Page Commentary No. 254 (Patreon)

Brellom:  I didn't think it was possible, but somehow Dr. Botz has gotten 100% more sexy. I enjoyed this sequence of pages - my favourite part.

Gunwild: I normally don't like to have characters spouting monologues about what they're doing and their motives as they complete very involved actions. It's a bit too much like Magneto in an old X-Comic blocking bullets and overturning tanks and telling us about how awesome it makes him. But Dr. Botz is also a supervillain. She loves doing something like that.

Psu: I think we counter that by having the base commander just start shooting as soon as they realize who it is! It takes all kinds of villains to make an action scene! I'm with Brellom, this is one of my favorite parts in the comic and looking at it again I'm impressed by the imagination and the execution.

Gunwild: Yeah we enjoyed depicting the timeless battle of Evil vs. Worse Evil.

Psu: It was honestly the BEST argument against having Good Guy Doctor Botz, because BAD GUY Doctor Botz is utterly excellent. I think this is a call back to some ANCIENT concept art because originally when we were coming up with concepts for the comic she was always a spider themed villain.

Gunwild: Yeah, she had more legs in her first sketch than her first appearance!

Brellom: I wish I had more legs too...

Gunwild: Think about it. If you're a person who's got two legs, then you've technically got an above average number. Weirdie.

Psu: Wait... Oh ya know I suppose you're right... Let's move on before we bog this down with math.

Gunwild: Mean averages are probably a villainous science. That's why we call them mean.

Psu: Yes yes. Now evil spider appendages...

Gunwild: Dr. Botz in the next Spider-Verse movie! Make it happen!

Psu: I'd watch that. But yeah, so anyway like... not to toot our own horn too much but this is a really good badass moment. We HINT at Botz' body hiding a few surprises throughout the story. Like she has tiny little appendages that click and fiddle with things. But then she wants to go "I'll show you my full power for a limited time!" thing which is really good for dramatic moments.

Gunwild: His stache isn't really pencil-thin I don't think, but she is trying to hurt his feelings.

Psu: She's a gonna hurt more than his feelings. Anyway. Brell, wanna talk colors? I think I only came at this with the general direction that I wanted one end of the gangway to be blue from a hallway light and the other to be red because the outside is one fire.

Brellom: This direction is a big reason why I'm so fond of these upcoming pages, and I think it's still easily one of the most visually impressive set of pages of the series. Blue & orange are complementary colours (opposite sides of the colour wheel, folks), so they would naturally vibrate against one another and create a dramatic scene. I think this is also the set of pages where Psu and I have the most synergy out of all of the times we've worked together.

Psu: We got a lot of practice by this point. This chapter must've taken like four to six months at least.

Brellom: ... I think this is actually the last set of pages where I was so heavily involved in the production of the comic, so it feels like a big fancy finale in more ways than one! This is like when animators put 90% of the budget in the final episode.

Gunwild: One always hopes the audience sticks around to see that.

Psu: I think they'd at least stick around to see if the the base commander has huge guts.

Gunwild: :O

Psu: Oh that reminds me... we probably commented on it before but I really really had to balance just how GROSS I wanted to be with Botz's arms splitting apart and her innards hanging out from the bottom of the robot. They have to go somewhere! And she's relying on shields to keep her protected. It's really quite an impractical spider monster design all things considered. BUT, it only needed to work for a very short time for her to get what she wanted.

Gunwild: Transformers do it all the time, it's probably fine!

Brellom: man dr butz is so cool