So, Journal, here we are again, in this great big awkward world of webcomics.

So once upon a time I sat behind a kid in math class in high school. And while I was math-ing, he would spend all day doodling comics, which he updated on the web.

I looked up his old webcomic the other day, just to see what he's been up to, and lo and behold! His webcomic had 2 years of archives, and the page had a link to a book he's just done, in collaboration with another friend of mine from high school.

I thought about this for a while: I went to college what for to get good at art, and he didn't, and yet here he's got the kind of success that I would love to have, and the drive to keep a webcomic alive for over two years? A publishing deal? Some mad art skillz?
Of course, that's the thing: Even in high school, he had the drive to sit down and crank out a page every damn day. I never even started down that path! I was always too afraid that my comics wouldn't have the depth I'd want, that the art would be ridiculed by the vicious trolls of the internet. And yet, his art wasn't (and still isn't, in many ways) as good as mine, his dialogue wasn't always spot on... But still, he did it and I didn't.

So, I've decided to kind of roll out this whole 'lack of fear' thing, and start comic-ing, no matter the end point. In the past 3 days I've cranked out 14 comics in a series I call "This is Just Fucking Terrible", most of which are in my gallery.

More long-term-ily, I've started a comic that I'll be calling "The Court of the Heavens", which is explained in more detail below.
So, y'know, getting these things out there. I'll be posting one TiJFT on my LJ every single day, and hopefully (starting next week) will be posting two pages of CotH every Saturday. I figure I should be able to keep up something like that pace even during the school year, so long as I make comics a priority. A single comic of TiJFT takes about 30 to 45 minutes from idea to internet, and I can lay out and ink a page of CotH in 2 hours or so. PhotoShopping a page of CotH may not actually occur for a while, until I get a new tablet, but shouldn't take too terribly long, so, hopefully, my schedule won't just fall apart during the school year.

Anyhow, the premise I promised. The Court of the Heavens will be a fantasy/dramatic comic, done in pen and ink (with possible PS'd color, added later), based around such a premise: In an alternate universe, there was once magic. This magic was due to the unbound energies raging through the earth, and was inextricably linked with the gods, the stars, and the other planes. Due to these other planes being in close contact with the earth, there were rather more demons and ghosts than anyone really wanted to deal with.

Lucky for humanity, the earth's god (name of Gaia, naturally) fell in love with another god, called Capella. Capella was a god of gardening/farming, and also of protection and peace. Their union bound the raw magics of Gaia, cutting off magic, extraplanar activity, and the like. On the downside, this binding also robbed the gods of their ability to manifest, and they dwindled and died. With Gaia and Capella's deaths, the magic would have come back and began another cycle, etc., except for the intervention of the wise magicians of the world.

The Magi used the last gasp of magic in the world to craft 21 unique items, representing the sun, the two moons, the earth, sky, sea, and the 15 great constellations. These things were tied to the remnants of the gods, and could be used to keep the arrangement that the gods had, when worn by humans. So, for example, so long as the man holding Capella's hoe was married to the woman bearing Gaia's crystal, the absolution of magic held.

The Magi arranged for 21 people to be selected every 10 to 15 years, each of whom had the personality and demeanor of one of the gods, and for these people (the Court of the Heavens) to act out a 10 year play. This acting is what keeps the world in balance, and each person must do just as their god would have in the same situation.
This has been the arrangement for many, many years.

In the last cycle, though, there has been a mix-up. The Magi selected unsuitable subjects for at least 2 of the Court: Gaia and the Golden Moon. Gaia has fallen in love with the Bard, Aldebaran, and the Golden Moon has staked her claim on Capella the Gardener. As such, the balance is off: Beauty has been married to protection, and the earth's energies are in the hands of story and song. As such, magic is all kinds of coming back, and there's really nothing to be done for it but complete this cycle, bind magic again, and select a new Court. Maybe kill the Golden Moon and Aldebaran (the instigators), but hey, who's to stand in the way of (world-destroying) true love?

Anyhow. The comic is meant to be an exercise in pretty things. We'll see how the story itself comes out, in all of it's dramatic glory and ridiculousness, but the main thing is making it look good.