This issue layout-wise is a collaboration by my best friend Anthony and myself. I met him by way of a comic creators' BBS almost ten years ago now, a fan of my first online comic.
In all credit, the majority of the issue was laid out by Anthony, based off of my script for the issue. He did thumbnail sketches, which I used as guides for my pencils. I made tweaks here and there, may have thrown in one of my own panel designs, but unless it's something big, I won't bother making note of it.
This is one of my pages.
If you've noticed, I usually try to pick issue titles that function on a number of different levels.
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My approach to storytelling is a hybrid of film and prose, making use of "voice overs" and time-shifting. At times, the voice overs might be confusing, because you don't have an actual voice to associate with a character, but I make a point of dropping in names and titles so that when the characters are shown, usually in the next panel or page, you know who was saying what. Or it's part of the scope of the overall story, and you'll get your answer later.
Sometimes that means you spend a little extra time going over a page, or going back to check something out, and that's fine. I expect people do that anyway, as I also tend to be a dialog-heavy writer. I don't buy into the whole 15-seconds-a-page approach to the readers. As a reader myself, I prefer information. I want the whole universe. I want to know everything, and I hate it when I can read it one time and be done. If no new insight is gained when the story is re-read, the story is disposable…and that just makes me feel like I've wasted my time.
I think part of the problem with comics as a medium for adult storytelling is that the approach has been so dumbed-down, it's like the anchors on the news doing an interview, asking outright stupid questions…because they're asking them for the less intelligent audience members. I refuse to do that. Spoonfeeding the material is a disservice to the story and the intended audience. If some readers find it unapproachable, that just means it wasn't suited for them, and that's fine. They'll find something more to their liking elsewhere.
It's one of the downsides to webcomics, a page at a time; long-term planning is almost lost in a 24 page comic taking almost a month to finish reading. You have the book in your hand, you read it, you get stuff that would be/is missed when you spread it out.
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