Page Commentary No. 58

Gunwild: Hey fellow American Psu, you know where the most people of Irish descent live in the entire world?

Psu: Uh... is that America?

Gunwild: USA! USA! USA! Anyway yeah, the name Cassiopeia Quinn was chosen for the fun sound of it, but I did eventually notice it's an Irish name, so we had to do something for St. Paddy's, and we do have a bit of a joke lined up for the future based on it. But mostly this gets to be the page where Cassiopeia is testing her speeder out for the first time I guess.

Psu: I think I recall the thought process to doing this. I needed something of a break after the marathon sessions with the previous chapter. Plus it was a holiday that day, and we have a hard time ignoring our holidays without a special comic strip. We did interrupt our epilogue but I think the image was well received. It's very adventure-y! I rather like the composition of it. The visuals would be a bit of a precursor to our next chapter set in a gambling planet and yeah, I totally forgot that this was an early version of her red speeder bike. Even though it's off panel you can see some of the same motifs that appear in the later comic.

Gunwild: Well we also showed her customizing it more later on, so I feel like saying it's the same speeder.

Psu: We also see those hoverboots make a return in a later strip. I like to think we're pretty good about making returns of things.

Gunwild: We've learned so much from Hollywood - why have new ideas when we can rehash old ones?!

Psu: I think I just realized, she doesn't have her signature collar in this panel! (Yes she actually has a normal neck and just wears a collar thing.) That's pretty unsafe of her. Though you could say this whole adventure is pretty unsafe. I'm not sure if we've talked about it on these behind the scenes commentaries but the collar thing isn't just for looks. Though I do like how it looks. It's meant to be a sort of all purpose life saving device worn on a spot that you're unlikely to lose it. It generates a personal shield in dangerous situations like jumping through plate glass windows onto your speeder bike.

Gunwild: It's a holiday, ya gotta cut loose! By the way, before anyone asks: yes, the clover does resemble the 4chan logo (based on the name of Yotsuba Koiwai from the adorable manga Yotsuba). Psu and I actually met on the comics discussion board there, back before it became a really unpleasant place to hang out.

Psu: One would argue it was unpleasant then! Just... our sort of unpleasant. But I got to learn about Green Lanterns and the Spider-Mans and all the comics I wasn't reading myself at the time. And then I got to learn about the Avatars and all the good shows. It wasn't so bad a spot to hang out if you had an interest in nerd things.

Gunwild: There's possibly a sociological theory that explains about how internet communities become more hostile as their user base grows, but I'd rather not overthink it. Point is, it's just a lucky clover. Actually, possibly we should have used a three-leaf clover, the symbol of St. Patrick... maybe next time!