And this time it is a VERY SPECIAL type of original character tournament, taking place only between people I know IN REAL LIFE. Bizarre, no?

Y'see, I hang out with a bunch of other Seq. Arts and Illustration majors in SCAD's Turner House Dormitory common room all the time, and over Spring Break we decided to hold a real honest-to-God character battle between ourselves, just as an extra little art exercise. The story is set on an island somewhere in the South Pacific that like twenty different people (and by "people" I mean "robots, aliens, monsters, talking animals, and surprisingly very few actual people indeed") accidentally come across and decide to fight each other on. The whole event is apparently called "L-Kadaj Royale", a contraction of "L-Kadaj" and "Battle Royale". (By the by, I have not a single scrap of a clue what "L-Kadaj" actually means, so don't ask. The name, suffice to say, wasn't my idea.)

The character I decided to use is from my upcoming webcomic series Epiphany, which I'm in the middle of scripting right now and which should start updating sometime in mid-May. His name is Oz, and he's a miserable slacker who once did a stint as a major religious deity (entirely involuntarily, mind you). I'm using him here as sort of a test-drive for some stylistic and literary elements I'm gonna use in the series-- though in all likelihood the series' style will be much different than this, what with this being a half-assed spare time venture and all. I do so hope you readers will like him.

Keep watching as the contest develops. I'll also link you to other people's entries if they put them up on the web (hopefully they will), so explaining what's going on will be less of a chore. There are storm clouds on the horizon, there is a chilly wind whipping up the ocean waves, and there is a fight about to start. I hope you're prepared, readers. I hope you're prepared.

~IJ