Vanguard

Bigshots, Head Shots, and Spotlights

This will certainly be addressed in comic very soon but I did want to take a minute to address it here as well. Some people seem to think that Barrage a Trois is not very tough if he can be killed by a handgun. A couple thoughts on that.

Barrage is a lot bigger, stronger, and faster than a normal guy. He’s not just as strong as three men, he’s probably closer to as strong as 10. And he’s a lot more resilient, too. But at the end of the day he’s still flesh and bone. If Pendragon had shot him in the forehead it certainly would have bounced off.

But how thick can skin really get? Elephant hide? Did you know that the area behind the elephant’s left front leg is pretty thin where its leg rubs against its chest? You know what’s right behind that spot? The elephant’s heart. That’s how bow hunters kill elephants. Go look on YouTube.

Pendragon has chosen to shoot Barrage through the eye. Now I’m no elephant doctor but I don’t think an elephant’s eye is any more resilient that mine. Your eye is a delicate sensory organ and behind it is a hole that leads directly to your brain, which is another delicate organ. Your cornea is a thin flexible lens. That’s how you’re able to focus. If Barrage’s cornea is 10 times thicker than it’s supposed to be I’m pretty sure he’d be blind. Or at least have limited vision.

So now we have a bullet penetrating a brain and coming into contact with that super hard skull. I can only assume this bullet is not bouncing around inside that skull turning the brain to jelly.

When Lord de Tonnerre set out to visit the settlement they didn’t really expect any trouble. His back-up team is one step up from mall cops. They have lightweight armor and sidearms. They didn’t even pack Barrage’s big boy pants! And the last thing they expected was Pendragon, possibly the most highly trained soldier in the world. And not only is Pendragon physically enhanced, he has the cast iron balls to stand his ground and take and make the shot that kills a charging Barrage a Trois.

Once Vince dies, it disrupts the matrix that is Barrage a Trois. So the next two headshots are against basically human heads.

We talked a lot about this scene when we were writing it. We really appreciate your comments and readership.

– Gary
—————————————-

Gary has said it way better than I could 😉

Lot of exciting stuff coming up. Stay tuned!

– Dan

—————————————-
REDDIT: As always, upvotes on Reddit are more than welcome if you enjoyed the page/comic

Art, writing, etc.
Dan

Edited/written by
Gary Cohen

The Good Fight, or Those Are The Breaks…

Pendragon has done a hell of job fighting against pretty insurmountable odds. But he wasn’t at 100%.  The fight has gone on too long and he’s just up against too many opponents.   Looks like perhaps all is lost?

– Gary
—————————————-

Yup, Pendragon pushed his luck a little too far this time. As his battle with the monstrous Barrage reaches it’s apex, his previous injury received in the battle of Downing Street lets him down!

I’ve been a busy boy!  I added a cover to issue six , uploaded issue five to Comixology as well as the trade paperback of the first five issues. Hooray!

– Dan

—————————————-
REDDIT: As always, upvotes on Reddit are more than welcome if you enjoyed the page/comic

Art, writing, etc.
Dan

Edited/written by
Gary Cohen

It’s Always Darkest…

A very sad page indeed. On the brightside, at least children all over Britain are spared the sight of Barrage’s wang (or possibly 3 wangs). For the record, I did not write Barrage as being naked. I assumed that he would have some kind of special suit. So, parents and teachers take that up with Dan. And Dan, what were you thinking?

– Gary
—————————————-

Hahaha!

Why is Barrage naked? Well, kinda like the Hulk, I thought his constant changing of size and would make clothing not only restrictive, but pretty useless. Also, a 9ft tall naked dude that can alter his shape at will is pretty terrifying.

If you want to see a shit load of sketches designs I’ve done for Thade and Lokust, check out the Patreon page.

This has been uploaded! Go check it out:

If you want an insight on how I colour my work/pages, I’d really recommend taking a look. The layered PSD file will show you a LOT and the accompanying PDF will explain how/why/what is going on within the image.

– Dan

—————————————-

REDDIT: As always, upvotes on Reddit are more than welcome if you enjoyed the page/comic

Art, writing, etc.
Dan

Edited/written by
Gary Cohen

It’s Just A Flesh Wound!

Pendragon has a sword! If I had thought about it, I would have had Pendragon start off fighting left handed à la Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride. Now that Barrage has proven to be super strong and not just super ugly, Pendragon has drawn his weapon. In addition to being a world class fighter Pendragon is a master tactician. And that includes conserving his strength (since at this point it’s Pendragon vs. everyone).

I always find it odd in comics when the hero just assumes his new adversary has super strength or is nigh invulnerable, and just starts beating the crap out of them. You would think Spiderman or Superman would constantly overestimate the resilience of new villains and find themselves punching clean through someone’s head. I for one think the only reason Superman has a cape is to wipe the blood off of his hands.

If you faced an unknown opponent, would you feel them out or just go at them full on?

– Gary
—————————————-

Hello!

Again, thanks for taking the time to comment. It really makes my day to see people engaging with the story.

If you want to see a shit load of sketches designs I’ve done for Barrage, check out the Patreon page.

Also, I’ll be uploading THIS soon:

If you want an insight on how I colour my work/pages, I’d really recommend taking a look. The layered PSD file will show you a LOT and the accompanying PDF will explain how/why/what is going on within the image.

– Dan

—————————————-

REDDIT: As always, upvotes on Reddit are more than welcome if you enjoyed the page/comic

Art, writing, etc.
Dan

Edited/written by
Gary Cohen

Fight Club

So now the second team has arrived. These are actual security personnel and 3 very angry meta humans or whatever we’re supposed to call them because I guess legally we can’t say super powers or something?

Well these three should give Pendragon a bit more trouble. I don’t want to say the name of the creature they turn into but I think it’s a pretty great name. Really patting myself on the back over it. Any guesses?

– Gary
—————————————-

Hello!

I have to admit, although it took a heck of a long time to do, colouring this page was a lot of fun.

IF you want to see a shit load of sketches designs I’ve done for this hulking brute here, check out the Patreon page.

Also, VANGUARD issue four was approved on Comixology! Huzzah!

THE AWESOME COMICS PODCAST:
For the milestone that is the show hitting double-figures, acclaimed writer Leah Moore (Swords of Sorrow, Sherlock Holmes) joins Vince, Dan and Tony to tell us all about the exciting new digital comics publishing app Electricomics! She also talks about working with 2000AD and Dynamite, chats about how she writes and joins in with the weekly character assassination of Vince. Also this week we talk about Poetry Comics, ICE Comic Expo, Dan being depressed on trains, Tonys time pretending to be a werewolf hunter and Vince is becoming more of an old man by the episode.

Basically this show is so jam-packed with info and hilarity you just HAVE to listen to it immediately, so get the Horlicks going and buckle up!

– Dan

—————————————-

REDDIT: As always, upvotes on Reddit are more than welcome if you enjoyed the page/comic

Art, writing, etc.
Dan

Edited/written by
Gary Cohen