This week demonstrates another interesting element to our production process. Specifically how much we decide to show on a single page, not necessarily how we decide to show it. The original draft of the page is below:

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As you can see, we originally omitted the bottom row, and instead chose to end on Quinlan’s attempt at diplomacy. The idea here would’ve been to have what is now the bottom row be blown out to an entire page next week. After ruminating on the above treatment, we ultimately decided against it, resulting in the addition of an extra row of panels that resolves the scene a bit better.

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If we were doing a standard print comic, we probably would’ve gone with the extra page, but the webcomic medium is, of course, a bit different. With a full week between pages, we need to make sure to keep the pace tight. When we do hang on a moment for a whole week, we want it to be major and important (like the building action to Hardin’s introduction part-way through Chapter 1). This time around, we decided to keep the pace moving, tightening the action and reaching a resolution to the dialog instead of a cliffhanger. It’s a minor detail, perhaps, but an important one to us.

Next week, both Rachel and I will be attending New York Comic Con, so we probably won’t have time to get a page up. We will instead have a fun placeholder sketch for you, but regular pages will pick up again the following Saturday!