Comic Report #126 - Back To It

It's been a short week this week, where I updated on I think Thursday? And here we are, back here today. I hadn't planned to put out a bunch of thumbnail phase updates but we're rolling with it until I can get past a work breakpoint in the coming months, so thank you for bearing with me. Things are going well on my end; this boxing class is kicking my ass but I'm acclimating to it slowly, we should be releasing a game where I have developer credits on it soon, it's my birthday month and I'm going to Combo Breaker. It's a packed month so it's good to get a jump on the next comic early so I don't get to the end of this month and feel myself crammed against the wall. So let's take a look at how I'm preparing for that today!

This page is meant to be a companion to the page before it, serving as the second half of an idea. The previous page is about Monday presenting the notion that the team's antagonists aren't open to negotiations, that they seek things they won't compromise on and that they speak a singular language, which the team will have to adopt if they want to dissuade them from their present course. Monday put out the idea that if they want to resolve the situation as presented they're going to have to commit to something big and dangerous, which Lizzie has spent most of the comic arguing with him about, so here, at the end, she instead agrees with him. On this page I wanted to give her the space to talk about why.

The first panel here opens with Monday antagonizing Lizzie, something about, really, no objections at all? Monday wants what he wants and he knows at this point that he has to work around Lizzie to get it. She wants what she wants too, though, so she's setting up to speak her mind about that. When I'm setting up this page I started out with Lizzie on the right side, and I intend to rotate the camera across the panels, revolving around her perspective until she ends up giving her last line to Monday in the last shot. It isn't too many panels, there's space for words and it's a bit light on the drawing so I can juggle wrapping up Kitsune Tails stuff and traveling for one weekend, I should have this ready to go by the 31st.

So what is Lizzie's perspective? Why is she agreeing with Monday all of a sudden? When setting this scene up, I wanted to build off of Lizzie opening up to Alice, and the two building their relationship together. Lizzie spent the bulk of the comic chasing a relationship she wasn't happy with, and when she realized her feelings for Alice she realized her own confidence as well. She's been fighting whether she liked it or not and now she has something she really wants to fight to keep, her perspective has shifted a little bit. Stacy had told her about her parents, about how they had gone back out into the city to help build more Tombstones, to use the keys and access to housing they have to give people secure and dignified places to live. She sees a real opportunity to build something good and supportive from Tombstone, something that could branch out and benefit people everywhere. She wants to build a world she can rest in, to live peacefully with Alice, and that can't happen if she lets the Gravekeepers take the wheel. Monday's perspective is combative, but Lizzie's is meant to be constructive, and at the end, in the last panel, she'd turn to Monday and ask how they can make this work.

That's where I'm at today. With more time I should have more proper progress on the page ready for next week, but as I've mentioned I need to prioritize Kitsune Tails for a little bit, just until Julyish. Thanks for sticking with me, I'm excited to get to what these pages are building up towards, and I hope you enjoy the ride there. Until next time, have a nice week.