FireBall Comics

No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

2005-12-16T20:12:00.000Z

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The courier in this comic has a talking monkey in a flying gadgety thing. No, this isn't just for the sake of randomness. These guys come courtesy of the excellent Joe and Monkey, and most specifically this comic. I highly recommend it.

If you're coming here from the Joe and Monkey forums, welcome! Take some time to have a look around, and I hope you enjoy your time here. Just don't go onto the third floor. That's where the jelly-toed monsters live.

I guess there's not a lot more to say, except of course look out for FireBall becoming substantially more solid over the coming months. Not only will it get a lot better in terms of storyline and jokery, but I'm considering a bi-weekly schedule. So yay. However, that's unlikely to happen until I finish something else that I'm currently working on. It's nothing major, but I'll reveal it at a later date. It's something to do with the pre-2005 strips.

Text In Abundance

2005-12-09T20:08:00.000Z

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Okay kids, this is the last massive comic. From next week, the comics will be a standard 750x350, with the odd exception if the comic calls for it. The following ones, though, will in no way be bigger than 750 pixels, I can guarantee it.

See you all around next week.

Made Insane By Magic... Apparently

2005-12-02T17:30:00.000Z

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This comic is not funny. But I've hit this weird kind of writers' block thing where I know where I want the story to go, but I've not actually got any joke to shove into it. And I don't want it to seem forced.

It also marks a change in FireBall Comics, I guess. From now on you can expect a single size, rather than all the weird and wonderful dimensions we've had so far. They might be a little bit smaller, depending on different resolutions and viewing availability, as I know that if you've got anything less than 1280x1024 it looks really blocky and blown up, etc. There may be a way to fix this easily, but I'm not too sure.

So until I've got some decent jokes in the storyline, expect a lot of those stand-alone comics (like the Mario Kart one) with just a single joke. I know you prefer those anyway. And until I fiddle with the code, expect huge comics.

Sorry.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

2005-11-25T11:50:00.000Z

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Well this is something new, and something that I'm going to dip into from time to time as a break from the semi-seriousness of the main storyline. You'll probably never see these guys again - they're caricatures of my flatmates, Amy and Tom (and yes, Tom's hair really IS as mad as that). And the reason for it, of course - Mario Kart DS.

I don't know about you, but I always take my handheld games console into the toilet, and spend much more time than necessary there...

The Shape Of Things To Come

2005-11-18T18:02:00.000Z

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Apologies for the lateness of this comic, but I guess it means that you get two on the same day. Birthday got in the way, sorry.

Yeah, Pete likes pies, remember?

Spoiler Alert

2005-11-11T02:00:00.000Z

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And, we're back with some slight funny. For some reason I can't stop referencing Harry Potter. I guess that's kinda poignant, considering that the film comes out a week today.

Well, anyway - I made this joke on the assumption that anyone who hasn't read The Half-Blood Prince knows the ending by now anyway, due to the same faggery depicted in the comic. At least now it's not a real spoiler.

So I'm keeping up to date with the schedule, even updating it early. Yippee! Fully fleshed-out storyline to come, guys, complete with:

Suspense!
Action!
Drama! (it's a lot like suspense)
A Family Torn Apart in the Midst of Chaos!
and Pies!

Oh, and a new character. In less than ten weeks' time!

Enjoy.

Intertextuality

2005-11-04T23:40:00.000Z

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Okay, this comic will only really make sense if you've read Garfield - and know a bit about the conventions of that comic. Nevertheless, I amused myself with it, and that's all that really matters when your comic has about six readers per annum. I suppose it's also to experiment with different styles.

Using Flash to colour this comic didn't turn out as well as I thought it would. I need to experiment, but the lines are not as smooth as I anticipated - and I missed off colouring a few things black for the outline instead of that weird browny colour.

Even so, I think I'm progressing.

The humour will return shortly, I promise you. Although to get there we will go through various parodies, some more annoying and outlasting than others. I might not even bother to keep you waiting for the next parody - it is shamelessy rubbish, after all. :)

The Omen

2005-10-28T05:45:00.000Z

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This comic is early, because I won't have time to update it tomorrow. Not a week in and I'm already disrupting the schedule, eh.

Don't worry... next week it'll be late, so it balances out. :)

You may have noticed that the quality of this strip is a bit lacking compared to what it was beforehand - if you look at 'Intelligence Questionable' a couple of comics back, it's a lot smoother (despite the bodies being drawn despicably). This is due to a couple of things - one, getting a new scanner and not quite knowing how to use the settings, and two - forgetting what the settings were in the first place. I have a feeling that I used to scan the comics in as a black and white drawing, cut and paste the lineart and convert it to true colour, then sharpen it for colouring and blur it afterwards. What I've been doing with this scanner is scanning it as true colour and then converting it into black and white to cut and paste the lineart, something that, I should have realised, results in a drop in quality. I also, I remember now, wasn't sharpening before I coloured. Next strip should be better.

Hope you enjoy the updatage while you still can!

Oh, also, the old site has managed to become the number one listing on Google for FireBall Comics. I don't know how I managed that, in all honesty.

Left Outside Alone

2005-10-21T21:11:00.000Z

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Okay, so here we go - FireBall, back in colourful glory, and not a moment too late this time. I should be able to manage on one comic a week.

Take some time to muddle about the site and find your way about - being Blogger, it makes it easier for me to upload, but typically it makes it harder for you guys to find your way about. Try it out.

Yeah, you probably noticed that it doesn't work past a particular point, if you went backwards along the timeline. This should be fixed within the week, but for now - bear with me. People coming to the comic anew should click the 'First' link - that'll take you right back to the beginning, and you can browse from there to here without much trouble at all.

For the next couple of weeks, though - new and old readers alike - give me a wee bit of slack. It'll be a bit of a bumpy ride.

IQ - Intelligence Questionable

2004-08-27T21:09:00.000Z

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If you don't get this one, I'm going to have to ask that you read more contemporary fiction, because that simply won't do.