Page Commentary No. 281

Gunwild: This one advertised the comic well on social media, for some reason! I'm not sure how much I can add to such an art-focused page of the comic by commenting on it, but the thing where what look like eye patch strings are the seams of a cyber-face? That's pretty freakin' cool.

Psu: Also the sexy cyber legs like stockings. I happen to be proud of that one. This is fun though. It continued our tradition of introducing side characters with a big ol' SMUG cover page!

Gunwild: Uhh, do I have anything cool to say... oh! In German, the "club" card symbol on her arm (because she's a club-owning magnate) is called a "kreuz."

Psu: Maybe we should talk about her business secrets, or what we had in mind for her background and stuff. Let's see... we basically knew we were going to throw a party for Maddy. I don't fully remember how we came up with that plan. But then we needed to figure out a couple of things... like how do we get Maddy to attend?

Gunwild: Well, somebody's gotta own the place where one is being feted! Fun for it to be somebody interesting.

Psu: Yeah. I think we basically had a lot of free reign here. And being the Cassiopeia Quinn universe, where criminals can be as colorful as they are charming and friendly, why not make her a sexy cyborg. I am fond of drawing sexy cyborgs. Why not another one?

Gunwild: I don't know if she'd win in a fight with Dr. Botz!

Psu: Oh man... maybe we should write that chapter. I mean... there would be no point but I get to draw two sexy cyborg ladies fighting each other? Isn't that what every artist dreams about drawing?

Gunwild: I mean, not like, Caravaggio or Turner or Mondrian. But I bet they would have if they'd thought of it.

Psu: Mhmm... Carvaggio might've been into some fun stuff. Mondrian seems like he could've been down with cyborg action. Anyway. I guess I should talk about Kreuz design. So Gunwild basically gave me a lot of leeway when it came to this but I think it's important to bring up Kreuz's actual first appearance which was in a pinup years ago for our Bounty Hunter Mercy. You remember, the one where she somehow ended up in her underpants, defeating a cyborg with cool blade whip arms?

Gunwild: Bounty hunting is not a job that's easy on the wardrobe.

Psu: I think we all learned that from The Mandalorian.

Psu: So anyway, back when I was doing that pinup I basically figured on drawing a generic bad guy. Think of it like an enemy in something like Batman Beyond where they have a really neat cybernetic enhancement and there's a whole action scene about getting past this one thing that they're good at and then they go down. And I was like... hell yeah sick cyborg arms with blade whips. And then I'm also like... well this is still a pinup so why not make the enemy also sexy? And then another step further I was thinking... why don't I draw her like this OC I have on my own drawing sites. Close fans of my work might recognize "Rosemary" in Kreuz design. So I guess it was self indulgent in multiple ways. Gunwild didn't seem to object to the idea, I think. And well... after the pinup we shelved the character. Fast forward a couple years, we're looking for someone to be a cool crime boss that would add a bit of spice to the chapter and here we go.

Gunwild: Thanks, Casting Department Psu!

Psu: Now we should bring her back so we can have her cool daughter and we add yet another cute girl to our extended cast.