Double Cross Scene Compilation - CH1 Pgs 1-7 (Patreon)

Howdy, everyone!

I hope you had some happy holidays, and are off to a great start of the New Year!

Your support has made a huge difference over the last year, so I'm always on the lookout for new benefits I can provide y'all as my Patrons. And just before Christmas, one of your fellow readers, camelotcrusade, reached out to me, and suggested something that another creator does that you might like: scene compilations!

Apparently, whenever the creator of 'Demon of the Underground' completes a scene of their webcomic, they compile all the pages into a single post for their Patrons.. This allows their readers to enjoy the scene as one continuous stream without needing to click anything.

I could see why readers might like that, so I've decided to give it a try. I figure I could post up a new scene every week or two, along with a few of my thoughts on what I was thinking when I created the scene. And then you could let me know if it's something you like or not.

I think it makes the most sense to start with our current arc, Double Cross, but if this turns out to be something you really enjoy, then once we are caught up with DC, I could certainly swing back, and do the same thing for Engaging the Enemy and Spooky Jones: Past Sins. Maybe even the 18+ arc Legendary!

So! Let's get started at the very beginning!

Below is the first scene of Chapter 1 of Double Cross, which starts with security guard, Kanya, under the watchful eyes of two mobsters:

And that's the first scene of Double Cross!

Looking back, here are some of the things that I was thinking about when I first conceived this scene:

I always like to start with action

It's an old writing rule for commercial fiction, but it's a classic for a reason: start with some conflict!

Readers nowadays have a million different things they could read. So, it's always a good plan to start with something exciting to earn their trust, something to let them know that this story is worthy of their interest, and here, I tried to do that both with direct action (our heroes kicking mobster butt) and also "microtension" (Spooky making it clear to Kanya that she has left the frying pan for the fire.) Even the tension between the mobsters on the first page about the window being open counts towards that, in my opinion.

Doing this right from page 1 was especially important because I knew that eventually I would need to catch readers up on the hundreds of comics pages that preceded Double Cross, but I chose to save all that exposition for Scene 2. (Delaying it until after a little action—coupled with the mystery of this magical shard—has [hopefully!] already piqued a new reader's curiosity.)

I wanted to bring Kanya back

Kanya Jey, the security guard from the "Flyboy Bonus Comic," was originally meant to be a one-off character. I knew we'd see Cory again—introducing him was part of the reason I came up with that story in the first place—but Kanya just kind of showed up when I was coming up with the outline as someone for Flyboy to talk to (and someone else for him to rescue.)

But the moment I started to write her dialogue, I knew this wasn't the last time we'd see Kanya. There are some characters you write who are so much fun that you look for reasons to bring them back. And so from my earliest thoughts of what I wanted the next full TYP story arc to be—which was something like a "superhero noir" story—I knew she'd be part of it.

I wanted to clearly establish the dynamic between Adult Spooky and Flyboy

Because I knew that Flyboy was going to meet Spooky's younger self, I wanted to show what the status quo was before shaking it up. Here Adult Spooky is very much in a mentor role and, as the youngest member of The Young Protectors, Flyboy very much looks up to him. Obviously, their relationship changes quite a bit when Flyboy meets a Spooky even younger than he is!

I wanted to show a darker side of Adult Spooky

In the TYP world, present-day Spooky Jones has two jobs. The one he enjoys the most is being on his friend Amanda's superhero team. And part of the reason he likes it so much is that it allows him to relax into his fun-loving side. Because of government restrictions, The Young Protectors team is a supervised, junior search-and-rescue operation, and the adventures they are allowed to go on have stakes, but don't get too heavy. (At least not until The Platinum Priestess and The Annihilator decide to get Kyle involved into one of their schemes!)

For Spooky, being with The Young Protectors team feels like getting to hang out with family he loves. It's a vacation from his day job of saving children from magical threats. From saving the world from magical threats. From facing the worst that humanity and hell have to offer. Day after day after day. All on his own.

And that day job can get pretty dark. So, Spooky in this role can also get pretty dark. We get a hint of that here in the way he talks to and threatens Kanya, which is different than how we usually hear Spooky talk. My goal was here to set up the contrast between this present-day Spooky in his "supernatural investigator" role and 15-year-old Spooky in that same role. To show how the years and losses have changed him.

Does that mean that Teen Spooky is right that Adult Spooky has crossed some moral event horizon? Maybe, maybe not. But it's not who he wanted to be when he first put on the trench coat, and it's not something he wants for Flyboy, either.

So what do you think?

Phew! Obviously, I got deep into the weeds with my explanation—and it took me a little while to get that all down—but y'all are the true fans of  The Young Protectors, so if anyone is going to be interested, I think it'll be you. :)

But I don't know! Do you like this scene compilation idea? How about me sharing what I was thinking when I came up with these pages?

Should I keep doing this?

Let me know in the comments. If there is enough interest, I'll do the next scene. :)

Thank you again for your support and enthusiasm for my work. I wish you all much happiness, love, and success in 2024!

Want to read the next one? Click here!