Homestack characters throughout the entire existence of the comic book gained more popularity than the format itself as a whole. Heroes turned out to be memorable, and since the creators saw, as a target audience, primarily teenagers, they were also somewhat trendy. The article tells about the reason for the popularity of peering, can it be considered a full-fledged comic book, or did this creation become the founder of a new genre. Homestuck characters and the most interesting antagonists and protagonists are also painted.
A few facts from the history of the comic book
The author of the opus is Andrew Khakashi. Create the character "Homestack" it occurred to him as an entertainment. Since the author did not claim the laurels of the artist or animator, the creation turned out to be very simple. So, for example, the key requirement of MS Paint Adventureres, where the opus was published, is drawing in the Windows graphics editor of the same name.
The project turned out to be very rich and continues to be published so far. Since the first pages with Homestack characters were published on the site in 2009, more than 8,000 pages in 60 volumes have been published. It is rarely possible for a novice to master it completely. The Homestack comic has a very sophisticated plot, and therefore requires thoughtful reading.
It is known that the creator of the opus intended to create a game based on the project. So, in 2012, it was announced the generation of a new record on kickstarter. The total amount amounted to more than $ 2.5 million. The exact figures of the investment in the project by the fans are not known at all. For more than a year there has been no news from the author. In the fall of 2013, Khakashi announced that the development ultimately rests on the shoulders of his own team, and there is a slight pause in the publication of the comic. She eventually dragged on for a whole year, and there was a huge outflow of fans of the creation. Homestack characters have not regained their lost audience.
Continuation of the scandal around the studio and the game as a whole
It is possible that the lion's share of the latest acts of the comic book would not exist at all, as the fans simply left the fandom. However, an employee of the new Khakashi organization explained the information about the downtime. The Odd Gentlemen company spent 800 thousand on an incomprehensible project, worked in parallel on King's Quest, and as a result could not provide Khakashi itself with a single working algorithm for his order in 8 months. If he had not suspended the release of the comic and did not decide on independent development, he could have ended up in prison.
September 14, 2017 on Steam appeared the first act of the game at a price of 200 Russian rubles. By the end of the year, What Pumpkin kicked out most of the developers, and the project was frozen. The actual state of play regarding the Homestack characters is still unknown.
Setting and subtleties of the drawing
Despite the fact that the project was originally conceived as a normal entertainment for its creator, the comic book gained immense popularity. The first pages with Homestack characters look like attempts to do something worthy with a ruler and a pencil - drawing was so primitive. Subsequently, things changed for the better, since Khakashi himself even began to paint heroes. So, for example, Homestack trolls already have a slightly more interesting picture than the protagonists in the first acts.
All this, including the features of the setting, the atmosphere of the project, as well as the idea itself, was created for the target audience, the so-called “geeks” and “nerds,” that is, characters whose lives pass through computers and games. Khakashi himself has repeatedly claimed to be inspired by games such as The Sims and Spore. The names of the characters of the Homestack provide for various references or are a regularity. So, for example, the name and surname of the troll always includes 6 letters of the Latin alphabet.
Comic book universe
At the center of the story are several fellow players who lead the game for themselves. They are an allusion to the creator god, since they are capable of both destroying and creating worlds and universes. The entire Homestack setting is saturated with mysticism and psychedelic ideas, coupled with the idea of a utopian world around your own fortress house. In the center of the plot, the ideas of online games, pop culture, cyberpunk, and trends that have grown in popularity over the period when paging was published, gradually come to the fore.
Initially, the author planned to make the characters of Homestack and the environment in the comic book interactive and give readers the right to choose based on voting in order to determine what will happen in the story further, but they later abandoned it. Heroes remained "game", they communicate via chat, have various equipment, recognize themselves as characters. All this attracts a considerable share of admirers to creation. Judging by the reviews, readers really like it.
Plot features
In the center of the story are four heroes enclosed in the game SBURB BETA. Protagonist John Egbert gets it on his 13th birthday and, along with his friend Rose Lalond, sits down to study. During the gameplay, a real apocalypse begins, meteorites threaten to completely destroy the Earth, so four friends (two more joined the heroes later) move to the Stratosphere - the “world of warring kingdoms”. It turns out that each of the heroes has to go through his own quest. As a result, the whole four stops the black king and queen on a chessboard in the center of this space, and they, in turn, threaten Skye.
During one of the trips, the hero John finds a protobiological laboratory and with the help of it creates exact copies of both his friends and their guardians, sent to the past. Thus, the cycle of narration is closed, and the characters of Homestack are forced to always go on the quest in the Stratosphere. Moreover, among the meteorites that were cast away by Skya and did not reach the Earth, there are even those that resulted in the planet being populated again, but already in 2142, long after the events of the original comic strip. The narrative includes a lot of references, all kinds of hints and direct comments about the real world, as well as about readers who watch the characters from behind the "framework". Homestack trolls tried to pull the heroes out of the game and warn those who were misunderstood.
John Egbert
One of the main characters of the Homestack comic ectoBiologist (this is his nickname in Stratosphere) was previously ghostyTrickster, but the guy changed his name in order to confuse the trolls. At one time, fans believed that John did not have his own name until his 13th birthday, but this was disproved by the creator of the paring. Aspects of Homestack have a direct relationship with the characters, and in the case of John, this is a "breath of wind."
In fact, he is a "test tube child" created by himself in the distant future. Arrived on Earth with a meteorite, was adopted by his brother, who replaced his father. On the 13th birthday I received the game mentioned above. How exactly I met my own friends on the Internet is unknown. Uses for communication special software in the form of a messenger. Externally, John is a young guy with a shock of naughty dark hair, wears glasses. At one time, fans thought John’s Sliznyuk from Ghostbusters was seen on John’s T-shirt, but that’s just a symbol.
Rose lalond
She is a blonde with a very neat appearance, pretty. Its elements are chalk and water. The preferred color is pink or purple, the nickname used is tentacleTherapist. Prints in a chat with the maximum degree of literacy. Being drunk, he begins to spam. Right before the story began, on her 13th birthday, she received a sewing kit from John as a gift, and from Dave a strange, slightly frightening device, with which she was supposed to resurrect the deceased pet. He is the only player who has no problems managing the game. Wrote FAQ on the passage. He is a player on John’s server and affects spaces by moving, creating or destroying objects. In fact, she has some dark secrets and once even turns into a dark version of herself. He loves Gothic literature and even writes thematic poems on this subject.
Dave Strider
This is the third character introduced to readers. It looks like a stylish blonde, does not part with sunglasses. Obsessed to always stay cool and collected, which often leads him to embarrassment. At the moment when in the chat room he was offered to replace his nickname Insufferable Prick with something similar, he simply broke the console with a katana, because "tough guys do not waste time on such nonsense."
The aspect of this Homestack character is fire, and the associative element is amber. Bro was raised, who is his ectobiological father. Later it turns out that the guy was constantly under the influence of the teacher and was suppressed by him. Reached the level of God and became a real knight of time. At first, she was very friendly to Rose, but constantly accused her of exactingness. As a result, the characters began to exchange only cool messages. He is a leader by nature, although somewhat arrogant.
Jade harley
She became the fourth protagonist to be introduced to the reader. Looks like a brunette with long dark hair, wears round glasses and a skirt on the floor with buttons. Has the wrong bite. It is not known exactly how she met the rest of the guys. Her nickname is gardenGnostic, her favorite color is green, associative elements are earth and uranium. Grown by a grandfather who is genetically her father. Its origin is also associated with ectobiology. After her teacher died as a result of a shot, the girl was raised by a dog. She had problems with insomnia, which led her to online games. Had minor problems with passing due to lack of experience and problems with wakefulness, but still ended up with the trio.
Despite the fact that Jade is trying to be courageous, she is given difficult tests. She is close only with Dave, which adversely affects her communication. Her dog eventually became the protector of the Earth.
Beta and Alpha
In fact, in the comic there are not four, but eight protagonists. The first four - alpha versions - went far ahead, cloning themselves and sending the project to the past. Beta versions can take completely different decisions and behave differently, which creates a certain flavor in the story. The plot is rich in various travels in space and time, which often leads to confusion. The creator is in no hurry to explain everything to the neophytes, because, apparently, it gives him pleasure.
Trolls
The trolls in the comic are aliens from the planet Altheria in another Universe. A total of 36 characters take part in the plot, also divided into ancestors, alpha versions and beta versions. Each hero, with a few exceptions, has his own zodiac sign.
Homestack names are of great importance. All trolls look like humanoids with red horns, black hair, gray skin, yellow whites of the eyes. Each of them has blood of a certain color, in which the sign is painted. The main one is cancer. When the trolls tried for the first time to contact the children via the Internet and accuse them of future mistakes, they did not believe them, which is why the protagonists now suspect them. This seriously hinders the progress of the story. Each troll has its own mentor. Terezi Homestack, for example, speaks very well of his ludos, considering him a friend.
The comic turned out to be not only interesting, but also very multi-level. All the characters and their names in Homestack are connected by various parallels, new and old story moves and many other very subtle nuances. All this creates a magnificent picture, which, judging by the reviews, is able to please the inexperienced reader.