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Eric: Of course, a refresher course probably also means we're about to blow everything out of the water....
(From Gaming Guardians! Click on the thumbnail for full sized For Those Who Came In Late!)
About a month ago, I snarked about the difficulty in following what was going on in Gaming Guardians. I explained that I was still enjoying the execution of every strip, but I had no real idea of what was going on, any more. You might remember that, if you're inclined to remember such things.
Well, Graveyard Greg, who does the writing of the series, immediately took it to heart. He opened up discussions on his forums, in effect giving people a chance to ask questions on things they were unclear about. He posted links above the strips that gave references to earlier strips, to help put things together.
And on Halloween, he started a six day series on exactly who and what was going on here. We've had quick catching up on Graveyard Greg and Mange, EDG and Radu Radu, Radical and Rev. Jaffe, and Angus and Brahma.
For people like me, who've been reading all along but who needed a refresher course to get up to speed, it's fantastic. For new readers, it's a Godsend. Clearly laid out -- everything folks actually need to get fully on board the Gaming Guardians train. And, of course, there's hot chicks.
You have to like hot chicks. You just do.
Okay, you don't have to like hot chicks, but I in fact like hot chicks. So there.
Posted by Eric Burns at November 3, 2005 9:24 AM
Comments
Comment from: Matt Sweeney posted at November 3, 2005 11:47 AM
Sorry Eric I've got to disagree. I'm a new reader and I'm even more confused now. Is there another one of these things for what happened before what is discussed in this flashback?
Comment from: Plaid Phantom posted at November 3, 2005 11:55 AM
It seems to me to be more something that explains the strip for readers like Eric who've been reading and just lost track of what's going on. For someone like me who doesn't know anything in the first place, it wasn't much help.
Comment from: Kneefers posted at November 3, 2005 12:18 PM
Well dangit. It now looks like I no longer have any excuse to put off reading it, now. Even though I'm in the middle of NaNo and don't have anything resembling enough time to browse the entire archives.
*Sigh*
Comment from: Tice with a J posted at November 3, 2005 1:36 PM
I...I understand Gaming Guardians.
Let the heavens rejoice!
He should definitely post a character sheet, or links to character sheets other people have done.
Comment from: Nate posted at November 3, 2005 5:47 PM
There are character writeups people did over at the comixpedia wiki. Which were originally started on a GG-specific wiki, then moved over. I think. I have to admit I haven't even looked at the comixpedia wiki. Bad fanboy, bad.
Comment from: larksilver posted at November 4, 2005 1:31 AM
I am afraid to look at the wiki, to be honest. I would point to the "Information junkie" logo permanently affixed to my forehead, but that's hard to do while typing, and you couldn't see it anyway, so I'll simply make silly references to it.
I am the girl who, upon discovering the "Who's Who in Marvel Comics" series while working at a comic shop, then spent every minute when there wasn't, y'know, WORK, poring over every issue, out of some strange compulsion. *twitch* I fear that, if I ever should look too closely at wikipedia, or the Comics Wiki, I would be doomed, DOOMED, I say, lost forever (okay, okay, for hours - forever sounds better) in the land of Shit I Didn't Know I Wanted To Know. After all, I *have* spent the past week, several hours at a stretch each day, poring through the Schlock archives... again, compulsion is a dangerous thing.
(Intervention? Nonono, we don't need no steenking intervention. I can stop any time. I only read because I want to, really! You obviously have me confused with someone who reads her sisters' trashy romances if there's nothing else available because, well, they're better than nothing! I can quit, really! NO, I do NOT carry a book in my purse, or read when I'm on my mail run at the hospital, or .. or... )
Comment from: Alexis Christoforides posted at November 4, 2005 6:06 AM
larksilver: Stay away from Wikipedia. I used to have the habit of reading encyclopaedias serially when I was a kid (and destroying them in the process). Add hyperlinks to the mix and, well, I know why I can't be a jet fighter pilot, and also a whole lot about uh Hydrocephalus. Yes.
Re: Gaming Guardians: Well, things make more sense now (that I've read the wiki, the forum was less helpful), but I must say that I've enjoyed the random trawls through parts of the archive that I've done before. I couldn't piece everything together, but there were pretty pictures, some good dialogue, and the Scarlet Jester intrigued me. I have a thing for interesting villains.
Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at November 4, 2005 8:24 AM
I'd just like to say that after that post, Lark, I'd be so interested in dating you if we didn't live over 2000 miles apart and we weren't both married. You're a woman with her priorities straight. ;)
It's great, though, that he's done a recap week. Among other things, I completely forgot that Radu-Radu switched with EDG and has done some things that were "off" already.
Comment from: chalcara posted at November 4, 2005 8:43 AM
I'm currently just pondering why I should continue to read a comic whose maincharacters aren't the maincharacters anymore.
The only thing that keeps me checking GG once in a while is Radical, I absolutly adore her. And apperently she's now getting switched too. :(
Comment from: chalcara posted at November 4, 2005 8:47 AM
*sorry for the double post*
I mixed up Radical with Soulfighter. Whoops. And she's dead now... That's really... Excuse me.
*goes and kicks the corner in frustration*
Comment from: Karacan posted at November 4, 2005 10:16 AM
I'm a bit stricken at Soulfighter's death... she was one of my favourite characters as well. Eric might have a think for hot chicks, I have a thing for female fighters... ever since playing Gauntlet. Blue Valkyrie needs food! And Radical really doesn't fit that role...
Whatever, the recap was much needed, and I for one am exceptionally happy that Greg decided to do that, nearly as happy as the integration of the Powergamers into the Guardians itself.
I hope it's going to feature Trace more. Okay, so I have a thing for rats, too.
Comment from: xbishop posted at November 4, 2005 10:20 AM
GG is one of those comics that I keep trying to get into but can't. It reminds me of X-Men in that it seems like it's been around forever and if you don't know the history, you can't keep up. Even with the recaps, you're never fully up to speed, there's always some subplot that rears its head.
It makes it very hard for a new reader.
Comment from: The REAL Brian posted at November 4, 2005 10:38 AM
Folks, some stories are just BIG. And they're complicated. And they just plain aren't going to be new reader friendly and simply have to be read from start to finish. Should Tolkien have made Return of the King more friendly to readers who hadn't read the first two books of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy?
Comparing Gaming Guardians to X-men simply isn't fair. X-men has a 30 year history and the majority of those books aren't available to the general public any longer. When GG references a past story, that story is readily available. It's right there, on the public website, for anyone to read. When you're new to a comic like this, you simply have to start from the beginning. If you're a long time fan and can't remember a past event, you go back in the archives and find it.
Yeah, being a Gaming Guardians fan takes a little effort. You either consider it worth it or you don't. Speaking from experience, this is definitely a story you have to enjoy as a whole, not simply for its most recent chapters.
Comment from: chalcara posted at November 5, 2005 2:25 AM
Actually speaking as somebody who has read the archives roughly... three times as whole since I stumbled about it, I have to say: the problem with GG is not that the story is HUGE (that's something I really enjoy), it's just that it's sometimes confusing narrated. Especially the last half year was really confusing.
In Lord of the Rings I always knew where somebody was for which reason, GG often leaves me with the feeling of "I missed here a vital part of the story, haven't I? Why can't I find the other part in the archives?"
Comment from: Paul Gadzikowski posted at November 5, 2005 9:20 AM
"I missed here a vital part of the story, haven't I? Why can't I find the other part in the archives?"
Where you've run into trouble is when your readers say that about your small stories.
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