Paradoxium Returns #33: Behind the Screams

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Paradoxium Returns #32: The Dark Elites

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Be sure to check out the new version of Paradoxium Returns #0: Cipher.

Paradoxium Returns #0: Cipher

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[Notes]

If this is your first time, welcome! If you're here to check out the new version, welcome back!

If you're returning, note the differences in the website's design. On the left, there's a link to what I call the notes blog. The link will have the most recent (uploaded) comic's notes; the blog will have all the notes. It's very underdeveloped, but that (may) change soon.

On the right, we have the News Blog, which is my old personal blog re-purposed for acting as the news source, updated as I see fit. So from now on, everything in this section will just be witty comics by me for you. Or I may just take that out altogether and replace that with the alt-text, which is obtained by mousing over the image. Which I did do.

Paradoxium Returns #31: Paradox Scream

Hey, what do you know! I got it up in less than two weeks! Let's see if I can keep this up! So, what do you think about the new banner? Pretty nice, eh? Also, you may want to read the little personal blog section. Important stuff today. Anyways, comic:

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In this comic, I became emotionally attached to Ri'Kyan. Well, even more attached. Look, it's not that hard to do when you're drawing one of your oldest characters being carried - limp - from the battle field.

Notes:

• How often a Paradox Scream can be called upon for use is dependent on the user's Power Level, which is a story for another time.
• Zaraib and Jijjy have never met, but have heard of each other.
• Red text in red box = declaration of a Paradox Scream from here on out, just as blue text in blue box is the declaration of a Paradox Orb.

Personal Blog (Blah) Section

Well, I did another time lapse of me making the comic. It's pretty sweet, if I do say so myself, and is much more accurate than the older one from a year ago. 

As for other news, the fall semester has begun... and so far, it's been pretty easy. But that'll change all too soon.

And, in case you're interested in knowing, I'll be rewriting the original 15 or so comics to meet higher quality standards. I've written #0 and #1 already, and let me say, they look pretty sweet.

Paradoxium Returns #30: Paradox Speaker

 As soon as I get back to college, I will update this comic with notes and a special surprise as a sort of celebration for one year of Paradoxium Returns.

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Zaraib: When you go up against him, make sure you have a scrubber orb.

Notes:

• If you follow my Tumblr, which is based on the comic, you probably know what Zaraib is. However, I will not officially reveal what he is for quite some time.
• That Warp Dial became way more important to the comic than I originally thought.
• Without Zaraib, the team is completely vulnerable to Paradox Orbs. And there is a very specific Paradox Orb counter for Zaraib, but again, that won't be revealed for quite some time.

So personal blag time. Classes resume Monday, so, if I'm lucky tomorrow, I will work as much on Paradoxium Returns #31 as much as possible.

That's about it for this post, so... there you go.

Howard H. Drammond

P.S. My brother, Thomas J. Drammond ('cause middle initials just work so well with our last name) does a webcomic as well, called Provenance. It's good.

Paradoxium Returns #29: The Hive

Expect the next update to be much, much sooner. I get two weeks off of school this month, so I'll be pounding these out.

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I guess you could say they were held  against their will, get it? ...I'll stop now.

Notes:

• Notice the Hive Drones' eyes? What color they are shows what function they're serving.
• I'm proud of the art in this one. Sure, the hallways are a little bland, but some of the stuff I did makes me pretty happy.
• I really like the Hold Orb's visual effect.

So, personal stuff that you can ignore is below this point.

I haven't gone back to update the typeface of the previous comics yet (something I still plan on doing), and I have finals over the next week, so unfortunately, the comic will be delayed again. But don't worry - after the finals, I get two weeks off - and I plan on working on these comics for most of that time, so you might see more comics around those two weeks.

Also, I've almost finished the Paradoxium Returns story arc, and will soon be moving on to write Paradoxium Returns: TEoR (which is an abbreviation for something - you'll find out eventually).

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #28: The Teal Orbs

Well, it took me less than a month to get this one up. Barely. Anyways, comic.

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Post Ex Facto: After the fact!

Notes:

• If you haven't seen the Paradox Orb guide, teal orbs are classified as "summoning orbs," as you can see.
• I'm pretty proud of this one.

Here's where I'm going to be posting things about my life/miscellaneous things pertaining to my comic. After all, who wants to see ramblings that don't pertain to the comic if they don't need to?

So here's what's up: I'm going to go back through what comics I have and convert all the typefaces to the one it is now. In addition, I'll be rearranging the personal stuff down below the notes section, and I might clean that area up, too. So more or less, I'll be going through a major cleanup. I did consider doing the artwork as well, but that would take forever, and I think it helps show progression in my art methods, which is a good thing. This process shouldn't take too long, so I'll begin working on #29 real soon.

Howard H. Drammond

P.S. What do you think about the new typeface that I'm using?

Paradoxium Returns #27: The Ocramid

Well, it might have been a month, but that doesn't mean I'm gone (see the previous post for more information)!

College has begun, and since it's the summer term, my workload is going to be heavy. However, during what free time I get, there are two things I'll be doing - either making answers for Ask-Paradoxium or working on PR.

Anyways, this comic is going to set up a pretty cool scene, in my humble opinion:

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Thet's flying machine is making faces at me!

Notes:

• There are a lot of Paradox Orbs summoned in this one.
• Why are the lines from Tegra's summoning of that Paradox Orb blue? It has to do with the type of orb  she's summoning. She is summoning an summon-type orb, so the beams are teal (I'll be working on the colors to make it more teal than blue). Ri'Kyan is summoning a Soundblock Orb, a defensive orb, so the beams are purple.
• This is the comic where things begin to get more tense. There are rare calm comics beyond this point.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #26: Shadow Void

About a year ago, I drew the first Paradoxium Returns comic, during my Spanish class. That's right - PR is around one year old. In fact, why not make today the official start of PR? I only recorded the month I drew it in, and never expected it to go this far - let alone become as big as it has (in my mind). As celebration, tomorrow I will post the pencil, lined-paper (college ruled, of course) version on the blog.

Anyways, you're here for a comic. Don't let me deprive you!

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Ghosts...

Notes:

• What do you think about the new mouth style?
• Zips!
• Only Tegra was able to see that thing in the second to last panel.
• That picture of Thet is kinda creepy.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #25: Hand of Purity I

Happy 25th Comic, everybody! I can't tell you how much I love doing this for y'all. It's fun to do, and it allows me to get this crazy huge world out of my head. I've got so much to share.

Anyways, my laptop's display pretty much died, and, with any luck, will be going in for repairs soon. This means that I'll have to share a single computer between 6 other family members again (I'm using a leftover monitor right now and a USB keyboard), so I may or may not be able to post a comic in the weeks to come.

But, despite that somewhat bad news, I give you a comic!

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How in the world is Rackat's room so clean?

Notes:

• Remember the Hand of Purity. It's going to be very important in the years - yes, years - to come. It even got its own tag.
• It's interesting to note that the Hand of Purity is completely made up of Paradox Energy.

In other news, I've got a new editor. I'll provide a link to his Tumblr after a while. I'm also working on drawing number 49.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #24: The Doctor

/Obvious references in the comic. This is by no means the last one.

So, I'm going to keep it short. Thanks to all the folks on Tumblr for watching my streams - it keeps me focused, and if I stream often enough, I may be able to get ahead of schedule. What does this mean? More comics more often. Y'know, if college doesn't mess everything up, although I doubt that. SO! Comic:

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I'm the Doctor, and I say that bookshelves are evil.

Notes:

• Zaraib Corainar has a long and interesting backstory.
• Zaraib is NOT a Paradoxian - he's something completely different.
• Bookshelves are evil.
• Those bookshelves you see will be some of the last ones in the comic. EVER. (Why did I put one in the next comic? WHY?)

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #23: Fort Ironcore

Well, here we are, right on schedule, more or less. So, I don't have much news, except for this: http://ask-paradoxium.tumblr.com/ Although it's mostly revolving around Aellos, you can ask any of the cast from the main comic.

So, yup. Here's the comic that I owe you:

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Mind reading aliens.

Notes:

• Eury is a species that I based off the ancient Eurypterid (I think I spelled that right).
• Thet, in case I didn't make it clear, can read minds.
• Almost the entire process of making this comic was livestreamed. To find out when, you should like the Facebook page and look for updates; or you can follow the Tumblr.
• Tegra has a lot of books.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #22: Meet the Golem

Make ALL the cultural references! If you don't get it, then that's okay. I don't even play the game.

Anyways, they've finally arrived at Fort Ironcore to begin their training as Paradoxians for Paradoxium. The comic started almost 6 months ago, and they're FINALLY there. I'd say it's a pretty momentous occasion.

And in other news, I've almost finished drafting the rest of Paradoxium Returns. I'm figuring that after about 20 more comics, I should be done, and then I'll start working on next year's plotline (I don't care if spell check says "plotline" is wrong, I'm not putting a space in between the words anyways).

Anyways, that's the end of my rant:

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Caught on the edge of the hangar... ouch.

Notes:

• What did Tegra just do? Next time.
• If I ever did any Extended Omniverse stories, it'd be about Ceito. I don't really show it in the comic, but he's a boss.
• Ri'Kyan never looks happy. That must be changed.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #21: Dimensional Gate

Like I promised, here's another comic! I'm going to try my best to get the posting a little more regular... but given the fact that it's my last semester of High School with AP tests fast approaching, that's not gonna happen very frequently.

Does that even make sense? Of course, it doesn't matter. You're here to read this:

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When the shards of the Omniverse are one... but no promises.

Notes:

• I think that the art style is coming closer and closer to a definite style. Solid, smooth objects have gradients; fluid, rough objects have brush strokes, and characters are characters.
• More will be revealed about the destruction of the original universe soon.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #20: Advancing Shadows

Well, here we are... on a LEAP YEAR! Or day, or whatever you prefer. I could've posted this yesterday, but then I couldn't have posted a comic on a leap year for another four years. And yes... I plan on keeping this going for longer than that.

Anyways, in case you haven't heard (you should like the Facebook page to find out more stuff more often), I'm posting every other week now. If I post sooner, then we should celebrate. Otherwise, expect it every other week.

COMIC TIME!

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Foreshadowing - Foreshadowing everywhere! Well, almost everywhere.

Notes:

• I think that I did this method pretty well, relating to the "silent" panels.
• It's supposed to be tough to decipher what's in the Silent Panels. I don't want to give everything away for free, do I? Actually, that'd be kinda nice, but...
• Vinis's final line in this comic... think about it.
• I was finished with this on Monday. The Leap Year IS that important.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #19: Life on Ta'Ris

I've been busy, what else can I say?

Funny story. The events you are about to read - two Otroid of the opposite gender sitting on a surface with a potentially harmful and long fall nearby - are, in Otroid culture, considered to be like kinda a date, but different. No, I did not plan for this comic to be posted on Valentine's Day, but what do you know, it just happened to work out that way. I guess procrastination can pay off... sometimes.

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Oh, what a pretty constellation.

Notes:

• That's correct. A Quaro Elder is indeed a Paradoxian.
• There are indeed multiple ways to summon a Paradox Orb. This method takes the longest amount of time and memory, as certain orbs are summoned by picturing a symbol instead of an object or phenomenon in this way. Another method is relying on the Paradox Energy to make an orb for you, but that method is incredibly risky.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #18: In an Instant

Welcome back, friends! not only have I just barely finished finals, but the week before I was awfully sick. That's two weeks of inability to do anything.

Here's something cool I did a while back: a font of the New Andromedian Language. You can find it in number 11, and will be appearing in many more comics in the future.

Anyways, here's number 18:

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So what do y'all think about the new background style? Tell me in the poll over here! ---->

Notes:

• I like the style of the storytelling in this one.
• If you haven't read Tegra's character bio yet, her father's deceased. He died in a war.
• Quarod is Old Andromedian for Memory Cloud.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #17, To the Quarod

Well, after a lovely Christmas/Hanuka/Kwanzaa/Whatever-holiday-I'm-forgetting-but-I'm-not-meaning-to Break, we're back with a new comic, thus continuing our saga. Also, Finals week is approaching way too fast, and I'll actually be studying. For once. Of course, this means that it might (probably) be two or three weeks before number 18 is posted. on the positive side, however, I've been chatting with my brother (the one who will eventually take over), and he might begin to share the load, as it were - he might be doing (going over) every other comic in preparation for when he actually does take over.

Anyways, without further ado, here it is:

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I really love that last panel.

Notes:

• Skywire is Serpent Labs's rival.
• I never mention this. The Warp Dial can be removed from the ship's panel, but only with great difficulty, and it can't fly without it.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #16: Several Solutions

So yesterday, I started to make a list - not a graphical encyclopedia, but a list - of ALL the species that I've developed for the Omniverse, from the Third Dimension and beyond. I got to 43 (one of which is comprised of about the same number of subspecies), and I'm still missing quite a few.

Anyways, on to the comic:

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They're smiling in this one. That makes me happy.

Notes:

• These notes are becoming less and less necessary now. 
• The translucent character in the panel where Serpent is talking of the Quaro Elders is, well, a Quaro Elder.

Yup, that's about it. I would've posted yesterday, but there was too much fun stuff going on - and by that, I mean birthday celebrations.

Howard H. Drammond

Paradoxium Returns #15: Double Paradox

This week's comic is much better than last week's... believe me. Also, the backgrounds will be getting much more interesting in the upcoming comics - I've decided that if I don't detail them on paper, I don't detail them on the computer.

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Yo dawg, I heard you liked Paradoxes, so I put a Paradox in your Paradox so you can confuse while you confuse. If that's not your style, then BWONG! Inception.

Notes:

• In case I haven't made it clear, Paradoxians (those able to create Paradox Orbs) that are members of the organization Paradoxium (more info on them later) are to destroy paradoxes, as they create entropic forces. Most of this info can be found in #13.
• Double Paradoxes create a squared amount of entropic forces. The reason that nothing disintegrates around Rackat and Tegra is because they create very small amounts, but nonetheless, they do indeed create it.
• The laws of conservation of matter/energy do apply in this omniverse.

Howard H. Drammond

P.S. If you have a Wii, you should get The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It's amazingly fun.