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Double Cross Scene Compilation - CH1 Pgs 68-72
🕑 Added 2024-09-18 05:12:01 +0000 UTCHowdy, everyone!
As promised, I'll be posting these scene compilations weekly until I start getting the pages from Gabriel and Vero for Fallen Chapter Two. (Right now we're looking into November for that—stay tuned!)
In terms of personal updates, I'm now working on the climax of my urban fantasy novel, which is exciting. Just a few chapters left! To be honest, most of my free time has been focused on finishing that story up, so that's pretty much all I have to report on my own life.
(Although, I did finally watch Crazy Rich Asians on Netflix for the first time this weekend and thought it lived up to the hype. Great narrative structure. Great acting. Lots of fun. You don’t get to see many quality romantic comedies these days, and this was excellent.)
And now it's finally time to wrap up this action scene and Chapter One of Double Cross!
In the last scene comp, Flyboy lost Cory to what looked like the jaws of a big T-Rex, and in these last pages, he realizes his mentor and teammate, Spooky Jones, is also in big trouble.
Check out what happens under the fold!
These pages were first published way back in September-October 2019. If you want to read the previous scene compilations (and, even better, read the whole chapter all at once), you can find them on the TYP:DC Scene Compilation Collection page.
My DVD-style commentary is below the comic pages. And the pages themselves are full-resolution here on Patreon, so feel free to zoom-in, especially on that double-page spread!
Let's get to it!
I wanted to have a big finish for Chapter One—which I knew might also possibly serve as the end of Double Cross Volume One when the books go to print—so, there's a lot going on in these few pages!
It all goes to Hell
The moment The Platinum Priestess casts her deadly, self-generated blood magic, Flyboy's world starts to crumble completely around him. This is the end of the first act, also known among writers as The First Doorway (or Gate). It’s the moment of no return for the main character, when he’s locked into the story, so his life will never be the same. For the Double Cross arc, Flyboy is our main POV character. Up to this point in his life, while he has been an eager superhero, he still thinks of himself as a kid. In his mind, other teammates, like Spooky Jones, are the "real" heroes. He's still training. That's his "normal life," the status quo we started the chapter with.
But now, he watches Spooky get completely overwhelmed by the zombies and realizes that his mentor's fate is completely in his hands. The training wheels are off. He races to save him, going as fast as he can.
The Universe has plans for Flyboy
But before he can get to Spooky, one of the portals pops directly in his path (a literal Gate!), and he's going too fast to swerve around it. And at the same time, he senses a presence and hears voices urging Flyboy to "save him."
Save who? Spooky? Someone else?
And who is sending this message? Are they responsible for the portal that appeared to send him away? If so, what is their agenda?
As long-time readers are aware, I plan all my stories well in advance. It’s especially important to me that I know the endings, because everything leads to that. And with that knowledge in mind, I try to leave as many breadcrumbs as I can in the earlier pages to help set them up. This one panel actually connects to the end of the Fallen story arc. That's when you get the answers to those questions I just asked—and those answers are connected to the forces behind the entire TYP universe.
(You'll also get some of those answers at the end of DC, but Fallen is where you'll get to meet who is responsible and get the big picture.)
I ask for another very tricky visual from Adam
The panels where Flyboy exits the portal and crashes into the attacking "crazy" on page 69 turned out to be some of the toughest for Adam to render in the whole comic. I was clear in my mind for what I wanted—I wanted to see the evil wizard looming over Teen Spooky about to stab him when Flyboy bursts through the portal knocking him away. And I thought the angles for that would be straightforward, but making it work out on the page turned out to be especially challenging, particularly having everyone wind up on the next page in places that made sense physics-wise.
I think Adam ultimately did a great job with it, but it was one of the few moments where I was concerned that I might be asking for the impossible. And it’s interested how those are often where you least expect them.
What do you think? Is the action clear? Did we keep the space-time continuum intact?
Flyboy sees Spooky get killed
At least, that's sure what it looks like. And after already losing Cory!
Usually, the "all-is-lost" moment is reserved for the end of the 2nd Act of a story. (And that’s what you’ll find on the last page of Chapter 4.) But including a mini-version of that here sets up the stakes very nicely for Flyboy and, as we're about to find out, maybe everything isn't lost. Not yet, anyway. Maybe Flyboy will have a chance to fix everything.
(Oh, and I have to call out that look of despair that Adam drew for Flyboy in the last panel of page 71. Everything I hoped for and more.)
I love ending my chapters with a great punchline
That's true for every chapter of my comics, and it's also true for each of the chapters of this urban fantasy novel I'm writing. I love ending with a punchline so much, you'll probably notice me doing that for the ends of my scenes, too.
And for me, a "punchline" doesn't just mean a great, provocative line of dialogue. My real goal is to kick us forward into the next chapter, giving us momentum and (ideally) making the reader chomp at the bit to find out what's next. In this sense, a punchline is an unexpected twist, one loaded for the hero.
In this case, we get both.
Spooky's words "You look like you've just seen a ghost" plays into the fact that Flyboy just watched his mentor get killed, but now somehow sees him alive and well in front of him. It’s a fun line of dialogue.
But more than that, that last panel delivers a plot twist: this is not the Spooky he knows. This Spooky is much younger. So where the hell did Flyboy wind up?
It was my hope that readers would be very eager to find that out in Chapter Two!
Let me know what you think!
So, 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. I'll post the next set of pages next Tuesday! I hope to see you there! :D
Comments
Alex Woolfson
Thank you so much, Adam! Plot and story structure are hugely important to me, both as a writer and as a reader. They do take a lot of planning and thought to pull off—and there are writers out there who get away with keeping things much looser—but I like everything to be set up and to make sense, so it feels good to have that appreciated. And yes, pace is a close second to me as something I keep a close eye on. The "DVD-style" commentary gives me a chance to share what I was hoping to do, so I really appreciate all the kind words!
Adam Irving
This was a great set of panels Alex, what a way to wrap up a chapter. One thing I've always admired about your stories is the very conscious plotting and writing. Nothing feels haphazard or inconsequential at all. Pacing can be *so* hard to manage correctly over long form storytelling, whether a comic or a large novel (as I'm sure you saw when plotting out the novel you're in the process of finishing) but you do it. The art of FlyBoy whizzing between dimensions is slightly disorientating when going through on a first pass but I actually like that about those pages, because it conveys how crazy the speed and spectral planes must feel to those involved in it, characters and readers both! I can see why this was an unexpectedly huge challenge for the artists, in a much different way than, say, a huge battle scene might be. Thanks also for the breadcrumbs. They were long enough ago that I had forgotten a few of them that you'd laid down here. Good to be reminded as we head into the later chapters. Another great reason to be going over these now, so our memories of the early stuff are better as we get closer to the end. *chef's kiss*
Alex Woolfson
Thank you, Relwarc! And in terms of the colored eyes, I think you'll find a reflection of those colors when Spooky is using his most powerful magic. (A technique he first tried at the end of Engaging the Enemy!)
Alex Woolfson
Glad to hear it, camelotcrusade. :) While that is, in fact, intended to be the same knife between those two panels, we are supposed to understand it's a possible future. One of the themes of the whole story arc is: if you could change the future, should you? (That said, I really like your idea of the reality continuing to change in subtle ways as Flyboy looks through the portal. That's a cool image.)
camelotcrusade
I always appreciate the commentary, Alex. And looking back at all this, I remember thinking it was very exciting, and still is! In this section, seeing Spooky "get killed" was confusing, but I did notice the detail that the knife *about* to stab him is different than the knife which *supposedly* stabs him. We're meant to understand it's a possible future, right? A novel might drop in narrative prose like "the portals were reflecting alternate realities," but instead we understand as much as Flyboy does here.
RelwarcTheMighty
The look of anguish on Flyboy was a triumph for the artists! Also, no issues on my end for the logical sequence of Spooky getting attacked by the revived minion. Interesting that the eyes that appear when Flyboy hears that voice are yellow and purple. Trying to think if we've seen anything that would have foreshadowed that. Love the commentary, interesting to hear of what went smoothly and what was a challenge for all involved! Can't wait for next week's installment!
