THE AGENCIES : FRONTIERS Issue #01

[Oekaki-Tickles]

THE AGENCIES : FRONTIERS Issue #01 - **UPDATE 01**

THE AGENCIES - FRONTIERS Issue #01

Hey everyone!

I'm proud to announce the first tickle comic I've ever worked on! I mean, I know I haven't posted anything here in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on projects for everyone to enjoy! I've definitely been busy, that's for sure! Still, this is the first time I've ever done a comic. I mean, I've done pages in my private time, and plenty of character designs... but never a complete project.

Anyway, sometime toward the end of last year, I was approached by Oblesklk of Agencies Publishing about making a comic. I was especially surprised to learn that it would be a kind of spin off of their main series: The Agencies. Now, I didn't know much about the series at the time (other than what was posted in previews) but it wasn't hard to tell that I really didn't want to screw up. xD

So, I started things off with a couple of designs in an attempt to figure out my recently acquired tablet. At the time, I had far more experience with paper, but was totally convinced that by working digitally, I could cut my time spent doing lineart and inking in half, as well as save on papers and materials. This ended up being true, but hadn't really come into fruition until recently. So, as you may notice, there are more detailed lines in some of my sketches than the actual comic. (This fact is changing every day! :3)

Another thing that was really new for me, was working with someone through e-mails! Oblesklk was always good about getting back to me, and telling me what he wanted. My problem was, that I would sometimes slip on certain words in the e-mail. Important words, like "Backside"... so instead of drawing the girls backside, I would draw her frontside! Luckily, I would be reminded of this fact, or catch on before I sent anything out. xD;

It didn't end there though! As it turns out, I wasn't exactly the best at "Lettering". What that is, for those that don't know, it's what a comic artist does when they apply the words and fonts. Oblesklk and I had conversations back and forth, because I just couldn't fit it all into the pictures! I wanted to fill the panels similar to how I fill commission images! I don't want wasted space! Problem is, comics NEED that wasted space for BUBBLES and NARRATIVE! xDDDDD;

Still, I'm STUBBORN! >.O

Also, he did something I didn't expect: Giving me free reign on the design and layout of about four pages, which... I forget exactly what pages at the moment (It's 3 AM over here! xD)! Still, he knew what he wanted, and wasn't afraid to tell me where I can and could improve in the future. Which, as an artist, is something I have to respect. So, even though we aren't exactly headed out to get drinks or anything after this e-mail, it's definitely been a pleasent experience! 🙂

Oh, and much to my surprise, the comic itself is oriented more for you upperbody folks. Unfortunately for me, I had far more experience doing feets, as you might expect, so was a little thrown when I found myself drawing Bre- Oops. Nevermind.

Not sure I can let that one slip yet. 😉

I think I'll let Oblesklk chime in before I continue my rant! We hope you enjoy the preview everyone! x3

Images to Follow! ;3

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THE AGENCIES: FRONTIERS

WRITING: OBLESKLK

ART: OEKAKI-TICKLES

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Let's Start the Preview off with a familiar character to fans of The Agencies, and a brand new character for The Agencies: Frontiers! >:3

Two evils... Similar Methods of Engagement? 😉

NOTE: The PINUPS were completed more recently than the comic itself. :3​

 

[EcEu]

incredible man, im really digging those roughs, it's awesome to see the transition from traditional to digital worked out really well for you. I was fortunate enough to receive the first 9 issues of the agencies a while ago to get into it, your new spin will certainly be a nice addition.

 

[10 armed tkler]

I hate awesome stuff thrown at me that I can not afford right now.

 

[dusttick11]

Looks Excellent!

Wow, nice job!
Looks great, like all your artwork does. Congratulations on
your first complete tickle comic. 🙂

 

[Oblesklk]

THE AGENCIES - FRONTIERS Issue #01

I think I'll let Oblesklk chime in before I continue my rant! We hope you enjoy the preview everyone! x3

Thanks for this, Oekaki!

I really like sharing previews with everyone about how the production process goes, for those curious about such things.

I follow the works of many artists here on the boards, and am pleased with how much talent walks down these hallowed halls. There's some ridiculously good stuff available both commercially and free that the artists are putting out there. I don't want to mention any specifics, for fear of leaving out someone that's done a bang up job recently.

About a year ago, Oekaki caught my eye with the commissions he'd been doing for various folks. I loved how he represented the female foot and just sheer sexiness and joy his scenes entail. Knowing he'd never done any longer term sequential art and had a lot of raw talent, I decided to pull the trigger with a project that I'd been mulling about for some time now.

The Agencies: Frontiers is a spin off of our flagship comic, The Agencies. As the title indicates, it takes place in the Frontiers. To take a step back, in the post apocalyptic world of The Agencies, surviving humans tend to huddle together in metropolitan areas, where they are protected by their corporate masters from wandering brigands and other baddies outside their walls. Although the corporations own them like slaves, there's almost a creepy paternalistic set of care they have for their employees. But that means the world has become an extremely dangerous place outside the urban walls. The Frontiers is a lot like the wild west days. Anything goes, and those with the biggest guns, quickest draw, and most numbers tend to set the laws.

And that's where this story takes place. It runs parallel to the main storyline of The Agencies, and there will be some crossover appearances between the two comics. This comic line also has a finite number of books that we'll dedicate to it, whereas The Agencies will basically continue as long as it makes sense for it to (that is, people are still interested and buying the books 🙂 )

There's a very large story arc here, and The Agencies: Frontiers fits into explaining some of that story. Even if you're not interested in the larger storyline, opefully you'll just enjoy the ride and Oekaki's artwork.

I wanted to work with Oekaki especially because of his art style. The commissions I'd seen had glimmers of Peter Chung's Aeon Flux, which is one of my favorite animated pieces of all time. Oekaki doesn't represent his females in the same, almost emaciated and highly stylized fashion that Chung used, but the resemblance is definitely there for me.

The production was fun, as they tend to be. It is interesting to note that this is the first time I've collaborated with an artist from the tickling community. To date, The Agencies, The Ruthless, Yelena, Tickle Magnet, and various Cyriaan Chroncles have all been done by outside artists. Mostly because I like our art to have a mainstream feel to it. I wanted to emulate that feeling when you picked up a comic of your favorite heroine, and see her being tickled inside, the rush was fantastic. But this time around, I wanted a tickler's touch on things. And even though this issue 1 has an upperbody slant to it, the overall series will definitely be very foot oriented. I love how Oekaki represents feet, and want to employ that in several places throughout the series. That's been the biggest problem in using mainstream artists, they tend to cut the panels off at the heroines' feet because they're just too tough to draw.

But for those that can do it well, it's wonderful to see.

Let's Start the Preview off with a familiar character to fans of The Agencies, and a brand new character for The Agencies: Frontiers! >:3

Two evils... Similar Methods of Engagement? 😉
[/CENTER]

I like this piece for a few reasons. One, it brings in a much younger Karma (with longer hair) into the fold. Karma is Mirth's older sister. She made her appearance in Issue 7 when she kidnapped her little sister and brainwashed her into joining her cause.

Before she engaged in family kidnappings, Karma was once on track to become an agent at the Academy. She was best friends with Agent Starlight throughout their school days.

That ended. Karma started walking down a dark path that Agent Starlight could not follow.
Read this story for some further exposition (http://www.the-agencies.com/characters/starlight_story2.htm)

The pinup Oekaki attached is shortly after Karma left the academy. The agency sent an assassin after Karma. But as you can see above, the assasination attempt was a failure. Afterwards, the assassin (a powerful controller named Madame 16) and Karma became good friends and Madame 16 joined her cause.

Fast forward several years, and Madame 16 is one of the main villains in this storyline. She's in cahoots with Karma, functioning as Karma's right hand woman in the barrren wastelands of the Frontiers.

incredible man, im really digging those roughs, it's awesome to see the transition from traditional to digital worked out really well for you. I was fortunate enough to receive the first 9 issues of the agencies a while ago to get into it, your new spin will certainly be a nice addition.

Yes, Oekaki will bring a wonderful eye to the series. Like many of you, I can't wait to see what he does!

I hate awesome stuff thrown at me that I can not afford right now.

I'll reiterate here our constant offer of people to contribute whatever they like in exchange for our books. I know times are tough right now, and I'm not looking to retire early from these books, just enough to keep them going while paying our artists a decent wage. With that in mind, if you're able to provide fanart or fanfiction about the series, PM me and let's work something out.

It's all about getting the material into the hands of those that would enjoy it the most.

Wow, nice job!
Looks great, like all your artwork does. Congratulations on
your first complete tickle comic. 🙂

I second this, congratulations on a job well done!

 

[Oekaki-Tickles]

Previews Galore~!

Oblesklk flatters me too much with his post! xD Personally, I never managed to see the original Aeon Flux series, although some of my older non-tickling art looks more like his stuff than my newer works. Which is ironic to many degrees! See, I originally got my inspirations from everywhere, especially cartoon shows (ANIME) like Dragonball Z. Hence, why even my women have muscles (This irritates my girlfriend to no end...).

Anyway, things have been more than hectic on my end as of late, but I've managed to survive long enough to bring you this next set of previews! >:3

When working on the comic, the tablet PC was relatively new to me, as mentioned, and I had to start doing outlines I had never done before. I would normally just do the outline to characters AS I would draw them on normal paper. It was equal parts stubborn-ness and experience that allowed me to do this without total disaster. I don't mean masterful experience by any means, I just mean to say... this is how I was used to doing things! xD

Heck, as you can see, I still attempted to do the outlines of characters, as opposed to the circle shapes you normally see artists do.

I've learned since doing the comic however, that I can make images more pleasant by using those circular shaped I had always hated in the past. The workflow also seems to work a lot faster. For example, this newest PINUP was laid out using those "circle people"...

The moral of this story is, don't be stubborn! Those circles actually helped define my own style a little bit more, and make images more complicated without fear of screwing up! Seriously, want to break your fears? Who's worried about screwing up circle people?!

Anyway, this character here is Agent Shield~! She's cute sure... but she's exactly the type of person you want around when you're under heavy fire. Her own special ability allows her to raise barriers for her own and her team's protection. Just how powerful this ability is or it's number of applications is unknown to me.

 

[Oblesklk]

The Agencies: Frontiers Issue One is now available for sale!

Check out Oekaki-Tickles' debut into the tickling comic world with the beginning of a comic book series based on the popular tickle torture comic serial The Agencies

THE AGENCIES: FRONTIERS ISSUE ONE
13 colored pages
Includes a colored cover and 2 pinups
$12.95

Here is the cover to this first issue. This is a closeup of Agent Shield as she's looking through a set of binoculars at something quite unusual being done to her teammate, Agent Crosshair.

This comic series features all new characters, plus some visits from some recognizable characters of The Agencies through several of the issues.

This storyline starts out in the Frontier, a place where lawlessness is a way of life. A team of Agents set out to save some settlers under attack by aggressive marauders. Their mission doesn't quite go to plan, and they end up in a fight for survival in an inhospitable environment filled with very strange people.

 

[Oblesklk]

Here's a pinup of the other main Agent on this failed trip: Agent Crosshair. She has a "special" relationship with her gun 😉

Agent Crosshair is a sniper with unrivaled abilities. Using her power and special equipment, she can take down targets miles in distance. She, along with Agent Shield and Agent White, have been tasked with bringing back a family of settlers into Agency care. But when their mission goes astray, Agent Crosshair finds out the locals don't like snipers.

 

[MTJpub]

The Agencies: Frontiers Issue One is now available for sale!

Check out Oekaki-Tickles' debut into the tickling comic world with the beginning of a comic book series based on the popular tickle torture comic serial The Agencies

THE AGENCIES: FRONTIERS ISSUE ONE
13 colored pages
Includes a colored cover and 2 pinups
$12.95

Here is the cover to this first issue. This is a closeup of Agent Shield as she's looking through a set of binoculars at something quite unusual being done to her teammate, Agent Crosshair.

This comic series features all new characters, plus some visits from some recognizable characters of The Agencies through several of the issues.

This storyline starts out in the Frontier, a place where lawlessness is a way of life. A team of Agents set out to save some settlers under attack by aggressive marauders. Their mission doesn't quite go to plan, and they end up in a fight for survival in an inhospitable environment filled with very strange people.

That is a very cool cover. This looks like a promising new series.

Jim
MTJpub.com

 

[laughinggaszone]

Well, I bought it, so it's review time. The art is mediocre, but the artist is in the ranks of Lou Panther and Bandito, whose early art was also rather unrefined and mediocre, but who both have that rare gift when it comes to exploiting the sexual content. The artists unrefined style is made up by pushing the right buttons along with panel to panel action. The story is above par and is more complex than most tickle comics, along with adding a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) compliment to the sexed up art. The tickling starts in fairly early with only minor lead in. You get nine pages of tickling out of the twelve page comic, which is an outstanding ratio. There are also two pin ups, but since they have been posted, they don't count for much. Overall, the art gets bumped from a 6 to a 7 for its mastery of the sex themes, the story gets a 9 for writing and crafting a decent tickling to page ratio. The price is about average for twelve pages, but the page ratio bumps it to a 8, giving the book a solid 8. On a side note, no pesky pdf. Just straight up jpg. This is a good book for those who like a bit of story, some ample nudity and massive tickling. Recommended book.
webmaster joe

 

[Oekaki-Tickles]

Well, I bought it, so it's review time. The art is mediocre, but the artist is in the ranks of Lou Panther and Bandito, whose early art was also rather unrefined and mediocre, but who both have that rare gift when it comes to exploiting the sexual content. The artists unrefined style is made up by pushing the right buttons along with panel to panel action. The story is above par and is more complex than most tickle comics, along with adding a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) compliment to the sexed up art. The tickling starts in fairly early with only minor lead in. You get nine pages of tickling out of the twelve page comic, which is an outstanding ratio. There are also two pin ups, but since they have been posted, they don't count for much. Overall, the art gets bumped from a 6 to a 7 for its mastery of the sex themes, the story gets a 9 for writing and crafting a decent tickling to page ratio. The price is about average for twelve pages, but the page ratio bumps it to a 8, giving the book a solid 8. On a side note, no pesky pdf. Just straight up jpg. This is a good book for those who like a bit of story, some ample nudity and massive tickling. Recommended book.
webmaster joe

Totally fair. I've been doing my best to refine my work more and more since then. The comic itself was actually finished at the end of last year! 🙂 I'm definitely going to work on refining my own solid style out of all of this! Fortunately, I learned a LOT doing this comic, and improved from beginning to end. x3

Oblesklk knows what he's doing on his end, most definitely. So I don't really have much to say there.

:3

-OT (And I support this review!)

 

[laughinggaszone]

Totally fair. I've been doing my best to refine my work more and more since then. The comic itself was actually finished at the end of last year! 🙂 I'm definitely going to work on refining my own solid style out of all of this! Fortunately, I learned a LOT doing this comic, and improved from beginning to end. x3

Oblesklk knows what he's doing on his end, most definitely. So I don't really have much to say there.

:3

-OT (And I support this review!)

You definately have promise. I don't do these reviews to either put down or pump up an artist or writer. I just feel an honest assessment of the work is in order for those prospective purchasers. The art isn't FTKl or BAC quality, but its also has strengths that neither of those arts choose to explore very heavily. If you didn't have that unique strength, I would have rated the art and the book lower. Take it from me, most artists, even good ones, don't have the sexual component down. You do, and I hope you refine it further, along with your art.
webmaster joe

 

[Oekaki-Tickles]

You definately have promise. I don't do these reviews to either put down or pump up an artist or writer. I just feel an honest assessment of the work is in order for those prospective purchasers. The art isn't FTKl or BAC quality, but its also has strengths that neither of those arts choose to explore very heavily. If you didn't have that unique strength, I would have rated the art and the book lower. Take it from me, most artists, even good ones, don't have the sexual component down. You do, and I hope you refine it further, along with your art.
webmaster joe

Well thank you very much! It's very flattering that you would say those things. Sure, I'm not the best artist, but I do always try to improve and put my best foot forward. 🙂

As far as the sexy is concerned... well, that's usually what I'm going for, since I really do find tickling to be incredibly sexy! x3

Recently... I think I've found a personal style that really fits, and can now move fast enough to really grab my old style I always went for. So, we'll see where we go from there! x)

Thanks again!

 

[Oblesklk]

Thanks for the review on this.

OT's raw talent and love were both definitely a plus in this partnership. As we get along in issues and he takes on more complicated commissions, I can't wait to see that talent and power develop into something amazing. You know it's coming...

And one of the awesome things about working with a member of the tickling community is the great ideas they want to see in the books. I have a general idea of how I want this story to wrap up, its themes, exposition, and major plot points. But there's a lot of fun, meandering stops along the way of that journey, and I love penning things that people specifically want to see. Or in OT's case, wants to draw in issue 2. Will be a good time!

The Agencies #13 is in production. That will get its own thread in time.

The Agencies: Frontiers #2 will be in production soon.

 

[Oekaki-Tickles]

Thanks for the review on this.

OT's raw talent and love were both definitely a plus in this partnership. As we get along in issues and he takes on more complicated commissions, I can't wait to see that talent and power develop into something amazing. You know it's coming...

And one of the awesome things about working with a member of the tickling community is the great ideas they want to see in the books. I have a general idea of how I want this story to wrap up, its themes, exposition, and major plot points. But there's a lot of fun, meandering stops along the way of that journey, and I love penning things that people specifically want to see. Or in OT's case, wants to draw in issue 2. Will be a good time!

The Agencies #13 is in production. That will get its own thread in time.

The Agencies: Frontiers #2 will be in production soon.

Everyone keeps flattering me today! xD

Well, I'll get to writing you an e-mail and getting things put together! Though I need to take care of some stuff first! Expect it today though! :3

I already have some evil ideas. >:3

 

[Rage]

Loved this comic man. The tickling banter and breast tickling were my favorite parts.

 

[Oekaki-Tickles]

Loved this comic man. The tickling banter and breast tickling were my favorite parts.

Thank you! I know Oblesklk will appreciate your comment as much as I do!

Thanks again for taking the time to let us know! x3

 

[Alanza]

Awesome awesome AWESOME! I'm getting this. xD I don't care about the money, I WANT IT!

 

[Oblesklk]

Awesome awesome AWESOME! I'm getting this. xD I don't care about the money, I WANT IT!

This was a blast from the past. Thanks for the exuberance, and let me know what you think!