Early Access-"nice to need you" Pt13 (Patreon)

We nearly made it. The first chapter is nearing its conclusion. wohoo.

I was not comfy writing or drawing this part of it. I know people want conflict because it drives story and yada yada but...generally I like it when my characters are nice to each other. Granted, a lot of the humor between Jack and Wally is of Jack not necessarily being nice. But when he's getting angry against Walter it's usually triggered by Walter either being stupid or actively agitating Jack.

however...that's not the case here. Walter is genuinely trying to be a good pal and in return...gets verbally abused...which is the reason I feel so uncomfortable about this scene.

It's like watching Jack actively being a jerk. yet I love him so dearly that this behavior makes me cringe to the core. But...it's kinda needed. This fight reveals a lot about the two characters. Some parts might not be clear yet, but they will be sooner or later (well, I hope).

In Jack's defense, we are all familiar with the five stages of grief. It's not like I did this on purpose but the way I see jack in this chapter...all five stages are simultaneously active within him...if that's possible? XD 

But throughout the chapter we see the depression through him isolating himself and not eating, the denial by not coming clean to Walter about his mom (and SPOILER! this process happened way before Mechthild's passing.) the bargaining by taking Walter in as a way to regain a part of the past. And the anger...which was boiling within all this time and is simply surfacing as a tidal wave of wrath at this point. The acceptance part to me is merely a facade his rational self is putting up. After all, my boy is mature enough that he understands there's nothing to change and is forced to move on...but inside he's all upset and has no real outlet for anything.

I'm pretty sure I'm doing this wrong because...I didn't write Jack with the five stages of grief in mind. I merely wrote him the way how I saw him handling this situation. The five stages just feel into place and I though 'that's cool....anyway'. So I'm sure there's someone out there who probably is gonna scold me over this and...yeah, be my guest. I'm just a doofus with a pencil who likes cats. So, lol.  :P

In the original script the blanked out speech bubble in the last page actually had text. But if I learned anything from 'in SECURITY' then it is worth letting your audience dangle a bit. What did Jack shout at Walter? A curse? A plead? A Confession? Unintelligible gabbing? Only I know and I ain't telling ya...well, at least not yet 🥸

I do love the coloring of this part. I think it's nice how the overall color scheme shifts from the neutral kitchen into the reddish, more aggressive tone during Jack's melt down...just to come back out in a calm purple tone. I struggle a lot with these atmospheric color techniques...but the happier I am when things turn out exactly the way I envision them in my head :3

Well, thanks for reading, next week is the final part of 'nice to need you' and I hope I can deliver a final gut punch to your feelings...