First look at issue 1 of the new TOH arc

Hi, Guys ---

Just finished looking at and annotating the art and script for the first book of the new comic book arc. The good news is that I like this art a LOT more and loosening the story constraints by stepping outside the "canon" novels is increasing the ability to actually look at the characters without having to cram in lots and lots of explanation of background. As a window to introduce people who haven't read the novels to the Honorverse, this looks to me like being a winning formula.

I'm not totally satisfied with the product. Of course, you'd all be upset if I was! And because they're up against a hard release date that can't be altered, and the artist lost her computers for a couple of weeks, and I was at conventions for the last two weekends (and in Minneapolis for the week between them), and because I'm having the pacemaker installed tomorrow, there isn't going to be time for Matt to adjust a couple of the points I'd really like to see tweaked. Having said that, though, over all I am very happy with what they've done in this issue, and I think most of you will be as well, unless you are totally hung up on seeing Honor of the Queen done next.

It's still not going to be exactly what the hard-core fan base — ah, that would be you guys — have envisioned all these years, but I think it's going to be a heck of a lot closer and I think it will serve its intended purpose — to make the Honorverse accessible to an entirely new crop of readers — quite well.

And now I have to go make supper for the kids, then crawl into bed and "get a good night's rest" before tomorrow's surgery. I expect it to go well, and Sharon says she'll post the results on Facebook.

Well, I hope the surgery for the pacemaker implant goes well. Please, have Sharon post the results of the surgery if that's okay with you guys. We really care about you David!

Many dittos here...




.

As others have written, good luck on the surgery.

And now more work :

Do the art changes include a Nimitz with an actual mid-pelvis (as opposed to the double-front-shoulders seen hitherto)?

Do the ships look more like what MaxxQ has been doing for BuNine or *shudder* less?

Any other 'spoilers' you can let drop, like the general timeline and (pre-turning point) plot outline of the arc?

runsforcelery wrote:Hi, Guys ---

Just finished looking at and annotating the art and script for the first book of the new comic book arc. The good news is that I like this art a LOT more and loosening the story constraints by stepping outside the "canon" novels is increasing the ability to actually look at the characters without having to cram in lots and lots of explanation of background. As a window to introduce people who haven't read the novels to the Honorverse, this looks to me like being a winning formula.

I'm not totally satisfied with the product. Of course, you'd all be upset if I was! And because they're up against a hard release date that can't be altered, and the artist lost her computers for a couple of weeks, and I was at conventions for the last two weekends (and in Minneapolis for the week between them), and because I'm having the pacemaker installed tomorrow, there isn't going to be time for Matt to adjust a couple of the points I'd really like to see tweaked. Having said that, though, over all I am very happy with what they've done in this issue, and I think most of you will be as well, unless you are totally hung up on seeing Honor of the Queen done next.

It's still not going to be exactly what the hard-core fan base — ah, that would be you guys — have envisioned all these years, but I think it's going to be a heck of a lot closer and I think it will serve its intended purpose — to make the Honorverse accessible to an entirely new crop of readers — quite well.

And now I have to go make supper for the kids, then crawl into bed and "get a good night's rest" before tomorrow's surgery. I expect it to go well, and Sharon says she'll post the results on Facebook.

There's absolutely no need to do totally faithful reproductions of the stories.
There already are, they're called reprints of the books

A new medium gives an opportunity to have a different take on the material. That's the way we should look at it imho.

I'm looking forward to the new release.
AND the new book, most of all, whenever that is coming.

Best wishes and get well

So the impression I get is that this story is not a part of the canon.

I don't mind the art changes, as long as the basic principles of design are met(I think we all remember the "Impeller Rings? What are those?" early artwork).

I was kind of hoping for new stories that both fill out the canon, but offer something new to the honorverse. The whole "loosing constraints" sounds waaay too much like Star Wars is doing with their universe(and what star trek has already done):creating a "different canon" for popular consumption.

One reason I bought SITS was because it offered something new, while staying loyal to the spirit of the honorverse(who cares if the missile numbers are off, the play feels right.).
I was hoping to say the same about the comics.

Please do not disappoint me on this.

Phalanx wrote:So the impression I get is that this story is not a part of the canon.

I don't mind the art changes, as long as the basic principles of design are met(I think we all remember the "Impeller Rings? What are those?" early artwork).

I was kind of hoping for new stories that both fill out the canon, but offer something new to the honorverse. The whole "loosing constraints" sounds waaay too much like Star Wars is doing with their universe(and what star trek has already done):creating a "different canon" for popular consumption.

One reason I bought SITS was because it offered something new, while staying loyal to the spirit of the honorverse(who cares if the missile numbers are off, the play feels right.).
I was hoping to say the same about the comics.

Please do not disappoint me on this.

What gives you the impression that this is not part of the canon? Please explain.

SWM wrote:

Phalanx wrote:So the impression I get is that this story is not a part of the canon.

I don't mind the art changes, as long as the basic principles of design are met(I think we all remember the "Impeller Rings? What are those?" early artwork).

I was kind of hoping for new stories that both fill out the canon, but offer something new to the honorverse. The whole "loosing constraints" sounds waaay too much like Star Wars is doing with their universe(and what star trek has already done):creating a "different canon" for popular consumption.

One reason I bought SITS was because it offered something new, while staying loyal to the spirit of the honorverse(who cares if the missile numbers are off, the play feels right.).
I was hoping to say the same about the comics.

Please do not disappoint me on this.

What gives you the impression that this is not part of the canon? Please explain.

The good news is that I like this art a LOT more and loosening the story constraints by stepping outside the "canon" novels is increasing the ability to actually look at the characters without having to cram in lots and lots of explanation of background.

That gave me the impression.

Phalanx wrote:

SWM wrote:What gives you the impression that this is not part of the canon? Please explain.

The good news is that I like this art a LOT more and loosening the story constraints by stepping outside the "canon" novels is increasing the ability to actually look at the characters without having to cram in lots and lots of explanation of background.

That gave me the impression.

Ah. My interpretation of that statement was that the new stories are not in the existing canon; that is, they are NEW stories that we have not seen before, unlike the OBS comics. That does not necessarily mean they do not become part of the canon once they are published. Every new book or short story is not part of previous canon, but is after it is published. In a similar way, these new comics could become part of the canon after they are published. I don't know that this is true, but I don't think David's statement precludes it.

SWM, you are correct. I just got the comic. It is a story that has never appeared before either in a full novel or in one of the anthologies, set between OBS and HotQ

SWM wrote:

Phalanx wrote:

SWM: What gives you the impression that this is not part of the canon? Please explain.

The good news is that I like this art a LOT more and loosening the story constraints by stepping outside the "canon" novels is increasing the ability to actually look at the characters without having to cram in lots and lots of explanation of background.

That gave me the impression.

Ah. My interpretation of that statement was that the new stories are not in the existing canon; that is, they are NEW stories that we have not seen before, unlike the OBS comics. That does not necessarily mean they do not become part of the canon once they are published. Every new book or short story is not part of previous canon, but is after it is published. In a similar way, these new comics could become part of the canon after they are published. I don't know that this is true, but I don't think David's statement precludes it.