Page 6, panel 2: Joe’s freckles changed around. It’s totally my error. There are so many costumes and sets in this book that the simplest things creep by.
Page 7, panel 4: I’m really happy with Jack’s stance and the way Joe is draped over his lap.
Page 8, panel 4: Grant wanted the Death Coats to be wearing sneakers. I didn’t feel sneakers fit the rest of their costumes, so I hid them the best I could. Of course telling you about it defeats the purpose.
Page 9, panel 1: I really dig this Da Vinci style set. The ramp was a lot of funof course there’s NO WAY it would be able to make that turn down the track, but because this is such a far-out fantasy story I figured no one would really care. After all, if you’re not getting hung up on cow-skull sorcerers and talking kangaroo-rats then you’re probably going to let my 90-degree-angle-turn slide.
Page 10-11: This castle was supposed to look like 3 different castle refs that Grant sent me, one of which being a famous art school in Glasgow. It was also supposed to look like a Joe’s backpack. I stacked the castle into a (sort of) backpack shape, but I honestly dropped the ball on this one because it doesn’t read backpack at all. I think I got weighed down by trying to design too many things into the same object.
Page 15: I designed the shit out of that telescope making sure it looks like it would actually work.
Page 16, panel 2: Jack, for the most part, never smiles or opens his mouth when he speaks. Because of the fur I figured we wouldn’t be seeing much anyway, and mostly I use his eyes to emote. So this drawing took a little while because I never figured out how he’s smile.
Page 17, panel 2: I drew Smoot picking his nose and even added a SFX of “pick pick” but it got covered up. None of it was in the script. I don’t think my editor likes my sense of humor.
Page 18, panel 4: Holy humongous bug eyes, Joe. What the hell was I thinking?
Page 20, panel 1: My favorite part of this issue is the ass-imprint that Smoot has in his part of the table, and how longingly his mother is looking at it.
Panel 21: Huzzah for repeated panels everyone!
Page 22, panel 5: Zyxy is one of my favorite designs. Something about her description just screamed “female Han Solo” to me.