Phoenix Incarnate-Message Boards

[PhoenixIncarnate]

Phoenix Incarnate now has its own message board (thanks to the cool admins at ComicGenesis!). The comic has many points worth discussing, so at the message boards you'll find topics ranging from philosophy, psychology, and society elements portrayed in the comic, boards for criticizing the artwork, a board for revealing secrets hidden within the comic, and other discussion.

Presently, I am also attempting to set up a forum RPG, but the previously interested parties dropped out. I still wish to set up a game, so if anybody is interested, drop by and offer some suggestions or at least voice your interest!

Forum is at:
http://forums.comicgenesis.com/viewforum.php?f=902


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(Original post text)
http://phoenixincarnate.keenspace.com

Phoenix Incarnate is a dramatic comic about a girl with secrets kept even from herself. Carrie Newdawn, the only bat at West Isthmus High School, is the least popular student in her class. Teachers, classmates, even her own parents torment, abuse, and neglect her just because of her differences. But Carrie is hiding more differences than just her physical figure . . .

Carrie sees strange things when she falls asleep . . . vivid images of people she's never met, but feels closely in touch with all the same. Among the cast of characters in these visions are a phoenix who is coincidentally called by the same name as her own, and a badger with whom the phoenix apparently was in love with. Every dream she has ever had was in some way related to these characters. They've recently become more frequent, and they begin to hint at notions that these visions are not just dreams . . .

By all means, Carrie needs to find a way out of her pain. She can't stand the tortures of her peers and family any longer. No place is safe for her any longer. As she begins to run out of options, Carrie will focus on her dreams to look for possible clues . . . perhaps to find a hidden message, even a map to get out of this painful existence. So far, it seems her dreams could be leading to new powers hidden within her.

That's when things start to get . . . different.

Features:
-Currently 38 pages, including full-page "cover pages" for each chapter
-Flash interfaces that help navigation
-Intense dramatic story
-Color available, but with a certain hidden significance
-Lots of hidden secrets either in the background, or laced within someone's words
-A bonus Holiday-spanning written story - started shortly after Halloween

Coming soon:
-A Flash-based game where you talk to each of the main characters and get an in-depth look at their personalities and backgrounds (Screenshots are available right from the main page
-Message board (setting that up over the holidays - should hopefully be up by January)

Disclaimers:
-Mature rating for violence - not for gore, but for blood as well as sensitive issues. (Actually, I take that back . . . the Flash interfaces do contain some gore)
-Currently in the process of redrawing the first ten pages, but page updates are more important. Use the first and fourth pages as an idea of what the graphics look like, because they improve dramatically after page 12 or so.
-Flash interfaces are present on this site (NOT on any page containing a comic image for sake of loading). For 56k users, I've done what I could to keep the interfaces compressed at a reasonable size, but if you don't feel like waiting for the Flash to load there's a site tree at the bottom of every page.
-This is NOT a funny comic. At best, you might find a couple dry laughs in between to alleviate some of the tension, but on the whole you should be expecting an intense drama before reading this.

Why have I written this?

I'm twenty years old now, and I keep looking back upon where I've come from. My life was not easy - in fact, much of the contents of this comic come from personal experience. I know a thing or two about domestic violence that many wouldn't understand.

My biggest issues with it are outlined on page 30 - that it's difficult to report because of the situation a kid is in. Sure, you could tell someone that a parent is hurting you and get them sent to jail, but what about you? You're homeless after that! There's a very serious problem with that system. One goal I have for this comic is to make people aware of this issue and get someone thinking about better ways to solve it - or, alternatively, make somebody think twice about hitting their kids by showing it from the kid's perspective.

The second issue is your classic public school system. From what I've seen of public schools, you have your very own sub-society within, complete with hierarchial popularity ladder and so-forth. To get to the top, you have to step on the people at the bottom. Seems great for the types at the top of the ladder, but not entirely so. The other goal I have with this comic is to outline major issues with the popularity game. I'll not only focus on the least popular girl in school, but I'll also explain some problems even the most popular kids have.

[GabrialFox]

Good stuff!

I just dug through the archive. You've got some great potential here. The artwork is pleasant, though you could use some work on shape and proportions. I like the colour, and more over the different uses of colour.

I very much enjoyed what of the story is there so far, and can't wait to see where it goes from here! The drama seems a bit heavy handed (because there's not much in the way of breaks between emotional bits, it gets to lose a bit of its impact.) But you're right, in that these are some real issues here that few are willing to address, though they should be.

Keep up the good work, and I'm looking forward to watching you improve!


Fox
(of http://heyfox.keenspace.com)

[Wrathofautumn]

Interesting. Very interesting so far. Keep it up! ^_^-b

[PhoenixIncarnate]

New message boards available! See first post for details.