#709: "They're comfortable shoes, aren't they?"

[Kurosen]

He just can't help himself.

[Inbred Chocobo]

Brian, does that store that makes those T-shirts make shoes? Because I have an idea for some shoes you outta try out.

[Ultima08]

hmm
I wonder if a pair BM's shoes went back in time and ended up in Steves hands

[Number 81]

Ah, the power of Black Mage, with no idiots to hold him back. I'm going to love this.
Again, Brian managed to surprise us, I was just expecting a good stabbing, this is a lot better.

[Frylord]

Finally! BM is not chained by those FOOLISH set of laws you earthlings call "morality"! Let's see what he does next. Make five pairs of shoes from the old lady and sell em to King Steve? Plain old stabby time? Or something else...?

[Loyal]

I expect he'll be getting a call from King Steve (http://forum.nuklearpower.com/showthread.php?p=406445#post406445) any minute now...

But hey! At least he got the old lady out! And without any (immediate and that I know of) killing, too! He's getting quite good at this "selling things to customers" gig.

[BlackBelt McMonk]

Hmm...maybe the face he carved those shoes out of is one of his "spell components"?

[Solid Snake]

Eh, can't say I'm a huge fan of the latest string of comics -- my honest critique would be that BM being seperated from the Light Warriors has potential so long as he's given something to do with purpose -- right now the comedy is mildly funny, but it doesn't feel like it's actually going anywhere. At all. For the past dozen or so strips. The pointless gags work well for maybe one or two episodes, but eventually it just feels like 8BT is becoming more like a TV sitcom and less like a movie or a novel with a definitive progression and goals in sight.

I expect legions of fanboys to tear my apart on account of my honesty, but what can I say? As a writer myself I prefer honest feedback from my readers, and I've definitely given kudos to strips I've loved, so I feel entitled to offer constructive criticism too. A fanbase that only blindly praises, IMO, would be far more destructive to a budding writer's future.

[talse]

But hey! At least he got the old lady out! And without any (immediate and that I know of) killing, too! He's getting quite good at this "selling things to customers" gig.

shoes made of faces... I assume the faces just came with the store, like there is a regular demand for such products.

See? This is the silliness of your hypothesis. Black mage killed some of onion kids cousins for those shoes. Killed them with his mind.

[AstralFire]

Eh, can't say I'm a huge fan of the latest string of comics -- my honest critique would be that BM being seperated from the Light Warriors has potential so long as he's given something to do with purpose -- right now the comedy is mildly funny, but it doesn't feel like it's actually going anywhere. At all. For the past dozen or so strips. The pointless gags work well for maybe one or two episodes, but eventually it just feels like 8BT is becoming more like a TV sitcom and less like a movie or a novel with a definitive progression and goals in sight.

I expect legions of fanboys to tear my apart on account of my honesty, but what can I say? As a writer myself I prefer honest feedback from my readers, and I've definitely given kudos to strips I've loved, so I feel entitled to offer constructive criticism too. A fanbase that only blindly praises, IMO, would be far more destructive to a budding writer's future.


I've felt that way about this strip for a few hundred strips, to be honest.

I always got confused reading the in-depth analyses of each comic... I enjoy it for what it is, but I don't see 8BT really having a good way to build up or anything.

[Nayno]

Eh, can't say I'm a huge fan of the latest string of comics -- my honest critique would be that BM being seperated from the Light Warriors has potential so long as he's given something to do with purpose -- right now the comedy is mildly funny, but it doesn't feel like it's actually going anywhere. At all. For the past dozen or so strips.

The last comic had direction; the Light Warriors were doing quest planning. The cobbler-BM side story IS separated from the main plot, but I don't really think that's a bad thing. It has a lot of potential to further develop BM's character by letting us see a new side of him... though I never really liked the jokes that BM gets. I'm definitely a Red Mage guy.

[Seran]

I enjoy and savor the idea of shoes being made out of the flesh of people's faces.

Did I say that? I meant...how horrible! Black Mage, you cruel, cruel thing! But seriously, the idea of that is cool...as long as it does not involve me.

[Solid Snake]

The last comic had direction; the Light Warriors were doing quest planning. The cobbler-BM side story IS separated from the main plot, but I don't really think that's a bad thing. It has a lot of potential to further develop BM's character by letting us see a new side of him... though I never really liked the jokes that BM gets. I'm definitely a Red Mage guy.

True, but it's taken us a long while to even garner direction for the other Light Warriors. I think I just miss the threat -- however minimalistic -- that forces like Garland and Evil Princess Sara posed earlier on in the strips. Without antagonists to clash against, or even a well-defined plan to tackle Chaos (Sarda's not exactly giving us any details), it's difficult to feel as if the comic's progressing.

That being said I'm fully confident, given Nuklear Age as a predecent, that Brian has an absolutely amazing and mindblowing ending for 8BT planned out. I just wish we could get to the ending sooner, because this filler is striking me as just that -- insubstantive filler and little else.

[Nayno]

I can see your point and I agree; it seems like the LW are coasting on their paths to destiny. I don't think that it's been that way for as long as AstralFire says, since the Castle of Ordeals was an excellent and very funny story arc. But it would be nice to see the LW face new challenges now that they have new abilities at their disposal.

However, I wouldn't want Brian to increase the pace of the comic any more... it seems like the LW will finish the Water Shrine all too soon, and I know that I'll miss the comic once it ends. But 8bt could stand to have a little more conflict.

[Invisible Queen]

I think conflict is overrated. You don't have to have two dualistic forces battling in order for a story to occur. Bad guys serve only to define the goodness of the good guys, and 8BT doesn't seem to be about the heroicness of the heroes.

Meanwhile, this comic's title is hilarious. :D

[willyolio]

i'm surprised that BM keeps the store open so late. and the girl managed to get out of there screaming.

[MetalPsycho]

Hehe. Made out of face. Funny.

[Kurosen]

Well, it was either this episode or nothing at all. I had about an hour to work up a concept and execute it Friday morning before driving out to a convention. ;D

[Norsesmithy]

I am reasonably certain the shoes used to be Mr. Cobblepot.

I love BM as Psychotic Cobbler.

[Burkion]

Ah, the Bundy Mage strikes again!

[Doc T]

Oh, the Dark Gods aren't going to pleased that this is what BM is doing with his new found magic. From genocide to shoes.

[Babybahamut]

If buying shoes has taught me one thing, its that shoe makers hate people and feet, and want both to suffer.

So really, this job suits BM just fine.

[Art of Hilt]

...
Baby shoes...
They cry with every step.

[Shishio]

I'm disappointed that Black Mage did not kill the old woman, but he seems to exhibit a talent for shoemaking.

[bass_virus]

didn't he kill that annoying woman?

[Chaoswizard]

so are the shoes from the stores previous owner?

[Shishio]

didn't he kill that annoying woman?

I could be wrong, but I thought the woman running out of the store was the old woman. (Must have been really scared to be able to run at her age.)

[bass_virus]

I wonder how long it's going to be until the Light Warriors finally go back for BM, or if they will at all, who knows maybe WM will be the new LW.

[KillBill]

if she ran out wearing the shoes, things are gonna get messy!

[Black Sword]

How I love Black Mage. Perfect, just perfect.

[Invisible Queen]

BM must have gotten the face shoes from someone. But I guess the store's previous owner is a more likely option than the old woman, since that would include killing her off-panel and then get another, equally annoying and identical customer in the middle of the night.

[cheezewizz2000]

I wonder how many pairs of shoes you can make from one cobbler...

[happy_turtle]

if she ran out wearing the shoes, things are gonna get messy!

Wow...I had the same idea only with a very pleasent "squish, squish, squish" sound to accompany it. And it is apperently obvious to anyone who focuses on the plot that those shoes indeed were made of the previous store owner so there is no longer a need to banter over the subject.

[Flarecobra]

Well, natural leather IS cow skin......

And out of anything, we can all agree that this proves that BM CAN make shoes.


.....and is he going to leave the blood on the windows, or just get someone else to clean them?

[JONJONAUG]

I wonder how long it's going to be until the Light Warriors finally go back for BM, or if they will at all, who knows maybe WM will be the new LW.

Wouldn't happen. They will probably find the item that will let them breathe in the water, then they will go back and find BM in his shoe store.

[The Wandering God]

I dunno, I think subjecting someone to having them wear a shoe made out of a face is pretty horrific.

It's a much more subtle horror that harkens back to the "Don't look at my face!" evil of BM in that he is, when you get right down to it, a very bad person. Or not.

We shall see what we shall see.

The Wandering God