Thomas: Agent of Chaos
Thomas: Agent of Chaos is © Larry Jamal Walton
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Midway through the journey of life, most decide that their life will be greatly improved by a "bundle of joy". THOMAS was one such bundle of joy. Like all kids, Thomas is an Agent of Chaos. His only goal is to be unpredictable, cause mischief, and insert as much uncertainty as possible into the lives of those around him.
Couples are always told that life will never be the same after having kids. Agents of Chaos are the prime reason for that statement.
Cool stuff. Very funny and very accurate on kids. Setting it in a fantasy setting is a nice twist, would like to see more of that developed.
The humor reminds of a comicstrip...Family Circus!!...that isn't a good thing...cough...sorry.
I'd like to take the time to say thanks to everyone who supported Thomas. I hope that you will keep your eyes on ljamal.com for the latest in news about Thomas as we are not done yet. I'm hard at work creating a web site for the further adventures of Thomas, Steve is hard at work illustrating the next adventures of Thomas, and Mike is busy pimping his creation FIST OF JUSTICE.
FIST OF JUSTICE #1 hit your local comic book store shelves this week (30 Jan 2008), so run down to your local shop and ask for it by name. Fist of Justice is publishing by Digital Webbing.
And don't forget ... MORE THOMAS IS ON THE WAY.
Somebody it's fan of Billy and Mandy... ;)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Cool, congrats!
[]s
Ricardo Soathman
oh, jamal, i keep forgeting to explain why i asked to be your friend. i buy stuff at ultimate comics in NC, they emailed about it, and i really liked it! keep up the good work and maybe i'll see you in the store some time!
Sorry, mis-translated my own post there - serves me right!
I had to read this about three times before I began to warm to it. That's the problem for me. The characters are ugly, the colours cold, the dialogue and action stilted. The overall impression is of this having come from Eastern Europe having been tralated from the original Latverian (!) and where it is known as Tomaz: Provocator of Social Unrest!
Mr Musgrave sketches out the panels in each strip and then bring it all into Adobe Illustrator. Once he's finished witht he art, he sends it to me and I use Illustrator to drop in the lettering. That's pretty much the entire process.
Steve (that's Mr Musgrave to you) outlines his work process at:
http://drunkensouls.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_archive.html
Scroll down to the bottom.
It's obviously photo-referenced.
i love this stuff! dude, this is so funny. did you hand draw this?!?! how do you make stuff like this?(seriously, email me and explain it, someone, please?)
Having a "Sunday paper feel" means it's very well done, it just may not jive as well with the one a week formula.
If having a more "Sunday paper feel" means having well drawn characters and a more professional look to the overall design of a comic, I just hope to see more like this one, so that the level of the competitions keep rising up. Good job.
It is a nice job, but it has more of a "Sunday paper" feel than an online zuda feel.
I want to congratulate the entire team at Thomas. This is a pro comic. My only advice: read every Calvin and Hobbes ever written.
I wanna read more!!! This is great stuff, i have a little brother who went through the exact same phase...i can relate to this cuz i was such a carl haha! great work.two thumbs up, mate.
Very predicatable and tiresome.
Seems a lot like retread C&H's strips without the flair of Wattersons art or his whimsy. The colors are depressing and really don't work that well. Of all 8 pages, the only bright spot was the snowman panel, which isnt promising for a potential ongoing comic strip.
Larry et al., if you're interested in doing a Knave of Krypton interview, contact me at theknave@knaveofkrypton.com.
I signed up and voted for you.
Musgrave threatened to punch up all my stuff if I didn't.
3!LL
Hate to say it bc this comic is so funny, but I'm a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan and this just seems too familiar... like C&H mixed with Dennis the Menace and drawn like that Billy and Mandy cartoon on Cartoon Network... sry guys, its funny, but not my vote this time around.
The art, color, and especially the lettering on this one are all top-notch. Really professional level stuff. I don't think I'm quite in the target audience for this, but I think kids would get a big kick out of it. Good luck guys!
Whoa whoa, you want me to COMMENT on this?
I ain't sayin' nothin'.
i really like the basic idea behind this, a bit like franklin richards: son of a genius, without the marvel universe and the art reminds me of the fairly odd parents (which no one should know about unless they're under eleven or as immature as i am)
I'm no great calvin and hobbes fan, but I don't think people should be comparing this strip to that strip. It's not comparing apples to apples, or even apples to oranges. You want to read a strip that warrants that comparison read count your sheep. The story reminds me of for better or worse. The art: grim adventures of billy and mandy. Screen 2 panel 2 was kind of like the end of the waltons. The jokes were kind of old hat, a kid running wild, and needed something else for a new spin on it. From reading the synopsis I thought you would have a nice sub-plot of the kid really being an agent of chaos. You could have had him taking orders from high command, turning in reports about how he messed up his parents lives etc; and leave the reader wondering if it's all just this kid playing around, or little kids really do work for C.H.A.O.S. A nice funny spin on the stephen king story "suffer the little children" or a junior league kids next door. That's what I thought from the title and synopsis anyway, but that's not what I got. I think you tried to put stuff in the story for young kids, and their parents, but I don't think you really pulled it off. "Couples are always told that life will never be the same after having kids. Agents of Chaos are the prime reason for that statement." sort of tips your hand this is more for the parents, to shake there heads in agreement. More funny jokes, or sight gags for the kids (or the kid in all of us) and you would have gotten more out of me. 3/5 stars.
The dragon in page 2 looks awesome! Also, I really like the color choices.
Beautiful art; the dragon and the snowman were very inspired. The story falls somewhere between "For Better or Worse" and "The Family Circus," though, and so a lot of the humor seemed intended for mothers with small children, which I am not.
The fact that people are comparing the strip to 'Calvin and Hobbes', regardless of the tone of the comparison, is quite flattering in and of itself.
Hi, everyone! I just wanted to stop by and give my thanks for all the comments and criticisms about the artwork. It's good to see that so many people enjoy it. It's always interesting to hear what people have to say! Thanks again!
Pretty good. Very Calvin and Hobbes like.
This is a great comic strip! 5 stars and my vote!
Simple, Witty and attractive, i enjoyed reading it.
This would make a really nice children's funny book.
Great work! The kid is really cool.
First impressions:
The biggest problem that I have with this is that it covers almost exactly the same subject matter as calvin and hobbes.
Calvin and Hobbes did some of the same jokes in 3 panels whereas you're using more panels to achieve less effect.
Page 2 works best for me. Maybe it'll be easier to write your children if you stay away from literal interpretations of their adventures and instead just use them as inspiration? Maybe I just like the way the dragon is rendered in the first panel?
I'd just like to drop in and take the time to thank everyone for their comments and criticism.
Thomas: Agent of Chaos while similar to Dennis the Menace, Calvin and Hobbes, Family Circus, etc is ultimately based upon my 3 kids and Mike's experience with his kids. All the strips (except 2) are entirely true. For these strips, we're not so much writers but chroniclers of their (mis)adventures.
Once again, thanks for taking the time to read and comment on Thomas: Agent of Chaos.
Regardless of the humor, if I'm asked to describe this series it will go something like this: Calvin and Hobbes without Hobbes but with a brother he annoys this time drawn in a somewhat Cartoon Network style.
Nice drawing skills displayed here. Thomas does sort of remind me of Billy of Billy and Mandy fame.
ahah! very very funny!
I think the character design and art is great, however this strip hasn't gotten its legs yet. I read somewhere that some of the funniest newspaper strips didn't really hit a stride until around the 100th strip, unfortunately Zuda isn't offering that kind of development time. Syndication is a good idea to further development this idea, it hold great potential.
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3 out of 5 stars.
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-Jernell
This is a solid newspaper quality humor strip. It should go into syndication, talk to King Features or whomever handles that stuff these days.
It does remind me of the mayhem Calvin and Hobbes, but with Ninjas (a good addition to any comic), but without the, how would you put it- snarkyness, satire, anyway you know what I mean. Individual pages were very, very good, but as a whole I think the comic needs to develop a bit more. A very solid humour comic all in all.
I also think the artwork is beautiful...sort of Genndy Tartakovsky-esque. I do think the writing leaves a little something to be desired, but overall, I believe you could be syndicated. Ever talked to Andrews McMeel?
It really a rehash of ideas seen in just about every Sunday comic strip. The artwork is fantastic though with lots of personality to it.
If humor comes in three degrees- hume, humor, humerous-- it's currently at hume- but if it pushes the envelope more it can reach the higher levels of humorosity.
This reminds me a lot of Calvin and Hobbes >sniff....sniff..wipes away tear of rememberence< but I would agree with kingofsnake, it lacks a bit of pop...but I really like it and it is in one of the top spots for getting my vote as of now
This is a fun comic. I like seeing Thomas torture Carl.
I like it. Its even more of a newspaper comic strip than Danetropolis. But this is more like Peanuts or Calvin & Hobbes & that one's more like A Family Circle or Far Side
i was trying to figure out my opinion and i think you articulated very nicely kingofsnake. it seems like a retread of a lot of stuff.
whoa, its just like reading a newspaper comic strip!
oh wait, i hate newspaper comic strips!
well done, for what it is. very cute.
It's a really funny strip, keep the good work!!!
I have mixed reactions to this comic on pretty much all fronts. Some panels I love the character design, some I hate it. The characters and premise are very charismatic and cute, but I don't feel like the substance is there. Sort of reminds me of foxtrot meets calvin and hobbes, only without the heart.
This is clearly a very professional, well produced comic, but it's lacking in that X factor that really makes it pop.
This is awesome!