Comic Report #104 - Big Hugs

Hello!  This week I have a comic page sketched up for you.  When I'm juggling game development and comics it's always fun to bounce back to the comics just for how free my restrictions are compared to my game art needs, and seeing what ports back into the comic from the game work itself.  I think in recent years my art style has gotten more streamlined and clean, and that's largely due to hopping between drawing those game sprites and making comics.  This page is a pretty good example of that, I think, so let's take a closer look at what's going on.

One of the things I recognize about my comic is due to the slower pace at which I can get pages out, some of the longer-term plot details can be easy to forget for readers outside of myself, in whose head everything lives.  The main story has taken a few little detours here and there lately, so when I want to get back to the main plot thread it's helpful to do a quick review of where we are.  So for this page we open up with Lizzie and Alice catching up after work.  Alice asks something like "what's the plan, Mary Ann?" and then it's time for a refresher, which Lizzie is happy to provide.  So in panel 2 she tells Alice about the talk she had with Monday at the diner- the half about the book she found in the buses, Alice already knows about the other half- and how she learned the name Ethel Mulgrave written in the bookplate is connected with Marty Mulgrave, who is Lou's new boss.  Monday explained this to Lizzie in a panel with Lou talking in the background... 

... so I thought it'd be cute to replicate that effect for Lizzie relaying what she learned to Alice.

They want to link up with Lou, who has been establishing his own network of connections with Tombstone's maintenance and repair crew.  Before that, in the third panel, Lizzie asks Alice if she has the book, to which Alice pats her messenger bag like, yup!  Right here.  As a little side note, in the run of minicomics I did I had a lot of fun with Alice's bag as some bottomless bag of holding:

It's a small thing but I think it's cute.

So anyways, fourth panel Alice is like, you sure he's here?  And Lizzie tells her how she overheard some of the linemen talk about rigging up the refrigerated trailer to the electrical grid, and she figures if anyone's bound to be tackling that job it's Lou.  And speaking of, Lou hollers in from the next panel, where he's running over to greet his friends.  The previous panel ended with him catching a glimpse of Lizzie and Alice kissing so he's got this big proud energy, he's happy for his companions and he's just glad to catch up with them again since arriving in Tombstone.  Lou has been on the narrative backburner for a bit, waiting for his time to shine, and that time is now.  I want to frame Lou's arc in positive energy, so the next few pages are going to be very good vibes, but this page will cap off the wrap-up and reunion.  

That's what I got for now.  I got some gamedev stuff to share after this, but I should have more progress on this page moving through the week.  We'll see where we are come next Friday.