u/Open_Quarter_7863

So, considering that Sanji will most likely awaken Conqueror's Haki in the upcoming chapters, it made me realize how underwhelming of a power-up CoC actually is.

Outside of knocking out fodder, it doesn't really introduce any new abilities. It's basically just an extra visual effect added on top of an attack. It's like Oda is saying, "Look, black lightning! This character is really strong."

To me, it feels like a lazy way to show that a character has reached a certain level of strength instead of giving them unique techniques or abilities that actually reflect their fighting style.

It also feels generic because every Conqueror's Haki user gets the same black lightning effects. Compare that to Ifrit Jambe, which is an amazing power-up because it perfectly fits Sanji's fighting style and gives him something unique that's cool as hell.

Finally, the way Conqueror's Haki is unlocked, basically through genetics and "believing in yourself", is incredibly lame, at least in my opinion.

So, if you're not into powerscaling, I don't think CoC is a particularly interesting power-up. Of course, you could make a similar argument about the Haki system as a whole, which I think has some major flaws storwise, but I just wanted to focus on Conqueror's Haki here.

And before anyone says I'm just hating on Sanji's power-up, this criticism applies just as much to Zoro. I only used Sanji as the example because it's more relevant right now.

Personally, I'd say Jacques Tardi, especially his Adèle Blanc-Sec series. Like Mike Mignola, he's fascinated by the early 20th century and mixes history with occultism, scientific discoveries, folklore, and the fascination with the unknown that defined the era. Their art styles are very different and Tardi is way more verbose, but they share the same love for mysterious, atmospheric storytelling with a touch of humor.

The KoG posing almost no threat, the Straw Hats casually strolling through an active battlefield, Loki stalling Imu for 10 chapters, and now Luffy sucker-punching Imu and making him look like Charlos... Peak tension.

Across manga and comics, there are a lot of artists I love, some I adore, and a very select few whose work I'll follow no matter what project they're attached to. Mike Mignola is one of them. I want him to do a short miniseries for every license in existence. Every time I see one of his covers, I just wish he had drawn the entire story.

I don't care about Masters of the Universe, I've never consumed any of its media, but if you tell me Mignola drew a story for it, you can be sure I'll buy it. His style is so unique, stylized, and effortlessly cool that it makes anything he creates worth reading.

In some ways, it's actually a bit of a curse when I'm reading B.P.R.D., because I constantly find myself thinking, "Damn, that's awesome... but it probably would have been even better if Mignola had drawn it."

Every time I read Conqueror Worm, I'm amazed by this panel. The concept of strapping an almost-dead Nazi scientist to a rocket and using his corpse as bait to lure a Lovecraftian monster is such a cool, unique idea. And the panel itself is so clean and beautifully executed.

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The faceless astronaut standing before that dark mass of instruments conveys such a profound sense of loneliness and sorrow. I absolutely love it.

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Made with Krita

So are we all just ignoring the fact that in 30 years of One Piece, we’ve basically never seen actual merchant ships or any real proof of communication/trade between islands?

Like… what are these “pirates” even supposed to be pirating?

From what we actually see, pirates in One Piece are way closer to Vikings: they raid towns and islands rather than attack trade routes or merchant fleets. I know that it could be hard to justify because of the way Grand Line work, but it's not like Goda couldn't pull some bs that would make you able to track and locate ships. Now that I think about it he allready did something like this in Jaya.

Honestly, I find it pretty disappointing that we almost never get arcs focused on the maritime side of piracy. Maybe the Baratie arc counts a little, and the Shanks vs Kid encounter too, but that was basically an off-screen side event. Almost every major conflict happens once the crew reaches an island.

I think it creates two problems , from a worldbuilding perspective, it’s weird that islands barely seem to interact with each other despite things like Eternal Poses existing and it also limits the types of stories Oda can tell. One of my biggest issues with the series is how formulaic the arcs can feel after a while: Straw Hats arrive on island , local oppression, big fight, party, leave and naval-focused arcs could break the monotony . Some ideas off the top of my head : the Straw Hats escorting a merchant convoy, intercepting a Marine ship transporting something important (poneglyph / prisoner)

Anyway, just wanted to rant a bit about how underused the sea itself is for a manga about pirate

So I kept working on coloring Mike Mignola’s work to improve my skills, and here are the results.

(As you can see, I just discovered how to use custom brushes in Krita and got a bit excited lol.)

So I kept working on coloring Mike Mignola’s work to improve my skills, and here are the results.

(As you can see, I just discovered how to use custom brushes in Krita and got a bit excited lol.)