TDM Page 69 and a Baseball Bat

Well, I suppose it is finally time to discuss this page.  Funny enough, this was a page I really procrastinated on when drawing.  When I read it in the script it seemed clear enough.  A real showcase page.  Hell, I helped write it.

It has one of my trademarks, the action hero-esque one-liner.  You may have seen them previously in Black Snow, I can assure you they are all mine.  I really enjoy them.  I’m not sure what Alex thinks of them, but he allows me to include them.

Anyway, this page was where I think I really started to feel burnt out and began to struggle.  Why?  I don’t know.  Maybe because it was an awesome moment in my head and I didn’t know how to deliver it on the page.  Black Snow is finally showing some fight, taking out a main villain no less, and it was important to do it right.

I don’t love how it turned out.  I remember redrawing the main panel several times trying to get it just right, and I never really achieved what I was going for.  I don’t think it is bad, or anything.  It’s pretty good, just not the stellar pop off the page, in your face moment I was hoping for.

And I can’t quite tell you why I feel that way.  I just look at it and feel I should have done better…oh well.  I think I captured the movement pretty well, and the expressions aren’t bad.  It’s not like I could reference any real photos of someone getting smacked in the face with a bat…I tried!

I hope I captured the suddenness and surprise of this attack.  It is not lost on me that Black Snow’s finest hour to date is a sneak attack with a weapon on a much more skilled, superior foe.

I didn’t use a sound effect here.  Perhaps a -CRACK- would’ve enhanced things.  I think I just forgot, though I’m always torn about using them.  They seem silly and outdated.  Do people really picture sounds when they read them?  I don’t.  It makes me think of the campy 60s Batman, and reminds me of comics’ limitations.  But they seem to be a part of the accepted vernacular and I feel some need to include them.

That’s all for now.  Look for me to review the other lingering pages, and for my break to come to an end soon.