Where Did You Start Reading Goblins?

[Orzahn]

Here, it took some finding, but here. http://www.goblinscomic.com/01232008/

[Godbot]

The last time we saw the GAP.

So, two years ago.

[langerhans]

I can't remember the point in the main comic where i started because when i first read it there was a tempts fate comic on the homepage.

i didn't realise it was unrelated and when i went to read it from the start kept wondering how a main character was going to end up walking into hell

[Elvors]

I think I stumbled over it right from the beginning. Not sure when exactly, but definitely before we first saw MinMax and Forgath.
Don't ask me what led me there, could have be a Project Wonderful ad, or a passing mention in the comments section of some other comic.
What kept me reading was the sheer hilarity, plus the foreshadowings of the topic we have now - the question what a monster actually is.

[I'mBob]

I can't remember the point in the main comic where i started because when i first read it there was a tempts fate comic on the homepage.

i didn't realise it was unrelated and when i went to read it from the start kept wondering how a main character was going to end up walking into hell

Something similar happened to me. A bit after reading chief's death I stumbled into a page where tempts goes into hell. I was sure it is chief in hell becuase they both are green and I didn't payed closed attention to details. A bit later I understood it.

[SamWiser]

I can't remember the point in the main comic where i started because when i first read it there was a tempts fate comic on the homepage.

i didn't realise it was unrelated and when i went to read it from the start kept wondering how a main character was going to end up walking into hell

Something similar happened to me. A bit after reading chief's death I stumbled into a page where tempts goes into hell. I was sure it is chief in hell becuase they both are green and I didn't payed closed attention to details. A bit later I understood it.

I thought the exact same thing, and I had a moment of extreme hope. Then I figured I would see what that "Temps Fate" thing was. When I figured it out I was extremely disappointed. I think THunt keeps it there just to mess with new readers.

[DuIstalri]

For me it was just when we rejoined FMK in the Maze of Many: http://www.goblinscomic.com/12182012/

[langerhans]

For me it was just when we rejoined FMK in the Maze of Many: http://www.goblinscomic.com/12182012/

so you mean the FIRST thing you saw was the "pen that cums" controversy?

[obaldius]

Well, considering I m new in this forum, I do have been reading the comic awhile.. I was sold the first comic I saw (around the start of book 4), so I was glad there was a lot to read ^^

[DuIstalri]

so you mean the FIRST thing you saw was the "pen that cums" controversy?

Well, kinda. I mean, that was the newest comic when I read through the archive. First one I actually saw was the one where he makes Oblivious.

[extrabigmehdi]

I don't understand :
you didn't read the comic from begin ?
I was interested by the whole story.
Unless you ask at which page you stumbled when you discovered the story, I don't remind well.

[BuildsLegos]

I don't understand. You didn't read the comic from the beginning? I enjoyed the whole story. Unless you're asking which page we saw upon when you discovered the story, I don't remember well.

As you can see by all of our replies, (mine is a bit of a riddle) that last part is exactly the point of the thread. The general routine for discovering web-comics is that you find the latest page or whatever page a friend or stranger linked to. Those interested, and I can't expect much in the way of exceptions, will go straight to the beginning.

And Goblins is a fantastic example of why linking to early pages is a very bad idea; whoever sees that crap is going to hate it and the few that like it might not be into the later stuff. You have to show them the good stuff first to get them hooked.

[WearsHats]

At my computer. I think it was the one in the kitchen.

[extrabigmehdi]

And Goblins is a fantastic example of why linking to early pages is a very bad idea; whoever sees that crap is going to hate it and the few that like it might not be into the later stuff. You have to show them the good stuff first to get them hooked.

Thunt could just update the graphics of the first pages. I know that often comic artists have nostalgia for their first drawings, but imho only the author care.
At least a minimal enhancement could be done, just by applying some auto contrast ( take 2 sec under photoshop, why gray lines ?).

edit : the 28 first pages are not colored.
At least they should be flat colored imho.

[WearsHats]

Thunt has said he hates the way early Goblins looks.

He has also said that he will not go back and change it.

He did, however, post the very first page of the comic, to let readers know it gets better.

[Product Placement]

Not sure on the exact page, but since I remember checking for the newest updated and thinking "Oh, wow! This page is in color." it's safe to assume that I'm a pre-color reader.

It could be around when Not-Walter was first introduced.

[BuildsLegos]

And Goblins is a fantastic example of why linking to early pages is a very bad idea; whoever sees that crap is going to hate it and the few that like it might not be into the later stuff. You have to show them the good stuff first to get them hooked.

Thunt could just update the graphics of the first pages. I know that often comic artists have nostalgia for their first drawings, but imho only the author care.
At least a minimal enhancement could be done, just by applying some auto contrast ( take 2 sec under photoshop, why gray lines ?).

edit : the 28 first pages are not colored.
At least they should be flat colored imho.

Going back to "fix" your early work is what people like us might call "George Lucas Disease" even when it's a good idea. If you're going to get into that habit, where do you stop? Besides, the early pages are already colored in the paperback books...which might support your suggestion.

[willpell]

And Goblins is a fantastic example of why linking to early pages is a very bad idea; whoever sees that crap is going to hate it and the few that like it might not be into the later stuff. You have to show them the good stuff first to get them hooked.

Personally I rather like the way the old comics look (and in particular Big-Ears has never looked right to me in his current form, having floppy bunny ears which look nothing like any of the other goblins's, whereas he originally did just have slightly larger versions of the same ears as everyone else). The intro of Not-Walter and his diabolic buddies, in particular, is an absolutely amazing piece of line art. What bothers me about those first strips was NOT the art, but the writing. The strip was still kinda in "lampooning the rules" mode along with a bit of dumb-goblin humor, and it does not make a terribly good match to the tone of the later comic. Young and Beatufiul in particular makes me cringe (and not just because she's seriously some new kind of ugly). I feel like someone who cares about the art more than the story will be easily satisfied by just showing some amazing page, but people with a more literary mindset, largely including myself, have a hard time grokking the story if they start with one out-of-context page, and so they naturally want to jump to the beginning.

You can't really understand the arcs unless you read the early strips...but they are not a terribly rewarding experience for the most part, and they strongly fail to match the more serious tone that is soon assumed. I have a hard time figuring out where exactly makes the best "on-ramp" for someone to start reading and learning the story...perhaps the introduction of Kore is a good place, since with the slight exception of Hawl the trader, that segment is entirely self-contained and gives us a good microcosm of the comic's overall "thing".

[Kamos]

I think I started with the Mr. Finger in the Well of Darkness. Or rather that's where it was in updating as I read the comic from page one after someone showed it to me.

[Godbot]

Personally I rather like the way the old comics look (and in particular Big-Ears has never looked right to me in his current form, having floppy bunny ears which look nothing like any of the other goblins's, whereas he originally did just have slightly larger versions of the same ears as everyone else). The intro of Not-Walter and his diabolic buddies, in particular, is an absolutely amazing piece of line art.

[willpell]

That too.

[MrBogey]

http://www.goblinscomic.com/04062012/

Someone made a "Thunt is a horrible person because I didn't understand what was said" post in a drama community and I read it to see what the deal was. I then read that arc and liked it so I went back and read the whole thing across an extended weekend. Been looking forward to it since.

[willpell]

http://www.goblinscomic.com/04062012/

Heh. Reading that one again, I find myself hoping that we'll get to see Blondemax get his. It'd make a nice callback to the pre-color scene where Grinnorarcen and his "buddies" meet the real Minmax. We haven't seen said buddies again since and that's a pity.

in a drama community

By which do you mean it was a community that had a lot of drama, or a community which was specifically dedicated to drama? Because I rather wish I could believe the latter do not exist....

[Reads_Forums]

http://www.goblinscomic.com/04062012/

Heh. Reading that one again, I find myself hoping that we'll get to see Blondemax get his. It'd make a nice callback to the pre-color scene where Grinnorarcen and his "buddies" meet the real Minmax. We haven't seen said buddies again since and that's a pity.

in a drama community

By which do you mean it was a community that had a lot of drama, or a community which was specifically dedicated to drama? Because I rather wish I could believe the latter do not exist....

Remembering that incident I'd say it was unfortunately more of the latter, the drama was far from incidental.