Page Commentary No. 196

Gunwild: Have I mentioned that it weirds me out that despite my TERRIBLE ear for Australian dialogue, Sydney usually remains in the top three cities for Cassiopeia Quinn readership?

Psu: Really? What are the other two?

Gunwild: Seattle and New York and London shift in and out of the top places.

Psu: I know people in Seattle! At least two of them have read the comic.

Gunwild: See? It's Cassiopeia country.

Psu: Anyway, you’re always a big proponent of Kasmi and Vernon. I admit I wouldn’t know what to do with them, except maybe here where it helps us flow through the action. It’s a bit of a crutch in comics and cartoons, to have a narrating character giving you the blow by blow, but we really wanted to get a lot done in these early pages.

Gunwild: It's "Kamsi" but I mean yeah, like... The Simpsons gets a lot done with Kent Brockman, bringing him in to comment on everything from local trials to soccer matches, and he adds a pleasant sense of continuity. So as I've said before, as you build a cast, it's like putting tools in your belt.

Psu: I was thinking Dragon Ball and other Shonen Manga too. Those characters yelling in the background serve a purpose, especially in an action heavy comic! We can’t all be paid by the page and fill our entire story with dialog-less single blows per panel. Anyway, looking at this page, we really do a LOT of work with each panel. We basically setup who got Maddy to go into a show like this. We got some fun looking aliens that’s a reference to some Tonkatsu ninja that I didn’t know about. And we get to just tell the reader, don’t expect Cassiopeia in this chapter!

Gunwild: Uh, his armor is referencing TOKUSATSU character from the Sentai series - you might have seen him rendered into his Power Rangers version as the "Magna Defender". I think you will remember what "tonkatsu" means if you think about it.

Psu: Pork cutlets?

Gunwild: Mmm, pork cutlets...

Psu: Delicious. Hey we still have more to talk about! On the visual side of things, I needed to reinforce the visual language that we’ll be using here. All the sword swipes will have these hyper exaggerated swooshes. Which... I admit I figured it’s just a comic thing for our readers. But why don’t we say that on this tournament stage, the blades have these holographic vooshes for the benefit of the audience?

Gunwild: And you secretly want tomato-flavored popcorn to exist?

Psu: We also had to say that Zeke is just feeding that kernel to Cassiopeia. If only to avoid having to explain whether or not Zeke’s face opens with a “real mouth.” Hey, more dumb details. Secret Service Doggo is one of my favorite side characters. And I like knowing that he’s still carrying the nuclear football for the Doggo President.

Gunwild: It's a nuclear tennis ball, for them.