InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Zagreus sits inside your head"

Kitsune Sniper (foxhack) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-22 19:06:00

Entry tags:

medium: webcomic

Cuanta Vida, or a Spy's life in the battlefield
It's not often that I find a comic that is so interesting that I can't wait for a new installment to come out. And then I found Kytri's Cuanta Vida.

For those of you who don't play video games, here's the setting in a nutshell: The series is based on Team Fortress 2, a very popular online multiplayer game. The story is, two rival companies called Reliable Excavation Demolition (RED) and Builders League United Inc. (BLU) are engaged in a war with each other. They both want to destroy the other and take over the assets and governments they control. The game has nine playable character classes, all with their own special features, bonuses, and disadvantages.

But the real question is, are they really that different?

Due to the way the comic is arranged and narrated, it is very difficult for me to cut up the pages and such, so please bear with me. There's LOTS of pictures behind the cut, dialup users beware. (Thanks to bluefall for teaching me how to make the LJ feed cut the post right!)

Our protagonist is Blu Spy.

Both of them know they'll have to be enemies when they arrive. But for now, they're not. Once Blu Spy gets off the train and goes to his base, he gets smacked in the head by a Blu Soldier using his shovel and loses conciousness. The Blu Medic finds him and heals him. When he wakes up, Blu Spy mentions he feels like his head has been split open...

Spies are especially weak against Pyro's Flamethrower. And yes, most of his... coworkers don't like him so much.

Of course, drinking Demoman's... "liquor" isn't something that sane people would do. Spy wakes up and decides to go take a shower.

It's pretty easy to see there's something weird going on 'round here...

DUN DUN DUN! (Slash content requirements completed!)

Spy asks Engineer to fix his cloaking device, but that means he's going to be mostly defenseless in the field, so he has to be extra careful. Blu Scout decided to tag along for a while. That poses a... problem.

At least they managed to escape - Scout tells the story all wrong... to make him look better than he was. Spy notices that the rations are getting smaller, and Heavy agrees - and the other teammates explain that the supply trains are running a little slow. Soldier goes crazy again - since Spy seems to want the war to end soon, and go home.

(Yes, I left these for you girlies and uh, guys.) Ahem! So Spy hangs around Sniper for a while.

I've already posted a LOT of stuff, I know - I'm going to skip a lot of pages now because the story took an unexpected (to me, anyway) twist around page 32... Blu Spy befriended the Red Engineer (who says he's fine with him since Red Spy thinks Blu Spy's OK) and Red Scout (who he met in the train). Both of 'em are also in with Red Spy's plan to escape the warzone... Anyway, Red Pyro almost found Blu Spy, so Red Scout stuck him in a supply closet. Blu Spy found a way outta there, but ended up crashing through the roof, into a secret room...

... and the rest... is up to you to read. :)

Cuanta Vida is a rare thing - not many webcomics based on a video game improve upon the original material. Most of the time these comics are sprite based, resort to lots of vulgarity, or crossovers, or worse - and rarely do they end up having a story as interesting as this one does.

I got permission from the author to post whatever I needed, so don't worry about the page count. :)

If you'd like to read more, the comic's homepage is located here. There's no real update schedule, but it updates at least once a week.

Bonus links: Kytri's website, Skyscraper Soup.com, her DeviantArt page, and the Cuanta Vida Livejournal RSS feed. Subscribe to it! There's only two of us on the feed and we're lonely! :p

(Post a new comment)

	dejadrew 2009-03-22 09:34 pm UTC (link)
	...Oh my God it is The Doctor's suit HE HAS STOLEN IT. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	foxhack 2009-03-22 09:48 pm UTC (link)
	What the Sam Hein you talkin' about? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dejadrew 2009-03-22 10:41 pm UTC (link)
	Or perhaps it is The Doctor who is SECRETLY A SPY. And French. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	foxhack 2009-03-22 10:49 pm UTC (link)
	Maskless Blu Spy kinda looks like that guy... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-04-02 02:18 pm UTC (link)
	...British Doctor Who moonlights as French Spy or... French spy moonlights as British Doctor Who... (Reply to this) (Parent)

	_deft_o_k 2009-03-22 10:26 pm UTC (link)
	lovely =D (Reply to this)

	lightbrigade 2009-03-22 10:44 pm UTC (link)
	I'm hooked! I had to go and subscribe to the feed, so now there's three on the list. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dejadrew 2009-03-22 11:15 pm UTC (link)
	Four. I've never played the game, but this is cool as hell. (And I have never fallen for a ship so hard or so fast as I have just now for Spy/Scout.) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lightbrigade 2009-03-22 11:17 pm UTC (link)
	nods AGREED on both counts. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	bluefall 2009-03-22 11:32 pm UTC (link)
	YAY, I HELPED! I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before. It's not a plotty webcomic that steals trappings from a video game, like 8-Bit, or an in-universe joke-a-day like, I dunno, VG Cats. It's an outright TF fancomic. That's really cool. (Reply to this) (Thread)

arrlaari.livejournal.com
2009-03-23 06:42 am UTC (link)

an in-universe joke-a-day like, I dunno, VG Cats.

Eh, VG Cats used to sort-of do that.

Awkward Zombie (http://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic1-022309.php) is a better example. Also, it's better.

Also: I love Brian Clevinger but after reading Nuklear Age I also sort of hate him.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	lookingforsigns 2009-03-23 06:33 am UTC (link)
	I don't even know much about TF2 (then again I suppose there isn't much to know in terms of plot( and I adore this comic. Also I'm pretty sure BLU Scout's gay. And angsty about it. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	cmdr_zoom 2009-03-23 07:43 pm UTC (link)
	is not! fag. ( ^_- ) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	foxhack 2009-03-23 07:49 pm UTC (link)
	Hey hey what's this all about, you goddamn ass pirate? :p (Reply to this) (Parent)

	thanekos 2009-03-23 12:25 pm UTC (link)
	there's also nerfnow for fun vg comics. (Reply to this)

	caeliluminar 2009-03-23 06:50 pm UTC (link)
	Just found this myself two weeks ago. (The same weekend as I started playing Team Fortress 2. I'm still even a worse spy than the main character. -_-) It's so awesome and of course I had to come in at the exciting part. (Will they manage escaping? Will Blu Scout ever confess his feelings?) Also subscribed to the feed, even if I'm already watching the artist on DeviantArt. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	foxhack 2009-03-23 06:59 pm UTC (link)
	I'm sorry, but you'll never be as bad a spy as I am. I am godawful. I've had the game for almost two years, and guess what? I've only backstabbed people like three times. I SUCK. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

caeliluminar
2009-03-23 10:32 pm UTC (link)

I've managed one backstab in four hours of playing Spy. Maybe I have hope yet. Although it's still depressing to follow all the other spies while waiting to respawn. They all seem to be so fantastic at playing the class, and then I get too ashamed to keep playing it while they are on the server. I just can't manage the disguises and making up cunning tactics on the spot.

Actually the only class I can play fairly well so far is Medic and on some maps Pyro. And I like Scout and Sniper, except that I can't actually hit anything. I wish there was a single player mode you could practice with.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

foxhack
2009-03-24 12:22 am UTC (link)

I'm actually a pretty decent Sniper. Out of all the classes, he's my favorite. But I also play a MEAN Medic.

The key to being a good scout is to have good reflexes. And also to try to sneak up on people and blast them with the shotgun from a close distance. The closer you are, and the more in-center you are in relation to the target, the more damage your shotgun will inflict.

If you play on the PC, try looking for some newbie servers. I dunno how it is on the 360. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	psychop_rex 2009-03-24 12:08 am UTC (link)
	This is interesting - I'd never heard of the game (and given my current level of computer technology, I'll probably never play it, either), but the whole 'war against someone who is very like us' thing is one of those tropes that never fails to be interesting. Also, is there any particular in-game reason that the BLU Spy seems to be French? (Reply to this) (Thread)

foxhack
2009-03-24 12:17 am UTC (link)

Yeah, that's because he's French. Every character class has his own nationality:

Spy - French
Medic - German
Heavy Weapons Guy (the bald guy) - Russian
Engineer - Texan
Scout - Boston
Demoman (the black guy) - Scottish
Soldier - American
Pyro - Unknown, probably American
Sniper - Australian

RED Spy seems French, but Kytri drew him unmasked in the latest update, and he appears to be a Spaniard, at least to my eyes. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

psychop_rex
2009-03-24 02:25 am UTC (link)

Huh. Weird. Not to nitpick - well, yes, OK, to nitpick, sorry - but I wouldn't have called 'Texan' and 'Boston' (or 'BostonIAN', more properly, since we're talking about a character) 'nationalities', per se. 'American (Texan)' and 'American (Bostonian)' would have been more proper, at least if you're calling those other two guys Americans. Sorry, don't mean to be obnoxious when you're helpfully volunteering information, but that stuff bugs me, and I can't help myself.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	foxhack 2009-03-24 02:34 am UTC (link)
	In my defense: I wasn't sure what the proper term for Boston residents was. And all the Texans I've met in person seem to think they're a country of their own. ;p (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-03-24 03:19 am UTC (link)
	Fair enough. I've been in Texas, though - for about fifteen minutes or so when I was catching a connecting flight from Dallas airport - and if that's anything to go by, if Texas IS a country, then it's a mighty hot, dry, and ugly one. With airports that are far too complicated. (Reply to this) (Parent)