Issue 1 - Video Dreamer - Page 20 - Spooky Powers

[Adam Dravian]

In the original version of this page, once the ninja comes to the cliff, he simply pulls out his sword and turns around to fight Viper, who shoots him off the cliff. But after Jessica had drawn the page, I decided it'd be way sweeter to have the ninja grow big-ass bat-wings and fly toward a fiery vortex in the sky to escape. Besides, since the supernatural plays a huge part in the comic, I realized that we needed to introduce supernatural elements into the first issue.

The original version of this page can be seen in the "198X Sketchbook" that's included with the digital copy of the first issue that you can buy in our store.

[Rijst]

Hurray for spooky powers!

[Adam Dravian]

Heh. When I wrote the "spooky powers" line, I was just messing around. But the line was so amusingly dumb that we decided to keep it in.

[Rijst]

I think it suits the narrator's style, along with the stuff that's totally ancient and valuable line earlier gives it a light-hearted atmosphere. Good stuff..

[Jessica Safron]

Having the ninja suddenly attempt this mega powerful getaway trick presented us with problems like, "Why would they need a getaway driver?" and "Why would Viper pose such a threat to them?" So we thought for a good while about how we could quickly convey that this wasn't something they were supposed to be able to do willy-nilly. I think Adam did a pretty great job with that, and the spooky powers line cracked me up.

I just looked up "willy-nilly" to see if it's supposed to be hyphenated or anything, and I learned that it comes from a phrase from the early 1600s: "will ye, nill ye." Interesting!