Page Commentary No. 50

Gunwild: Now, in the Mass Effect series of video games, they mention that they use prototype oscillating shields to help knock aside projectiles and debris and stuff, but it's only in a document hidden in some side room. And I was like "Maybe it would help to just speed your regular-shielded ship...?"

Gunwild: So it's actually a pretty solid sci-fi concept about deflecting things using energy shields rather than just absorbing them... but as with everything our route to it involves someone doing something silly, like a wacky dance pose.

Psu: I just remembered I made all the stars out the side of panel 4 trail with light cause the ship should still be spinning. This was one of those bits while drawing the comic that I felt we were doing something crazy and unique.

Gunwild: Not every webcomic can say they're getting to do stuff nobody else is doing.

Psu: The colors on this page are about as extreme as the comic ever gets. We haven't had the occasion to contrast explosions with blue light trails in a while. But I do like that we've gone through many different palettes. With this particular story, I can't recall if I planned it out ahead but knowing the general beats of the story helped me think about where I wanted the most extreme colors and where I wanted the calmer colors. Even deciding what color the hallway lights were on the Vanaa ship got to tell a lot about those scenes.

Gunwild: Well, "Red Alert!" sure isn't there for the crew's benefit on most TV shows. You'd have to assume the switch to red lights would be less than helpful. But it's a good visual shorthand for "crisis is going on" so I'm glad we bathed everything in red light for Kitty taking the ship over and then kept the "red glow means tension" thing going with the planet on fire and the ship mouth and such.

Psu: I learned a lot about making command rooms really scary and dark looking from director Tony Scott. It sounds silly but it really helps human figures stand out clearly and gives scenes inside command rooms a bit more theatricality. But speaking of theatricality, I know we said it was a coincidence that human skulls are shaped like Vanaa space ships but how do we explain away the docking bay exactly where the mouth should be?

Gunwild: Practicality. It's the biggest place to fit a hinged opening in the shape, the "eyes" are always open!

Psu: Oh shoot! I almost forgot... Look carefully inside the "mouth" and you should see the little docking control room with the little Vanaa. I should've drawn them waving at the viewer again. Though I guess it'd be more like, shaking your gloob triumphantly as you're about to apprehend a pirate.

Gunwild: It could be both. I mean he knows he's in a comic, so he's like "Hello! Self hopes you are enjoying the action sequence!"

Psu: Okay, not a great note to end it on but I'd like to talk about how happy I am with the way your eye is guided across this page. It's a really complicated one but I like that it mostly maintains a proper zig zag with the exception of a beam being deflected off into space.

Gunwild: There's a lot of talk in webcomics circles about when certain popular comics (who will go unnamed) don't guide the eye properly so you don't know which panel to read or whatever. I'd like to think that we (or rather, you) have very good discipline about that.

Psu: Oh I've messed up here and there. But I'm just happy it worked okay on the page where a big space ship eats a little space ship. While someone is break dancing.