Literally JUST in time for Christmas, I’m pleased to present the very first interactive Badnix story – a visual novel that you can play for free in your browser. It’s a little number I like to call the Super Adventure Badnix Christmas Special!! (No, I didn’t invest a ton of thought into the name. Is it that obvious?)

It’s basically an illustrated choose-your-own adventure book, controlled entirely via the mouse. (Sorry, no touch screen support! Couldn’t quite fit in.) The game’s pretty short, but don’t worry if you can’t finish it in one sitting – the game auto-saves pretty regularly.

If you’re wondering why there’s been no word of this before now – or why this is launching so late into the holiday season – it’s because I was REALLY not sure whether I’d manage to finish it before the 25th. It really came down to the wire! (In related news, I also didn’t get to bug test it quite as extensively as I’d like – let me know if you run into any issues!)

Anyway, I hope everybody enjoys it! And if you do – please tell me about it!! I’d love to do more cross-media stuff like this for Badnix in the future.

Readers with exceptional memories might recall that way way back in the first Dino World storyline, Hud was indeed seen holding a Chaos Star. How and why did Hud pick it up? What’s all that gibberish about “loops” and “avatars”? We just don’t know!

Come to think of it, there’s a lot we don’t know about Hud. What is he? What does he want? The few moments of candor we’ve gotten from him over the years raised more questions than answers. But one gets the feeling those answers are going to show up sooner than later… (you didn’t hear that from me!)

Sluri’s “mana injury” is a plot point that’s kind of floated in the background over the past year or two. As was mentioned not too long ago, when Kevin destroyed Fantasy World, she overtaxed her magical abilities trying to rescue its inhabitants and wound up suffering a type of magical injury Ted calls mana burn. (I stole the name from Magic: The Gathering! Look it up some time.)

At the time it seemed like Sluri would never be able to use magic again – but flash forward a bit, and we see her back in the fray, using magic without issue… until the time she used too much magic, and started falling apart at the seams again. So that’s a thing that can happen! And (as per today’s comic) it’s only going to get worse. So, putting all of that together, Rog’s reasons for sidelining Sluri might become a little clearer.

I hope nobody encounters this stuff and thinks they’re expected to be remembering “rules” to the comic’s “magic system” or anything – that’s not the point. It’s more of a metaphor for any element of your body that might rebel against you. Everything in Badnix is a metaphor! Or a pun. Or an obtuse video game reference. Sometimes all 3 simultaneously.

Anyway, the important takeaway here is that Darrk’s real name was “Derek” all along. HA! What a maroon! (I really hope nobody named Derek reads this comic)

The comic has returned! And, as promised, we’re kicking off the new storyline by introducing the 16th (and final!) region of the Badnixverse – NINJA WORLD!

Ninja World draws a lot of inspiration from Japanese art and mythology (as content from old games so often did). The creatures the Badnix encounter here are largely actual monsters from Japanese folklore; for example the umbrella demon Kasa-obake, or the ghostly lantern Chōchin-obake. And there are plenty more where they came from!

I don’t doubt we’ll be seeing a lot of this place going forward. Stay tuned!