The online version of Blackout will be taken offline in a few days.

An entirely new chapter will be available online before May, and book one will be available for sale by September (the original April date has been pushed back, although if you visit the Catalyst Studios booth at Sakuracon, there will be some ... new stuff for the Blackout fans. Ahem.)

Just don't be alarmed if the whole thing seems to vanish for a bit.

O hai guyz. Lu ask me does gest blog today; cuz I haz star role in nu pajizz! Here iz sketch of me in akshun, blog! Blog iz funneh werd. I no tyeps english gud but i trys, hope u kan reed?



I liek these pajiz, but A sez they no gud. she sez she "sik of evrythin an mowse no werk rite", wutever that meen. She sez she finishz story pajizz when she haz "better tings". I no unnerstan, but there is bugz an me, so u liek, OK?! OK!!

But furst! I feel bugz mizreperzintid in Blakkout pajizz so I maek elf macro whiel they no watch.

Behine kut! Iz gud? ( i no tagz! )

OK so nows u kin go see new Blakkout pajizz! They haz me! Yays!

~ Muranda.

Alright... finished in the sense that 20 and 21 are barely shaded because I'm really busy right now, but I promise I will come back to them.

The last panel for the last page was pulled straight from a cheap notepad I brought with me to a restaurant one night, and I couldn't bring myself to ink it. I drew it kinda drinky, but if I could make the entire comic look half as good as that vignette, I'd consider myself a god. The waitress even liked him.

The beginning of the chapter (page 14 needs some shading too, sorry)
Page 20
Page 21 - the final page

Finally - only one more page to go in chapter 1. If you have not read Chapter One yet, please start here. Thanks. Have fun. Don't forget about the glossary... It's there to help!

Page 18
Page 19

Direct links to the newest pages:

Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19


As usual, they still need a little work This entire chapter will be up by the end of the week and then the second chapter (the one you've been WAITING WAITING WAITING for, according to popular vote) will be up by next week. We decided on this chapter should go up first since it makes everyone's interactions in the following two make more sense. Since enough of the premise and main arc are confusing as is, we are doing away with a small amount right here and now.

Watch this space for more pages.

Hiya folks. It was brought to my attention by an outside source (I've already been kicking myself over it plenty) that there hasn't been a Blackout update in nearly a month. This is because Ann has been getting ready for a real art show. We can't really hold that against her. She also says that pages 14-16 are taking quite a while to finish (she was working on them in California! She hasn't abandoned us! And something about a "vinyl Muranda" but I don't even know what that means... What's "vine ill"?) and she will only post the pages all at once.

So, you readers have a choice:

a. Wait up to 3 more weeks for 14-16

OR

b. Get a 2 page flashback sequence in a week or less. The flashback would be a simple lineshaded segment in regards to my relationship with Shaan and his tragic backstory. Since some of this flashback is referenced in 14-16, you could choose to see it now or be mystified and have it turn up in the later extended remix flashback where you get to find out why a sweet lil thing like me is in Star Assault to begin with. Shaan's story is kinda intense; mine's just sad and stupid.

Ann just said something about me being "emo". What's that mean? She also said something about "yow wee" whatever that is and wanted me to make sure you all understood my relationship with Shaan is "platonic". All these hard words! I thought I was good at English. You guys are just fucking with me today, huh?

...

Poll #1001518 Wait or get a flashback?
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12

So - what'll it be?

<3 <3, Lucien (and Mur)

Page 10 & 11 are live and shaded, the new script is working like a charm, and the Character Guide is now linked to the main page, although only two of the entries have pictures so far.

Fair warning: Nudity and dick jokes past this point.

Update:

http://www.moritorium.com/blackout/page8.html

Also, there is now a Character Guide up (although it's taking a very long time to get all the boys' pictures up - and yes, it's just the boys now, none of the bugs or the female characters)

However, if you're having trouble keeping names and ranks straight: http://www.moritorium.com/blackout/dossier/charguid.html

Big update coming this week! (3 pages and the Character Index!)

Keep your eyes on: http://www.moritorium.com/blackout for more details.

NOTE TO OTHER ARTISTS HERE: I had serious issues with the second panel of page 2, mostly in my absolute inability to give the impression of "floor" without making the figures look even more awkward as they bounce along in low gravity. The bio-ship hall walls transition to floor with an organic curve - they resemble a cave or a living creature's digestive system far more than a mechanical/architectural structure (especially in the aft of the ship). Suggestions on how to fix that panel appreciated, or if you have one of those panties-in-a-wad "I COULD DRAW THAT BETTER!!" moments you could even pull down the page, snip off panel two, and redo it and send it to me. If I use it, I'll credit it. :P

***

I would now like a vote from the watchers of this journal:

Should black_tags switch over to a Community or not?

Pros: As a community, I do not need to log in seperately to post updates (which drives me nuts). Other people can post questions, speculations, modified or original related art, etc. It could be moderated to keep jerks from joining just to spam and careful rules would be posted to prevent obnoxious giant images, yaoi without warnings, et al.

Cons: My anonymity (which I kind of like) is preserved with Lucien having his own journal. Since I'm doing this basically independent of my other projects and I'm not sure how I feel about connecting it all (experimenting with that connection on other forums, verdict not yet out); if it was moderated someone would have to moderate. Biggest con (on your end) - you'd all have to re-ad the journal since switching from personal to community journal completely purges the friendslist.

Look though, it's a public post... proof I'm almost ready to declare this thing ready to go.