It's the Dawn of Time Forum!

[MichaelStearns]

I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't pick up No More Heroes, it was like I always meant to, but just never did (I was trying to remember the name of it. It's still on my get list. Zack & Wiki unfortunately is exactly the sort of game that I have no patience for. xD It looked really cool, but I knew I'd buy it and then never actually play it. Glad to hear MadWorld is shaping up though!

[blueskycomic]

That's exactly my problem: buying games and not opening them (I still haven't opened Zack & Wiki, and I've had Zelda since launch day and still haven't opened it, either). I actually find myself trading in unopened games that were decent enough to buy but realistically I realized I never would get to them. I mean why would I play Spider-Man 2 for PS2 when I still have Final Fantasy 10 to play? There's just too many priority games.

No More Heroes was a very satisfying game for me, though, especially at a time when nobody was putting out quality Wii games. It tried to do a GTA thing with it's free roaming world which failed horribly but the actual story and combat modes were great and more than made up for it's shortcomings. And the nice thing is you should be able to find it for about $20-30 now.

If you find yourself with some free time and no new games I think you can find some good value out of it.

[TrentDeRoc]

I don't know if your ads are working, but your affiliations definitely are.

I found your comic through a link from "KIWIS BY BEAT!", a favorite of mine since MINUS.

I'm really enjoying reading your comic! Keep at it (for my entertainment)!

[FourthDerivative]

Hello there. I'm really enjoying your comic so far. In case you're wondering, I found it via a link from the TV Tropes wiki.

Can't wait to see what's next!

[talking-hat]

Hello there!

I came here though an ad... i don't remember which site it was on though... sorry.

Awesome comic by the way... I read through all the strips last night... and when i came back today i thought i'd join the forum. I love silent protagonists, which is probably why i like Dawn so much... some of her expressions are priceless. It's a real skill to convey a story without dialogue... so many kudos to you Michael!

Keep up the good work!

[MichaelStearns]

That's funny, because I'm not running any ads right now! Clearly the system is working in my favor. I never actually heard back from anyone regarding the Prehistoric Times ad, so perhaps this is some sort of karmic balance.

Re: TV Tropes, that also gets me a lot of visits, I don't know who put Dawn down in the "Nubile Savage" category but I owe him (or her) a thank you.

Thanks for reading

[talking-hat]

Hmmm... I could have bookmarked your comic a while ago and not come back to it until now... maybe i'm confusing it with another ad... I don't know, my memory isn't that great... too much work and not enough sleep. But i think i can safely say that through some series of events i ended up reading your comic and that means everyone wins!

[Magami]

Hey. I just discovered your comic--I followed an ad from Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire. I'm loving it so far. Dawn has *way* too much fun.

[talking-hat]

Congratulations Michael on making it to 150! Now you just have to keep expanding on that... just like the pokémon franchise did.

Also, I find it ironic how the lungfish finally makes it onto the land... then Dawn ends up on a boat. How did Dawn get on the boat anyhow?

[MichaelStearns]

Thanks! Up next, Dawn of Time Red & Green? I didn't notice the parallel with the lungfish getting on land (and living), that's an interesting accident.

Dawn is on the boat in order to get to the other side. The other side of whatever body of water they are on. Dawn is still with Mantell, he just hasn't appeared yet, and I guess he's still out roaming around taking notes on things. He must have bought her a ticket, so he must have a travel account of some sort.

[talking-hat]

Don't apologize for the millennium falcon...

Save the apologies until after you complete the prequel trilogy! (And the animated TV series)




PS. Question: Does Dawn shoot first?

EDIT: Apologies for beating you to the point Michael... It's just the first thing to come to my head when someone mentions Han Solo...

[Tropylium]

This current sequence is made of awesome.

[MichaelStearns]

@ Talking Hat; Sorry, I totally missed your reply! (didn't come up as new for me I guess) It's like two months later but yeah, I would have said something like "don't steal my next strip," even though I'm sure "who shot first" is exactly what anyone would have thought.

[talking-hat]

I grew up never seeing Han shoot first until i managed to score the original theatrical release on DVD! I was so excited to see Han shoot first... i don't know why, in retrospect it's pretty sad.


Anyway, i'm a little late but congrats on making it to 200 strips! It's really is an achievement to be proud of. I'm working on a video series with some friends and so far i've only got 5 minutes (after editing) to show for it when i started the project a year ago. You've got over 200 comics and update three times a week... How i envy you...

Keep up the good work!

[MichaelStearns]

Lively forum I've got here, ain't it?

I'm working on a video series with some friends and so far i've only got 5 minutes (after editing) to show for it when i started the project a year ago. You've got over 200 comics and update three times a week... How i envy you...

True, but you've probably got a pretty solid 5 minutes there! it probably takes 25 Dawn of Time strips (or more!) to fill five minutes of entertainment.

Thanks!

[talking-hat]

Hello!! Hello... Hello... Hello... Hello... Hello...

It does seem to be fairly empty in here... With all the people on the internet, noone wants to stop here and have a chat? Maybe everyone is accustomed to leaving comments on the front page or something? (or are too lazy to login) Wait a minute... Was that a tumbleweed??

True, but you've probably got a pretty solid 5 minutes there! it probably takes 25 Dawn of Time strips (or more!) to fill five minutes of entertainment.

It may be a solid 5 minutes, but it's nowhere near being ready to exhibit... Hopefully I'll get some time over Christmas.

And i wouldn't say Dawn of Time strip is just a little more than 12 seconds of entertainment. It's a lot more than that.


P.S. I love the drop of sweat on the shell. Nice touch.

[MichaelStearns]

Yeah, a front-page comment setup is probably the way to go for more user interaction. The forum was easy, but antiquated, I guess. I'm actually thinking of revising the layout pretty soon, so a comment box is a likely feature.

I'm amazed I was able to go 200+ strips without falling back on many of those standard symbols. I'm sure there's a forehead vein or two, plenty of speedlines, and several other indicators of our rich anime and manga heritage, but I've intentionally tried to make Dawn a more western-feeling product. For the shell though, I just couldn't resist!

[talking-hat]

What else should we expect from a new layout? Any reason why you're thinking of overhauling the site?

I think it really adds quality to Dawn of Time that you're minimizing the use of those "standard symbols". Some of the facial expressions of Dawn/Mantell/Blue are priceless and I have to say it's part of what makes reading this comic so enjoyable.

PS. Shells don't have facial expressions, so you're excused.

[MichaelStearns]

Well, it was never really a good design in the first place (not really a *bad* design either, though), and after looking at it for so long I'm starting to feel a little embarrassed by it. I also want to increase the resolution of the comics (they're only 500 pixels wide), I've started drawing some elements so small you can hardly see them in some cases. I suppose that's a good feature for a future print version though, "Can actually see what you are looking at."

[talking-hat]

I wouldn't say it's a *bad* design ether, just a simple design. Simple isn't always bad but I see your point.

The Lungfish is back!!! It's been so long since we saw that little guy (so long, in fact, that I forgot it was in there). I wonder what happens next... I'd speculate but last time I beat you to the point... So I won't.

[Tidalias]

I like the front page design update a lot. Good stuff!

[Tropylium]

Something that just started to bug me: is it a coincidence that Dawn's "Woodstockese" call for Blue (we've seen it a few times by now) begins with what looks like the katakana for /ba/ (バ)? The 2nd has some distant similarity to /ru/ (ル) also…

[MichaelStearns]

Hey, glad to see you're still reading.

It's not coincidence! I studied Japanese through college and went abroad for nearly a year, so that kind of influenced my strokes, and to me it looks like Dawn's speech is made up of "ha" "tsu" and "ri." (ハツリ) Generally I just kind of scribble it around (it isn't really supposed to be anything), but since the Blue call is the same one (almost) every time it's been refined more and I think it's more obvious there, which I remember as a ba with the ten ten forming the small strokes of the tsu, and then a smaller ha. I suppose that could also be "banoha" or "hatsuha" (though how do you pronounce a small ha?), but it isn't really supposed to sound like anything.

In the event of a Dawn of Time movie, I figure we'd hire some linguistic expert to figure it out, or the guys who supply the language for Klonoa, or something.

The incredibly slim chances of a DoT movie occurring does not stop me from fantasizing about it!

[Tropylium]

Hey, glad to see you're still reading.

But 'fcors, why not? There just hasn't bee a whole lot of discussion going on…

It's not coincidence! I studied Japanese through college and went abroad for nearly a year, so that kind of influenced my strokes, and to me it looks like Dawn's speech is made up of "ha" "tsu" and "ri." (ハツリ) Generally I just kind of scribble it around (it isn't really supposed to be anything), but since the Blue call is the same one (almost) every time it's been refined more and I think it's more obvious there, which I remember as a ba with the ten ten forming the small strokes of the tsu, and then a smaller ha. I suppose that could also be "banoha" or "hatsuha" (though how do you pronounce a small ha?), but it isn't really supposed to sound like anything.

I was kinda looking at the last three strokes as ル with the last two unattached.

In the event of a Dawn of Time movie, I figure we'd hire some linguistic expert to figure it out, or the guys who supply the language for Klonoa, or something.

Well, it kinda sounded like it might actually STAND for /baru/, and that could pretty well represent "blue" (yes, I'm aware actual Japanese would rather turn it to /buru/), so it seems we have the first word done there

The incredibly slim chances of a DoT movie occurring does not stop me from fantasizing about it!

Heck, I could think of a three-digit number of webcomics that would make good adaptations on the silver screen…

[Tropylium]

I don't know why I ever thought it would be a good idea to try drawing a motorcycle.

Indeed, it obviously should've been a tricycle…