Page Commentary No. 55 (Patreon)

Psu: Good colors, I really liked the overall calmness of this page.

Gunwild:I think it's probably the coolest reveal I'll manage in this series... luckily I planned out this lil' twist before we did page one of it. I always like when people use their treacherous sneaky machination powers for good.

Psu: Yeah, I remember we talked a lot about how it was Ison who could actually percieve this and not Madison. Madison is a good and honorable captain type person, and she can lead anyone. But she has... some very noticeable blind spots. By the way, I don't think anyone really noticed this when I came up with it but Gleb is lowering the dashboard to Vanaa height in the first panel. Their ship really came prepared with loads of different amenities 

Gunwild: I love that little detail. It can be hard to read those kinda details because the comic on the site has to be 800px wide... speaking of, I don't think we've talked much about that. Anything to add about it?

Psu: About like, being 800 px wide? I think a better comic artist would account for that kind of size difference and data loss and then draw the page details accordingly. But for myself, I tend to like hiding these little things. I know only people seeing the high res pages can ever appreciate that but it's more fun for me. And they don't get away of the story telling at the top. Not unlike the PlungerVanaa in the top left. In retrospect that one should've have had a cleansuit like the Vanaa working for Krad in the recent page. Anyway man, I can't recall when we came up with Gleb being a sort of benevolent mastermind but maybe it's the kind of move that runs in his family.

Gunwild:I like writing Gleb and King kind of like this... that's always a challenge for the writer, though. Having to write people who are cleverer than you is hard. I mean, I don't think of myself as a manipulative person, or even a particularly smart person. But I do think that in a lot of cases, making plans for things will help them come out the best they can. So, Gleb's a planner, and that's why he's always a step or two (or a few pages) ahead of everyone.

Psu: Yeah and so much of that comes through here. I think in the rest of the chapter he definitely appeared simple or cute or even bumbling. It's a good thing for him that he was on a rather noble mission himself. I think readers really love reading characters like that. Ozymandias, The Riddler, Light Yagami. Ridiculous over the top perfect plans with plan bs and plan cs. It's just fun reading. Maybe not so fun for Ison here.

Gunwild: Like you said, she can catch this because she's a planner, too - an operations officer. She probably even sets Maddy's schedule for her! Maybe someday she'll show she can do her own strategies...

Psu: Man... I just love the colors on this page. The sun reflecting off the "window" in panel 4 is one of my favorite effects in this entire comic. And I think... had I colored it slightly differently I could have turned this from a moment where she's feeling resigned to the deception to something much more hostile and conflicted. I wanted this page to feel like you were breathing out, and I think that glow does some of that.

Gunwild: I've got a cold, so I'm breathing out green stuff like the Vanaa ships are drooling out on the planet...