Page Commentary No. 289

Gunwild: This kid seems judgey. That's not very good party etiquette.

Psu: To be sure, it's a fair question! You can't always trust what you read in the holo reports about someone. But uh... yeah maybe save it for after people get some more drinks in them. It might loosen some lips. Or uh... get you into a fight much faster.

Gunwild: Apparently this is the kind of party with swordfights so maybe that's understood to be part of the festivities.

Psu: It is a gangster planet right? Maybe it's local tradition. Someone's gonna get into a fight, and it might as well be about honor. That's as bad a reason as any to get into a duel.

Gunwild: I feel like it should be obvious from our story that I disapprove of dueling. But I mean, parties are for the attendees... oh hey Cally looks downright irritated in panel 2. Definitely a "Dude, I brought you, be cool!" look.

Psu: I suppose if we had more time, Cally could've gone from "ahaha she's just kidding" to "dude be cool" to "I don't actually know her" but I think it was enough that she just had one disapproving look. I think, since no one there had a line of dialog, I needed to get across their different reactions with just a few subtle lines on their faces. We also needed to use some time for Cally to be a little embarrassed she's held a little to close to Carolina from the top panel.

Gunwild: Wonder if anybody noticed that. I shall have to read the comments later! The last panel is such a triumph, though. Wanna tell us about it?

Psu: Yeah, I screwed up Maddy's cape!

Gunwild: Oh right, the side the half cape is on changed. But maybe it shifted to swordfight mode.

Psu: It's on the wrong arm. I agonized for days on that after I realized the mistake. But the composition of the shot was too good and I couldn't figure out how to keep the composition without covering up too much of the camera facing arm. In the end, I decided not to change it, the page was also late at the time too. It took a lot to make this one as cool as it was. But it was way past time to get it out the door.

Gunwild: "Somebody holds up a sword in a scabbard and somebody else draws it" is a cool thing, isn't it?

Psu: And we SLICE THE MOON. Visually.

Gunwild: I think the last thing we saw it in together was that Star Trek episode where Worf avenges his mate... oh y'know what, I never noticed the moon was there. It's just been such a well-integrated part of the scene so far. It was prominently established and then my brain was just like "Yeah, that's how the scene is" and I didn't notice it specifically again. Clearly not how it works for you.

Psu: I also decided to lower the camera a little bit, and cheat on the positioning of Cassiopeia in that last panel. Maddy is higher than she should be, if they're both standing straight up on the same floor. There are a LOT of perspective cheats in the next two pages to get the angles that I wanted. Since you guys are patrons, I'm not too afraid to point them out. But being a webcomic action scene in a tight comic page, you do a lot to make sure the comic still reads well, everyone is positioned with enough space to get the words and emotions across, and ultimately the page should still look cool.

Gunwild: If you had personal shields would you leave them on all the time?

Psu: I dunno... seems like it's got a potentially heavy power drain. Like... I barely remember to power my smart watch and I only have to do that twice a week. That said, if I were at a party on a gangster planet... hey before we leave, we should talk about that personal shield thing right? I think this is the first time in the comic we ever actually call out the device.

Gunwild: Yeah, early on their shields seem to interact in the very first story, but they don't come up a lot. Wonder if the Regency ever thought about maybe leaving those on during duels... or is that just not serious and stupid enough for them? Might be its own story.

Psu: Well, I think when someone really wants to make a point they make sure it gets through. Oh we also have that line where Feti gets a little extra intense in her competitive dueling too. If honor were involved well, we already know what her record on that is as. But just maybe discussing the "science" of the personal shields, I think that's something we don't really want to get into! I just think of it as an excuse so that I'm not drawing everyone in the same tactical space armor all the time. Why wear bulky samey ugly armor, when you can wear a little band that offers you better protection in most circumstances?

Gunwild: I mean if a Dune movie can skip expositing about the Holtzman Effect and still include personal shields, glowglobes, and suspensors... our webcomic can probably just throw shields in without explanation. Right?

Psu: Suspension of disbelief is important. Especially when you need to gloss over the fact that one's cape can magically change arms.

Gunwild: High-tech suspensors for your disbelief... that's what we need.