Page 27  

Posted by Ben in ,

Previously: To read from the beginning, click here. Last issue, Ace confronted the ruthless and deadly Faro Kid. A dream (in which Ace's hat told him the story of how Ace murdered Faro Kid in cold blood) caused Ace to believe that Faro Kid may have had some clues to Ace's past. It was a dead end. After besting Faro Kid in a shoot out, Ace found some comfort in the fact that he may not have learned about his past, but he had done some good. Meanwhile, Strongarm, Ace's sidekick, shared a secret with the mysterious Athena. A secret meant to be kept from Ace . . .




COMMENTS:

I've said it before, gentle reader, I love the splash page that sets up the story at the beginning of old comics. It's like a second cover, in many ways. If I could get away with it in my own stories, I'd try it. Sadly, like thought balloons, it's a trope of the past.

I love thought balloons as well, I have to say, and wish they were used more often in modern comics. They've been entirely replaced by the first person caption box, which is useful and makes for dramatic storytelling.

But sometimes, the old ways are good.

The art in this Black Diamond Western story is by William Overgard. With no writer listed, it is possible he wrote the thing as well, although I'm not convinced of that. I love his line work, and wish I were an artist because I believe there is much that could be learned from his artwork here. Some later issues of Black Diamond Western are pretty terrible.

~ 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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"Six Shooters and Six Strings" Cover  

Posted by Ben in ,

Previously: To read from the beginning, click here. Last issue, Ace confronted the ruthless and deadly Faro Kid. A dream (in which Ace's hat told him the story of how Ace murdered Faro Kid in cold blood) caused Ace to believe that Faro Kid may have had some clues to Ace's past. It was a dead end. After besting Faro Kid in a shoot out, Ace found some comfort in the fact that he may not have learned about his past, but he had done some good. Meanwhile, Strongarm, Ace's sidekick, shared a secret with the mysterious Athena. A secret meant to be kept from Ace . . .




COMMENTS:

Lev Gleason proudly announced on the cover of this issue of Black Diamond Western "In this issue: THE BEST STORY WE EVER PUBLISHED IN ANY MAGAZINE!" I'm not going to make the same proclamation, gentle reader, although I am excited about this story.

The artwork for this story comics from Black Diamond Western #16. You can see the cover here. Technically, the seventh issue of the series (Black Diamond Western started with issue #9; before that it was called Desperado), by now they had hit their stride. Also, in this issue they had two Black Diamond stories and fewer unrelated stories. (By the end of the series, they had three Black Diamond stories in each issue.)

This is issue #2 for me, though. I will be using almost all of the artwork from BDW #16, although I may dip into another issue for Ace's dream. Actually, the structure of this story allows for a couple dream sequences.

I hope you enjoy "Six Shooters and Six Strings", gentle reader.

~ Ben

PS -- I'm sorry, I couldn't resist using the "No animals were harmed . . ." line. It's my answer, in a way, to Lev's assurance that this was the best story they had ever published. Let's face it, this story features a man with a "gun-tar", but it also centers around a horse fight! It's fairly brutal!

PPS -- The sidebar with the poem like wording comes from a "theme song" I've written about Ace. I haven't set it to music. It just sort of accidentally happened as I was trying to come up with a quick way to set up his story, and the wording started to rhyme. When I did it, I was reminded of Joss Whedon, and how he wrote the theme song to Firefly and when he suddenly understood what he was creating. Something similar happened to me. It didn't change much of what I was already planning, but it just kind of hung a sign on it. Made it more clear. It was almost like a "Hollywood logline", where you distill the essence of your story into a single sentence.

“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 26  

Posted by Ben in ,

Previously: To read from the beginning, click here. Ace has won his final struggle with Faro Kid, and in the process learned that his dream may have mislead him in more than one way . . .




COMMENTS:

Well, gentle reader, the first issue is complete! Starting next Wednesday we'll be presenting Ace of Diamonds Issue 2: "Six Shooters and Six Strings"! (I like it when chapter titles have a common theme. I think the "Noun and Related-but-different-noun" is going to be the theme here in ace.)

The lion's share of the artwork from issue 2 will actually come from Black Diamond Western's issue 16. Lev Gleason, who published the original series, said of BDW #16, "The best story we ever published in any magazine!" We'll see!

So my search for western related webcomics came up pretty empty, with just a couple worth mentioning (and I did mention them here -- you should check them both out, they're great!), but I did find another comic that is related to Ace of Diamonds in a different way: the use of public domain comics!

Mike Parkinson's Out of Print is like a "Mini-Marvels" for the public domain set! I've seen people do new serious stories using public domain superheroes and I've seen people play it for laughs, but I've never seen anyone do it quite like Mike is. The basic concept is that it's the present-day, and all those old superheroes are attending a support group for characters who have lapsed into the public domain. What makes this fun and unique is that they are drawn in a very cartoony, stylish way. "We look like we're straight outta Peanuts," one character complains. The characters are self-aware, knowing they are comic characters and even speaking with the artist on occasion.

I told Mike yesterday, "We're two sides of the public domain coin." He's using characters and concepts, I'm using artwork, and we're both creating something new! Out of Print is very fun and well worth your time. It's also relatively new, meaning it won't take you long to get up to date reading through the archives (a good thing) but that also means you'll get through the archives quickly and have to wait for new comics (bad thing). Check it out!

~ Ben

PS -- If you haven't already, check out the line work from yesterday's page of art! William Overgard was the artist, and the movement of the lines and the way your eye follows the curves is something I find remarkable. (Something else I find remarkable: Overgard wasn't just an artist, he was a writer and scripted episodes of Silver Hawks and Thundercats!)

“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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