Issue 2 - Party Like It's 198X - Page 29 - Discovery in the Woods

[Adam Dravian]

This is kind of our Bilbo finding the one ring moment.

The woods are actually darker than they appear, but it's illuminated a bit for the sake of the reader. That's why Eddie doesn't notice the ninja corpse he tripped over. Plus his vision is shit without his glasses and he's got those crybaby tears to deal with.

Getting real close to wrapping up issue 2 now...

[Mumm-Rad]

This is the moment We have all been waiting for‼️ Can't wait to see what happens next‼️

[Rijst]

This is the moment We have all been waiting for‼️ Can't wait to see what happens next‼️

Indeed. Eddie doesn't even seem to notice it after he tripped over it, or the massive corpse stain on his suit.

That ninja looks like he's been dead for a while, how much time has passed since Viperelli shot him?

[Adam Dravian]

That ninja looks like he's been dead for a while, how much time has passed since Viperelli shot him?

It's actually only been about 24 hours. I even did research on the stages of decay to help Jessica get the corpse right. I think she just got carried away with making his eyes look creepy.

[Rae]

I love Eddie's pleasantly content facial expression in the bottom row, middle panel. A boy and his satanic magic glove, ah the simple things. Like fresh apple pie and warm crackling fireplaces.

[Rijst]

It's actually only been about 24 hours.

Eddie went throught all that shit in just 24 hours? Poor guy. Rae is right, he does finally look content with his glove..

I even did research on the stages of decay to help Jessica get the corpse right.

I see a blog post coming!

Edit: by the way, where did the ninja's wings go?

[Adam Dravian]

Eddie went throught all that shit in just 24 hours? Poor guy.

Yeah, I know it seems odd that such little time has passed in the comic since nearly a year has passed in reality since we launched this thing. But the comic opens during Eddie's birthday party on Thursday night, and then Connor's pool party took place Friday night. Busy couple of days.

Edit: by the way, where did the ninja's wings go?

We talked about whether we should include his wings or not when Jessica was sketching out the page. We decided not to since it's a pretty common trope in fiction for creatures that have shape-shifted in some way to revert to their natural state upon death.

[Jessica Safron]

Yeah, I'll probably end up toning down the ninja's eyes. That, or we could make up an excuse like, "That's what your eyes look like after you've gazed into Hell, like in The Beyond."

[Rijst]

Yeah, I'll probably end up toning down the ninja's eyes. That, or we could make up an excuse like, "That's what your eyes look like after you've gazed into Hell, like in The Beyond."

You'd have to write that into the story though. Like a frame where the police find the dead ninja and one cop asks "Why do his eyes look that way?" and then another replies with "That's what your eyes look like after you've gazed into Hell. Haven't you seen The Beyond?". The first cop then says "No, I haven't.". You could even make him look like me, since I too haven't seen The Beyond..

Eddie went throught all that shit in just 24 hours? Poor guy.

Yeah, I know it seems odd that such little time has passed in the comic since nearly a year has passed in reality since we launched this thing. But the comic opens during Eddie's birthday party on Thursday night, and then Connor's pool party took place Friday night. Busy couple of days.

I suspect he'll probably snap after two days like this. Of course the comic involves quite a few parallel story lines so it takes a while for it to progress in-story..

Edit: by the way, where did the ninja's wings go?

We talked about whether we should include his wings or not when Jessica was sketching out the page. We decided not to since it's a pretty common trope in fiction for creatures that have shape-shifted in some way to revert to their natural state upon death.

That's true, but isn't that mostly to save money on the special effects budget?

[Adam Dravian]

You'd have to write that into the story though. Like a frame where the police find the dead ninja and one cop asks "Why do his eyes look that way?" and then another replies with "That's what your eyes look like after you've gazed into Hell. Haven't you seen The Beyond?". The first cop then says "No, I haven't.". You could even make him look like me, since I too haven't seen The Beyond..

Except all movies/video games/bands and such in the 198X-verse have to have a parody name that is usually another way to say the same thing (e.g. New Kids on the Block becomes Fresh Teens on the Street), or the parody name references the content of the original (e.g. Caddyshack becomes Gopher Golf). So The Beyond would become something like The Afterlife (if I were feeling lazy) or perhaps Hellgate Hotel.

That's true, but isn't that mostly to save money on the special effects budget?

I believe the tradition began in books and folktales well before film came along, so I don't think that's the only reason. Besides, it allows you to have the big dramatic reveal where the girl discovers that the evil werewolf that she just killed was actually her boyfriend/teacher/grandpa/mail man. Or, if the story wants to be even more shocking, the beast will turn out to be a woman. Oooooo...

[Gregg Samsa]

You'd have to write that into the story though. Like a frame where the police find the dead ninja and one cop asks "Why do his eyes look that way?" and then another replies with "That's what your eyes look like after you've gazed into Hell. Haven't you seen The Beyond?". The first cop then says "No, I haven't.". You could even make him look like me, since I too haven't seen The Beyond..

Except all movies/video games/bands and such in the 198X-verse have to have a parody name that is usually another way to say the same thing (e.g. New Kids on the Block becomes Fresh Teens on the Street), or the parody name references the content of the original (e.g. Caddyshack becomes Gopher Golf). So The Beyond would become something like The Afterlife (if I were feeling lazy) or perhaps Hellgate Hotel.

Given we're in the 198X universe, you'd have to parody the name Seven Doors of Death if this is in America - it didn't get a released as the Beyond in the US until the mid-90's.

[Gregg Samsa]

Given we're in the 198X universe, you'd have to parody the name Seven Doors of Death if this is in America - it didn't get a released as the Beyond in the US until the mid-90's.

Seven Whores of Death - I just came up with Sam's next terrifying porn adventure.

[Rijst]

Given we're in the 198X universe, you'd have to parody the name Seven Doors of Death if this is in America - it didn't get a released as the Beyond in the US until the mid-90's.

Seven Whores of Death - I just came up with Sam's next terrifying porn adventure.

Did you just start a discussion with yourself? Good catch though, you must be a The Beyond expert.

You'd have to write that into the story though. Like a frame where the police find the dead ninja and one cop asks "Why do his eyes look that way?" and then another replies with "That's what your eyes look like after you've gazed into Hell. Haven't you seen The Beyond?". The first cop then says "No, I haven't.". You could even make him look like me, since I too haven't seen The Beyond..

Except all movies/video games/bands and such in the 198X-verse have to have a parody name that is usually another way to say the same thing (e.g. New Kids on the Block becomes Fresh Teens on the Street), or the parody name references the content of the original (e.g. Caddyshack becomes Gopher Golf). So The Beyond would become something like The Afterlife (if I were feeling lazy) or perhaps Hellgate Hotel.

The really lazy solution would be calling it Over there somewhere, or you could refer to a non-existing sequel, Beyond the beyond

That's true, but isn't that mostly to save money on the special effects budget?

I believe the tradition began in books and folktales well before film came along, so I don't think that's the only reason. Besides, it allows you to have the big dramatic reveal where the girl discovers that the evil werewolf that she just killed was actually her boyfriend/teacher/grandpa/mail man. Or, if the story wants to be even more shocking, the beast will turn out to be a woman. Oooooo...

It's a true literary tradition! To be honest I only realised the wings were gone after revisiting the page where he got shot. One other way is to update the page to show the wings disappearing / disintegrating in frame 7 of Spooky Powers..

[aett]

Calling it now: this whole "magic ninja glove" thing goes nowhere.

But seriously, I keep expecting a powerful revenge sequence not unlike in The Mask, even if that movie was a few years too late for this comic.

My Babe Alert isn't ringing. Is this the first page in months without sexy curves and bodacious bods?

[Michigander1911]

Other than Eddie tripping over the body this is pretty much how I predicted Eddie finding the glove from the beginning.  Walking home late after some kind defeat and stumbling on it.