Page 37 and the Shadow of the Wolf

This was another page that came out pretty quickly, and I’m really pleased with the results.  I like the Kurt, Marie and Donald dynamic.  Alex thinks that it is hilarious, especially when Kurt and Marie were being playful.  I guess it is pretty funny in its own subtle, odd way.

I like it because there are a lot of emotions at play and they keep shifting throughout the scene keeping the characters, and maybe the reader, slightly off balance.

This page has a little more to it than the majority of our standing around talking pages with Donald’s recollection, outburst, and storming off.  I’m pleased with the way that solid black background came out in the middle right panel with Donald freaking out.  I think it makes him pop out a bit and emphasizes how angry he is.

Of course the panel that should be drawing your eyes and attention is the one on the middle left, Donald bleeding on the ground and the shadows fighting around him.  It was not written into the script, just something I thought of to freshen things up visually and keep building up the mystique of The Lone Wolf.  We’ve had a lot of people talking about him already, saying both good and bad things, so obviously at some point he is going to have a major presence, in one way or another.  And in this shadow you get your first clue as to what he’ll be like.  Hint: Pretty different from I’m Famous!

Deciding to show what Donald was talking about instead of just showing him talking about it (as it was written) is the type of fun freedom that Alex gives me when we work together.  A lot of times I’ll help him start a scene and then he’ll take off with it and write the rest mostly (or completely) on his own.  This was basically one of those scenes.  I think you can kind of tell which ones I worked on with him all the way through and which ones he cranked out on his own after inspiration hit.  He’s got his own unique style.

The nice thing (for me) is that he typically writes about 85% pure dialogue, with only a few key actions and character reactions being explicitly written.  So it allows me to interpret things however I see fit.  Like this scene, where I cut up some character dialogue to emphasize certain parts of what they were saying.  Donald’s last line on the last page was written as part of his lines at the top of this page, but I thought they worked better broken up.  That’s a pretty common thing I’ll do.

And Alex doesn’t mind when I do that kind of thing or come up with ideas like that middle panel.  In fact, usually he really likes it.  I think he gets a lot of enjoyment in seeing how I’ll go about tackling what he writes.

A last thing about that panel.  I really like how the lighter lines and monotones instantly take you away from the current present and let you know you’re looking at something completely different, in this case a memory.  I also think it’s pretty slick how it makes the dark blood and shadows jump out at you.

Pretty simple stuff really, but fun and exciting for me, and hopefully you.