Author notes

260 - By Fire

El Cid

on Oct. 11, 2018

More nameless extras getting fragged. Don't bother digging through earlier pages trying to figure out who these people are. I just needed someone to provide expository dialogue to put all of the carnage into context.



Sometimes an image ends up coming out nothing like what you were aiming for. While I'm super happy with the first four panels of this page, the last two are completely broken. Here's what I was envisioning in my head for that sequence: It's a view from inside the observation booth as the lumbering Diablo turns on a crash course, coming right at them. The the glowing hot fuselage crashes through the booth window, shredding everything. The hapless space cadets are struck by the fuselage and instantaneously combust due to its intense heat.

It almost immediately falls apart though, because you can barely see the Diablo through all the smoke and flying debris, despite the fact that it's right in front of you. Putting a window in front of it makes it even worse, because all the reflections off the glass just doubles the visual pollution. So, instead of a dramatic visual of impending doom, all we end up with is a muddy orange background and I need to have some guy there to tell us there's a ship headed right at them.

The final panel is arguably worse though, because you can't make out the ship at all through all the flying rubble and explosions.



Well, I guess it's the cost of being ambitious that you're going to put up a few duds every now and then. Or a lot of duds, depending on who you ask. But anyway, on with the show! We didn't quite use up our entire special effects and pyrotechnics budget on these last two pages, so there's more destruction on the way.

And of course, don't forget to swing by the Drunk Duck Awards and see who wins (and who gets robbed!)

* Just kidding! No one ever gets robbed at these awards shows. Assaulted, maybe. Possibly groped in an inappropriate place. But never robbed!