A Modest Destiny
A Modest Destiny (abbreviated to AMD) was a pixel art webcomic created by Sean Howard with the first strip posted on January 1, 2003. It consists of four chapters: Maxim Saves the World, The Dreaded Vampire Lord Fluffy (AMDF), The War of Fate (AMDW), and Prophecies of the Demon King (AMDP).
| A Modest Destiny | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Sean Howard |
| Website | squidi |
| Current status/schedule | Current, Mondays - Fridays |
| Launch date | January 1, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
The comic is set in a fantasy world, but Howard allows his characters a modern mentality. Strips can regularly parody fantasy clichés and will on occasion break the fourth wall.
History
The first arc, "Maxim Saves The World", follows the adventures of the titular character, Maxim, and is narrated through a series of flashbacks. At this point the strip makes liberal use of clichés and one-shot jokes, building a narratives through various sub-plots.
On December 28, 2003 the first storyline ended and Howard announced a new science fiction space opera webcomic entitled The Starship Destiny (TSD), unrelated to AMD. When this new strip concluded, work resumed on the second chapter of A Modest Destiny. "The Dreaded Vampire Lord Fluffy" began on March 16, 2004. This arc is roughly half the length of the first and focusses on a single story rather than several smaller ones. Set in the same universe as the first chapter, it follows a vampire necromancer named Fluffy who had been tamed by society. The story also utilises a number of lesser-used characters from the first story-line and depicts the events leading up to a war between the humans and the undead, concluding in September 2004.
It was during the second chapter that the comic changed format, with larger 12-panel story comics posted Monday through Friday, and short, non-canon strips featuring characters from both AMD and TSD posted on the weekends.
After running another chapter of The Starship Destiny, Howard took all of December 2004 off for the purposes of creating a well-planned foundation for the third AMD chapter, The War Of Fate (AMDW), which began on January 1, 2005. His aim with the third chapter was to create a more detailed and complex storyline. The comic's artistic style also changed for this chapter, Howard creating more realistic backgrounds using Adobe Photoshop instead of the pixel art style backgrounds used in previous chapters.
The story is set five years after the end of AMDF in a world all but destroyed by war against the undead. An undead army, led by the mysterious Black Knight, has taken over the majority of the country, with only a small group of humans left to oppose him. These humans, led by Maxim and his friends, defend a small city called Last Hope.
In July 2005, with the storyline halfway, the author took a break from the comic. On December 22, 2005, Sean Howard published the original outline for AMDW, including material which never made its way into comics. On September 29, 2006, a new season of AMD started, entitled "A Modest Destiny-Prophecies of the Demon King", concluding on June 10, 2010. At the beginning of February 2011, he announced plans for a short fifth arc to bring the story to a conclusion. On February 16, 2011, AMD returned from hiatus, with updates scheduled for weekdays.
As of November 26, 2013, AMD has not updated. Small arc that was announced has yet to be released or worked on.
Major characters
- Maxim - The main character of the story. The first comic shows him at an old age, sporting an eye patch, bragging about how he saved the world twice.
- Gilbert - Maxim's evil twin brother and the main antagonist for the first chapter. He works with Team Evil to resurrect the evil wizard Deo-Deo.
- Fluffy - A two-thousand-year-old vampire necromancer who has been domesticated and now works for the humans by creating dungeons for warriors to adventure in. First regularly appeared in AMDF (though he had a cameo in the last page of season 1).
- Hechter - A living suit of armor that was created by the vampire lord Fluffy three hundred years prior to the beginning of AMD. Dim-witted but hilarious.
- Hubert - A drunkard thief who teams up with Maxim early on to stop Team Evil.
- Jenny - The owner of the local inn and bar, she is one of Maxim's major love interests, and becomes his wife between AMD and AMDF.
- Maureen - Maxim's other love interest, Maureen is the secretary for the Warriors' Guild. She marries Lucile between AMD and AMDF.
- Bart - Also known as Black Bart the Stupidly Courageous, he is the stupid, but adorable, guild master for the Warrior's Guild. Bart is both boss and mentor to Maxim. He reappears in AMDW where Lucile calls him "Black Bart"
- Lucile - Grew up with Maxim at the orphanage. During one of her adventures, she was forced to marry Maxim to prevent being turned into a cow by a cursed wedding ring. She later divorces him and marries Maureen so he can marry Jenny.
- Ruby - First appearing in AMDF, she is the captain of the guards. She likes violence and sarcasm, in that order.
- Gustav - First appears in AMDF (was mentioned by name in season 1). An incredibly unintelligent but remarkably strong warrior with a paralyzing fear of the undead.
- Giggles - First appears AMDW (though was mentioned by name at the end of season 1). An undead spy for the Black Knight, Giggles is captured by the heroes and becomes romantically involved with Hechter. She masqueraded as Benny.
- The Crimson Blade - A superhero who fights for justice and righteousness. It is known that several different people have donned the Crimson Blade name and armor.
- Mina - The only named Crimson Blade, first introduced during AMDF. Mina was one of 1,047 Crimson Blades during AMDF, and she became Captain of the Guard during AMDW.
- Matilda - Hechter's sister and a vampire. She has a lisp.
- Zanzabar - In the second series of AMD, he betrays and kills king Khaan for Matilda, and becomes a vampire. In the third series he is an antagonist.
- Sapphire - First appears in AMDC. Ruby's sister, whose visit to Ruby provides the plot of AMDC
- Gillian - First appears in AMDW. Maureen's blue-eyed redhead daughter, likely to be the daughter of Gilbert.
- Morris - Maureen's brother, who in AMDW was revealed to have gone utterly insane. He now appears to be the legitimate Pope, due to a rather odd series of events. In AMD-PDK Morris is shown to slowly regain his mental stability.
- Dark Knight - The Main antagonist in AMD-PDK, he is also mentioned in other chapters. He also claims to be Gilbert's Father.
iTunes
The comic has recently been released in the iTunes App store for download.