Comic Sketches: March - April 2022

Another month, another comic sketch post!

Are you guys having fun with the Murrit crafting binge? Because we're definitely having a blast over here and I can't wait to get into the behind-the-scenes, whenever we catch up with the backlog in a few more months! Anyway, let's dig into THESE other updates for now.

More boards from Ciro, who really brought this SUPER INTENSE SEQUENCE home, with a shorter contribution from Charlie at the end! We really wanted this last part to feel like a proper escalation + climax, after all the buildup of tension from last month.

A valiant attempt from Jentha to try and get the situation under control, but... yeah. "Well, that didn't work" about sums it up. She basically just flinged a supercharged sandwich at a starving beast. 

No, little radioactive girl, don't give the Godzilla extra nutrients!!!

This is one of those scenes that leaves you torn between the touching display of bravery and friendship and the oh my god what are you kids doing run away as fast as you can. 

Most 4-to-5 year olds wouldn't try to stand their ground against a huge scary monster like that. These are some tough toddlers! Seems like Arcjec isn't the only one with a bit of a heroic streak.

Personally, I would have already shit my pants at this point. And I'm 26.

One small tidbit that was fun to sprinkle in over the course of these updates is Dismas' latent interest in the natural sciences. Maybe if he hadn't gotten skulltitan-naped with extreme prejudice, he would've eventually pursued something in the field? 

Alas, that was not to be. Sometimes you're just stuck with what life throws at you.

Heartwarming! Familial Bond Between Future Custodian And Charge Blossoms As The Terror Sets In

This panel right here feels like the linchpin of Dismas' entire flashback journey. I'm even gonna highlight one of lines from the page:

XXXXXX: I'll...
XXXXXX: I'll kill you myself!

We all know that he has a bit of an obsession with the skulltitan killing thing. In his introductory narration, it's initially presented as a generalized desire to eradicate the species, and while I'm sure there's some truth to that, well... This is pretty personal to him! 

He's not really that interested in taking down every single skulltitan in the world, no matter what he says, just this specific one. And other than the abuse he personally suffered over the course of his childhood, we now see that there's a whole lot more tied up into it, about his friends and the desire to protect them. It's a tangled mess of emotions that ended up externalized as this simplistic goal, and while I'm sure it would've felt very satisfying to have struck the killing blow himself, there's more you need to do in order to truly move past something like that.

Admitting your own feelings to yourself would probably be a good start. It's hard to be vulnerable!

TYSON: Another one of my favorite animated panels! I think the main thing of note is that I was particularly pleased with being able to loop this entirely in 6 frames unlike the Jentha panel, which was both longer and too complicated to loop on the same rate with all the moving parts.

Worry not, for the cavalry's here! God I love this panel. The visuals of the Space alchemy warping everyone in are so neat, it's great when we have an opportunity to showcase what the different applications of each Aspect look like.

Cool poses aside, you know it means things are dire when the Corporate Special Forces start dropping in. Yikes.

Back when we were first planning out this sequence, the initial idea was for Dismas to be trying to fight off the skulltitan here. We later figured that no matter how much of a brave little toaster he is, this is still ultimately a small child, so it made more sense for him to just be freaking out at this point.

Yeah things don't look good. Bad sign when your charge is having a Mob Psycho 100% moment with the blank eyes and everything.

This is another sequence that, much like Dismas and Albion getting Jentha out of her isolated chamber, required a bit of back-and-forth in terms of logistics. 

Dismas being taken by the skulltitan is a foregone conclusion, that's been set in stone since he first showed up in the comic. Due to the nature of serialized works, though, we still had plenty of wiggle room regarding the specifics. The Principal is a character that was concepted and fleshed out relatively late in the comic's run, when we started expanding on the workings of alchemy, the internal Corporate structure and how that related to the reduplication caverns. Turns out they're pretty involved in the whole process! It makes sense, given the precarious situation of Repiton's population growth, that they would have their top dogs on constant watch to make sure nothing goes wrong with the next generation of worker-consumers.

With all those elements further established, how do we reconcile the presence of several skilled, trained alchemist and this beast managing to get away with Dismas in tow? Well, it's a balancing act. Alchemist are OP as fuck compared to the average repitonian, sure, but that doesn't mean they have a magic FIX ALL PROBLEMS INSTANTLY button at their disposal. We want alchemy to feel like a complex system, with benefits and drawbacks, and something that's highly dependent on both the individual's skill and whatever situation they're trying to handle. And also to not make the Alchemic Taskforce come off as totally incompetent in the process. lol 

Hopefully the insight into Junnos' thoughts made sense and sold everyone on the decisions being made. If they hadn't been quick about their decision, Jentha could've very well leveled the entire facility, and they were more than aware of that fact.

I remember Unnamed Background Troll #457 stole some hearts back when these updates first went live. With good reason! I mean, look at them. 

Will we ever learn anything about this mysterious stranger? Are they going to show up again? The answer, dear reader, is absolutely not. Please mourn another banger spontaneous Xam design.

Anyway, they're a Heart alchemist performing a complex CROWD CONTROL MANEUVER in which they slow down the target's heart rate, lowering their blood pressure and making them pass out. The sigils used are, clockwise: INHIBIT, SYSTEM and ENERGY. Only they are FLIPPED TURNWAYS.

Time for nappies...

So many Peter Griffin memes were spawned from this image. And unfortunately they were all very funny.

"Busted" indeed, my fishy little troublemaker! Whoops. 

I love how Murrit is raising their hands like the Principal is going to arrest them or something. Throw these babies into the SLAMMER

AUSTIN: Murrit being expelled from school was a decision made in conjunction with this backstory, not the other way around. It's a very retroactive fit to his character and what defined his young life choices, but it HAD been on my mind for a while before this point. Like, what made Murrit want to get into crime beyond just meeting the Dead Shufflers? Having them genuinely need to scrounge in order to survive as a kid was the most natural solution. Plus, this really is the start of Murrit's responsibility complex.

Boy howdy and what a capital "C" complex it is! She just went ahead and tried to take the fall like a little sacrificial lamb. Maybe it's latent guilt for pushing Dismas down and pissing Jentha off? Very likely.

Something that we also tried to highlight during the editing process is that Murrit really isn't, like... the best bullshitter in the world at this point. Obviously. Because she's like five. We added some quirks (ha ha) to his speech to that effect, like the pausing and stuttering and whatnot. Subtle tells.

VOICE-OVER MONTAGE TIME BABY. Time to get CINEMATIC again. Man, Dismas' new horrible lizardad really did a number on this school.

And this wraps up the March updates! Following that HEART-POUNDING section filled with skulltitan action and disproportionate punishment dished out to a small child, we have a brand new storyboard... made by ME!!!!

Storyboarding is not something I get to do very often (to be honest, I think I'm a little rusty on it), but I always find it a fun challenge. It also helps that Austin usually has a pretty clear vision of what each panel is gonna look like, so his descriptions act as very solid springboards for where to go. And we always have some room to add our own touches, like those two longer panels I added! They were originally just regular panel-sized, but I figured the specific moments would benefit from something a bit more involved and theatrical.

All the time I am forgetting about Calder. Good thing Xam caught the missed opportunity here, and now we can see him gloomily staring off to the side as both him and Albion try to process the overwhelming events that just transpired. Hope this doesn't lead to any extra psychological scars!

And here Dismas is, safely (?) custodian-bonded with his new lusus. Hooray! This is only a three panel long sequence, but I'm quite happy with how the visuals turned out. Seems like the Principal (and by extension, Clarud himself) has a low-interference policy even when it comes to those super special Aspect Holders. As long as you're not dead, you're on your own, bucko!

Speaking of them, that sure is some bleak stuff they're saying in the quote-unquote voice over bit. There's several points of interest here, like the board's hesitancy to reduplicate Murrit due to their association with Acerigger and this ominous talk about execution versus "rehabilitation".

I don't think they let most kids know about the explicit, gory details of the atrocities their ancestors have committed. Calder and Taz are notable exceptions, because Caesar's reputation is intrinsically tied to the Kerian bloodline so there really isn't a way to escape that knowledge, and the Fortmistress had a whole sect of devoted wrestler clowns that ensured her exploits were passed down to her descendant. In Murrit's case, I believe he is aware that his ancestor committed SOME crimes, but not what they were exactly. Plus, Acerigger is known by his title, not his name, which doesn't immediately link him to innocent Turkin descendants like in Calder's case.

As for the last bit, well... Yeah the board is pretty amoral. What else is new! We had a brief discussion about whether this would be too mustache-twirling villainous to include as a punitive measure, but like. Just take a look at the news literally any day. Billionaire CEOs ARE cartoonishly evil as a baseline. Don't know what else to tell you.

They put Jentha back in her tube... and in comes the stutter :(

I really like how Xam ended up finalizing the design of the Radioactive Toddler Containment Chamber. It's kind of reminiscent of the original one she was stuck in, back when she was a wee babe at the start of the flashback segment, which is a nice visual circling back. Only now she has a CHILD-SIZED HAZARD SUIT to go with it!

Another sequence where we center the visuals by foregoing narration entirely. This part was originally planned out as a gif, but as I was boarding I figured that'd be unnecessary and also complicate a relatively short beat. Plus, I enjoy how the pacing feels when you have to click in order to go through each panel.

Murrit peeking into the ruined classroom works much better for this scene than them running into each other down the hallway. Nice catch on Xam's end during the sketching phase! Little details like these are important to keep a good sense of continuity between each scene, it helps in making everything feel more cohesive.

Nothing much to add here, other than wow the finalized version of this panel turned out gorgeous. The purple-pinkish palette is very pretty!

Oh yeah, and the little bit about seadwellers preferring humid weather was a suggestion by yours truly. I do love to sneak in tidbits of worldbuilding whenever I can. Plus, there's GOTTA be some kind of biological consequence to these guys having fins!!!

In case it wasn't clear enough: these corporate drones are the original form of Murrit's infamous BOOBDRONES, retrofitted to her whims. Bit of a gearhead since grubhood.

Now, is that an upgrade or a downgrade? You, dear reader, can be the judge of that.

Well, at least Junnos didn't leave a five year old completely destitute??? And now he knows that Dismas is alive and well, too. Sneaky Principal.

Think Murrit ended up taking that advice a little too close to heart, though.

Oh shit, it's Rodere! Not everyone can get their hands on a physician of this caliber on Repiton, you know. She's the Executive's personal doctor and everything.

She's not wrong here. They DID lock up a girl in a facility for six sweeps, even if for alleged "justified" reasons. 

I bet she's running off to write a callout post for Junnos.

No wonder Jentha ended up developing her shut-in tendencies later in life. The latent trauma from the whole incident coupled with the guilt she feels over endangering her only friends' lives does not make for a very good cocktail of mental health.

I have seen several fans assuming Jentha completely forgot about the whole incident, given the way certain passages in her introduction page were worded, so I would like to point out this specific line:

JENTHA: i w want to s s sit in my old mould again with my t toys and watch cartoons and
JENTHA: j j just
JENTHA: pretend none of this ever happened

Escapism is one of Vast Error's big themes, along with unreliable narration, be it from White Noise's compromised perception of events or just the characters plain old lying to themselves. Jentha didn't forget about what happened with Dismas, the skulltitan and the others - she is deeply impacted by it and makes several decisions based on what happened there, as we'll see later. Her powers brought her nothing but pain, and so, she tries to pretend that she never had them in the first place. 

I guess I can kinda see where the confusion is coming from? But our intent was to reveal new information that recontextualizes earlier passages in the comic, not hint at ANOTHER memory loss plot thread. We have enough of those already!

I mean. A for effort on Junnos' end, I guess.

Anyway, get outta here you lanky bastard. I tire of your secrets and your machinations.

And with this smooth segue, we're plopped right in the middle of Stronghold 21. 

Big city life really didn't agree with Jentha, it turns out. She stayed in the grubby caverns far longer than any other child would, and I imagine all of the lights and noise and general busy-ness felt very overwhelming, especially after she found herself completely untethered from the extensive net of adults that were constantly flitting around her, running tests and whatnot.

That, and... 

...she DOES consider herself a danger to others.

And that wraps up the August commentary! Next month, we'll be officially exiting this flashback section and getting all the way into the Laivan updates, including the alt!Murrit ones. Exciting!

See you all then!

- Eddie