Long chapters really do a number on me and Martin; they're actually kinda exhausting, especially when following ANOTHER really long chapter. And double-especially when BOTH comics are doing long chapters that are following long chapters. By now we're really counting down the pages until the end and trimming the fat wherever we can. The author's comments for a while are gonna include a lot of us saying, "This was cut for time but...."
As a result I was reallllly struggling to put this page in. It's kinda something that would be easy to skip.... But.... It was kinda something that needed to be said, and was honestly sort of overdue.
I don't want to make it seem like I'm making Marvelous Man out as dangerous for no reason; that's why I let him make any good arguments for his behavior. Again, he's a really hard character to juggle between warning-signs and believeable-hero. I have had the kids, especially Lore, feel a sort of unease with him around, but I never intended that to be a framing work for why you should hate the guy. I think it's genuinely a fault on their part. So had Jake call them out on it here.
I honestly think the main reason Jake didn't say anything earlier was because usually with Marvelous Man the kids have enough on their minds. Like they were really upset after what happened with Qrime Qure, so would've been a bit mean-spirited to get into it there. This is the first opportunity where I felt he would naturally say it.
Also, I like how cute Grant and Nicky are in the second panel. ^^
Yeah, this page is kind of addressing an issue that's been lingering over things for a little bit and really has been needing to be explored but hasn't had an opportune time to go into it yet. Couldn't really do it around the Salix stuff, or the things surrounding Qrime Qure, so pretty much had to be here and now.
Not sure how much else I've got to say offhand but I do hope everyone enjoys. I think this page was done around the time we started really trying to loosen the art and be more animated with it, feels like everyone pops just a little more than usual and the page has a whole has a bit more depth to it.
My bet, Jake gets proven 'wrong' and our mentally addled MM pulls out the old standby forcing the kids to act!...mind you being in his clearly looped up state with only the command to guard the door doesn't leave him as fully liable for his actions as usual. And this is also mostly a random guess that might be totally wrong.
....SHOW US THE DATE!