Ultima-Java: Creative Media


Ultima-Java: Creative Media was founded in November 2005 by Andy Evans, Emily Allom and Steven Olden. UJ:CM was a community driven web comic site with a number of different teams working to produce content. The main focus of the site, however, was building a community, and helping one another develop each other's talents, through constructive criticism, and sharing of information and experiences. The site was not limited to just web comics, and on the forum free thinking and other forms of media were also encouraged as artistic endeavors, such as the production of artwork, sprites, music and videos.

However, at some point between September 2015 and January 2016 the site abruptly vanished from the web.

There were two categories of comic on Ultima-Java: Creative Media, Continuity and Non-Continuity. Continuity comics were created to take place in the Ultima-Java Universe, or UJ-verse for short. These stories and comics were written by members of the UJ-verse Continuity Creative Team and were submitted to Andy Evans for editing and continuity proofing before being put into production.

The final lineup of comics was History, Universe 2, Over The Edge and If You Believe.

A Wayback Machine archive of the site can be found here.

The Team

  • UJ:CM was founded by Andy Evans, Emily Allom and Steven Olden, they remain the main three members of the UJ Main Continuity Creative Team (MCCT).
  • Andy is the main Writer and Continuity Editor for all Continuity projects, and has recently gotten involved with the actual comic production of History, of the chapter Learning Curve. producing backgrounds and special effects for the comic. Aside from comic work Andy is the site designer, and overall administrator.
  • Emily Allom is a writer for History as well as the main artist. She has drawn all comic pages so far. Emily is also the creator and sole producer of If You Believe. Out side of her creative duties, Emily is also the website Forum's main Administrator.
  • Steven Olden is a writer on the project, but due to personal life getting in the way does not have as much time to contribute any more than the odd script.
  • Kevin Gibson joined the team as of 2009. He is the creator and sole producer of Over the Edge and is currently an Assistant writer for the MCCT, providing insights into certain situations and characters that he is developing for the UJ-Verse. Aside from comic work Kevin is a moderator on the site's Forums.
  • Lyle Dietz joined the team officially in July 2010. At the moment he does not have any creative content on the site. His expertise however, lie in programming and server maintenance, and as such, he is the head programmer on the new website that is currently under development.
Ultima-Java: Creative Media provides examples of the following tropes:
  • B-Side Comics: Characters from the main continuity, also featured in an out of context strip called "Inbetweenees" which would often show the character interacting with and critiquing the work of the creators Andy, Emily and Steven.
  • Continuity Reboot: After the change of Creative Team members the story was restarted, the original script is also available under the header of Universe 2. (This is not an example of Multiverse)
  • Word of God: Several questions have been answered over the forums.
  • Webcomics Multiverses or Alternate Continuity: There was something of a loose multiverse within the continuity of Ultima-Java. The original scripts pre-reboot, were cut down to remove any characters that they did not have creative license to use, and reposted under the name "Universe 2". This was meant as a nod to DC Comic's "Earth 2" post Silver Age reboot. However, the community driven comic series called "The Forumverse", was also considered to be a separate universe within the continuity. While neither the Continuity comic nor the Forumverse contributions never made it far enough to include hints to the existence of other universes, the Forumverse comic was being subtly guided in the background by Andy towards an encounter between the Forumverse characters and another different version of the character "Andy Frogman" who would only later be revealed to not be the Andy Frogman from the Main Continuity, nor from Universe 2.

History

The main comic is History, and features the three main characters, Andy Frogman - A warrior who has no memory of his past, and wants to discover his origins as he attempts to write his own future destiny; Queen Qeeko - A mortal girl who has been granted the immortal essence of Chaos, and struggles with the responsibilities of the new power; and Stephanos a Dark Knight in the service of a Demon Lord who has reign over a planet in the Physical Universe, which Qeeko attempts to recruit as her Herald. A lot of the comic's story is shown through the visual artwork instead through dialogue or text.

The comic is called History, not because Andy Frogman isn't aware of his, but instead that when this comic was being planned the Creative Team of Andy Evans, Emily Allom and Steven Olden, decided to take the story back to the very beginning of events leading up to where the characters are today.

After about a year since the reboot, the comic History, currently has three chapters in it's first story arc In the Beginning..." and has just started on the first chapter of its second story arc The Winding Road currently[when?] in production and many more chapters already planned and scripted.

In September 2009 Kevin Gibson joined the Ultima-Java: Continuity Creative Team.

As of January 2010 the comic has returned from a long hiatus hiatus stretching back to the end of 2008, and now has a one page per fortnight (two weeks) schedule. Along with the hiatus being lifted, the background of the UJ-verse has been altered slightly. The most obvious change being the removal of the Multiverse as a concept in the comic. No changes since it's return has constituted the necessity for a reboot.

The removal of the Multiverse has not in any way altered the events of Universe 2, or the Forumverse, as technically these are not Universes in a multiverse, but they are alternate story lines.

This comic is featured on the Crowning Moments page.

Storyarcs:

In The Beginning...

  • Chp 1: First Step to a Thousand Miles - The three main characters first appear here.
  • Chp 2: A Tip of a Quill - Focuses on the relationship between Stephanos and Queen Qeeko.
  • Chp 3: A Deviant Cause - Puts Andy in the spotlight as he encounters the chapter's eponymous group.

The Winding Road

  • Chp 1: Learning Curve - Things are starting to come together. Andy has joined the group from A Deviant Cause, while there are revelations about the Demon Lord who rules over Stephanos.

This comic shows examples of:

  • Blade of Fearsome Size: Andy Frogman's weapon of choice is the great sword. Throughout the various UJ series, he is shown to wield a multitude of different weapons with different attributes.
  • Continuity Reboot: After the change of Creative Team members the story was restarted, the original script is also available under the header of Universe 2.
  • Order Versus Chaos: Not so much Order Vs Chaos, but certainly examples of both. Qeeko's character believes herself to have inherited the role of the Lord of Chaos.
  • Word of God: Several questions have been answered on the forums.

Ultima-Java: Creative Media also hosts other comics such as Universe 2, Over the Edge and If You Believe.

Universe 2

Universe 2 is the pre-reboot comic that was written with a creative team of six. Due to creative disagreements the team behind this comic disbanded, and the comic series was cancelled following the first story arc that introduced all the main characters. This original comic featured the characters, Andy Frogman, Queen Qeeko, Stephanos, Melfice, Slightly Above Average Man (SAAM) and Kardin, and has since it's reposting on UJ:CM been pruned down to only feature the four characters they still have permission to use. This prompted the reboot and the creation of Ultima-Java: History.

This comic is considered by the Creative Team as the Golden Age of Ultima-Java Comics, and was named as a reference to DC Comics, where their Golden Age took place on Earth 2. This comic occupied the Universe with the designation U~2.

This comic shows examples of:

  • Continuity Reboot: This comic was rebooted into History.
  • Order Versus Chaos: Not so much Order Vs Chaos, but again examples of both.
  • Webcomics Multiverses or Alternate Continuity: This is the pre-reboot continuity of the UJ-verse, even though there was never any intention of continuing the U~2 Continuity, this comic is still referred to as Universe 2 and can be considered and Alternate Reality. Universe 2 has more in common with the community driven Forumverse series, and at one point there was the idea that it could act as the origin for the Forumverse, but this idea was abandoned and U~2 was left to stand alone.

Over The Edge

Over The Edge is a slice of life / random events / gamer culture comic by Kevin Gibson. The comic is currently on hiatus, but while it was updating it was being released at the rate of one comic per week.

When Over The Edge first arrived on UJ:CM, we were greeted with a string of brand new comic pages. As it does in most situations, life had gotten in the way of the updates, and so Kevin re-released all his older comics on UJ under the header of The Retro Files.

new pages have been planned for future release.

This comic shows examples of:

If You Believe

If You Believe is a side project of Ultima-Java: Continuity Creative Team member, Emily Allom. This comic is an off the wall comic delving into the depths of imagination and the concept of belief. If You Believe revolves around the theory that if you believe in something enough, it could very well be true, if only to the individual who believes in it.

In spite of it's colourful style and cartoony characters, If You Believe also features themes of an adult nature, including smokeing, drinking, sexual references and death.

Due to the struggle to keep Ultima-Java: History updated regularly, If You Believe has been placed on a back burner. Recently there have been several updates of a backlog that was created, but these have now run dry.

New comics have been planned and are in production.

This comic shows examples of:

External Links

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