm nearing the end.  It at least requires seeing the previous event from the point of view from both Charlotte and The Silver Dragon.

[Shara]

it says bizaare on page 10

otherwise, love the reimagining, improved drawing style, elaborated and MUCH MORE clear story.

[Lightfoot]

it says bizaare on page 10

otherwise, love the reimagining, improved drawing style, elaborated and MUCH MORE clear story.

I thought I spellchecked, but I guess I was wrong.  I also have to edit Tabitha's neck in the second panel of page 22, there aren't lines across the neck of her suit.

Thanks a lot, I'm glad you like the comic so far.  12 years (and having made the comic once) probably makes a difference.  With the original I always felt I was having to explain away or smooth out mistakes from early in the story.

[Shara]

nope, definite improvement, Pulse was always my 2nd fav story of yours anyway; always been keen on the superhero thing

[YamatoChan]

I love your drawing style, it's so your own unique thing and it returns in all your work. It makes it extra special

[MunchWolf]

How did I miss this? 

-Munch "noticed Pulse showing up in ads of various webcomics" Wolf

[Lightfoot]

How did I miss this?  

-Munch "noticed Pulse showing up in ads of various webcomics" Wolf

Welcome!  At least there's almost 60 pages you can read without waiting for updates.  Maybe I haven't promoted it enough?

Yeah, I put up an ad box about 11 months ago and recently decided to start using the $17.50 earned to promote the comic.  Maybe because of the few months lapse between this and the end of the SOA, I figure there are either a lot of old readers who either don't want to read the new Pulse, or don't know about it.  This new comic is still way below half of the SOA readership.

[MunchWolf]

I wasn't even aware of it ...

-Munch "but then I don't frequent the updates forum much" Wolf

[Lightfoot]

Well, I'm glad you are interested.  Just added a new page a few minutes ago.

...I'll reconsider mentioning it in the comics & cartoons thread in the general area, and maybe at the Process forums.  I guess I've been too quiet about it.

[Lightfoot]

I've been reconsidering if I should post about comic updates here.  There are still a trickle of visitors coming from this and other of my posts on the forum.  I always knew that a lot of traffic came from my mentioning updates here, but I thought many would just visit automatically if I stopped, but that might not have been true.  Also I might have switched sites without enough notice, and I seem to hear from people every once in a while who are surprised that I continued making comics.  Traffic is way down compared to the (low traffic itself) old site even considering the change in content, so I thought I'd do some of the things that helped in the past.

I stopped posting about updates because while I thought that the new comic would be considered a big-bust comic, that it might not have enough BE to be considered a BE comic.  If only items that include BE at that moment should be mentioned here, that I had potentially abused that policy often in the past.  Either with updates that included only pictures, or updates of comics that never included BE.  And that there were no other comic authors posting about updates to their comics.

I doubt I'll get approval (but you never know), but I guess I'm mentioning this for a chance for objections.  Assuming I do post about a update each week, I'm not certain if just adding to this thread would be better, or a new thread for each update.  Other forums where I once posted about updates wanted it all into one thread, previously here it was requested that each update be a different thread.

[rtpoe]

I check in on your DA gallery quite often, so for me update announcements here aren't really necessary. Nonetheless, I think just adding to this thread is the way to go.

[Lightfoot]

Well I'll see how this goes, and change or stop if needed.

Update today, page 67 "Northern Exposure":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

Here's a preview-

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 68 "Sweet Lies":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

I tried to use a smaller preview (300x300), but if it's smaller it just shows as a small thumbnail instead of the full-size picture.

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 69 "Adjustments":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

I'm not sure that my posts here need a picture from the page I'm posting about, but it's kind of fun.

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 70 "Too Soon":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

Any guess on what Annie's measurements might be?  She's about 5' 3".  I'd (maybe incorrectly) estimate somewhere in the (wide) range of hips about 35"-36", waist 22"-24", underbust maybe 34", bust 40"-50", bra cups somewhere in the "I" or "J" range?

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 71 "Punishment":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 72 "What She Does in Private":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

I thought I should end with her having a more positive option of her new body.  Although maybe she should be smiling a little in that last panel.

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 73 "The Fixer":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

Start of chapter 6.

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 74 "You Can't Always Get What You Want":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

[Shara]

Update today, page 70 "Too Soon":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

Any guess on what Annie's measurements might be?  She's about 5' 3".  I'd (maybe incorrectly) estimate somewhere in the (wide) range of hips about 35"-36", waist 22"-24", underbust maybe 34", bust 40"-50", bra cups somewhere in the "I" or "J" range?

well in the preview picture, she has about the length of her head of cleavage sticking out, thing is, it looks pushed up. if it isn't you're looking at about 8 inches of bust, putting her at a 42" bust or H-cups

[Lightfoot]

well in the preview picture, she has about the length of her head of cleavage sticking out, thing is, it looks pushed up. if it isn't you're looking at about 8 inches of bust, putting her at a 42" bust or H-cups

The shot is sort of looking up at her from slightly below, like a worms-eye view maybe.  But if her bust is being pushed up is probably open to interpretation.  Her breasts are about 3/4ths the size of her head (and because it's not a common size for me there is probably more variation than normal).  But I wanted to make her small enough that I could move her up to head-sized without going into another range if I ever wanted her to grow a little more.  And also she has kind of a unique size compared to other characters I've drawn which is kind of nice.

An opinion (so detailed that I felt like I had to include) from DA was:

She looks very similar to a slimmer leanne crowe (44-30-38 = 34k, 5'7). Definitely perkier and fuller than Anya sakova (40-25-36 =32G, 5'5) but also has more hips and a bigger butt than Anya. I'm guessing she's got a 30" band, and I am guessing Aonar is right because a smaller band and same cup as Anya would look proportionally bigger.

So, running numbers from those, I'd throw out:
30g,-26-37 = 38-26-37

Most extreme (if she's thinner than I estimated above) I'd say 28h-25-36 = 37-25-36.

Not claiming any expertise, just guessing.

Although I like your estimate better    The average guess was "G", with one "H", and one "F" I think.  I thought the result would be higher, but I probably didn't consider before that I'm comparing her to models who are much taller.  I'm kind of happy/satisfied with the hips estimate, I've tried to make her more shapely over the years (she started out almost straight up and down physically).  A 5' 3" asian with 37 inch hips would probably be pretty impressive.

Maybe I should split the difference between 42" and 38"?

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 75 "That First Step":
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 76 "Fly or Die"
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

Recently I've started hearing that some percentage of people were having trouble telling the characters apart, although others disagree.  My first solution is to add color (something that has been requested anyway), although only flat non-shaded colors at the moment.  I'm also going to consider if I need to alter some of the characters who have appeared less so far (Lucy, Mira+Arim).

[rtpoe]

A little "flat" color like that is perfect! The cherry atop the sundae, as it were.

[Lightfoot]

A little "flat" color like that is perfect! The cherry atop the sundae, as it were.

Thanks.  I'm still debating if I should stick with flat colors or try to go with shaded colors (which would take a lot longer to make each page).  A couple of people complained about the change, preferring B&W, but I guess I've had mixed feelings as well.  Each option has it's own strengths.

[number3fac]

I'm on board with the "flat" colors!  More than that isn't really necessary, unless you're really gung-ho about it.

I've been meaning to weigh in on the new Pulse (not that my opinion should matter to you), but in short: lovin' it!  The old one was enjoyable, but I felt a little lost at several points in the story, like I missed pieces here and there (which I might have--I didn't visit your old site as regularly); the new version has incorporated backstory/exposition effectively while keeping the narrative streamlined.  Which is my long-winded way of saying that I used to get confused by the previous iteration of Pulse, but not at all with this one.  So...great job, and keep up the good work!   

[Palomine]

I'm on board with the "flat" colors!  More than that isn't really necessary, unless you're really gung-ho about it.

I agree... the flat fields of color suit the strong, linear style of the artwork well.

[Lightfoot]

number3fac:
Thanks.  I did though end up adding shading to the colors, hopefully I'll be able to keep up, or worst case there will just be pages with flat colors (that I'll have to go back and finish at some point).  My reasoning was that I couldn't think of a good plan for the older pages.  If I do back and color them, I'd either have to remove the shading, or have shading only up until a point.

I'm glad you are liking the story so far.  There's probably an advantage to doing the same thing twice, but I really tried to have a plan in advance and to introduce ideas or people more slowly.  Before when I was switching between comics (and there was sometimes years between chapters of one series or another), I always felt like I had to make up for the long absence by having the story move really quickly.  This time, I also tried to simplify the backstories or purpose of everyone else but Annie, or have her more connected to everyone.  A complaint in the original was that the story often seemed side-tracked by non-Annie elements.

I welcome suggestions, opinions, or feedback from anyone.  There might be an interesting idea, a problem that I haven't noticed, or a request that'll fit in to the story.  Grace was a request from Prophet Tenebrae for a goth.  Mira and Arim were a request from Varchild for female enemies.  A more recent request from Tenebrae was Annie trying on one of her old bras.  It'll probably come up in the next chapter or the one after, in a scene that I had already planned where Annie and Lucy are going through Annie's old clothes (and deciding what she can still wear).  It'll also make the checkered bikini canon, as it's probably among the things she had but can't wear anymore.


Palomine:
Based on feedback (and a poll I had on DA), people do seem to prefer flat colors to shaded B&W.  Although two people at ComicFury (a place also I post the comic) complained, preferring B&W.

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 77 "Bay & 5th"
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

[Lightfoot]

Update today, page 78 "Spider-Filled Past"
http://pulse.comicdish.com/

ComicDish has been in the process of moving to a new host for over a week, and the site has been going off and on.  I suspect that'll keep happening until it's complete.