Electric Team

The penultimate page of our story is here! Read it, then come back for the notes. 

Let’s start off with some comments from the artist, the illustrious Mr. Joshua Burnett . . .

Notes from Josh

1. I really needed to sell that last panel, so not only are the sound effects and images bursting out of the frame (something I do a lot), but Beowulf’s words are bursting out of the word balloon. You can’t contain him!

2. Mark “Commander Mark” Kistler was an early influence on my drawing style. He taught us that there’s no such thing as too much foreshortening, so yeah… big giant fist coming at you!

3. LC’s script suggested to maybe have a couple of teeth flying out of Totenkopf’s mouth. I took that to heart and… big giant tooth coming at you!

4. I loved making Totenkopf’s face all distorted from the punch. The rolling eye, the slack jaw, the spittle, the crazy tongue… the silly look is designed to show how disempowered he is. Take that, Nazi!

Thanks, Josh! And now we continue on with . . .

Notes from Leighton

5. When Josh asked me when I’d have the script ready for this page, I told him not to worry, that it mainly just be a big punch. Writing the script didn’t take long at all, except for Beowulf’s dialogue. I left it blank for a couple of days, as I tried to think of something cool for him to say as he punched Totenkopf.

My first thought was something along the lines of, “You look tired . . . let me help you get to sleep!” But “help you get to sleep” didn’t sound active enough, so I changed it to “Let me help put you to sleep!” Then Josh politely pointed out that it would be punchier without the “help,” which is true, and I was embarrassed I didn’t write it that way in the first place.

6. I think it’s a good idea, in a story like this, to put a splash page or a page with a big panel, like this one, near the end. It sends a message to the reader: Hey, look at this, we planned ahead and we have the room to do this.” As opposed to a story that starts out with big panels, and then gets more cramped at the end.

7. Abi was grossed out by the teeth. She messaged Josh, asking him why the roots were brown. He explained that Nazis, in addition to their many other sins, do not take good care of their teeth.

8. This reminds me of the splash page near the end of “Swords & Serpents,” the Mr. Amazing story Josh and I did together. Even with the same writers, the stories Josh draws have such a different feel from the stories that Sam draws. It makes me wonder, how will the tone of the comic change when our new artist debuts?

9. Nothing definite on the new artist front, BTW, but I should have some information for you VERY SOON.

10. It’s hard to get to 10 notes when your page is just three panels long, but look, we made it! Next week: the last page of “Ubermensch Unleashed!” The thrilling conclusion! 

Holy Moley, can you believe it? We’ve released 270 pages of comics! Go read page 270, then pop back here for some notes.

Let’s start off with some comments from the artist, the illustrious Mr. Joshua Burnett . . .

Notes from Josh

1. “Nazi, I am here to pummel you!” is my favorite line in this whole thing so far.

2. The chanting-a-character’s-name-in-the-background thing is a trope I picked up from Tom Scioli, although I suspect it’s actually a Todd McFarlane thing. You can also see it in use with Druuj the Slayer and Hate Frog.

3. I’ve enjoyed playing with my panel layout with this story. If I don’t push myself, I’ll constantly default to 2×3 six-panel spread. It’s good to challenge myself. I like the two narrow-tall panels at the top of this page.

4. In my head, Totenkopf sounds like David Warner.

Thanks, Josh! And now we continue on with . . .

Notes from Leighton

5.  I am happy with that “I am here to pummel you!” line, but on the whole this page didn’t take long to write–it’s just these two dudes threatening and hurting each other. I knew it would live or die based on the art, and what do you know, it lives!

6. Josh streamlined the fight sequence somewhat, from what I indicated in the script, and made it flow better.

7. There are so many great little touches in the art, I don’t know where to begin . . . I enjoy the little dollops of floating dark magic surrounding Totenkopf in panel two. In panel three, the big fist pointed at the reader, and the lightning bolts flying off Beowulf’s head, outside the panel border, really sell that moment.

8. Unless you’ve drawn a comic, you probably don’t appreciate how many choices a comics artist has to make in each panel. Let’s look at that bottom panel. All I gave Josh was the dialogue, and the description “Totenkopf blasts Beowulf with a death ray! It looks very painful!”

Notice how Josh established Beowulf and Totenkopf’s relative positions in the previous panel. The bottom panel is similar, in that Totenkopf is still on the left and Beowulf is still on the right, and Totenkopf is standing in a very similar position. So as you’re reading you flow right into this panel from the previous one, without needing to reorient yourself, but it’s not exactly the same; Josh has zoomed in and swiveled the angle slightly.

More importantly, he’s put Beowulf in an extreme close-up in the foreground. A few seconds have passed since Beowulf hit the ground, started to get up, got hit by the ray, and then started writhing in pain, but even though these things happened in-between panels you don’t notice, because the transition is so smooth. We’re seeing the moment of greatest visual impact, with Beowulf drawing our attention, facing the reader, contorted in pain. Instead of using a word balloon, Josh renders his cry of pain in large block letters at the bottom, spilling off the edge of the panel, making it seem that much more intense. The purple skulls, a visual motif established on the previous page, make it clear that Totenkopf’s magic is killing Beowulf. All of which would have been enough to make the image clear, engaging, and visually exciting, but Josh goes above and beyond by adding the mystical flames around Beowulf’s eyes.

Meanwhile, Totenkopf is still in the left side of the panel, looking like he’s not even exerting himself. And look, the mystical energy around his hand is in the shape of a swastika! Another nice touch.

All of which is to say, there were millions of ways to interpret that short description, most of which would not have been as visually engaging as what Josh has done here.

9. I can’t remember if I said this before or not, but this story is going to be 9 pages long. This is page 6. As much as I’d like to promise you page after page of Beowulf and Totenkopf fighting, we’re closing in on the end, and we’ve got to wrap things up soon. We’re trying to cram in way more than 9 pages worth of thrills in this story; hopefully the pacing is working for you.

10. Wait a minute, this story is supposed to be about Beowulf AND Chrysanthemum, but Chrys only showed up in one panel this time! And she didn’t even speak! Well, don’t worry–she’ll spring into action next week! Be here!