Mysteries of the Arcana.

Arcana: Awkward Silence II

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Online panel tonight!

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

This would have been up sooner but there was some confusion. I won't be posting any insights into the comic today. HOWEVER!!!

Tonight at 8pm EST I will be participating in an online, fantasy webcomic roundtable! Here's the teaser:

We�ll be discussing longform fantasy webcomics, and how such series differ from �gag-a-day� strips in terms of pacing, content and retaining a readership.

Currently scheduled to attend:

Thom and Kambrea Pratt (Shadowbinders)
J Gray (Mysteries of the Arcana)
Robin Dempsey (Leylines)
Savannah Houston-McIntyre (Amya)
Chezhnian Angelus and Eren Fitzgerald (Tamuran)

It is all online and you can attend by going to http://chat.shadowbinders.com/

Arcana: Awkward Silence I

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

New Post: The first story

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Note: I've been invited to participate in an online panel discussion this Friday (2/3/12) at 8pm EST. It would be great if some MotA fans would show up. The panel will be online at http://webreef.net

I hope to see you there! Virtually, anyway.

---

When I sat down and worked out the storyline for the first chapter of Mysteries of the Arcana I had certain goals in mind. They were, in no particular order:

1. Establish the personalities of the main characters. Originally, this was just Theresa and Chrys but, as I wrote further, William's personality also became important.

2. Establish the existence of a group of secondary characters. Circe. Mandrake. Blue. Kludge. Melody. BbuzZ and the Surgeon were last minute additions to the roster.

3. Establish Theresa and Chrys's attraction to each other. The romantic element of the story was always important. In hindsight, though, I could have not hit people over the head so hard with it. I've taken some flak for their instant attraction.

4. Establish the basic elements of the setting. The arcana multiverse is a pretty complex one. I had to explain the existence of different arcana, the tarot connection, the existence of keys and their powers, the existence of the royal road and how it was used, and the existence of dreamwalkers. Originally, I wrote had Kludge give a very long speech. I'm talking pages of nothing but text. In writing it out, I managed to move things around and trim things down. I believe that the two pages of explanation Kludge gives Theresa followed by the lesson in using the royal road she gets from William later does a better job. There are still some questions unanswered but most of those will be explored in the next storyline.

5. Add some adventure, some action, some enticing plotline, and some funny.

What do you think? Did I succeed? Did you enjoy the first storyline? If so, what was your favorite bit?

Arcana: Awkward Reintroduction

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

New Post: The first page

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

The first page is important. It has to grab people's attention. It has to introduce your story. It has to impress.

That's what I wanted for the first page of Mysteries of the Arcana. I also wanted to tell a whole story on that page. I knew the slow pace of a webcomic meant that it could be months or even a year before any real information was revealed about Theresa. So, I took the old writer's adage of "show, don't tell" to heart. A scrapbook in a fire with the book open to a page showing off four Polaroid style photographs.

The four photographs are important. Except for her time with Debby, Theresa's entire life is there. In the first photograph, we see a very young Theresa riding on the shoulders of her father at the county fair, clearly having fun. In the second, we see her learning how to shoot. Her second lesson, in fact. In the third photo, Theresa's hugging her father goodbye as he goes off. He's in a military uniform and about to get onto a bus. In the final photograph, Theresa's accepting a flag from an officer as she stands near a casket.

I tried to make things as clear as possible without beating people over the head with the facts. Theresa's father was a central, pivotal part of her life. Theresa liked guns. Theresa lost her father and that loss shoved her into the frame of mind that brought her to the brink of suicide. Debby's rape/death was the final shove that sent Theresa over the edge but without her father's death and with his support, she might have endured that. The two events together were what drove her to despair.

The first page has other elements of design, too. The fire is symbolic of Theresa leaving behind an old life in preparation of embracing a new one (even though she doesn't know it yet). The words 'I didn't leave a note' were the first part of an internal monologue was supposed to hit with short, sharp jabs. The font the words are in is called 'Catholic Girls are Crazy' and I felt it fit Theresa. Deceptively "girly", the font, is looped and round without being soft.

The theme of the first page would be revisited on the last page of the story, where we discover that Theresa went back and managed to salvage at least one picture of the scrapbook. Again, there are four pictures but, this time, three of them show off her new life.

Arcana: Under the Beast

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Theresa

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Mysteries of the Arcana began in its present form as Chrys's story. As I began developing it, however, I realized the story needed two things. First, it needed a love story. Second, it needed a point of view character.

An point of view character serves as a proxy for the reader. When a story universe has a complex history and rule system it is helpful to make one of the major characters an outsider. Someone to whom the universe has to be explained. Harry Potter's a perfect example of this. He knows nothing about the wizarding world and, so, it doesn't seem out of place when absolutely everything needs to be explained to him. If Harry were raised with a full wizard family, it would feel stilted and awkward if someone explained Quiddich to him. Since Harry is an outsider he needs to be educated and as a result the reader is educated as well.

Having decided to introduce a love interest/point of view character, I began brainstorming. I didn't need to do so for long. Theresa, like Athena from Zeus's head, emerged fully formed. Short dark hair. Army jacket. Love of guns. Somewhat short tempered personality. Deciding she was Catholic came after realizing that love at first sight was boring. There needed to be struggle and conflict along the road for Theresa and Chrys's relationship.

I also knew I wanted to start off with her marching to her doom and finding a reason to live. The reason for Theresa's desire to kill herself evolved over time but was firmly in place by the time the comic debuted. I'm very glad. In a lot of ways, Theresa has overtaken Chrys as the "star" of Mysteries of the Arcana. She's a great character.

Arcana: Lesson Learned

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Chrys's story - the end!

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

And with this page, we end Chrys and Mandrake's part of the story. What do you think? Has Chrys learned her lesson? Will it stick or will she revert to type?

Next week, we begin the epilogue! For those of you who love Chrys and Theresa together, I'm pleased to say the epilogue focuses entirely on them. In addition, during the epilogue I'll be providing commentary not just on this chapter but on the entire series!

Join us next week for more!

New Post: Protest

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

This page has been censored in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act and similar legislation.

Normally, I try to avoid politics with MotA (though our support of LGBT issues is pretty apparent). However, this seems to important.

If you live in the US, please let your congressperson know you do not support this legislation (if you don't, of course). If you live elsewhere in the world, please let your representatives know you don't want similar legislation.

The full version of this comic will be up at the end of the week. Thank you for your patience.

Arcana: Farewell for Now

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Webcomic recommendation

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

I haven't recommended a fellow webcomic in a while. Of course, there's the great webcomics in the SpiderForest collective. Those are shown in the banner at the top of the comic. Those are all worth a read.

The comic I want to recommend today, however, is a fellow fantasy adventure called Shadowbinders. Its about 150 pages in, far enough that it has a strong plotline established. The writing is tight and art beautiful to look at. I highly recommend it.

Arcana: Great Escape

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Drawing to a close

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Chrys and Mandrake have left the cell. Now all that's left is to escape the pirates... which isn't something we'll show. There are two more pages in this little arc and then we move onto the epilogue.

Arcana: Arcana Noir

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Illness

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

After the holidays, a wave of the flu swept through my family. It knocked me off my feet for a while and then traveled on. Long and the short of it? It can be very hard to write when dealing with rebelling stomachs. Gennifer was nice enough to send me this filler piece to round out the week.

Next week, we'll be finishing up Chrys's storyline in Two by Two and then there'll be a special treat for all you Chrys/Theresa shippers!

Arcana: A Piece of her Mind

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Many thanks

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

I had some great suggestions from readers on possible steps to take to improve the comic in 2012. Thank you!

As a reminder, I'll be running a 'Q&A' series when this storyline is over. This is the sort of thing they do regularly over at EGS and Doonesberry. I thought I'd give it a try as well. However, it won't work well if I don't have questions! I have quite a few but all from a single reader. I'd like some represented diversity. Have a question about how the arcana work? How key powers work? Character history? Let me know! Email questions to mysteriesofthearcana@gmail.com. Alternatively, those of you on twitter can send a private message to JGrayWebcomic.

Thanks!

Arcana: Cross her Heart

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Well...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Mandrake isn't magically changing sizes here. There's some forced perspective going on as she moves closer to and farther away from the "camera". :)

My rule of thumb with Mandrake's "picture speech" is to express the meaning, not the spelling. A thumbs up meaning yes. A sun meaning hello. A smiley face meaning happy. However, some words are incredibly hard to translate into images that can be quickly and easily understood by everyone. 'Well' and 'I dunno know' are a case in point. Thus, for this one time, in panel 2, I expressed the spelling of a word and not the meaning of the word. I hope you all can forgive me.

On another note, this is the last comic of 2011! We'll be continuing the story next year, of course.

With that in mind, I ask the readers an important question: What do you want from Mysteries of the Arcana next year? Something related to the story? A trade edition? A new website? Bonus features? Let us know what would help keep you here. The turmoil of artistic changes this year lost us quite a few readers. I don't intend to pander, of course, but I do need to start growing this comic again.

Arcana: Happy Holidays!

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Happy Holidays!

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Gennifer prepared this gorgeous bit of art to celebrate the holidays, Mysteries of the Arcana style!

This being both the holidays and the end of the year, I want to thank the people who have made Mysteries of the Arcana possible. My loving wife, of course, who puts up with me making the comic. Keith, Sarrah, Jessica, and Gennifer. Without these four artists, the comic wouldn't have been possible and wouldn't have made it this far. Rox, who helped design the current site. And last, but never least, JD, who provides hosting, technical and moral support.

Sorry, that wasn't the last. Thank you to each of you, the readers of Mysteries of the Arcana. Thank you for supporting the comic and sticking with us through our troubles.

Happy holidays, each and every one of you.

Arcana: Yes. Apologies.

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Holidays!

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

The holidays are slowing us down, I'm afraid. This will be the only update this week. Next week, we'll have another update towards the end of the week. Around Christmastime itself, we'll have a little something fun for all you good boys and girls!

After that, things should return to normal.

Arcana: Breakthrough

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

New Post: Skyrim

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyrim.

In other news.

After this storyline's over I'm going to do a question and answer series ala EGS. Of course, to do this, I'll need questions. So, if you could email any questions you have about Mysteries of the Arcana to mysteriesofthearcana@gmail.com I'd appreciate it. If I don't get enough questions, there won't an intermission comic. So, send them in! The questions can cover anything from mechanics of the arcana to character background to... well... anything concerning Mysteries of the Arcana.

Arcana: Thinking Strategically

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

New Post: A looong time coming

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

The moment that is playing out right now in the comic has been a long time coming. In fact, it was one of two primary goals I set forth when I began writing this chapter. I won't spoil, but let's just say each of our two main characters - Theresa and Chrys - have learned an important lesson in chapter three.

Arcana: The Next Step

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST