Page Commentary No. 218

Gunwild: SOON: we finally explain that damn sword. Still to remain unexplained: where I can get a fun holographic pointer like Theira's.

Psu: Can I settle for getting a cool friend like Theira who watches out for weird protrusions on your body?

Gunwild: Identifying your body's protrusions should between you and your doctor! Theira doesn't know how a LOT of things work.

Psu: Let alone the rules of tact about pointing at things on your friend's face. So like... the pointer thing. That was just me realizing I really wanted an arrow in panel 2. But like... okay how do I justify a floating arrow? And then I realized... wait we're a comic where a holographic cat can catch holographic magazines. Why wouldn't you have fancy holo pointers to help you make a point.

Gunwild: Yeah, although it would also be like Theira to be wearing AR glasses to help do technical stuff, then forget not everybody else can see what she sees through them. Augmented Reality is the future of looking at stuff, ya know!

Psu: What if everything we're seeing on Cassiopeia Quinn is an augmented reality? That way we can explain why this unremarkable steel and carbon blade is all coppery gold colored...

Gunwild: Nah, AR is never that cool, it's always just hyperlinking reality so that you can buy stuff. For instance, earlier I took a picture of a PlayStation 5 box. Completely unasked for, my phone highlighted that object when I pointed the camera at it and gave me the option to search it (and review prices).

Psu: Oh sometimes I use that tech to check if there's a cheaper price of something I see at a store. But I also used it once to figure out what kind of fruit this weird tiny red colored banana was. (It was a red banana.) Anyway, it really was a while since we setup that whole sword plot. So I was glad someone was looking into it. Though at the time I think we both had a more important story to talk about. Like whether or not the slow progress of time has any meaning in the Cassiopeia Quinn universe and if our younger characters grow up at all.

Gunwild: I dunno. As long as we don't tread water as aggressively as certain TV shows that have lasted more than 30 years, I think we'll be okay... also I like that we got to show Farring doing science officer stuff.

Psu: We really don't get to do enough actual science in this comic! We're supposed to have space and stuff and... oh wait that reminds me. The readers don't really get to see your scripts often, and that's too bad because I think they're quite nice. But sometimes there's a really nice treat in there. On this page in particular, you described how the first panel was like a close up of an alien planet with a single spire jutting out of a smooth landmass.

Gunwild: Oh right, I did do that. You usually have clever thoughts like that, but that one was me.

Psu: Well, one I knew I probably couldn't get away with angling Kettering's face horizontally so it would look like a proper horizon. But I did get to make the background all soft and out of focus bokeh. That makes objects closer to you look kinda bigger! No wait... actually that's used to make things look smaller... I might've made a slight miscalculation there...

Gunwild: I've worked with you for a long time and I still don't know what "bokeh" means.