5. CULTISTS
Way back at the turn of my 100th comic and the new year, I feared I was in a rut so I decided I needed some new characters to work with. I had asserted from the beginning of W.o.G that i'd only use immortals in the comic but inadvertantly that vow slipped up time and again, thus came the idea that revitalized my potentially flagging comic career. You see, Big T is popular among Greyhawk fans and writers, actually he is obscenely popular to the point his name was superfluously turning up all over 2E and 3E products, then inevitably he even penetrated into 4th edition. But the trouble is how do you represent a god who is perpetually imprisoned? Why through his cultists of course! Adapting their look from various sources, the Cultist duo were a homerun in my book. Not only was there countless sources of Tharizdun lore to draw upon but their stunningly simple premise of trying to free their deity was enough to have them turn up in almost anywhere, even on other planes! Admittedly I didn't know how much fun the Cultists would be at first. It took a few issues stretched out over 4-5 months for me to nail down the personalities and the dynamic relationship between these two identical looking robed cultists, before I realized that they could carry their own continuous storyline like Gods in Space. Since then the pair have been on many hapless adventures, always testing Fate while at the same time persistently staying true to their main quest, freeing Tharizdun. One of the things I've been doing during the 18 cultist strips so far, is seeding occasional hints as to the true identities those under the hood. Trust me when I say they are canon Greyhawk NPCs. It's still too early to give away the answer, but rest assured before I end my run on this webcomic, the 'Big Reveal' will be my part of my finale.
4. IRONGATE
Two of my favorite people to pick on in W.o.G are Gary (PSmedger) Holian, co-author of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer and mapper extraordinare Denis (Maldin) Tetreault. Holian himself did a ton of freelancing articles for Greyhawk in the 3.x era, and I tried to parody as many of them as I could. But together they published an article on the free city of Irongate that was the culmination of a decade of work online. This parody required more effort than normal. I needed a bullseye, a homerun, a slam dunk, dare I say it, a masterpiece. And I came pretty close to perfection with this comic, and without drawing but a single panel. As I read their article I began to see tangents and similarities arise between Irongate and a certain game of my youth. Thanks to the miracle of NES Emulators, I managed to play Super Mario Brothers for a couple days straight in an effort to capture the best screen shots possible for my ultimate Greyhawk article parody. The resulting images when coupled with excerpted text from the article went together seamlessly. Needless to say the hilarious reaction to this comic online was just as I hoped. About half a year later as Paizo was wrapping up their run on Dragon/Dungeon Magazine, Gary would provide me with one more opportunity to lampoon him, and true to form his script fit an NES game like a glove. I'll miss his articles.
3. GYGAX TRIBUTE
March 4th, 2008 Gary Gygax died and with that the World of Greyhawk lost its creator. I remember when I first posted W.o.G to the Pied Piper Publishing forums in 2005 and Gygax saw my light hearted parody of him as Zagyg. His reaction was lukewarm at best. Most people I am sure would've been discouraged by being shrugged off by such a big name in the gaming industry but I was undaunted. Much of the fractured Greyhawk fanbase gave me positive reviews and that was plenty for me. Fast forward to Gencon 07 and Gygax is in attendance as the guest of honor no less. My friends and I only went there for one day so you'd think I would've made the most of the time and at least tried to shake the hand of Gygax in person, and maybe if I were brave enough tell him I am the dude who has been parodying his Greyhawk for the last two and half years. But no, I basically chickened out. So it was extra deflating for me when I learned he died less than a year later. That will always be a major regret for the rest of my life. Ever since then when I go to Gencon I've tried extra hard to meet anyone and everyone I've met online or involved with Greyhawk. It will never make up for missing Gygax but its the least I can do I guess. Thus my Gygax tribute was drawn with a heavy heart. It was truly the single hardest comic I ever made and that is why it belongs among my top 3 issues.
2. WALDORF
I've been collecting Dragon Magazine since issue #85. The cover featured a boy looking at a crystal ball(I think I identified with that boy). I used to devour every bit of those old print magazines. The articles, the interior art, the covers, the black & white ads, the comics for sure, and then there was the letters. Back then snail mail was all there was for readers to give feedback be it in the letters to the editor section or the Forum section where readers commented on specific articles. Now on internet forums, readers can hack apart any topic in the blink of an eye. Yes, letters were more personal. I even had a letter to Dragon published! (Dragon #273 I think?) Anyways, the time it took to write a letter to a magazine showed effort and sincerity. Well unless you were the guy who wrote this one letter that saw print in Dragon #137. Anyone who has been playing D&D for as long as I have and read Dragon Magazine, knows about Waldorf. He was D&D's equivalent of Leroy Jenkins for online gaming. Never had a printed letter to Dragon incurred so much additional feedback. It was sort of like a published flame war! One of my best nostalgic comic ideas ever was to dredge up Waldorf's letter to Dragon, with responses and share it with those who never had the dubious honor to have known the infamous Waldorf. For those Greybeards who had forgot about Waldorf (intentionally or on purpose), it was mischievously fun for me to put illustrations to Waldorf's story and watch people squirm. For me Waldorf is the epitome of Monty Haulism and a reminder of a time when Dragon Magazine was more playful and interesting to read.
1. A NEEDFEST STORY
I am sure that I'm not alone in saying that I've seen A Christmas Story only a THOUSAND TIMES. What's amazing is that it never gets old and it is easily the most quotable holiday movie there is. So that is why it had to be the movie parody for my very first Needfest comic special. My muse graced me that winter by giving me the perfect angle to do this comic, it was to be the starring debut of Kas the Bloody Handed. Kas' background in obtaining a powerful magic sword and what he ultimately did with it in canon immediately meshed with the story of Ralphie and his obsession to get a b-b gun for Christmas. Kas and Vecna's design were based on the characters in the hard to find graphic novel Vecna: Hand of the Revenant. The rest of the dialogue, characters, and art for the parody fell into place like dominoes making A Needfest Story the most enjoyable comic I have ever put together. It was not at all stressful or rushed like most of my extended length comic efforts. The bar was set pretty high after this masterpiece in my opinion and there it remains on top of my list 154 comics later. I hope you enjoyed it as much I do. Wish me luck in the next 100 issues.
One more thing, I'd like to recognize the names of some people who I haven't already mentioned before. These people have either knowingly or unknowingly contributed to, inspired or APPEARED in my last 200 issues. The list is by no means exhaustive but its a pretty good group of D&D and Greyhawk fans: Darlene, Rebecca Guay, Jim Roslof, Len Lakofka, Creighton Broadhurst, Paul Looby, Wolfsire, Carl Sargent, Fred Weining, Rasgon, Amaril, Max Writer, Lassiviren, Wayne Reynolds, Robert Mullin, Lord Kjeran, Allan Grohe, Steve Winter, Nick Logue, Joshua Frost, Phil Foglio, Keith Parkinson, J.D. Webster, Michael Sandar, Kirt Wackford, Scott McMillan, Sean K Reynolds, James Jacobs, Kalman Andrasofszky, Wykthor, Dave Arneson, David Cook, Larry Elmore, Valharic, Jayson King, Eric Ausley, Pete Bridges, Tyler Walpole, Andrew Hou, Joel Biske, Vince Locke, Andy Miller, Jeff Easley, Roger Raupp, Greg Vaughan, Tom Moldvay, Travis Fox, Jake Lovell, Wade Beckman, Jim Holloway, Hunter, Samuel Weiss, Rich Trickey, Varthalon, Greg Allen, Liz Courts, Jason Bulmahn, Rossik, airwalkrr, jstanton, Wyroth, Arjen, Scott Casper, Skip Williams, Tony DiTerlizzi, Erik Mona, Dennis Beauvais, Chris Adams, Eric Dechamps, Bill Slaviscek, Aaron Williams, Ari Marmell, Abysslin, Rick Miller, Randy Patton, Dave Trampier, Rich Burlew, Modi Thorsson, Kevin McCann, James Ward, Issak Haywood, Glenn Vincent Dammerung, James Collins, Jason Ross, Chris Bishop, Trent Ocobok, Douglass] Burck, Matthew Sernett, Wolfgang Baur, Ed Greenwood, Scott Bennie, Kwint Pendick, Scoti Garbidis, Roger Moore, Don Brown, Adam Phillips, Pete Venters, Chris Perkins, James Wyatt, James Ryman, Todd Lockwood, Stephen Greer, Eric Menge, Eva Widermann, David Axler, John Prager, Bruce Cordell, Russel Taylor, Jolly Blackburn, Lance Hawvermale, Richard Baker, Nigel Findley, Robert J Kuntz, and yes even Rose Estes.