Page Commentary No. 75

PSU: Surprise!

GUNWILD: I sure like Gleb's "self-satisfied cheerfulness" expression. I give him a lot of reasons to use it.

PSU: There are some really subtle changes that a Vanaa would notice right away. The way the shell Gleb is wearing has right angles in the conch curls, and how it’s a triangle instead of a square inside the circle. I admit right now, I don’t know the detailed significance of those features. But if this were a Star Wars style hit I’m sure someday someone could come up with a backstory for Gleb’s noble Ancestor.

GUNWILD: I like how he's spotlighted too, like, "ta-da, it's the prince!" But of course that spotlight was on the exhibit, too.

PSU: This is absolutely one of those pages I wish was in color but I recall being very pressed for time and stressing out and... yeah that sounds familiar. Still it’s a sequence I’m happy with and introduces a lot of concepts about the Vanaa while introducing a character who’d be one of our favorites once she just started staying grumpy. But... I suppose we should talk about the teleportation thing?

GUNWILD: Have we before? But yeah, it's less of a fun point-to-point teleporter than just a "recall" function that pulls stuff back to Mercy's ship. Useful for her main job, kidnapping folks.

PSU: I totally understand the issues about having a sort of Nightcrawler-esque teleporter. It breaks a lot of security! So on the one hand it makes a lot of plots seem a little overly complicated if some character shows teleportation is possible. So we need to apply rules to it without slowing down the story AND stopping it from breaking every story we have. At the same time... I’m willing to admit that Cassiopeia is a universe with very loose rules.

GUNWILD: I don't think the stasis boxes necessarily ruin people who get stuck in them, even if they're more intended for food and such. But Mercy probably takes a lot of pride in her work... even though we've seen her mess up more than once.

PSU: She really needs to notch a few more wins under her belt. But she’s up against a lot of pretty potent protagonists...

GUNWILD: Well she did the "get Dr. Botz" job just fine.

PSU: And Botz would be a angsty anarchic antagonist?

GUNWILD: And a goof.

PSU: She’s also pretty. There are a lot of pretty ladies in this comic.