A Modest Destiny
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A Modest Destiny (AMD) is a pixel art webcomic created by Sean Howard. The first strip appeared on January 1 2003; its last strip appeared in July 2005. It consists of three chapters: Maxim Saves the World, The Dreaded Vampire Lord Fluffy (AMDF), and The War of Fate (AMDW).
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.
Contents |
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. The comic is still in hiatus. The squidi.net homepage is now used as a blog by Sean Howard and, as he said in one entry, still receives over 2000 hits per day.
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.
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.
- Hechter - A living suit of armor that was created by the vampire lord Fluffy three hundred years prior to the beginning of AMD.
- 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.
- Maureen - Maxim's other love interest, Maureen is the secretary for the Warriors' Guild.
- Bart - The stupid, but adorable guild master for the Warrior's Guild. Bart is both boss and mentor to Maxim.
- 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.
- 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. A really dumb but really strong warrior with a paralyzing fear of the undead.
- Giggles - First appears AMDW. An undead spy for the Black Knight, Giggles is captured by the heroes and becomes romantically involved with Hechter.
- The Crimson Blade - A superhero who fights for justice and righteousness.
Controversies
For information on the controversies surrounding this comic, see the article on Sean Howard