Page Commentary No. 255

Brellom: Maddy is best girl.

Psu: Ah, a lot of Brellom colors here.

Brellom: Ah yeah it's really obvious on this page. Though Psu did the highlight on Maddy's legs, I think. That LOOKS like a Psu stroke.

Psu: Yeah, that is, if it's not me that drew that brush stroke on Maddy's leg then Brellom used my brush and got better at copying me than I expected. At some point we can just let brellom color everything and then I can sleep some more.

Brellom: Except backgrounds. I'm incredibly lazy with those...

Psu: And I'll still need to come in to work because I don't think anyone else can draw faces like those in the last panel. I have a literal two years of experience drawing that exact face for comics.

Gunwild: It's just the right face for this job. I do worry that maybe I should have said that the guns shot metal slugs but I have been known to overthink these things.

Psu: Metal Slug is a different franchise.

Brellom: I think it works. The fact that "slugs" is emphasized suggests that it's a big deal, and we've only ever seen them use energy-type weapons before. Although I AM genuinely critical of Peia calling Maddy by her nickname in a crisis moment.

Gunwild: It's how she thinks of her, Brellorino!

Bellom: Notice how she skipped Zeke's nickname? What's up with that?!

Gunwild: It's a pet name she uses AT him, not ABOUT him.

Psu: I think Cassiopeia is the type of person that has a head canon for her "friends" that doesn't always bear out in reality. And we pay that off in a moment later in this chapter.

Gunwild: True.

Brellom: Likely story.

Psu: This commentary is going off the rails. But not surprising since there's a LOT going on in this page. But I think we should maybe dig deeper into how we feel this scene goes. Like... there's a lot of different motivations colliding all at the same time. Maddy recognized Botz but only seems to understand that she looks dangerous and is dangerous to everyone in this scene. But Botz isn't missing a beat with her response.

Brellom: I want to take the time to bring attention to the fact that Dr. Botz is immediately cooperating within the first two panels.

Gunwild: More like THROW-operating.

Psu: Brell is like a lot of our fans, a Doctor Botz stan.

Gunwild: Yeah, well, she's the fun kind of evil. My favorite bit of the page is definitely Maddy not having time to be upset that someone confused her for a friend of Cassiopeia.

Psu: Penny calling her Cassiopeia's friend is a favorite bit of mine too. There's a bunch of clever things going on and now I just look at it and I wish I figured out panel 3 better.

Brellom: Yeah, it's easily the messiest part of this page. That said, I think every other panel reads incredibly well.

Psu: It had to do a couple of different things at the same time and I'm not sure how it reads. Or if it could even be improved. In a different time, it probably would've been better to split that into two panels or split this page into two pages. But the speed of everything adds to the humor and shows just how fast Maddy can adapt. Like she doesn't miss a beat with who is currently the more important thing to deal with right now. Unlike say... a Lupin the III Zenigata type character people mistook her for at first.

Gunwild: Well, she wasn't totally different from that... but it's not exactly the same wacky setting. It's its own wacky setting! But there are lasers to dodge and stuff so she has to be on her toes.

Brellom: I've never watched Lupin the III and am thus ignorant to the pop culture reference so I'm nodding my head at the camera. All the while thinking "Peia" is a way more natural sounding nickname than Cass is.

Psu: And even Zenigata works with Lupin when there's a REAL jerk on the scene. I'm gonna have to thank our friend, Rumrusher, for coining the nickname Peia. It's not used much in canon but it's what we use when talking about the story.

Gunwild: It was even on her wetsuit in a recent page!

Brellom: (Don't forget to eat & sleep.)