tonycliff
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Let's Celebrate! (DD4 Chapter Three, Pages 23-26)
🕑 Added 2023-06-29 17:03:01 +0000 UTCLast week, it turned out that getting "revenge" on her mother did not bring Alexandra the ecstasy she had anticipated. Meanwhile, at the ball, her mother is overwhelmed by the Provveditore's lavish surroundings and confronts her brother, Nikos — the local "Mayor" — about the contrast in lifestyles between the Venetians and the locals. But at least Nikos had managed to keep his good wine a secret from the Provveditore, one last private luxury.
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Thank you for the feedback on the previous post with regard to whether the dialogue was too on-the-nose. When I wrote that post I was really just airing out some of my thoughts — I wasn't specifically asking for reactions — but it turns out I really appreciate it. :)
My favourite thing about this week's sequence is how much work the "good wine" does. It makes Captain Lear more of an ass, for revealing its existence. It lets Vignelli very clearly demonstrate how [checks dictionary] rapacious he is, by demanding all of it delivered. Correspondingly, it's the last nice thing Nikos had for himself, and he can't deny that he has it. In the next chapter it's going to do even more work.
I hope everyone is enjoying the sparkling glassware and reflective silver dinner service. It was all a pain in the ass to render, but it kind of "disappears" the way it would in real life, so I'm happy.
I apologize for the Glistening Meat.
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It's been a tough week! Our household schedule has been demanding, we've all been sick (just the regular kind), and our delightful toddler has chosen to really double-down on one of my least favourite behaviours: agreeing that he would like (for example) eggs for breakfast and then, once eggs are made, absolutely losing his mind because he really wanted pancakes. Oh well. On the other hand, he'll sit and play "I Spy" with you for half an hour, which is super cute.
More fun pages coming up in the next few weeks!
Until then,
I remain,
unable to judge a wine on "one or two bottles,"
TC
Comments
Tony Cliff
👏 HOW 👏 DO 👏 YOU 👏 KNOW 👏
Tony Cliff
Thank you! Assuming I'm looking at the same panel, I thought Vignelli's eye direction worked for "I am climbing onto my chair" pose. I will acknowledge that it is not the strongest pose. I think I struggled with that panel, and if I were going to do anything I'd just revisit from scratch. I think the two ladies will work better when we're looking at the pages as a two-page spread? That's my hope, anyway, as it should have the effect of one long panorama. You know I always appreciate your notes. :)
Tealin
Just the right storytelling tone and colour scheme (hot, stuffy) for a really uncomfortable dinner party ... I have to confess to two art confusions: First, horse-arse's eye direction in the third panel of p.2; maybe I would get where he's looking if I were reading this in continuity with the rest of the pages, but I feel like he's looking at the table here. Second, for a moment I was thrown by the two ladies at the end; something about having spent several panels with two teenage girls, then the Midshipman addressing them, and then cutting to two *different* (but not enormously different) girls, made me wonder if it was a flash-forward, or a revelation of a change of internal state (e.g. feeling grownup all of a sudden), or some other art trick, as opposed to a cut-aside to some Patron cameos as an atmospheric shot, which I suspect is what it's supposed to be. Not sure how you'd fix this, or even if you need to (I am tired and confused today) but I thought you might like to know, just in case ...
Lisa
The party's not over until your drunk uncle starts a fight. Ask me how I know! (or don't!). I love Nikos's expression at end of first panel!
