AD 1997 Sketchbook

Author notes

Ep 1 scrapped page 1 layout 2

Abt_Nihil

on Oct. 9, 2007

This was my next attempt at doing a first page. Using this, episode 1 would have started directly at the airport.

It got scrapped because I figured it doesn't give much helpful information… the location is only hinted at, and the fact that Naomi is in a hurry doesn't need a whole page to get across. When you take a look at the opening scene in the finished comic you'll notice it gets much more across in a relatively small amount of pages: It gives an impression of the city, A.D's institutionalized paranoia and special judicial status (shooting down a civil aircraft at suspicion), Naomi's inner monologue, the security at the airport, etc. etc. :3

I didn't like this one aesthetically either. The final version of the first page is almost like a splash page (despite being broken up into separate panels for timing purposes), its composition evokes a rather static, quiet mood. This layout right here is rather hectic… I decided I didn't want to convey this sort of hurried impression right from the beginning.