Author notes

Chapter 3 Prologue 3

Abt_Nihil

on Oct. 15, 2008

This is something you will still tell your grandchildren about… that you were there the day I came up with the inverted comic page.

I guess it speaks for itself - I needed to come up with an effect that communicates this dizzying experience, the dissolution of the body, and the eery feeling that you had to guess its existence by the sheer existence of your thoughts. In fact, the hardest thing about it was to NOT make the layout too dizzying, and the image still somewhat recognizable ;-)

The first sentence might be reminiscent of the Cartesian cogito: I think, therefore I am. Actually I was thinking about something more along the lines of a materialist's cogito: Thoughts are operations on neural circuits, and they need a body to be operational. At an early stage these considerations were in my script too, but as always I cut the text down to its bare essence later on.

REPLIES:

alejkhan: Thanks a lot, I'm glad it works for you (and hopefully for your eventual grandchildren :P)

DAJB: Thanks, I fiddled around with line weights a bit so the panelling would stand out from the rest… because it does look confusing at first ;-)

JNP: Thank you very much! I can't really say how I got that idea, except that I was aware of having to set the layout on this page apart from usual comic layouts, and I thought about how to do that for a few days… and at the last moment it just struck me. I guess it's a case of "thinking outside the box"… quite literally. And nope, you're the only one who would think about money when looking at this page (- just kidding… actually I thought more people would catch on ;-P).

giovanni: As I replied to JNP… I can't really say, except I knew I needed to set this layout apart in some way. And, well… she is in a state "behind" or "beyond" reality, and panels do represent reality in some way, eh?

highspeedcomics: Thanks a lot!

Jabali: Thanks, and yup, it is! Also, I felt my comics of late haven't been as keen of experimenting as they should or could have been, so I really wanted to try something new.

Fitz: Profoundess is the word, I think :D In any case, I'm flattered! And thanks for touching not only on what I wanted to express visually, but on what I wanted to express verbally too… the irony of complaining about one's body when it is the only thing you have to realize your intentions. I have to admit that I am quite ignorant of the competence/performance distinction, but I guess that's what I've got you for.

mmm bacon0, man in black: Thanks!