A Modest Destiny

Articleissues
Citations missing = September 2007
expand = September 2007
OR = September 2007
refimprove = September 2007Infobox Webcomic|
title = A Modest Destiny


caption = The final strip in the original "A Modest Destiny" chapter
author = Sean Howard
url = http://squidi.net
status = on hiatus
began = January 1, 2003
ended =
genre = Fantasy
ratings =

A Modest Destiny (AMD) is a pixel art webcomic created by Sean Howard, currently on its fourth chapter. The first strip appeared on January 1, 2003; it ended in July 2005, but as of Sept, 2006 new strips were once again being made. It consists of four chapters: "Maxim Saves the World", "The Dreaded Vampire Lord Fluffy (AMDF)", "The War of Fate (AMDW)", and "Prophecies of the Demon King" (AMDP).

The comic is set in a fantasy world dotted with modern mentality and references. It contains parodies of fantasy clichés, and occasionally breaks the fourth wall.

History

The first chapter, "Maxim Saves The World", follows the adventures of a young man named Maxim, and is told through flashbacks. This chapter makes liberal use of clichés and one-shot jokes, but still maintains continuity through its various sub-plots. "A Modest Destiny"'s first story arc ended on December 28, 2003.

When the first story arc ended, Howard announced a new science fiction space opera webcomic entitled "The Starship Destiny (TSD)", unrelated to "AMD". When it concluded, he stated that he was not completely satisfied with it, and soon continued work on "A Modest Destiny".

The second chapter of "AMD", "The Dreaded Vampire Lord Fluffy (AMDF)", began on March 16, 2004. The chapter is about half the length of the first, focusing on a single story rather than on several smaller ones. Set in the same universe as the first chapter, it follows a not very evil vampire necromancer named Fluffy who had been tamed by society, as well as some lesser-used characters from the first season. The chapter shows the events leading up to a war between the humans and the undead. The "AMDF" storyline concluded in September 2004.

About halfway through the second chapter, the comic changed format, with larger 12-panel story comics posted Monday through Friday, and short, non-canon strips featuring characters from both "AMD" and "TSD" posted on the weekends.

After running another chapter of "The Starship Destiny", Sean Howard took all of December 2004 off for the purposes of creating a well-planned foundation for the third "AMD" chapter, "The War Of Fate (AMDW)", which began on January 1, 2005.

His goals for the third chapter were to create a much larger-scale experience with a more detailed and complex storyline. The comic's artistic style changed for this chapter as well, featuring more realistic backgrounds drawn in Adobe Photoshop instead of the pixel art style backgrounds which had been used in previous chapters.

The direction of this chapter was much darker and more adult-oriented than the previous chapters, touching on themes like child molestation, abortion, and profanity. The story is set five years after the end of "AMDF" in a world that had all but been destroyed by the war against the undead. An undead army, led by the mysterious Black Knight, has taken over a majority of the country with only a small group of humans left to oppose him. These humans, led by Maxim and his friends, are living in a small, well defended city called "Last Hope".

In July 2005, the chapter finished its first half, and the author took a break from the comic. However, on August 2, 2005, Sean Howard announced that he was shutting down his website, stating that he plans to continue "AMD", but will no longer self-publish on the Internet. As of April 2006 the comic was still in hiatus. The squidi.net homepage was used as a blog by Sean Howard and, as he said in one entry, still receives over 2000 hits per day.Fact|date=February 2007There was a subcomic story based on a character from A Modest Destiny, which is archived in the new site.

On December 22, 2005, Sean Howard published the original outline for "AMDW", including material that was never made into comics. Of the parts that were used in comics, major changes can be noted.

On February 15, 2006, Sean Howard announced that he intends to, in the near future, publish a fourth and final AMD chapter (referred to as AMDP) that would wrap up all the loose ends at the end of AMDW. In late April 2006, the comic website was relaunched, containing the "AMD" archives and a statement saying that Howard intended to finish the webcomic.

On August 10, 2006, Sean Howard began the first of a new series, AMD Chronicles. The first Chronicle, titled "Sibling Rivalry" features an encounter between Ruby and her sister, Sapphire. It concluded with the two sisters making amends-over a piece of cake. However, Sapphire must leave on a mission for the King. What this is has yet to be determined.

On September 29, 2006, the new season of AMD started, entitled "A Modest Destiny-Prophecies of the Demon King". It covers the adventures of Jenny, Maxim, and Giggles, on their quest to enter the City of the Dead. It also shows Mina and Morris in a search to recover the Crimson Blade's journal in order to decode it and defeat the Black Knight. Morris' help is supplied with the help of "her", the voice in his head. He appears a little more self-aware.

In November 2006, Sean Howard began a new webcomic titled "Zombies of the Living Dead" before continuing "A Modest Destiny."

The story was on an indeterminate hiatus until Sean Howard announced that he will once again be creating more AMD comics. [http://www.squidi.net/blog/entry.php?id=2008.06.02]

Major characters

*Maxim - The main character of the story. The first comic shows him at an old age, sporting an eye patch, bragging about how he saved the world twice.
*Gilbert - Maxim's evil twin brother and the main antagonist for the first chapter. He works with Team Evil to resurrect the evil wizard Deo-Deo.
*Fluffy - A two thousand year old vampire necromancer who has been domesticated and now works for the humans by creating dungeons for warriors to adventure in. First regularly appeared in AMDF (though he had a cameo in the last page of season 1).
*Hechter - A living suit of armor that was created by the vampire lord Fluffy three hundred years prior to the beginning of "AMD". Stupid but witty.
*Hubert - A drunkard thief who teams up with Maxim early on to stop Team Evil.
*Jenny - The owner of the local inn and bar, she is one of Maxim's major love interests, and becomes his wife between AMD and AMDF.
*Maureen - Maxim's other love interest, Maureen is the secretary for the Warriors' Guild. She marries Lucile between AMD and AMDF.
*Bart - Also known as Black Bart the Stupidly Courageous, he is the stupid, but adorable, guild master for the Warrior's Guild. Bart is both boss and mentor to Maxim. He reappears in AMDW where Lucile calls him "Black Bart"
*Lucile - Grew up with Maxim at the orphanage. During one of her adventures, she was forced to marry Maxim to prevent being turned into a cow by a cursed wedding ring. She later divorces him and marries Maureen so he can marry Jenny.
*Ruby - First appearing in "AMDF", she is the captain of the guards. She likes violence and sarcasm, in that order.
*Gustav - First appears in "AMDF" (was mentioned by name in season 1). An incredibly unintelligent but remarkably strong warrior with a paralyzing fear of the undead.
*Giggles - First appears "AMDW" (though was mentioned by name at the end of season 1). An undead spy for the Black Knight, Giggles is captured by the heroes and becomes romantically involved with Hechter. She masqueraded as Benny.
*The Crimson Blade - A superhero who fights for justice and righteousness. It is known that several different people have donned the Crimson Blade name and armor.
*Mina - The only named Crimson Blade, first introduced during "AMDF". Mina was one of 1,047 Crimson Blades during "AMDF", and she became Captain of the Guard during "AMDW".
*Matilda - Hechter's sister and a vampire. She has a lisp.
*Zanzabar - In the second series of AMD, he betrays and kills king Khaan for Matilda, and becomes a vampire. In the third series he is an antagonist.
*Sapphire - First appears in AMDC. Ruby's sister, whose visit to Ruby provides the plot of AMDC
*Gillian - First appears in AMDW. Maureen's blue-eyed redhead daughter, likely to be the daughter of Gilbert.
*Morris - Maureen's brother, who in AMDW was revealed to have gone utterly insane. He now appears to be the legitimate Pope, due to a rather odd series of events. In AMD-PDK Morris is shown to slowly regain his mental stability.
*Dark Knight - The Main antagonist in AMD-PDK, he is also mentioned in other chapters. He also claims to be Gilbert's Father.

Minor characters

*Jeebs - An alien bartender. From "up north". This explains everything.
*Zebulon - Another alien who pretended to be a bartender for a short period of time, despite his lack of faculty in that profession. He appears to be hunting down Jeebs, along with some other alien friends of his, for what appears to be a vendetta. He has not appeared again.
*Crunchy - Fluffy's pet bat. Smells like a real bat, only more evil.
*Benny - A character introduced at the beginning of AMDW who is not all he appears. See Giggles above.
*Amethyst -Sister to Ruby and Sapphire, as yet unseen.
*George - One of the top thieves of the Thieves Guild and also a Master of Shadow Magic, which he teaches Maxim. He is also terrified of the dark.

Offline references

The webcomic was featured in the book "How to Draw & Sell Digital Cartoons" by Leo Hartas. [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0764126628]

External links

* [http://www.squidi.net The official webcomic site of "A Modest Destiny"]
* [http://a-comics.ru/a-modest-destiny/ Unofficial russian translation]
* [http://comixtalk.com/a_modest_interview_damonk_talks_with_sean_howard_about_copyright_and_stuff Interview with the author in "ComixTALK"]
* [http://phq.muddasheep.com/cgi-bin/phq/phq_articles.cgi?sessionid=&show=10 Interview with the author in "Personal Halfquake"]
* [http://destin.lapin.org/ Une modeste destinée : "A Modest Destiny" in french]