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Ooh, looks like Keith isn't doing as much behind kicking as we thought he would. That guard obviously knows what he's doing.

I always figured he was a better fighter than that, honestly.

Looks like this fight will go on for a little longer than I expected.

Nice, but it has some flaws (this might go in the grammar and spelling thread but I think it's more topical).

1) That is not a glaive. Glaives are either longer or wider to work for slicing or slashing (slightly differant motion). What is in the comic is a lance or maybe a spear (I'm pretty sure that a lance is the types of spears meant for stabbing rather than as javelins).

2) Why does the soldier's sword change width between the two frames?

You never know, maybe keith is leading the guard on, making him think keith sucks at fighting, and then BAM !, he head-buts the guy.

Come on if he survived the blow from Alabaster, his skull is more than hard enough to put the guards 'lights' out :D

Keith, Keith, Keith... You're going to have to step it up here. Or, as I always say, when in doubt; cheat. When faced by a superior enemy, you have to be more clever. Fighting predictably, even if you're trying to manage for your weaknesses, will never win you battles. That is a nice roll across the body though.

I think Keith is doing pretty well though, considering how rusty he has to be. Seriously, apart from light sparring with Natani in the ship, his last fight was with her and Zen and he was wounded. And before that...We saw him draw his sword, but (and I'm going off my notably faulty memory here) I don't recall seeing him actually fight anyone.


Angle toward the "camera." The guard turns his blade as Keith's sword slides upward, displaying more of the flat to the camera.


Hrm...The helmets would potentially cause issue, but that's not a bad idea. It's not like the ol' forehead slam could sink Keith into much worse trouble than he's already in.

Then it changed angle. In the former, it would be blade to flat in your interpretation (the hand position would seem to support you), but, in the latter, it is flat to flat.

I would also point out that straight blades do not draw that quickly, a major reason for why katanae (how do you pluralize "katana?") are curved.

:twisted: i say sweep kick aught to do the job, assuming of course the guard can be caught like that, and unless there is a bigger honor thing to this fight than i thought.

(and i'm pretty sure it's just katanas)

I fixed the prospective issue and changed the name of the weapon to a generic "polearm" because I know people will just continue to argue on what it is. I know there's a lot of categories that the weapon might fight into. As for the sword-drawing issue, keep in mind it's a comic. It's pretty standard in comics and animation to have a person be able to draw a weapon in an instant, regardless of what it is. No need to have everything be completely realistic, what's the fun in that?

huh I thought it was to maximize the amount of cutting edge in a slice. Oh well, your point is certainly valid. Incidentally, I agree with you, the guard changed the angle he was holding the sword between the last two frames. The only explanation for the speed of the draw is that it is a much shorter sword than what we're thinking of, almost a dirk. Which would stand to reason if the primary weapon is a polearm -- you'd only want a short blade to cover the area an enemy could reach between spearhead and grip.

So what if Keith loses? Does he get all dejected and blurt to Natani where he wanted to go and just sort of slumps to the ground? Where she'll wrap an arm around him and say, "I thought you fought very well," before realizing what it looks like and the stares they're getting. Then she'd punch him in the shoulder and say something like, "*ahem* I mean, buck up, you'll be sure to beat him next time." Keith's got to win.

Bite 'im, Keith! Bite 'im!

--Update, since I didn't see Tom post--
Now I feel sorry for Tom. I have to wonder if he called it a glaive originally because of our last discussion on the topic. We're just too darn hard to please. :P The fight scene is beautiful though. We loves you, Tom!

Well, I for one am thoroughly pleased that we finally have some combat, and I must add that you have improved by leaps and bounds since the last real combat scenes. Keep up the stellar work, Tom, if you please.

Go Keith go!
Fight fight fight!
Knock him down
Bite his nose
Punch out his lights!

Goooo Keith!

And thus ends my cheerleading career ^_^

Way cool fight scene. If I were a betting person, I'd bet on Keith winning. For many various reasons, most of them being thematically based.

I was poking around polearm descriptions for a debate on another forum, and I found that lances were thrusting weapons used by cavalry. In this case, it would either be a spear or pike. I'm still on this because "polearm" is a long word, and therefor impedes on bubble flexability, which would be annoying were I in your shoes.
I also recomend having the block be diagonnaly down next time you need a draw-block. That way, it would be a part of the draw's motion. Hell, the sword wouldn't even need to be all the way out of the sheith.

On the subject of kicks, there is an interesting artical on the ARMA website titled "The Use of Kicks in Swordfighting."

Whoah... guy's better than we thought. I like this fight. *^_^* Go Keith!



Nonono, this is an honor battle. You can't fight dirty in a formal battle.

Well...like most cheating... it only matters if you get caught. :twisted:

Keith certainly doesn't seem to be in top form in this fight though. I hope he manages to pull this out though. Kicks are going to be Keith's best option at this point since he has no other weapons. Unless he suddenly gets a lot better with that sword and his strategy he's not gonna win this fight without some fancy legwork.