Inkthinker

It depends on who's writing it. One of the things to remember about some comics franchises (not applicable to ALL COMICS) is that they are franchises... they shift from hand to hand, and depending on who's managing it they may have very different ideas about the limit of powers. In many cases, the limits are defined by the needs of the existing plot-of-the-moment. Problems arise when that sort of organization meets continuity. If only one person was writing Wolverine stories, there would be more cohesively defined parameters to his healing factors, etc. But that's not how a franchise that runs monthly releases over 30+ years generally works.

What can I say, I really like the material. Brandon consistently writes things that make me want to draw.

I think it might be worth noting as well (just 'cause I'm a rainy little stormcloud) that because every illustration represents an in-world work of one sort or another (whether it's a map, or a window, or a page from a book), they potentially also represent unreliable narration. That is to say, they might be wrong, or biased, or otherwise misleading. The person who created them may have been flawed, or working from a misconception, or be otherwise wrong. Probably not... but they could be.

It might be interesting to have the main character be a demon who discovers who John is before John realizes it... Brooke knows about demons and has some undetermined knowledge of their identities gleaned from Nobody, but since they're often (well, 2 out of 3) body-snatchers it's entirely possible that one could encounter either or both of them without them realizing it. And that's presuming that Brooke even sticks around, rather than transcribing everything she can about Nobody and then going into hiding, far away from John and anyone else. So you could have a sympathetic demon that gets lucky, learning about John on the hunt and being forced to view John as the villain (not hard). We know that the demons are capable of acting in sympathetic ways (see Crowley), and it's possible that there's one who's "need" is something that allows them to act in a manner beneficial to humans or society at large. I could dig that story, it'd be a neat twist.

I don't know that she had changed all that much at the end of the book... she's got some knowledge of Nobody and Nobody's memories (that alone probably does massive damage to her psyche, given that Nobody was a damaged personality herself), but it's not like she fell into John's arms or anything. She's probably still afraid of him, possibly even more so. Just because she knows he was right doesn't erase what she saw in him.

I don't see it working out well for John and Brooke... they're bound by shared trauma(s), but that's not necessarily a healthy basis for a romantic relationship. Though I'm guessing they'll end up spending a lot of time together in the future, given that Brooke is John's best lead to the next demon, I don't think they'd be able to work out over a long-term. Marci might have been good for him, but... well, that didn't work out either.

So, anyone have any idea if we'll see the future of John Cleaver? We're essentially left with the implication that he's being offered an opportunity to become a government-sanctioned demon-hunting sociopathic bad-chull, with Brooke to lead him to the next one based on her retained Nobody memories. Is that story too... well-traveled? I could see it working well in a pitch (the "meets" are easy, it's Dexter meets The X-Files, or maybe the third season of Supernatural), but it's possible Dan hasn't got much interest in following that story any longer. Lord knows, he's probably tired of the Dexter comparisons, and we don't lack for stories about demon-hunting in modern supernatural fiction. Now that John has a purpose, and the sacrifices of Marci and his mother have given him a sense of emotional value and personal worth, is there anything more to say with the character? I'm also kinda sorry we didn't get more of Max (his whole arc kinda flattened out with a sour ending) or some closure with that jerkass Rob. I'm curious to know if you guys would like to see more, or if there's any more that really needs to be seen?

Even if we go with old-school, ferrous-metals-only Magneto, I think he wins. Though... atium might throw a wrench in there. If it's Kelsier with a full belly of all the known metals, he's got some chances. Even better odds if he can set the stage somewhere that's short of ferrous metals, like out in the wastelands. Then Kelsier has the advantages of pewter and atium. Heck, maybe even bendalloy (though that's technically cheating, since bendalloy is meant to be unknown in the Final Empire). But basically you need a low-power Maggy and a full-power Kelsier just to make the match interesting.

I actually didn't peg her as a lesbian, until this interview was mentioned. I mean, I can see it now, but I didn't think it was obvious if you didn't know to look for it.

I think this fight was the best one when he wrote it. He wrote it almost a year ago, though. At the beginning of the book.

To be fair, Wayne is indiscriminately charming towards all women. It's fun realizing how little six chapters actually gives away.

I guess I'll spend twice as much time lurking in the Mistborn and Stormlight forums now. Shame we lost all the nice fan-art from the original forums. Plus it was kind of a nice archive of how I met, wooed and won my way into Brandon's back pocket.

I don't see why or how, given that she never had children of her own. Unless her father had more bastards (which is possible, but unlikely), or Reen fathered a child somewhere along the line before being captured. But there's been nothing at all to suggest either possibility. Also, it'd be a pretty weak move on Brandon's part to pull something like that out of the air. It's not his style.

Well, obviously there's only one solution. We gots to work Brandon for more Jak Tales!!

Jak's a totally unreliable narrator, but I wouldn't count on everything he says being false.

You misunderstand... I'm not suggesting it's common to the world of Alloy, I was saying it's fairly common in our modern, real world. And even there, it's rare that the entire weapon would be aluminum alloy... steel is far more efficient, especially for the cylinder, barrel or actual bullets and their casings (all parts which are subjected to a lot of force and heat). Aluminum is very lightweight, but it doesn't put up with a lot of explosive force before it deforms. A fully aluminium weapon would be pretty impractical, which does indeed suggest that it's a weapon designed specifically to avoid problems with Push/Pull powers.

Last I heard, it was going to be 6 chapters. Peter will be able to say for certain though. Six makes sense anyhow. The next chapter is a better cap than this one. It's about to get loud. Aluminum is surprisingly common in modern firearm frames. It's not a particularly good metal for the barrel or the bullets (overheats easily) but making an entire weapon and the ammo out of it (or at least jacketing/plating with aluminum) isn't much of a leap.

This probably won't get addressed until later in the week, but if anyone's had a chance to see the primer and previews at Gen-Con, I'd love to hear what you thought of it! Word from the guys at Crafty is that there's been a lot of excitement and positive response so far.

Thanks everyone! The perspective was composed in order to give you that "flying through the sky" feeling, bearing in mind that Mistborn don't fly so much as fling themselves around. You can orient the image this way, turn it upside-down, or lay it on its side, and all those options are "right". It's placed this way partly to put the sympathetic focus on the Mistborn rather than the Inquisitor (by keeping him right-side up), and to allow space for the text. I'm hoping an eventual poster version without text will allow you to hang it whichever way you like. I kinda like it upside-down, myself.

So, at long last, it finally comes. http://www.crafty-games.com/content/mistborn-adventure-game-pre-order-details?utm_source=bsand&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=magpre From the page: Based on the best-selling novels by Brandon Sanderson and powered by an all new story-driven rules system, the Mistborn Adventure Game lets you explore, command, or liberate the oppressed world of Scadrial, battle the Lord Ruler’s Inquisitors, and master the primal forces of Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy. It features new official fiction from Mr. Sanderson himself and loads of never-before-seen material, making it the ultimate resource for fans of the novels and those who want to experience the Final Empire firsthand. The book also features about 30 illustrations drawn by yours truly. I busted some hump to try and match well with Brandon's written words, and he and Peter have been pretty good about keeping me on the right track. I think if you liked the work I've done before, you'll be happy with what I've done here. I hope you check it out!

I can't believe how long it took folks to catch that. I found it a bit of a groaner at first, but it grew on me. It makes their names go well together, like Batman & Robin, or Sherlock & Watson

Sorry 'bout that... next time, more advance planning! I wonder how hard it would be to convert one of my dusters... I already got the guns and the hat and the vest...

Allomancer Jak is the least reliable of unreliable narrators.

Heheheh... perfect typesetting, terrible spellchecking. Peter, please tell me you're growing the moustache. I need to see this.