The Fox And The Devil

A fake folk tale:

One day, as the fox was returning from a hunt, it spied the devil sitting by the stream. The devil was glad to see the fox, for he knew the fox was very cunning, and the devil, as you may well know, loves tricksters. So as the fox appraoched, the devil held out his hand and cried out, "Ho there!"

Now just as the fox was cunning, the fox was also smart. It knew the devil immediately, and stayed well in the shadows. It replied, "Ho there, Devil. What brings you to the forest?"

To which the devil laughed with merriment. "Perhaps I seek to find you, among all the animals in all the trees, and all the sounds of the forest."

"I do not doubt it," Said the fox. But, as the fox was very cunning, it added, "But I do not quite believe it either. Come now, why do you walk among the trees and the animals this day?"

"Well, if you will not believe that I seeketh you (even as you do not doubt that I might), believe me when I say that this day is a very special day. It is, in fact, a beautiful day. Do you not agree?"

"I do," Said the fox. "I have hunted, and I am very well fed. It is nearly always a good day when these things are true."

"Indeed!" Agreed the devil with a laugh. "Now why are you sneaking there in the shadows? Certainly you may come out and meet with me, as we are very much cut from the same cloth."

And again, the fox was very cunning. Now it withdrew further into the shadows, and cast its voice so it could not give away the fox's location. "It is true, what you say! It is the fact that we are so alike that I have reason to distrust you."

Now the devil, who was trying very hard to see the fox, grew agitated. "I insist that we are friends, and that I only wish to talk! It is a beautiful day, and I seek someone of a like mind to share it with! You accuse me of deviltry, where I assure you none is to be found."

The fox knew not to believe the devil, for they were both cunning and cruel. But the fox also knew it could not avoid the devil forever. So the fox decided to try a trick.

"Very well," It said, letting its voice carry. "I will come out and speak with you, but I have stolen some eggs from the henhouse, and I do not wish to share them with you. You must give me a moment to secure a hiding spot."

Now the devil, much like the fox, fancied nothing greater on a beautiful day than fresh eggs. He tried very hard not to let his eagerness show. "Eggs, you say? And you wish to hide them?"

"Of course," said the fox, from its hiding spot. "It is the only way to make sure they're secure."

"Oh I agree, my dear friend the fox," said the devil. "But where would you hide them?"

"I thought I might bury them in the ground," replied the fox.

"In the ground? Where there dirt and rocks can smash them to bits? Where the worms can tunnel deep into them and ruin them from within. Where they might get lost?"

"You have a good point, Sir Devil." Said the fox from the shadows. "Perhaps they'd be best suited in the trees."

"With the birds?" the devil said dubiously. "The birds are all of a kind, friend. It is a certainty if you put them up there, then the rooster would find out. Your eggs would very likely be lost."

"A sound point," the fox conceded. "But if not there, than where?"

"Well," Said the devil, his voice thick with the false cheer of an even falser innocence. "I spied as I was sitting here a little place just by the stream. There is a perfect resting spot for a handful of eggs. If one were crafty and quiet, one could easily store the eggs there."

"I see," agreed the fox. "Where is this spot?"

"Right here," said the devil, turning towards the stream and pointing with a long finger. "Where these three rocks come together."

"I see it," the fox said, "and you are right. It is a good hiding spot. Very well, if you will promise not to look, I will hide my eggs there."

"I promise," said the devil. And it is a well known fact that the devil cannot promise without breaking that exact promise. The devil covered his eyes, and tried very hard to look at the spot in the stream.

And now the fox snuck up on the devil and bit him squarely on his rump. As the devil screamed, the fox disappeared into the forest, laughing at the devil's own folly.

And thus the devil learned not to try to trick a trickster. And thus the fox showed that everyone can be tricked.

You may suspect that these morals cannot both be true, and perhaps you are right.

Comic Collaboration Idea: The Greatastic War

Begin.

The idea is rather simple. Get some talented comic-writers / comic-teams together. Each person/group creates a country, filled with their own brand of odd-ball characters. These people (societally speaking) can be any stereotype imagined, and can physically be anything from geometric shapes to angry kitchen appliances. They are given a brief-history and a political outlook. They can be anything from terrified scaredy-cats with hideble cities to power-hungry slugs with a Nazi-estic bent.

With the participation of the comic-makers, the countries are placed on a map, and borders are drawn up, and sides are taken. The comic-makers are now aware of their enemies, and can collaborate with them on a cohesive timeline.

But effectively, each comic-maker (or group if multiple people work on one country) is now at war, and will draw their comic from the limited PoV of their country's members. The style of the story is theirs to choose (though comedy would be preferred so as to keep things light), and the actions of their nation are theirs to control.

Now we get on to the interesting part.

Each comic details the war from their country's perspective, and as a country makes an action, the other comics (told from the PoV of the other countries) react to that action. Not every action has to be acknowledged, but it should be accepted as canon.

I.E. if the Evil Overlord Manic Spiffy launches a nuclear warhead at his rival, then another comic can't say, "well it's a good thing no one's used nukes yet." (unless of course, the character speaking is blissfully unaware that such an action has taken place).

To make this work there will have to be some ground rules.
1. No bullying other comic-maker countries. If you want to have a long war with them, then the two of you should collaborate to come up with a plausable and fun storyline. If you can't make something work, you can't attack them. (of course, this cuts both ways)
2. No surprises. To this end, a message board will be created, and a unified timeline will be followed. Participants will share, in a secure location, their upcoming issues so that people will have time to react.
3. The unified timeline will be made flexible, so that montages and other story-telling tricks will be allowed to happen, but effectively, all the comics published at a given time will have a given timeframe for them to occur.
4. Events that occur (attacks, news worthy items, world-events, etc) will happen in a set order. Comics which feature those must be displayed before other comics can react to them. This may take some work.
5. NPCs can and should be shared by all. NPCs are the only group which can be eradicated completely (they don't have comics, who cares what happens to them).
6. All participants are expected to update at least once a week. The more times/week you post, the slower the pace of your comic will be (as you'll have more time for chit-chat between each major event).
7. There will be a world-master, who will be in charge of managing the events and controlling the timeline. The timeline will likely be counted in weeks or months, and will advance slowly so as not to rush through the war. The world-master will collaborate with the comic-makers and control, to some extent, the actions and goals of the NPCs.
8. It will also be the world-master who will resolve such issues as comics falling behind in the timeline (or not updating), and they will largely be in charge of the meta-comic experience.
9. When using an NPC or comic-maker's country, you are expected to attempt to portray them as they are in their own comic (or in the case of NPCs, in the comic they were introduced). You are allowed to merge them into your style, but if they're listed as being giant militant carrots, that's what you have to draw them as.
10. It should be noted that the ultimate goal is to produce completely separate comics, which intertwine. The comics should be written with the idea that the reader is not reading the other comics. This will enhance the enjoyment of all the readers.

That's the idea as it stands right now. :D
let me know via PM at SmackJeeves (I'm JimmyDabomb there) or
via email at crazyjimmy@gmail.com if you're interested in taking part.