Chapter 2: Page 47
And with this, our first visit to Deltrada comes to a close! Clovis does have a way with words — both spoken and unspoken. He’s also apparently pretty good at making an exit, though I suppose it helps when you’re surrounded by powerful soldiers directly under your command.
In the original draft of the script, this whole exchange was actually intended to be silent, and Kenosh/Dakkan/Quinlan voluntarily left the room in a display of forced niceties. However, in light of the tweaks made to earlier pages, Clovis was now the one leaving the room, and the tension in the script was ratcheted up a fair bit. Because of this, Rachel took an initial pass at dialog for the scene during the initial tiedown process (shown above).
As you can see, many of these lines made their way directly into the final page, and others with a few tweaks. These sorts of things rank among my favorites when it comes to page creation — Rachel’s take on a scene or plot twist can sometimes be very different from my own, giving me a brand new outlook to a scene or character point I’ve been turning over in my head for years. Also, more often than not, I’ll find myself getting on board with a proposed change, and so far I’ve always been happy with the result.
This week, we’ve got some great guest art, once again courtesy of that awesome Tumblr palette meme! This wonderful piece of Quinlan was drawn up by Draco Meteoric and is freaking sweet!
I honestly can’t get enough of this meme. In addition to some incredible BWD artwork that’s been drawn up, the creative use of the limited palette has produced some very striking pieces. I love that the brown and green in Draco’s Quinlan piece above, for example, are reserved exclusively for Quinlan’s eyes the deeper shadows around his shoulders, respectively. It really is an awesome piece, Draco — thanks so much for doing it! And also thanks to BWD reader LadyoftheShield for suggesting Draco draw it!
I don’t know why, but the characters having only four fingers seriously disturbs me for the first time in this update. I guess there wasn’t much attention drawn to them previously, but in the large panel Clovis’s hands look freakish. I know that they are cartoon animals, but still…
I find hands in general to be an odd sort of appendage. I’m looking at my own right now.
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Hm, probably means I done goofed in some way. I’ll take a look at it.
Did you change something or am I just going crazy? Somehow the hands don’t bother me anymore, maybe I’ve just gotten used to them.
She made the fingers thinner and widened the gap between them.
Actually, I haven’t had a chance to fiddle with it yet. X) I’ll get there.
proof that either I don’t pay enough attention or I pay waay too much. X( I could have sworn it changed. Ugh
All four of these canid have some kind of head injury. The leadership either need to increase the helmet budget or institute some kind of mutual “not the face” policy when going into battle. I bet that poor one-eyed girl is tired of having to retake her driving test every single year.
I honestly wonder, did Clovis just got a scar on his face in the middle of the meeting?
Well, Kenosh was looking daggers at him…
Ha!
It’s always there, but it’s not as noticeable. Clovis tends to be drawn on his right side, and the scar is on his left.
Just letting you all know, angry Kenosh face is probably one of my favorite things about this comic (and Rachel’s little page summary sketch at her tumblr killed me XD). Just the way his eye brows move plus his determined gruffy face looks and everything I swear you could make an entire comic just about Kenosh being disapproval of things and I’ll still find it enjoying to read. I can see it now too, BWD’s own spin off series titled…uh…”Beyond Kenosh’s…Rage”? (wow that was terrible). It’s just too bad him and the rest of the group will be in a nasty surprise come this nightfall.
And Draco’s take on Quinlan is so cool! You can bet by the end of this comic, Quinlan will come out of it looking something like that.
Wait, you mean that *isn’t* the entire comic???
…I’m liking Clovis less and less now. He’s just abusing the treaty for his own purpose.
That Clovis guy, sometimes I really like them and sometimes he’s an insufferable jerk.
Just a thought, but it might be a little compositional stronger to have him looking a bit more to the left (our left). As is, he tends to lead off the page. Just a thought!
Keep coming with these pages! I really like how you can get such varied characters.
Clovis is one sick son of a *****.
Literally!
If Clovis were the protagonist, we’d be cheering him on. “The situation is desperate- we need info on the mysterious Sratha-Din!”
It just occurred to me that Janik might have to do Clovisy-things when we finally cut over to her in Nessa. We know she’s going to be VERY important in the diplomatic arena… so to aid Our Heroes, she may have to resort to creative interpretations of the law/treaty.. that may even screw over either the Vulpin or just collateral damage.
I have to hand it to Clovis for his creative reinterpretation of the treaty of Cenolau. I love that face in the second panel- accusing and guilting (Kenosh, that is, I doubt Clovis himself feels guilt) at the same time. And I just noticed that scar on his jaw. I bet there’s an interesting story behind it.
I love how Kenosh hasn’t given up… though honestly, what does he expect to do with only three people? He’s not going to convince Clovis to let them go and they can’t fight their way out. And I like how Clovis uses Kenosh’s rank instead of his name here- a not-so-subtle hint that the status quo has changed. He’s no longer “Kenosh my old friend” but “My Captain the Consultant whether he likes it or not”
‘I will speak with you in the morning,” aha Kenosh if only you knew. (Is that last “we’ll see” Kenosh’s?) Children, enough. Daddy is trying to work (retake Deltrada) and he can’t focus if you two squabble!
Look on the bright side, Kenosh. You still have your weapons so when the attack comes you might actually live through it! (No guarantees, though, and no refunds)
Speaking from Clovis’ POV, out of the Sunsgrovians Kenosh is clearly the most valuable piece here because of his knowledge. I’m still thinking POW here, but emissary is definitely a possibility. Quinlan is probably the next most valuable, as the Captain… but then, Dakkan may end up being worth as much if not more than Quinlan simply because he is leverage that can be used against Kenosh.
I love the poses here- Kenosh’s body crackling with righteous anger in Panel one, and Clovis’ dismissive hand wave in the last panel. And the angle, too- how Clovis is a good distance from the reader, like we’re trapped with Kenosh behind the spears.
“And with this, our first visit to Deltrada comes to a close!” Alex, I love you but adrst j569kl WHY
It makes the most sense to cut to one of the Ermehn- probably Hardin or Bevan, but I wouldn’t put it past you to go to Janik or Dabheid. I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN THAT WE SPENT NEARLY TWENTY PAGES ON CRIM. You do not do that for no reason.
Wondering now if we’ll see the raids from the Ermehn’s POV… that would actually be pretty cool until one of our Sunsgrovian Babies gets a throat slit. And if Tosch returns to find Deltrada burned, Clovis dead and a bunch of Sunsgrovians in his house… asgh this webcomic is not good for my sanity AT ALL
Yeah, I can say with total confidence that the tension is going full blast here.
This is how you use a treaty
Another great page! Hopefully I can snag a copy when you post them for sale online, because this comic is one of the greatest! (:
And I’m honored you posted my palette drawing! Thank you, BWD is a huge inspiration for me, and I couldn’t resist when LadyoftheShield requested!
Quinlan might look like this by the end of the war, but hopefully he comes out on top!
Wahoo another update and … oh, another week to wait until the next page release… *sigh* :P
This page is definitely interesting. In the first panel we have Clovis with his “simmer down” hand/paw gesture to Kenosh, but then he flips his mug to a snarly feature in the second one. I think you were trying to make him look menacing, but in honesty, I’m not sure the expression matches the wording… with the phrase and way I ‘imagine’ Clovis speaking, I would imagine him to portray a sort of conceited look, a smug grin reflecting his aura of self importance and joy of backing people into a corner. This is not criticism in any way – merely a statement as Clovis’ tone and words can be interpreted in variety of ways. :)
I’m actually surprised Kenosh doesn’t bat that spear away with the back of his hand in either panels 1, 3 or 4. I mean, yes, it was placed in front of him to halt his advance on Clovis, but he stopped. Granted the Canid aren’t exactly the most mannerly bunch, but Kenosh is the Lutren Captain /and/ acting as a royal envoy; not to mention he’s a hard-nosed fighter that I’m sure can get a little hot under the collar. Again, just an observation.
And so we end the trio’s visit to Deltrada. Not the ending they were expecting, I’m sure, but an ending all the same. It would be great to see the focus stay in the north since we have a lot of momentum here and a sure-thing battle ahead, but something tells me we are going to flip scenes to the south for Janik and her send off to the Vulpin capital where I’m sure we’ll get reacquainted with King … Dabheid (?) … and Crim. Which reminds me of a few questions I kept meaning to ask … Is there a Lutren King, or does Dabheid (?) reign over all of Sunsgrove? And in Quin’s absence, is Crim acting as Captain Intern?
Anyways, great work and I can’t wait until the next one to see where this tail (ha, pun intended! – Sorry, it’s been a long day :P) will be taking us!
Cheers,
FT
i got to p 47 chapter 2 and same thing but. It is going to be awesome so when you guys start it back up keep it awesome.