Page 10  

Posted by Ben in ,




This page works best if read together with the last page, since first panel on this page and the last panel on the previous page go together. Faro Kid's dialogue on this page (and his gun shots) interrupt the Sheriff's dialogue from before.

SHERIFF: Bah! Faro Kid, you're under --

FARO KID: Under contract with Mr. Charles, Jack!
This is one of those interesting situations when webcomics show a weakness. Sequential storytelling over periods of time, if you're reading the story in real time (one or two pages a week), make it difficult to follow sometimes. This is also a good argument for doing narrative comics scene by scene or chapter by chapter instead of page by page. Of course, then you run the risk of not having a regular schedule . . . since a 10 page scene would take longer to put out than a 5 page scene.

For now, though, Ace of Diamonds will be updated every Wednesday and Friday, though, Gentle Reader.

Also, you may not be as surprised as I was at Faro Kid's matter of fact murder of the Sheriff. When I read the original Black Diamond Western, I was so surprised at the way he just killed the Sheriff! Such a callous character! I hope that comes out in MY version . . .

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Page 9  

Posted by Ben in ,



Well, gentle reader, the Sheriff seems to mean business . . .

As does the Faro Kid . . .

I guess the question is, which one of them is top gun . . . and which one of them has a mouth that's writing checks their body can't cash?

Tune in on Friday!

Also, gentle reader, soon we will get a glimpse into what just may be Ace's origin!

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Page 8  

Posted by Ben in ,




Ever think about the whole concept of the masked man wearing a badge? Even with superheroes, it seems that if you don a mask, you have something to hide, doesn't it?

Now that something may just be your Aunt May . . . but the general public doesn't know that. And if you take this idea to its logical extreme . . .

But don't worry, "Ace of Diamonds" is NOT about turning "Black Diamond Western" into a western Watchmen! Although the mask DOES figure heavily into the hows and whys of my version of this story and the whole "masked man fighting for the law" concept is also going to be an important element.

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Page 7  

Posted by Ben in ,




Yeah, Faro Kid is a bad dude. You can tell by the way he shoots that cigarette . . . not just the TIP, he shot it into THREE PIECES!

I'm liking him more and more every day I write dialogue for him.

Of course, this being a western comic with a supernaturally fast gunslinger in the lead, there's almost no tension in the original story. You KNOW what's going to happen. Black Diamond (as he was called in the original story) and Kid Faro (as he was called in the original story) are on a collision course. Which means Ace of Diamonds (as he is called in my version) and Faro Kid (as he is called in my version) are also on a collision course! The climax of this story is pretty much already set in stone. However, I'd like to think that getting there will be half the fun.

Also, I'm having such fun writing Faro Kid . . . I promise you this, no matter what happens, this will NOT be the last you see of him!

See you Friday, gentle reader! New page! The plot thickens!

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Page 6  

Posted by Ben in ,



Yessir, Gentle Readers! Strongarm got on his horse backwards because he was kissed! Once again, the goal here is to take something ridiculous and make it part of the plot. So, the question is, was Strongarm really taken THAT adled by the lady’s diversionary technique? Or is he just continuing the charade?

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Page 5  

Posted by Ben in ,



So here is where I want to start planting the seeds for the long term storytelling. Because each short story from Black Diamond Western’s original stories were self-contained, I have to find little places to drop hints and clues to the overarching plotline. In BDW, like most comics from before the “Marvel Age”, there WAS no large storyarc. Stories were self-contained and episodic and there was no development. With Ace of Diamonds, though, I want to have some character development and discovery.

I know who Ace is, and his background. And there’s a couple different villains who will be crossing his path, but it wasn’t until I realized that Ace’s closest friend should know more than he lets on that the storytelling really started to gel. Once that factor became a part of things, some of the other elements started sliding into place. By making Ace’s partner a little more sinister, or at least not completely trustworthy, I found the engine needed to reveal plot elements to you, Gentle Readers.

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Page 4  

Posted by Ben in ,



“My game? Ha! My game’s faro! As in ‘Kid Faro’!”

So what IS the game? Well, in my research, I found a guy who had created faro Flah Game.

CLICK HERE FOR WICHITA FARO: http://www.gleeson.us/faro/

It’s actually an enjoyable game.

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Page 3  

Posted by Ben in ,



“Glub” is the original dialogue for that page. I just couldn’t find a better replacement.

When “I’m the dad-blamed Kid Faro” was written, I absolutely had Frank Miller’s dialogue from All Star Batman and Robin ringing in the back of my head.

I’m struck by how brutal this prison break got. This was my first Black Diamond Western comic, and the first one I read, and I was taken aback by the violence. Although, that’s nothing compared to current comics. All Star Batman and Robin is just one case in point.

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Page 2  

Posted by Ben in ,



And so we jump right into the story. This get a bit confusing, as over the course of the next few pages we jump from one scene to another with very little regard for the panel layout. I tried to get around this, by name dropping Faro Kid in that third panel on this page so we knew we had changed location and characters, but it is still abrupt and slightly confusing. It happens a lot in this story, so it became a challenge to make it less confusing.

In the original, the villain was called Faro Kid. You’ll notice that Slow Eddy (poor guy) never gets his name right. I almost changed the name to Pharaoh, but in my comics about the Old Testament, I’ve NEVER typed the word Pharaoh correctly the first time. And in researching what “faro” actually was, I found it to be a very interesting card game.

Kid Faro’s speech pattern came out of writing his words for the cover. Suddenly, his character just came into focus. Part of it came from me thinking about how in some westerns, they go out of their way not to let the characters cuss. But instead of just having them NOT cuss, they also are saying some of the most ridiculous substitutions. My intent is not to parody the substitutions, but to have a character who genuinely speaks that way. I mean, why would a hardened criminal care?

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Page 1  

Posted by Ben in ,


I love old comics. That first splash page is usually a second cover image, and it’s no different for Black Diamond Western. The first page is usually a teaser, and in many of these old comics it’s taken from the climax of the story. I love that storytelling device. (Maybe it’s not a storytelling device, but more a story presenting device.) I plan to use it in the new TimeFlyz stories.

So there you have it, Gentle Readers. You now know what this story is leading to! (As if there was any doubt, considering this IS a ’50’s era comic book about the mythic Old West featuring a gunslinging hero.)

Oh, and the title of this first story, “Hot Lead, Cold Tin” was something that just made me smile when I wrote it.

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.

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Issue 1 Cover  

Posted by Ben in ,

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Previous Page | Next Page

The first issue of “Ace” of Diamonds is actually not the first issue of Black Diamond Western. Instead, it’s the first issue of BDW that I purchased, so to me it’s the first Black Diamond story . . . and therefore the first “Ace” story. We’ll be going into the actual first issue of BDW in a little while, to explore the origin of the character. But since “Ace” himself doesn’t know who he is or where he came from, I figured this would work nicely.

So issue 1 of “Ace” is actually issue 14 of BDW. You can see the original cover here: @ MyComicShop.com. The cover is by Charles Brio, who did most of the covers for the series.

I struggled with how to redesign this cover. Basically, I wanted to replace only the cover’s text. I’m no Photoshop wiz, and not an artist, so developing the new logo and figuring out how to keep the aged look with the new blocks of color I was using got frustrating. If I ever print this (yeah, right!) I’ll have the cover redone.

Kid Faro, btw, was fun to write the dialogue for. His dialogue on this cover ended up causing his whole character to develop. Although, there’s more going on beneath the surface than you might expect. I’ve already started figuring out how to make Kid Faro a recurring character, even though he wasn’t in the original BDW series.

~ Ben

“Ace” of Diamonds, Remix Comix, Whisperingloon Studios, and the other stuff I made up for this webcomic are TM and (C) Ben Avery, 2009. While the original Black Diamond Western is in public domain, “Ace” of Diamonds (the story and the artwork) and the contents of this page are NOT public domain.


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