Page Commentary No. 109 (Patreon)

Psu: This page is full of tiny little details that I really enjoy and constantly forget to do again.

Gunwild: The holo-magazines are another good idea you mostly came up with, I'm pretty sure I had pictured this scene playing out with a boring "dataslate." But you liked the body language of her playing with a physical magazine, so we agreed that this worked. It's kind of unreasonable to imagine tactile magazines being delivered in the vastness of space any other way, so I like it a lot.

Psu: I did enjoy little things like the computer recognizing a “Crumpled” stat which would actually add to the feel of it. “Holocatch” would also be something, as a way of handing it off to someone across the room. These are things that are much easier to do with a magazine! No one wants to hand over their actual tablet or phone. Those things have private stuff in them! Is this the first time we actually refer to SMUG in universe?

Gunwild: Yeah. It's not something we've ever been able to dedicate a whole page to, because we keep doing long and involved story arcs, but they're on Cassiopeia's "Enemies List" (actually just people who she frowns while thinking about) because despite her being an acknowledged mover and shaker in the roguish, daring smuggler community, she has never been on the cover.

Psu: I kinda wonder why she’s never been on the cover. I’ll blame internal politics. I think she’s entertained by declaring people her enemy. But even if she does, it’s usually not serious. She doesn’t seem to think about very serious enemies. She never talks about the people who would PROBABLY want to catch her, whether they’re law enforcement or other criminals. Maybe we should comment on what exactly Kitty means over there? This plays into a major plot point later!

Gunwild: Yeah, I initially wrote down that line for kitty entirely as foreshadowing, since our backstory for him is that as a self-aware program he's... surprisingly old. The story of Min and Penny and him meeting was the premise for an entire separate long comic we wanted to do (and still have the prep work for squirreled away). What we realized then was also that Minx's blue kitty-cat helmet also kind of resembled him, so it also featured the apparent random cuteness of him just liking to see another cat... adequate camouflage for what he really meant.

Psu: Also I do just like the later line we use when they’re re-united. None of our readers made an especially big stink about “how do they know each other!?” Well it’s a story for another time, and we hope to make it too. Before I head off, there’s still a couple details I’m happy with here. I think this is actually the first time we see a ship going FTL in the entire comic. So I added a subtle shift in tones from the front facing stars to the ones going past their side. I don’t know what it would ACTUALLY look like if you could possibly go faster than light but I thought a subtle way to represent that would be with the color change. And one more fun detail, I’m not sure if any of our readers actually commented on it if they spotted it. Remember the one?

Gunwild: They did. The robe has an "MV" monogram, because it seems to be one of the things Cassiopeia kept from that ship she stole at the beginning of the comic. It's actually probably a little short on her compared to Maddy, but we all know Cassiopeia prefers to leave her legs uncovered!

Psu: It’s basic survival.