# "The Handlers" Comic-book <Scarred Lands><RttToEE><Forge of Fury> [Updated Nov 9th]



## vic20 (Oct 30, 2003)

http://skylab.org/~ewest

Here is a link to the opening chapter of a series of comic books that follows the adventures of "The Handlers", a stitched-together d&d campaign that I've been running for a few years. 

The campaign takes place in Southern Vesh, in the County of Som, which I have placed at the edge of the Mourning Marshes. There are elements of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil (Homlet, Moathouse) although references/adventure focus sort of ends with these elements. There are some familiar faces, but their relationships and motivations have shifted substantially.

The artwork is by Nathan Marcel, who runs the character of Bilgorod (introduced in this issue). His elven bard/fighter Til-Gal died in what would be "Episode 26". How he found time to do illustrate & ink these 26+ page comics while also busting butt full-time on his masters degree in fine art is a mystery and a wonder.

The story is by Peter Pillegi, who runs the only currently active founding member of "The Handlers", Rasasi the Paladin. The dialog in the comic does a great job of dramatizing the themes and characters from the adventures.

I acted as the editor, massaging stuff to ensure that things that I (as dm) feel are important to the long-term story arc are included/emphasized. I also did the lettering & dialog balloons, managed the printing, and put the thin layer of html around things for this web-version of the comic.

There is a lot more of the story to be posted yet. If there is interest, I can continue to publish the story. I realize that this opening 'teaser' doesn't have any action at all, so I'll probably at least publish through the massive orc battle at the end of Episode 27.

If somebody feels this belongs in another forum, please let me know!


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## Ruined (Oct 30, 2003)

Tell him to keep going. The drawing of Lokil looked awesome!  And I like looking at anything Scarred Lands related.


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## Broccli_Head (Oct 31, 2003)

theRuinedOne said:
			
		

> Tell him to keep going. The drawing of Lokil looked awesome!  And I like looking at anything Scarred Lands related.




Here, here!

I really like it.


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## vic20 (Nov 1, 2003)

Yeah, the Lokil is sweet. You should see the original-size inked piece!

Thanks for the feedback guys. 

I settled in at my computer tonight while the trick-treaters came and went, and converted the rest of "Episode 27" to html for your enjoyment.

http://skylab.org/~ewest


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## Broccli_Head (Nov 1, 2003)

where's episode #26?


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## Hunter (Nov 1, 2003)

This is Great!
And alot of hard work! I hope that you keep posting the goings ons and adventures of The Handlers!!!

~Hunter


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## vic20 (Nov 1, 2003)

Broccli_Head said:
			
		

> where's episode #26?




The comics were created in the following order: #28, #29, #27.

#30 and #31 are not finished, but are in some state of progress. I think that #30 may be nearly complete.

The first issue was done as #28 as that suggested the approximate number of issues that would be needed to cover the exploits of the Handlers' backstory at that point.


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## vic20 (Nov 1, 2003)

Hunter said:
			
		

> This is Great!
> And alot of hard work! I hope that you keep posting the goings ons and adventures of The Handlers!!!
> 
> ~Hunter




Glad you enjoy it! It's amazing how much hard work went into the comics, really. Probably about 4-5 hours a page at this point, accounting for writing, pencils, inks, computer work, printing, and now web conversions. 

Pete and Nate managed to keep the work on #28 a secret until the last second, surprising the whole group with the issue at game time. Needless to say, there were some bonus XP handed out that session.

I'll post #28 next, possibly this weekend if I have time to do the conversions.

Thanks for the feedback!


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## Hunter (Nov 1, 2003)

A pleasure!
I look forward to the next installment!

~H


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## vic20 (Nov 2, 2003)

*updated with #28 part 1*

Updated and reformated:

http://skylab.org/~ewest

The 'main page' now shows thumbnails of the three finished comic books. All of Episode 27 is up, now with links to the main page.

The opening segment of Episode 28 has been converted and posted as well.

Episode 28 was the first issue that was done, so style and process were different. In the original for this one, the dialog balloons were all hand-drawn, as was the lettering. I used photoshop to edit the text away, and replaced (post-over-zealous-editing phase) the text with a comic book font for clarity.

Hope you enjoy. More to come...


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## Uruush (Nov 3, 2003)

These look really amazing!  I hope that there will be further issues; the amount of work that must have gone in to these boggles the mind.


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## WhatKu (Nov 3, 2003)

Very Very nice. I hope you keep doing this, nice break from the normal story hours.


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## Hunter (Nov 4, 2003)

Enjoying very much! Looking forward to the rest of #28 (and the strange Mansters!)
As well as issue #29!

~H


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## vic20 (Nov 4, 2003)

Matthew Gagan said:
			
		

> These look really amazing!  I hope that there will be further issues; the amount of work that must have gone in to these boggles the mind.




Hey Matt! I was wondering who the first Handler to show up would be! 

Have you seen any of the work for 30 or 31? I can't remember, but I think Nate brought some stuff to our last game (those many moons ago...) More boggling ahead...


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## vic20 (Nov 4, 2003)

*updated #28 (pages 8-15)*

http://skylab.org/~ewest

Added a night's worth of conversions (pages 8-15 for #28).

Also added a credits page: http://skylab.org/~ewest/credits.html


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## vic20 (Nov 5, 2003)

http://skylab.org/~ewest

Episode 28 is now complete, all 28 pages.

Stay tuned for further exploits of .... The Handlers!


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## Uruush (Nov 8, 2003)

Haven't seen 30 or 31.  More! More!


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## the Jester (Nov 8, 2003)

Wow, this is really cool!  

Thumbs up, and another request for more!


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## vic20 (Nov 9, 2003)

Episode 29 is now online, thus concluding the to-date completed chronicals of "The Handlers".

http://skylab.org/~ewest

Enjoy!


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## GPEKO (Nov 10, 2003)

Wow, nicely done ... I especially loved the bard's ballad, the effect of the zone of truth and the look of the ghasts.

More !


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## Hunter (Nov 13, 2003)

"Your Flesh is butter for my Sword!"--The Handler's Rule!
Classic Handlers Pin-Up cool!
My favorite supporting characters are Joman and The Count!

Hunter


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