Comic 963 - Blue Blazes, Page 23
15th May 2020, 11:00 PM
in Blue Blazes
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Author Notes:
Also kind of funny - this is the first actual public show we've done of Dorothy's new eye style... and it's almost entirely hidden by the glasses. Guess kind of a tease for seeing them properly in Monday's WaR page I suppose.
Actually kind of funny is that redoing a different panel from that same scene with Alex and Grant was what we used as kind of a test drive for the thicker lines when we started sipping our toes into that a bit. Weird how often we've come around to that scene of late I guess.... particularly given the pair of WaR chapters Grant was in were in many ways an outright sequel to that one. And even then the train stuff directly leads into what Alex has coming up next so.... Yeah, I'm getting off topic.
Either way, yeah, am hoping everyone enjoys this sequence, think it hits a good balance between being serious and introspective while also being rendered silly by where it happens to be taking place.
discord.gg/yP9ECdN
Comments:
Wolfintina
15th May 2020, 11:57 PM
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Very interesting, wonder what's going to happen next.
Reaper Dragon
16th May 2020, 12:23 PM
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This is one of those "scenes planned since the start of the chapter" pages, as it goes into sort of the wider significance of bringing back Decay Conductor. As Lore mentioned, the person who stopped her last time was Marvelous Man. He was a tier above so many other heroes in terms of sheer raw power, and she was able to come very close to killing him. That establishes her as a high-level threat, which Marvelous Man is no longer around to fight. The reason so many other heroes have popped up trying to fight Decay Conductor is to just illustrate how serious his absence really is. Without him around to handle this threat, other heroes have to rise to the challenge, and many of them are falling far short.
That's already humbling for most other heroes, but it hits especially hard to the kids and even moreso to Lore. Part of removing Marvelous Man was done with them assuming they could take his place and it's now becoming clear that the job is more demanding than they thought. That alone isn't enough to make them give up, obviously, but it's a sort of hard thought. I wanted to make it clear where Lore is coming from when she sums up that she views Decay Conductor as her responsibility.
That's also why Lore is so confrontational with Protocol. In general I think Lore probably has some self-esteem issues that rear up when she's being supervised by someone she doesn't trust. Protocol being around made her genuinely question if she's good enough for the job and that's what causes her to lash out. Still not a good quality to have, hence why it's important she walks past it.
Speaking of, I do like that she asks Andy for his honest opinion on if she's doing that, and that she doesn't even refute it when she hears it. Just a quick moment that shows their relationship.
But the big one.... Lemme link back to the page where Alex and Grant had this discussion....
http://bluebloodheroes.thecomicseries.com/comics/693
Like I said when we did the stats, Grant's intelligence score is rooted in ethical thinking and a sort of greater awareness of the consequences of peoples' actions. I think he was starting to put together over the course of this fight that the only way Decay Conductor could potentially be stopped might be by killing her. She can turn prison cells to dust and casually stroll out. She can transform handcuffs into water. There's no really safe way to contain her long enough for arrest, let alone long term.
Hell, go back a couple of pages in this chapter and you can see when this thought hits him.
http://bluebloodheroes.thecomicseries.com/comics/957
I just like this idea coming up and that Grant would be the one to naturally realize it might be the only way going forward. It feels like a realistic flow of events, especially the horror and hesitation it brings on.
Hell, when I wrote the script for this page I was so happy with the dark tone that I asked Martin if the caretaker bit was undercutting it too much. I'm actually really glad its here since it throws a really welcome relief into the subject. Plus I just absolutely love the gag. ^^