alexwoolfson
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Double Cross Scene Compilation - CH1 Pgs 38-47
🕑 Added 2024-06-14 15:00:11 +0000 UTCHey, y'all!
Alas, the craziness that I mentioned last time has continued! It's hard to believe but now I have a fractured tooth out of literal nowhere—no idea how that happened. I just went to the dentist thinking that something was stuck on my tooth that I couldn't get off, but apparently not! And fixing the fracture is going to require major dental intervention that'll take months—a full extraction and replacement with a new, artificial tooth. (gah!)
I swear, I don't typically have this level of drama in my life. But I guess teeth are weird.
Has anything like that ever happened to you?
Anyway, despite feeling like I've just randomly pulled a really bad Monopoly card ("Dental Bill: Pay $3000 to the Bank!"), my spirits are still up because 1) I barely have any pain, 2) I've completely recovered from the COVID and 3) the writing on the urban fantasy novel continues to go well. Slow, but steady, but I'm liking what I'm coming up with. (Crafting the midpoint battle scene now...)
And, even better, I found I had a little time to create another scene compilation for y'all! These pages were published way back in June-July 2019, and continue showing the battles of Cory vs. the minions and The Platinum Priestess vs. Spooky!
If you want to read the previous scene compilations (and, ideally, read them all at once), you can find them on the TYP:DC Scene Compilation Collection page.
Anyway, onwards with the next scene! My DVD-style commentary is below the comic pages!
(The comics pages are full-resolution here on Patreon so feel free to zoom-in!)
Betcha didn't see that coming, lady!
Throwing rocks at my heroes
So, one of my goals in these pages was make things more difficult for our heroes. One metaphor for the 3 Act structure is 1) you get your protagonist up a tree, 2) you throw rocks at them, 3) you get them down. But that classic narrative scaffolding of beginning, middle and end applies to everything you write, even down to the level of individual scenes.
In the first pages of this excerpt, I needed to make clear that the minions are truly dangerous. They might not be the brightest bulbs, but they wield deadly power. Cory is powerful, too, but that doesn't mean the fight will be easy (nor should it!) I wanted to show that one reason the minions are so formidable is that they are ruthless and will literally stop at nothing (even attacking a comrade) to win.
I've heard many times that many new writers find it difficult to do bad things to their characters. That they like them too much to hurt them. And while I do love all my heroes dearly—and have no interest in causing them gratuitous pain—I've never had a problem ratcheting up the adversity. (As you are probably well aware, lol!) Not only does this (hopefully) make for a more engaging experience for the reader, but it also forces me to step up my own game to keep my heroes in the fight.
How exactly will Cory save his friend if his telekinesis no longer works on the minions? That's something that both Cory and I suddenly needed to figure out!
I created some of the most difficult visuals of the comic here
The solution that Cory comes up with is to use his power on something else (the gravestone) so he can turn it into a shield (and, ultimately, a weapon). But that's a surprisingly complicated bit of story-telling to show in static 2D form. I did my best to guide Adam in the script and I think he did a great job rendering what I asked for, but I remember at the time of posting being quite anxious about whether the action here would make sense.
I felt the same way about Spooky's "trick" on The Platinum Priestess. The idea was that Spooky needed to set up his next attack on The Platinum Priestess which involved "reinforcing the vines" (while actually filling them with laser bears) and then tempting her to split open the pods (so she'd be in the perfect position to be overwhelmed.) Frankly, it's a hard thing for me to even explain here, so making that action clear in comics was a big ask for the artists. Again, I think they did a great job with it, but was it just too complicated for readers to understand? I was definitely worried it might be.
And now, you can let me know. :)
Speaking of the laser bears...
But once we got past the set up, oh, my gosh, I was so looking forward to what came next. And here I think there's no doubt that the visuals are both clear and a hell of a lot of fun.
We established the Laser Bear as the perfect nemesis for The Platinum Priestess in "Engaging the Enemy" and so when I was thinking about what Spooky might create to bring her down, I knew it had to involve a laser bear. But I couldn't just do the same-old, same old. it was time to step it up by giving you not just one, not just two, but dozens of them!
And Adam and Vero made them SO adorable! I do like my comedy beats, even during high-stakes action, and seeing The Platinum Priestess buried in cute, glowing little bears is one of my favorite moments in the comic. And, just so you know, when that little bear throws The Platinum Priestess's staff into the void, it's Miss Piggy's voice I hear crying out "Hee Yah!" (Just a lot more high-pitched...)
I can not think of a more annoying, humiliating way for The Platinum Priestess to be taken down. Which, considering what she's been up to, made it just perfect.
Spooky crosses a moral event horizon... or does he?
But Spooky doesn't stop his attack there. He again uses Enochian and Demonic magic to completely overpower her, revealing that on some level he's been holding back. But not anymore. After all she's done, defeating her isn't enough. He's going to kill her.
It's not an entirely unsympathetic point of view. At this point, all we know of The Platinum Priestess is that she is just as ruthless as the minions—kidnapping children, killing innocents. She has no remorse, and there is no sign that she will ever stop. In superhero comics, that's always the challenge when you create "purely evil" villains who keep escaping to go on murder sprees. At some point the reader asks, is the heroic move here really to let the villain live to kill another day?
But classic storytelling requires a superhero to live up to a higher standard than us mere mortals. And while there are some purely evil creatures in my world (the demon royalty), I'd like to think that I've made it clear that humans aren't part of that group. The Platinum Priestess might be messed up and dangerous, but if you're a hero, her life should matter just as much as anyone else's.
Or should it? Ultimately, that's something for the reader to decide for themselves once the story is over. But it is something that Teen Spooky firmly believes. And this moment in the comic is crucial since it sets up the biggest distinction between who Spooky was and who he is now. Which then sets up the biggest internal conflict in our time travel story: if you found out that you were going to cross a moral event horizon in the future, how hard would you fight to stop it?
For someone like Teen Spooky, not becoming a monster is everything, and fighting this fate becomes a huge motivator for all his actions once he finds out. You might not agree with his point of view, but hopefully, you can understand why he feels that way.
But what do you think?
Anyway, that's the "DVD commentary" for these pages. Please let me know your own thoughts below. It's your feedback that makes it fun for me to create these, so please jump in and share!
And thank you, as always, for making this comic possible. Sharing these scenes with you helps remind me of how much I love creating this story. And it's only possible because of your support.
Y'all totally rock. More soon!
Comments
Alex Woolfson
Thank you, Adam! I'm glad it's fun for you to revisit these scenes, and I'll admit, even I am surprised some of the details (5 years later!) It doesn't always happen this way—I can be very critical of my own writing—but I'm actually enjoying reading these pages "fresh". So, in some regards, I'm getting to enjoy some of the same things with these pages as you are! :) Glad to hear the anticipation is still fresh!
Adam Irving
You are right, Alex, the visuals here are pretty complex and do a lot of the heavy lifting in the storytelling. Not simple stuff! I do enjoy the balance you strike between all your elements: romance vs. action, dialogue vs. movement, showing vs. telling, primary vs. secondary characters, etc. It can be easy if you're not careful to veer too much into one kind of thing or another but the overall plot has all these disparate elements integrating wonderfully together to create a sum that is greater than all of the parts. It's also really fun to come back to these because, I will be honest, I did not remember every single one of these beats from a couple of years ago. The anticipation is still fresh!
camelotcrusade
I love that compromise! Keep chewing on it. 😃
Alex Woolfson
Thank you, Relwarc! And I agree about that Spooky panel -- one of my faves! Glad you liked the scene!
Alex Woolfson
I'm not sure how they will numb the pain, Bill, but supposedly the hard part is the first part and then it gets easier from there. Fingers crossed. Thank you for the good wishes. :)
Alex Woolfson
Thank you for the suggestion. It's actually very important to me to have some special, exclusive benefits for our Patrons here. It's true (and my previous surveys have shown) that most people are here to support the work vs. getting perks, but I really want to be able to reward that support. And with funds being limited, anything I can do to make the experience of being one of my Patrons special, is something I want to keep. That said, what I could see doing is making the first chapter of these compilations available for non-Patrons to read when it's complete. Right now non-Patrons can only read the first of the compilations so they don't really get to feel the complete effect of reading several in a row. I could see being able to enjoy an entire chapter that way could make a much better impression. But I'd still keep all the following scene compilations just for Patrons. Anyway, thank you for the good thoughts and suggestions. Please keep 'em coming. They are quite useful for me. :)
Alex Woolfson
I'm really glad to hear you like the commentary, camelotcrusade. It takes a bit of time to put together, but I am enjoying sharing what I was thinking when writing and posting these pages. It's also good to hear that it's enhancing your experience. That's what I hoped, but there's always the fear that showing "how the sausages are made" would have the opposite effect. Thank you for letting me know that it adds to the magic for you!
RelwarcTheMighty
Had some tooth issues lately myself! No fun there. Glad things are going well otherwise, really intrigued by that novel you're working on! The panel of Spooky dangling in front of the portal is genuinely cinematic! This while action sequence is one of my favs in the series, since inexperienced Cory has to improvise to overcome his foes. You and the artists did a great job here!
william clapie
I understand the tooth issue. I finally saw a dentist after some decades of denial. $4000 and insurance adjustments later and two years! Never want to see a dentist again! Hope the Novocain patches work for you.
camelotcrusade
Also: what do you think about sharing these compilations with your public fans on a limited basis? Maybe after we complete a story, you drip the same thing on your public site. That's just one idea, though. You could always poll us to see how we feel about this or another approach. 🤔 I know these are a Patreon perk, and I value that. But speaking for one, I support this comic for more than myself: I want it to be out there in the world, and your "liner notes" could inspire other writers, too. 🏆
camelotcrusade
Great stuff as always, Alex, and this is probably the first time I liked the commentary even more than the comic. You put so much into your craft, and seeing the inputs makes supporting the outputs even more meaningful. I hadn't thought about most of the stuff you called out -- I'm just along for the ride -- but to me, "how it's made" doesn't take away any of the magic, it makes it even better. ✨
