Comic Report #75 - We Meet Again (Patreon)

Hello again!  Today's work report is all about the next comic page.  I regrettably haven't been able to get minis done this week, but I do have a fun reason for this!  In addition to my other duties on comics, minis and games for Dead Winter, in 2020 I'd started working with Kitsune Games doing pixel art for some upcoming titles.  I ended up becoming the lead pixel artist of the studio's flagship title, Kitsune Tails, which you can look at here: https://kitsunegames.com/kitsunetails/ This week I had to focus on some pixel art for this project which overlapped with my minicomic time, so I had to just take the L and post a big comic only today.

Okay so!  I've got the Lizzie & Monday chat scene wrapped up and I'm about ready to move to the next major arc, but I have some housekeeping to do before I can move on.  In the top half of the page we have a bit of introspection, both about getting a solid lead from Monday, as well as the other revelations Monday helped push Lizzie towards.  She's someone who has basically been with the same partner since highschool, so she's swimming in a headspace she hadn't really been in for a long time.  I wanted to draw her going about her duties, chatting with Melody and Dr. Parker a bit and essentially drifting on a cloud, until she bumps into a figure in panel four.

This page features a few reintroduced faces- I'd done this before with the Gravekeepers riding in on the Omni-Mart truck and I did have to answer a couple "who are they?" questions, so I'm hoping at least half of this part will go smoother.  Doris is Lizzie's old coworker, she basically taught Lizzie everything she knows.  She pops in on page 512 and makes an appearance on page 541.  Doris was also specifically the no-show on page 18 who got Lizzie called in to work on Zombie Day.  She's basically a master at worming her way out of work and making Lizzie cover her hours, and she's very proud about that.  So her popping up when it's Lizzie's shift, raising questions like "why are you actually here, working?"  That answer involves the other reintroduced face.

A very, very very long time ago at the beginning of the comic Monday rescued a young lady and reunited her with her family before disappearing into the sunset, sort of establishing early that he's a cold person but not a heartless one.  That girl is Sally, whose #12 shirt has popped up a few times in the background shots of the restaurant.  The old idea from way back when was that Sally's family was originally packing up to drive to the place that would become Tombstone, so when the story finally landed here they would show up in town and remember Monday's heroism.  It turns out the reason Doris is actually showing up to work is to train a new hire, to help distribute some of the waitressing workload, and that new hire is, well, you can probably pick that up from here.  The page after this one will probably be the last one set in the diner for a bit, but before the scene moves on Lizzie is going to be established as being at her job training a new person, because you can be sure now that she's clocked in Doris isn't going to stick around.  I'd imagine that interaction as being gentler, like the same kind of inviting warmth Lizzie experienced meeting the Leung family in contrast to when she was working for Frank; she has an opportunity to teach a young, green new waitress in a friendlier way than she herself learned from Doris.  I want one of the overarching themes of Tombstone to be that sort of warm camaraderie and a portrayal of healthy working environments opposite the sort of place portrayed at the very start of the comic, and this is one of the ways I want to present that.

This is my big share for today.  I should have the usual post-sketch progress report next Friday, and I will try to get more minis drawn pending my gamedev workload. Thank you for your kind patience, I've been juggling a lot of chainsaws over the past year and I honestly wouldn't be able to keep them all up in the air without your kind support and patronage.  Until next week, take care and be well out there.