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Lucky page 13!
Well, we’re out of the training flashback and back into present day!
I actually re-wrote this page based on last week’s feedback; in particular, the skylight gag in panel 3 was a lot longer– and contained a pop culture reference, which I’d originally thought was fun and kind of wink-y…but, honestly, reading it over before Brant started lettering, I weighed out the word count vs. panel size– ultimately deciding to hack it down for ease of reading.
I also felt that the pop culture reference wasn’t as charming as I thought it was. There are guys that are stellar at writing those sorts of things– off the top of my head, Joss Whedon and the Buffy crew were able to pull off pop-culture references in dialogue and it always felt natural and part of the world– (in my opinion, at least.) It’s a challenging feat to pull off correctly, and there are loads of “Han shot first” gags I’ve read that miss the mark completely.
(That isn’t to say we aren’t ever going to have a pop-culture reference– in fact, I’ve seen a pretty funny one that DJ snuck in for issue 2…)
Fun Page note: The KH-14 satellite mentioned by Control doesn’t actually exist. There is a series of spy satellites designated KH, but the highest model number they go to is 13.
In a pop culture context, sure– it’s a bit of a riff on the old Spinal Tap gag: “Mine goes to 11.‘
I’ve been looking forward to posting this page because I can finally pop up our first Spy6teen embedded video! I’d mentioned awhile back how our talented colorist, Lisa Moore, was Livestreaming her desktop while working on Spy6teen. Since she was a few pages ahead, I decided to hold off linking it here…but now that we’re on page 13, the coloring video is spoiler free!
Watch live streaming video from huevillenet at livestream.com
Lisa’s Photoshop-Fu is quite strong, so if you’ve got an interest in comic coloring, check it out! She’s also super cool with answering process questions over at her Q&A thread at Comic Related.
Lastly, it’s just sort of fun to pop on in the background to listen to Lisa Moore Radio! Seriously, there are some catchy tunes on there!
In other news, I’ll be popping around a bit this week and trying to get a few minor updates implemented on the site– For example, our links section, which I need to update. Hopefully I’ll get to them before this week’s blog entry, so I can announce them there.
As always, we very much appreciate you taking the time to vote for us on Top Web Comics! We’re still holding around the 250th mark, which is great! We couldn’t be there without your votes– so thank you!
Finally, if you guys have any suggestions for other fun/awesome webcomics to read, let us know in the comments! It’s always great to read a new title!
Hope you guys have a great week! Seeya Thursday for another exciting Blog@16!
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Hey! It’s a FLASHBACK page!
Sure, I’ve got some bias, but I do love this page! Ton of action, a little backstory, a Samurai Robot– what’s not to love?!
The Samurai training ‘bot was all DJ. In the script, I’d called out for “Dummy Robots”– more or less visualizing the typical bots we’d see in an old X-men Danger Room sequence. Leave it to DJ to totally one-up it!
I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: One of the best parts of creating a comic book is recognizing that it’s a collaborative medium. Here’s a page where I thought: “Dummy Robots,” and DJ said, “Where’s the fun in that?”
BOOM: Samurai Robots.
The best part? Now that Samurai Robots exist in the Spy6teen world, down the road I’m already wondering if perhaps there isn’t a behavior chip malfunction…
I’m not saying that storyline will necessarily come up– but I can tell you it wouldn’t have if DJ hadn’t designed such a cool looking ‘bot!
In other awesome news, Brant and Lisa attended the Champion City Convention this weekend– looks like they had a great time! In super cool news, Scott D.M. Simmons; the artist on Brant’s comic, Wannabez, took home an award for “Best Indie Artist!”
Big congrats to Scott and Brant!
Kind of a busy day today, so I don’t have time for a long write up– but, in all honesty, I think the page mostly speaks for itself!!
If you like it as much as I do, be sure to drop us a vote at Top Web Comics!
Remember, you can drop us a vote once a day!
(I’ll have our sneak peek at next week’s page up a little later today!)
As always, thanks so much for reading, and we’ll see ya back Thursday on the blog for a much longer entry!
The midway point of issue one!
Still sort of hard to believe that we’re “already” here. Granted, it’s been 11 weeks, but those weeks can really fly when you’re keeping a schedule.
Speaking of which, I’d like to extend a “Happy Labor Day” to our US readers! (Well, really, to everyone– I mean, everyone works hard, right? So to our international gang: Take the rest of the day off!)
Although it’s a holiday in the states, Spy6teen (and a lot of other webcomics,) are updating– which just goes to prove that when your working on comics, “labor” is relative…sure, it’s hard work– but often so much fun that we don’t mind doing it on a holiday.
…Or a weekend! If you follow the Spy6teen Twitter, you might have gotten a sneak peek at Lisa Moore Live-Coloring page 12. Lisa has been using the Livestream service to show her work in progress– although it isn’t a “tutorial” per se, you can likely pick up some awesome tips– and, since there’s a chatbox, I’m sure she’d would be happy to answer any questions/comments you might have.
If you missed the Live event, don’t worry– I’ll drop an embed soon.
Speaking of Lisa, she has a great Q&A thread going on over at Comic Releated– feel free to swing by to say hi!
In other “over the weekend” news: I popped up a small ad slot on The Zombie Hunters, which is a really fantastic/long running webcomic that I highly recommend– The ad slot generated a pretty remarkable amount of traffic over Saturday, which– as most of you know, is usually a “dead” internet day– (no pun to TZH intended)– So, if you happen to be joining us from there, welcome! We aren’t quite at Jenny’s page count yet (a staggering 227 pages!) but give us some time– we’ll get there!
Ok, here’s a little Page 11 commentary:
Page 11 was designed to be a “pinup page.” Back when we were originally formatting Spy6teen as a print comic, I gave a lot of thought to page 11, since it’s the “staple” page– literally the page the physical staple is embedded in. You always want to aim for something “good” happening here, since generally, when someone ganders through a comic book, they “land” on the spine page.
I’ve noticed that folks will rarely flip to the end of a book. My theory is that most of us have a built in “spoiler” filter– and even if we aren’t planning on actually reading the thing, there’s a bit of a courtesy factor that precludes us from looking at the last page.
That said, I’m always thinking about how to “wow ‘em” on page 11. You figure that the previous ten pages have set up backstory, so now it’s time for something visual. Try picking up a few of your own comics and see where they are at the staple. My guess is that it’ll be something action-y and awesome.
Your midway point is equally as important as your cover page– A cover entices a reader to pick the book up– the staple page determines if they’re going to read it. Make both count!
Speaking of my little rules– here’s a page where I break one (and that is to say, rules are usually meant to be broken!)– It’s a rule a thumb to avoid switching scenes mid-page– It’s usually jarring and breaks the visual flow. If pages have a rhythm, switching scenes is a little like a drummer missing a beat.
That said, it works here, given that we’ll be leading into a flashback sequence on the next page– Also, since Cally’s question is a continuation of her statement (although now in a different context,) there’s a through-line to the transition.
By switching up the color palette, Lisa reinforces the fact that we aren’t reading continuous action– which I feel really sells it.
I’m a big fan of what DJ did with this page as well– With Cally, he could have easily ripped off a Spider-Man-esque pose, but he’s really working on creating a visual langrage for Cally. You’ll see in next week’s page as he continues to develop it further– and man, down the line in issue 2– you’ll see some really fantastic stuff!
One really subtle note: Notice how Cally’s foot breaks the border of panel 3? It’s a technique that’s often used to push the illusion of a character literally leaping “off the page”– but also often used incorrectly, or pushed to a distracting extreme. One of the things I love most about DJ’s sequencial work is how he uses these techniques responsibly. Even on a “show-y” artist page, DJ is still thinking about the best way to tell the story– and not getting caught up in one dynamic action shot.
Closing up: we continue our march on Top Web Comics! We had a really great jump this month by starting and holding in the mid-200s…this early in, we just might have a chance to crack the top 100! If we DO crack the top 100, that will certainly call for an awesome prize/giveaway! So, please help us out by dropping a vote at the link below– as an added incentive, you’ll get a sneak peek at next week’s page!
Remember, you can drop us a vote once a day!
Thanks again to all of you reading! 11 pages might not seem like a lot, but it’s a small benchmark to everyone on the team. Knowing that you’re out there and reading us, well– it really charges us up for the next 11 pages and beyond!!
Have a wonderful week, seeya on Thursday!
Tim
