Page Commentary No. 169 (Patreon)

Gunwild: I really liked figuring out how to write "huge tongue sticking out of mouth" dialogue.
Psu: It's a true challenge for any author! Figuring out how to draw this page was a challenge but I think it came across well enough. I particularly do like the lineart on the tongue as it feels like its striking out. By having it break the panel border, it makes it feel like it's coming out at the reader. Which I hope was a gross surprise for the reader!
Gunwild: But it's got component seam lines on it so we still know it's machiney!
Psu: Would you say that Botz was a favorite character of ours? I know the readers didn't get to know her outside of that one story we did a few chapters ago. But Botz was one of the original antagonists when we were coming up with the series!
Gunwild: Indeed, the very first script I ever tried writing for Cassiopeia Quinn was about her trying to wake up and harness the power of an ancient space-squid type thing... but also, we're in an age where mass media is obsessed with having nuanced, relatable villains. It's nice to have one who's just evil and loves it.
Psu: Heh. I would say she's STILL that way in our comic. Even though it's a sort of cute funny evil. Anyway, there's quite a few things to say about the art on this page. The net in panel 1 was a pain in the butt to draw. I wish I pointed Theira's lightning gun a little lower but I like that it might imply the drone is falling over. It was KINDA tempting to make a tongue wrapping around one of our favorite ladies to be a little more tittilating, but we're not that sorta comic.
Psu: But I think my favorite thing on this page is how it operates on multiple scales. And how the eye moves across the bottom two panels is especially good. If it works, your eye should move from dialog to maddy to Botz. And Botz splits panel 4 into two discreet panels, framing the Doggo with Botz' right hand. And that leads right into the closeup giving us Doggo doing his best superhero landing given the circumstances. Oh hey, did we decide on a name for hero Doggo?
Gunwild: No, he still just appears in the tags as "Hero Doggo!" But it's a name he well earns, doing this Shadow of the Colossus dealie and all.
Psu: He appears a bunch! Maybe we should come up with some backstory!
Gunwild: Uhh... the backstory is, he's a good boy.
Psu: But he's got the black jacket and earrings of a regular bad boy!
Gunwild: That's called style, and it is the greatest good of all.