JL8 #28 - Creator Commentary

JL8 #28 by Yale Stewart

Originally published on March 29th, 2012

There's a lot going on here.

For starters, I feel like this is probably the best looking installment of JL8 to this point. I'm starting to figure out how I want the characters and world to look, and I'm getting a little more courageous with the layouts. There's nothing TOO fancy going on here, but the little in-set triumvirate of panels 2-4 and the phone cord gutter splitting panels 9 and 10 are nice touches that add a little something to the mix.

One thing that stands out to me about this strip, is that I'm pretty sure it was the first installment where I had to sit back and really think about what time period I wanted to set the strip in. JL8 has always been something of a love letter to the Silver Age, but it was never intended to be an actual period piece. However, I also wasn't sure if I wanted it to be a literal modern day thing, either. In the end, I decided to put it in a nebulous alternate timeline, in the sense that some things would be modern, but maybe some things stuck around (like Discovery Zone). As I type it, that's essentially the same approach Batman: The Animated Series took, as Gotham in B:TAS is meant to be "modern" but if certain things had stuck around longer and had more of an impact. 

Anyway.

The "B" gags in this one--the "A" gag being the actual punchline-- are subtle, but still give me a chuckle. I like how Martha--making her first appearance in JL8 here--immediately knows it's Bruce by his telephone manners. I remember trying to figure out what would be the goofiest, and (not to be mean, but) lamest  comic strip that Clark could ask Bruce not to spoil. I think "Family Circus" seemed a little too on-the-nose, so I went with "Marmaduke." Also, it's not really a "gag," but if you look closely, Bruce's breakfast is sugary cereal and coffee, while Clark is eating oatmeal with fruit and a glass of milk. Just a little something extra that I remember being happy with.

To reiterate, I do feel like this strip is a point where JL8 starts clicking beyond just "what if they were kids?" to a more fully realized universe with its own rules, aesthetics, all that kind of stuff, so that's pretty neat.

I think that's all I really have to say on this one without talking in circles, so I'll leave it at that. Until next time!

-Yale